My memories of Boyle Park go back almost 65 years as my parents use to take us out there for picnics. It was way out in the country then rather than in the middle of the city. Through all 8 years of grade school at Holy Souls we had our school picnic out here. We would load up on buses early in the morning and not return to school until that afternoon. It was great fun and I, loved the park. At that time little did I know that I would spend 41 years maintaining Boyle Park as I worked for the Little Rock Parks Department.
Boyle Park contains a total of eight known examples of Civilian Conservation Corps construction, all of which were built in the mid 1930’s. These include: Pavilion 1&2, the Spring House, the original care takers cabin still used by the Department as a live in residence for one of the maintenance personnel, the remains of a water tower a low water bridge and two stacked stone culverts. I have always wanted to place some caches in the park to showcase some of the great workmanship of the CCC a jobs program began by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 to provide outdoor employment to Depression-idled young men and to accomplish badly needed work in the protection, improvement and development of the country’s natural resources.
There is a natural spring feeding into the Spring House and people would come out to the park to fill water jugs. As the water flowed through the building it exited into a rock channel and kids use to play in the water before it exited into a drain along the road. There was a time when the water flowed out into the sunken area at the bottom of the steps via a pipe through the rock wall but this plugged up several years ago because of liability issues.This is a stop on the Cell Phone tour of Little Rock so be sure and call the number listed out front for more information on the park. You are looking for a small plastic container containing only a log so be sure and bring a pen. While you are in the area be sure and check out Pavilion 1 and 2 as well, as they are classic examples of CCC workmanship.