CAMERON PARK, TEXAS. Cameron Park is a colonia located east of Farm Road 1847 about four miles north of downtown Brownsville in southern Cameron County. This residential area began by the early 1980s and consists of Hispanic, lower-income families. In 1989 U. S. congressmen introduced measures to provide infrastructure improvements to a number of border colonias, including Cameron Park. This included providing water and waste-water service. In 1990 the population was 3,802. That number increased to 5,961 in 2000. By that time most of the 1,000 residences had water facilities and sewer hookups, and more than nine of the community's eleven miles of roads had been paved. The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs in conjunction with county officials and others had worked for the improvements. Approximately 100 homes were also being rebuilt to bring substandard housing up to code. In spite of the improvements, Cameron Park was still characterized as one of the poorest colonias in Cameron County.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ariel Cisneros, "Texas Colonias: Housing and Infrastructure Issues" (http://www.dallasfed.org/research/border/tbe_cisneros.html), accessed August 16, 2006.
