Mules dug the pool that made Sulphur Park a gathering place

In the summer of 1930, Jake Kurtz set aside four acres beside the newly paved State Highway 95 between Shiner and Moulton. The site sat on the north bank of Ponton Creek, close enough to both towns to become shared ground.

George Jassen cut a 120-by-40-foot swimming pool with horse- and mule-drawn scrapers. A new 73-foot sulphur well supplied the water. The pool included shallow wading space and deeper water for diving. The Shiner Light Plant spent two months extending power to the property.

Splash Day opened the park on August 31. Hundreds came for barbecue, a turkey shoot, a baseball tournament, and music by the Schultz Band. Bathhouses, a concession stand, a covered dance floor, and a country store gave people reasons to stay after a swim or ball game.

The pool opened by season, while the grounds operated in good weather. Picnic tables sat beneath large trees, and crowds sometimes reached into the thousands in a day. Sulphur Park served the two communities for more than 60 years, turning a roadside well and a mule-cut pool into a long-running piece of local summer.