Explore Lake Brownwood State Park: A Nature Lover's Paradise
By: Jeanne F. Lively
Revised by: Laurie E. Jasinski
Published: 1976
Updated: October 20, 2025
Lake Brownwood State Park is located off State Highway 279 twenty-two miles northwest of Brownwood in Brown County. By the early 1930s the Brown County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 dammed Pecan Bayou at its confluence with Jim Ned Creek to form the lake, which covers 7,300 acres, for flood control and water for Brownwood. The water district deeded approximately 538 acres of land on the lakeshore to the State Parks Board in 1933. The lake and park were named for the city of Brownwood. Initial park development began under the Civil Works Administration but was carried out by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 872 (1934–35) and Company 849 (1936–42). Workers quarried local limestone and cut timber to build the structures. The CCC park construction and improvements included more than 100 projects—the park road, caretaker’s cottage, picnic facilities, fishing pier, cabins, bathhouse, trails, and many other features. The park’s impressive stone clubhouse with its dance terrace and stone staircase that leads to the lakeshore stands as the centerpiece of Lake Brownwood State Park, which has been described as the “most extensively developed CCC park in Texas.” For a time after World War II, the park was called Thirty-Sixth Division State Park to commemorate the Texas National Guard division that had trained at nearby Camp Bowie, but the name later reverted back.
Lake Brownwood State Park is located at the convergence of three ecosystems—the Edwards Plateau, Rolling Plains, and Western Cross Timbers—and has abundant wildlife, including white-tailed deer, raccoons, and armadillos. The park has almost six miles of trails. Cabins overlook the lake, and the park has screened shelters, three lodges, and more than eighty campsites. Campsites are supplied with water, tables, and grills; some also have electricity and sewer connections. The park has two group halls, including the clubhouse. Fishing is the big attraction; most of the fish caught are crappie, bass, or catfish. Boat ramps and docks are available, and the park features a lighted fishing pier and fish-cleaning tables.
Bibliography:
Cynthia Brandimarte with Angela Reed, Texas State Parks and the CCC: The Legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2013). Lake Brownwood State Park, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/lake-brownwood), accessed October 19, 2025. Ray Miller, Texas Parks (Houston: Cordovan, 1984). James Wright Steely, The Civilian Conservation Corps in Texas State Parks (Austin: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 1986).
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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Jeanne F. Lively Revised by Laurie E. Jasinski, “Lake Brownwood State Park,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/lake-brownwood-state-recreation-area.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
TID:
GKL11
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- 1976
- October 20, 2025
