• Itasca State Park: Development - Park Rapids MN
    Between 1933 and 1942, relief workers stationed at two Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps and one Works Progress Administration (WPA) camp carried out extensive development of Itasca State Park at the headwaters of the Mississippi River.  They constructed 45 buildings in the Rustic Style, and myriad other structures, as well as creating campgrounds, picnic areas and a trail system. Buildings were constructed under the supervision of the Minnesota Central Design Office of the National Park Service and Edward W. Barber and V. C. Martin were the principal architects. According to the Minnesota Historical Society “Log construction was generally used because timber...
  • Itasca State Park: Forest Inn - Park Rapids MN
    "The Forest Inn is one of the largest buildings constructed by the CCC in the state park system, with overall dimensions of 144-foot by 50-foot. The T-shaped combination building features both split stone and log construction and is covered by an intersecting gable roof supported by log rafters and purlins. The principal facade includes a central entrance as well as north and south wings. The entrance projects from the main facade and is flanked by massive 7-foot by 7-foot-6-inch stone pylons. The north wing consists of a split stone wall which rises to the sill level with 13-inch to 14-inch horizontal...
  • Itasca State Park: Old Timer's Cabin - Park Rapids MN
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed Itasca State Park’s Old Timer’s Cabin in 1933-1934.  It was the first structure built at the park by the CCC. This rectangular log cabin with gabled roof ranks is composed of logs so large that “just four of them made an entire wall.”  The logs were hand-shaped from downed trees, but the idea was to remind people of what the northern American forest was like before the age of mass timbering in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
  • Post Office - Park Rapids MN
    The historic post office in Park Rapids, Minnesota was built in 1938 as a New Deal project. The building bears a standard cornerstone and houses examples of New Deal artwork.
  • Post Office Reliefs - Park Rapids MN
    The historic post office in Park Rapids, Minnesota houses a collection of New Deal wooden reliefs created by Alonzo Hauser: "Park Service Symbol," "Indian," and "Lumberjack in Setting." The works were commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and completed and installed in 1941.