August 22, 1935

Lake Catherine State Park was officially designated a state park, making it the first among a number of state parks that would be located beside major man-made lakes built for hydropower and flood-control purposes. Harvey Couch had donated to the state 2,048 acres of his land along the shore of Lake Catherine. The 1,940-acre lake had been created by Remmel Dam, the state’s first major hydroelectric project, in 1924. The Civilian Conservation Corps began park construction in 1937. The park opened that year after construction of a road to the then-remote site. From 1942 to 1945, the park was used as a rest-and-recreation satellite facility for wounded servicemen in the Army-Navy Hospital in nearby Hot Springs (Garland County).