Visitors may come from far and wide for a glimpse of someone famous, but if they delve a little bit deeper they’ll find something even more precious.
A drive down Main Street (also known as Lonestar Parkway) reveals a small town that’s thriving with locally owned stores and restaurants. A right on Fourth Street takes a driver down winding roads lined with homes and open fields until two rock pillars mark the entrance to Tonka Park. Past Tonkawa Falls RV Park and the high school stadium, over the small country bridge, a surprise waits.
Water-hungry Texas eyes are greeted by an oasis of blue water, waterfalls and bluffs. It’s like Zeus himself carved a cleft into the small town of Crawford and the viewer wonders if she’s seeing things.
Jamie Burgess calls the Tonka Creek “Crawford’s gold mine.”
“It’s been a part of my life, all my life,” she said.
Her grandmother was baptized in Tonka Creek, her dad and uncle swam in its waters, she herself explored its banks and now her 14-year-old son, Monty, continues the tradition.
Her grandfather built the stone walls that line the banks of the creek and the clubhouse that sits on a ledge overlooking the flowing waters. The project was a part of the Work Projects Administration during the Great Depression that provided people with jobs.
Those buildings built during the 1930s are now under renovation.
Thanks to a state grant, Texas Parks and Wildlife and the city of Crawford have teamed up to transform the ruins of the clubhouse and surrounding buildings into restrooms and laundry facilities. Volleyball and basketball courts are expected to draw the younger crowds.
Barry Baize has lived in Crawford his entire life and remembers his summers spent at the creek as a boy. He said more than 200 kids would be down at the creek on some days.
This city council member once poured boxes of Tide into the creek to watch the bubbles reach about 3 feet high off the water. He also would stop up the dam right above the waterfalls with stolen stop signs before letting the built-up water rush to the waiting pool below.
“It’s a fun place to grow up,” he said.
Ms. Burgess remembers when the park was closed for about 15 years because of a private lease on the land.
“It was a real heartbreaker,” she said. “All we could do was drive by and say, ‘we used to be able to swim down there.’”
Dickie Pruett is project manager at Industrial Projects and Services in Waco and supervises the park renovation.
Pruett grew up in Crawford and remembers when there were three grocery stores, a theater and not a parking space to be found.
“We’d ride our bikes down here,” he said. “We were here every day - all summer long.”
Pruett is glad to see the creek where he learned to swim being renovated. He believes it’ll be cleaner and more of a family destination.
There are mixed feelings about the renovations, though. While residents will benefit, they know that the change will bring visitors.
“We try to keep it quiet,” Ms. Burgess said. “When outsiders come in they bring glass bottles and trash.”
Baize agrees. He has seen the trash stack up and believes a full-time person is needed to keep the grounds clean.
But while outsiders mean more trash, Baize still welcomes them to his hometown.
“People can bring their campers and stay a while,” he said.
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