Mother Nature’s Splash Park

The Missourian had a story saying that the new Cape Splash Family Aquatic Center – AKA the water park –  saw more than 106,000 visitors during its first season. Record high temperatures, no rain and the novelty of a new park probably contributed to the crowds.

Hubble Creek Splash Park in the 60s

Before we had any formal water parks, including the Lickitysplit Water Slide, located between Cape and Jackson, we had the Hubble Creek Splash Park.

Actually, it didn’t have a name it was just “Hey, Mom, we’re going down to play in the creek.”

Jackson’s Hubble Creek in 2010

The water’s higher and it’s a slightly different angle, but the creek looks about the same four decades later.

First Jackson Pool built by WPA in 1938

You can see Hubble Creek curving through the park between the swimming pool and the Jackson Drive-in.

The aging Capaha Park pool saw a drop in patrons this summer, but the Jackson pool drew more swimmers than last year.

Jackson’s first pool was built in 1938 as a WPA project. It replaced the drive-in theater in 1976.

6 Replies to “Mother Nature’s Splash Park”

  1. Ken, your pictures just give and give! I can’t count the number of times over the years our family and other relatives with us went up to the park in Jackson for a family picnic and we kids would play in or about the waters of Hubble Creek. I had to look VERY closely at the picture to determine if the boy in the striped shirt wasn’t me and the girl in the dark bob cut wasn’t a cousin. The girl doesn’t fit but the boy could be me at about age 11 (summer 1966.

  2. Keith,

    I had two other frames taken at the same time. The one I posted was the only one that shows the striped shirt’s face.

    Now, if you’d recognize your 11-year-old plumber’s crack in the shots where the boy was bent over….

    I’ll email you an photo where the kid’s are enlarged a little more if you like, or would you be happier just THINKING that the kid might have been you?

  3. If there was a plumber’s crack showing, then it probably wouldn’t have been me – in the young years I usually wore my pants typical of my German stock; high-waisted! I was not one to let my pants sag, nor let my shirt tail get out. Send me the photo neverless, the scenery just brings back such good memories…..

  4. This is certainly a walk down Memory Lane for me! My grandparents lived in Jackson so we (my sister and I)spent a lot of time at the Jackson Park. There was a family reunion the first weekend in June every year(and there still is!)so all of us kids would wind up down at the creek catching tadpoles, getting wet and doing all of the things that kids do! Those were great years growing up……sometimes wish I could go back! Ken, thanks for the trip back in time!

  5. Hubble Creek is named after an ancestor of mine, Ithamar Hubble. He was a soldier in the revolutionary war. He operated a mill on the creek near present day Gordenville

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *