Explore Mackenzie Park: A Historical Park in Lubbock
Revised by: Laurie E. Jasinski
Published: 1976
Updated: November 12, 2025
Mackenzie Park, located in the northeast portion of Lubbock and named for Gen. Ranald S. Mackenzie, is a park, containing approximately 691 acres, that offers a variety of recreational activities. By 1924 city developers had acquired 138 acres in this area of Yellow House Canyon, at which two upper tributaries of the Brazos River merge, as Lubbock's first city-county park. A swimming pool had already been constructed there in 1921, and a municipal golf course opened two years later. D. E. Colp, chairman of the State Parks Board, recommended the establishment of a state park to the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce, but nothing was done until 1933, when the local American Legion post pushed the idea to boost the city's lagging economy during the Great Depression. In 1935, after approval from the State Parks Board, the city bought 450 acres in Yellow House Canyon from Mollie D. Abernathy and P. F. Brown. This land, along with the old city and county park lands, was deeded to the state and named Mackenzie Park. A Civilian Conservation Corps camp was established to construct roads, bridges, and recreation facilities and to plant trees. To ensure proper maintenance and development, a bill was passed by the legislature leasing the park to the city. Mackenzie Park is thus operated by the Lubbock parks and recreation department.
Facilities include Meadowbrook Golf Course, a swimming pool, trails for hiking and biking, equestrian trails, softball and baseball fields, two disc golf courses, as well as Canyon Run Dog Park and Moonlight Musicals Amphitheatre. For decades visitors enjoyed a small amusement park—Joyland Amusement Park—but aging equipment and safety concerns led to its closing. A unique feature of Mackenzie Park is a cultivated prairie dog town begun in 1937 through the efforts of K. N. Clapp, then chairman of the Lubbock Parks Board, to help save the black-tailed prairie dog from extinction. The completion of the Canyon Lakes project in the 1980s added further attraction to the park, and nearby Fair Park Coliseum and Livestock Arena house the annual Panhandle-South Plains Fair in September. Park property also includes a sculpture garden, an agriculture museum, and the American Wind Power Center that displays a collection of historic windmills.
Bibliography:
Mackenzie Park—Lubbock’s Must-See Park, Parks & Recreation, City of Lubbock, Texas (https://ci.lubbock.tx.us/departments/parks-recreation/resources/mackenzie-park-lubbocks-must-see-park), accessed November 11, 2025. George Oxford Miller, Texas Parks and Campgrounds: Central, South, and West Texas (Austin: Texas Monthly Press, 1984).
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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Hugh Allen Anderson Revised by Laurie E. Jasinski, “Mackenzie Park,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/mackenzie-state-recreation-area.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
TID:
GKM07
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- 1976
- November 12, 2025
