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Paradise Day Use Area is just a mile and a half from the McKenzie Ranger Station on the south bank of the McKenzie River. This picnic area was laid-out and improved by Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees from CCC Camp Belknap in 1937. When constructed it included both the current day use area and the adjacent Paradise Campground. At the time, "Paradise Camp" was meant to serve as many as five-hundred campers. In addition to the picnic areas with stone fireplaces/stoves, an amphitheater is located in the day use area. The log benches with back rests, laid out in two columns of...

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees stationed in the Bridger-Teton National Forest of Wyoming constructed the Monument Ridge Fire Lookout in 1941. The structure is the only remaining fire lookout in Wyoming assembled with precut logs. The wooden cabin looks over the Hoback Ranger District and has a sweeping view of the surrounding mountain ranges. The lookout was used to identify and fight forest fires until the 1970s, when it was decommissioned by the U.S. Forest Service. Today, the Monument Ridge Fire Lookout is a common destination for hikers, bikers and ATV-riders who traverse the Hoback Mountain Range. It remains in relatively good...

Also referred to as the McKenzie River Campground, the McKenzie Bridge Campground was among the first campgrounds built with Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) labor in the Willamette National Forest (WNF). The forest supervisor prioritized recreation projects in the WNF, setting a goal that 25% of CCC time be spent on recreational development with the remainder be spent on fire fighting and forest management responsibilities. CCC enrollees from Camp Belknap constructed the McKenzie Bridge Campground, laying out the site's roads and campsites, providing water, and constructing picnic tables as well as the needed facilities for camping and picnicking. Today at McKenzie Bridge...

In 1933, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers stationed at Camp Fremont in Pinedale, Wyoming built a large system of ponds for environmental and recreational purposes. Additional camp work included a variety of other projects such as reforestation, flood control, and road building. Following the closure of Camp Fremont in 1942, the CCC Ponds went out of use and became derelict. The ponds were reconstructed in the 1990s, however, and were given thematic names after resident wildlife, including the Fish Pond, Duck Pond, Beaver Pond, and Frog Pond. Today, the CCC Ponds are a popular recreation area for fishing, walking, biking and watching...

Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers built the Bison Arena at the Kansas State Fairgrounds. Other WPA-built improvements included "upgrading the fair's sewer, rebuilding the Old Mill ride with permanent fireproof concrete, and putting in a reinforced concrete stage and basement at the grandstand." The Bison Arena and the rebuilt Old Mill ride are still in use.

The Works Progress Administration built the Blaine Stadium and Fieldhouse in Ponca City OK in 1936-1937. The stadium is built with rusticated stone. It is still used by Ponca City High School football. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. According to the Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory Nomination for the Blaine Stadium, the stadium project created "wages for 32,000 man-hours of labor into the local economy, helping to revitalize the mainstreet hit hard by the decline of the oil industry and of the value of agricultural products."

The Federal Arts Project (FAP) funded the Newton (now Newton North) High School Murals in Newton MA. Painted by Maurice Compris, the mural triptych depicts "Education," "Commerce," and "Industry." It was dedicated as a memorial to Leighton Brown, class of 1915, who died in World War I. Originally displayed in Newton High School library, moved to Newton North cafeteria, and now in the new Newton North building.

Contributing improvements in forest management and recreation development, CCC Camp Belknap operated in the Willamette National Forest for five years. From spring 1933 to summer 1938, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees strung phone lines through the forest, and constructed roads and trails. They built lookouts and guard stations with water systems, and fought several major fires. They opened new parts of the forest to camping and other recreation opportunities, building campgrounds, picnic areas, and ski lodges and ski runs. Perhaps the most distinctive of the projects completed by Camp Belknap's "CCC boys" is the Dee Wright Observatory near McKenzie Pass. Although...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the Lenexa Municipal Water System in Lenexa KS. "Establishing a municipal water system occupied the mayor and council for sometime, and it was approved on October 1, 1935. A federal PWA project grant was received for $31,091 to help build the system." Long time Lenexa residents recall a water tower in what is now Old Town Lenexa that they believe was linked to this project. The water tower was dismantled in the 1970s or 80s.

The National Youth Administration (NYA), a branch of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for students and unemployed young people, built the Municipal Building in Roosevelt, Utah, in 1941. The Municipal Building is a modest, one-story structure in brick with very simple decoration (a zig-zag line in a white band above the front entrance).  Over the entrance is a cast-concrete plaque with the name and NYA 1941 on each side (see photo). The building sits next to the public library in the town's Central Park.  Presumably, it once was the town hall, but it presently houses a city ambulance garage (a later addition...