Mackenzie Park's Prairie Dog Town Goes Back to 1937

Prairie Dog Town is the easiest outdoor name to recognize in Lubbock, and it lives inside Mackenzie Park at 301 Interstate 27, just east of downtown. The colony started in 1937, when Lubbock parks board chairman K.N. Clapp set out to give the black-tailed prairie dog a protected home as the species was being poisoned off the surrounding plains. Generations of Lubbock kids have crouched at the fence to watch the burrows ever since.

The park is far more than the prairie dogs. The City of Lubbock's parks list shows an equestrian trail, a disc golf course, the Moonlight Musicals Amphitheatre, public art, picnic areas, a playground, ballfields, and seasonal Santa Land.

Sitting on the Canyon Lakes side of the city, Mackenzie ties that classic wildlife stop into the larger chain of parks running along the draws — a good first stop for anyone trying to get the lay of outdoor Lubbock.