Jack Brooks Park Opens Onto an Old WWII Training Ground

Jack Brooks Park is a big mainland play space. Its 678 acres near Hitchcock hold ball fields, a rodeo arena, horse and mountain-bike trails, disc golf, and a kayak launch. The county also calls it a historic site. That story reaches beyond the park fence.

Camp Wallace began nearby in November 1940. The federal government built the military training camp across more than 3,300 acres between Hitchcock and Alta Loma. It had 161 barracks among 399 buildings. By May 1941, more than 10,000 military personnel and civilian staff were there.

At the park entrance, another marker points seven-tenths of a mile south to a former Navy blimp base. It opened in 1943 with a hangar built for six blimps. Those aircraft watched coastal shipping lanes during World War II. The giant hangar is gone. Today's trails and playing fields sit beside ground once shaped for training, patrols, and thousands of people.