The New Deal contributed substantially to the betterment of Rock Creek Park in the 1930s. This involved a number of federal agencies. Rock Creek Park is a key greenway in the District of Columbia and, at 1750 acres, is almost… read more
The National Park Service, which took over command of the Capitol Parks system in 1934, restored the old Pierce Mill in Rock Creek Park in 1935-36 with the aid of a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA) of $26,614… read more
Bridal paths were a part of Rock Creek Park from the beginning around 1900, but the system of paths and bridges was greatly expanded during the New Deal. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built more than two miles of bridle… read more
In 1937, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) demolished an abandoned reservoir at 16th St. and Morrow Drive, filled in the hole, leveled the adjacent area, and sodded and seeded the entire area. The open space was intended to be used for… read more
In 1935-36, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Piney Branch Parkway on the southeast side of Rock Creek Park. It was meant to serve as a new access road to the park and to improve traffic flow to and… read more
The Works Progess Administration (WPA) did landscape cleanup around Fort DeRussy in Rock Creek Park. Crews removed underbrush, poisonous plants, and dead trees from the old earthworks, which were then (and are now) heavily forested. Fort DeRussy is a Civil… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was very active in Rock Creek park, as well as the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, during the 1930s. Among other work, the CCC enrollees cleared Rock Creek of brush, deepened the channel and added… read more
In 1937, 250 WPA enrollees went to work on a recreation center on the site of the defunct Brightwood Reservoir in Rock Creek Park. The Washington Post (1937) reported: “Dynamite yesterday blasted a hole through the obsolete Sixteenth Street Reservoir so… read more
The New Deal provided funding and labor for road improvements in Rock Creek Park. The primary Depression-era addition to the parks road system was the long-contemplated construction of a direct connection between Bingham Drive and Daniel Road (Davis 1996, p. 94)…. read more