The Tyrrell Park Community Center, originally built back in 1936 the building belonged to the Civilian Conservation Corps a federal organization that helped put people to work during the great depression. It has been the site of weddings, anniversaries and class reunions for thousands of Beaumont residents. And, for a brief period, it was home to about 200 German soldiers. During World War II, the facility was converted to a prisoner of war camp to house the overflow of prisoners of war. Here the German POWs slept on cots, tasted the Cajun-laced cuisine of Southeast Texas and endured the onslaught of vicious hordes of swamp mosquitoes. Here they rested at the end of a long day of farm labor. The prisoners provided much-needed agricultural support during years when the region's young men were busy in jobs supporting the war effort or fighting overseas, according to The Enterprise archives.