Pugh Park Restoration Making Progress

Commissioner Bill Ford has toiled to prepare Pugh Park for the public for over a year and half. Pugh Park is a 67 acre county-owned park that lies on about a mile of the Concho River. He updated the Tom Green County Commissioner’s Court on the park’s status Monday morning.

“[The project]’s just taking longer than I’d hoped, but the survey and all of that kind of stuff has to be done first,” Ford told the court. “Have to follow the correct procedures. But everything else is finished, just working on some maintenance work.”

Ford said that revenue gained from selling Mt. Susan Ranch, a 750-acre ranch owned by the county, will hopefully be used to improve the county’s park system. The county has been leasing the ranch for decades. Ford emphasized that any profits from the sale of Mt. Susan would be used primarily to improve Pugh Park.

“If we can get the land sold, it won’t take long to get it done,” Ford said. “It’s a beautiful park and it’s sure been in a bad shape for a long, long time. I plead for the patience of the people, but we just have to do what we have to do. But it is coming around.”

In early stages of the park project’s development, San Angelo’s record lows for rainfall cast doubt on the park’s future. Ford says that he was unsure of restoring Pugh Park at first as over half of the trees in the park were “in distress.” Recent rains, however, have begun to solve the park’s problems and some of the trees are likely to recover.

“It’s kind of amazing walking through the park and seeing what the rain has done in the last three months,” Ford said.

About half of the park has been opened to the public. The work there, however, is still in progress, including projects such as the continued rebuilding of the river bank, irrigation, improvement of picnic and camping areas, an electrical system, a pavilion and bathrooms. Two baseball fields at the park have also been completely renovated and plans for lights are underway. Much of this work is being done by volunteers. Ford called the park’s progress “unbelievable”.

“These are just general improvements to build [the park] back to its original status that I remember when I was a kid in the late '50s and early '60s,” Ford said. "[The] ball fields look great. It’s fun to watch that many kids out there playing baseball again.”

According to Ford, a grant that was passed this spring after eight years allowed the county to improve 400 feet of the Concho riverbank all through the park. Ford estimates that Pugh Park will take one more year to finish.

“It’s a spring fed river and it’s gorgeous water [at the park],” Ford said. “There’s no place like it in West Texas.”