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The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), working for the US Forest Service, constructed four fire lookout towers around Rocky Mountain National Park.  The one on the summit of Shadow Mountain, overlooking Grand Lake CO in the southwest corner of the park, is the last survivor of the four. Completed in 1933, the three-story lookout was built in the classic Rustic style favored by the US Forest Service and National Park Service at the time.  It consists of a concrete foundation, two stories of stone masonry, and a wooden upper story. It remained in use until 1968 and is today a scenic destination for...

In 1936, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed three buildings for what was then called the Bighorn Ranger Station at the east entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park – which was the original entrance on this side of the park. The group included a ranger office with garage, a ranger residence and secondary residence/utility building. The three structures were designed by Edward Nickel of the park service in the classic National Park rustic style popular in the first half of the 20th century. "The residence building particularly reflects the design characteristics of the style with its uncoursed native stone foundation, log...

Moraine Park, a large valley in the southeastern portion of Rocky Mountain National Park, is home to the Moraine Park Museum.  The building was formerly a private lodge built in 1923.  Both Moraine Park (a glacial valley) and Moraine Lodge were purchased in 1931 by the National Park Service, which cleared the area of most of its former private resort structures. In 1934, the Public Works Administration (PWA) funded a thorough remodeling of the building to convert it into Rocky Mountain National park’s primary museum. The exterior of the museum building has been preserved in its original form as a typical rustic...

"The Decorah Municipal Swimming Pool building design is an architectural specimen of an advanced contemporary style of its day. It is a vision of both the Art Moderne and the International styles of architecture, as designed by Edward Novak, who worked at the well-known Charles Altfillisch architectural firm in Decorah... The construction of the pool building has additional importance in local history. Constructing the Decorah Swimming Pool was a partnership project between the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the city of Decorah during the Great Depression. Land Deed Record No. 179 from Winneshiek County shows the three lots where the pool...

Built by the WPA in 1938 and still in use. It is also known as the Karl King Bandshell. "Hired to design the structure was Henry Kamphoefner, a young architect from Sioux City who had won international recognition for a pavilion which was constructed in Sioux City in 1935.  When completed in 1938 the Fort Dodge Bandshell was already considered an excellent example of Modern Movement Architecture.  It is made wholly of reinforced concrete cast in smooth-lined forms. WPA funding took care of 85% of the $45,000 cost, the City of Fort Dodge making up the remainder. The Oleson Park Music...

The school auditorium contains a set of murals by Sacha Moldovan entitled "New York Old and New," painted under the auspices of the WPA. "Drawing inspiration from historic images of New York as well as 1930s views of the city, Sacha Moldovan created a fanciful panorama of New York City, old and new, blending recognizable landmarks with a naïve sensibility. Moldovan was born in Russia but lived and worked in Paris, where he came of age artistically as a member of the School of  Paris, befriending Henri Matisse and Chaim Soutine. Moldovan’s paintings feature thick applications of brilliant color, heavy outlines, and...

The third-floor hallway at DeWitt Clinton High School contains two huge New Deal murals by Alfred Floegel, The History of the World (walls) and Constellations (ceiling). The oil on canvas murals were painted in 1934-1940. The History of the World is 5 feet 4 inches high and 194 feet long. Floegel worked on the Clinton High School murals from 1934 to 1940. In the wall mural, different eras of world history are represented in sequence, starting at the rear, proceeding up the right wall, then crossing over and proceeding down the left wall. The ceiling is uniformly done in blue and gold,...

The High School of Fashion Industries (formerly the Central High School of Needle Trades) is a New Deal building, which contains a well-known mural by Ernest Fiene. It is commonly believed to be a WPA Arts Project mural, but Gerald Markowitz, co-author of A New Deal for Art (1977), assures us that it is not, even though the spirit of the painting is so typically New Deal.  We have left it on our map because of the common confusion, which this may help allay. "In Manhattan, the fledgling coalition of government, industry, and organized labor created the Central High School of Needle Trades...

This large stone building was completed by the WPA in 1938 along with a swimming pool. The pool has since been replaced by a modern pool, but the large bathhouse and attached buildings have been repurposed as the Maplewood Public Library. When it was built, the pool was segregated with this being a white only pool.

Also called CCC Park, Perry Lake Park was built by the CCC during the Great Depression. The lake, dock and picnic shelters remain.   A plaque at the park provides a history of this site: "The creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 gave promise to many communities affected by the Great Depression of the 30's. Through the cooperative efforts of the Chamber of Commerce, city officials and interested citizens, 170 acres of land referred to as 'The Perry City Farm' was designated as the site for a CCC Camp. Will Rogers, at the time Oklahoma's...