The growth and development of municipal park and recreation departments in the state of Texas 1940 to 1969

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to document, for the first time, the growth and development of Municipal Park and Recreation Departments in the State of Texas. A direct mail questionnaire and opinionnaire was utilized to obtain data from the fifty-eight Texas cities having organized park and recreation departments. Information for the four periods (1940, 1950, 1960 and 1968) includes: history of the departments, chronological development, geographic distribution, operating expenditures and capital improvement costs, park and recreation venues, bond issues, park acreage and number of parks, park and recreation facilities, lake developments, park and recreation personnel costs, supervised and unsupervised playgrounds, and park and recreation boards. Divisions of park directors regarding needs by 1975 are included. The data were analyzed to determine trends in percentage change of: operating, capital and combined budgets, swimming pool revenue, golf course revenue, total number of park acreage and parks, full and part-time employees, total number of outdoor playgrounds and those supervised during the summer months. In addition to the above information, a complete computation of the data derived from the study is assembled in an Appendix..