{"nrhp_refnum":"76002048","name":"Johnston, Joseph E., Confederate Reunion Grounds","other_names":["Jacks Creek Reunion Grounds","Camp No. 94 United Confederate V"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"4 mi. W of Mexia on SR 1633","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mexia","county":"Limestone County","state":"TX","lat":31.633151925000078,"lon":-96.5602705508561,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-04-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 70-acre reunion ground at the junction of Jacks Creek and the Navasota River, about 4 miles west of Mexia in Limestone County, Texas, purchased in 1892 by the Joseph E. Johnston Camp No. 94, United Confederate Veterans.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the grounds as a reminder of the period when Confederate commemoration reinforced the South's regional consciousness, and as a site of annual veterans' encampments into the 1930s. It also notes the camp was unusual for selling lots to individual owners and laying out a street plan. The octagonal dance pavilion is described as architecturally significant.","narrative":"Seventy acres at the meeting point of Jacks Creek and the Navasota River, west of Mexia, make up a reunion ground bought in 1892 by Joseph E. Johnston Camp No. 94 of the United Confederate Veterans. Local veterans had begun holding annual encampments in 1889, with speeches, memorial activities, concerts, dancing, swimming and fishing. Families stayed in tents or summer houses, and special trains brought visitors from Fort Worth, Dallas and Houston. The camp sold lots to shareholders and laid out roads, which was unusual. The grounds include an octagonal dance pavilion with an unusual tiered central support, entry arches with Victorian ironwork, two houses from about 1900, and the Val Verde cannon captured early in the Civil War. During the 1920s oil boom, a dam, bathhouse and clubhouse were added; only ruins remain. Reunions ended in the early 1940s, and a permanent state charter in 1965 revived the grounds as a park for Limestone County.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Johansen, a Norwegian immigrant (pavilion builder)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Operated as a park since restoration in 1965; the pavilion still stands, while the 1920s clubhouse, bathhouse and gardens survive only as ruins or foundations.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.300764-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/44/9728/40972844/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/76002048.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002048/f67bd14873-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002048/f67bd14873-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"TxHC (talk). Original uploader was TxHC at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Confederate_Reunion_Grounds_State_Historic_Site_in_2009.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">TxHC (talk). Original uploader was TxHC at en.wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Confederate_Reunion_Grounds_State_Historic_Site_in_2009.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972844","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_Reunion_Grounds_State_Historic_Site","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5159725"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/limestone-county/johnston-joseph-e-confederate-reunion-grounds-76002048/"}