Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Sites

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was quite active in Grand County, Utah.  Four CCC camps were established in and around Moab, the county seat.  The first was the Warner Lake Camp, F-20, in 1933 under the US Forest Service, which also ran camp PE-214.  These camps worked principally on road construction and flood control on Mill Creek.   The biggest and longest lived of the CCC camps in the county was the Dalton Wells Camp, DG-32, running from 1935 to 1941.  That camp operated under the Division of Grazing of the General Land Office (predecessor of the Bureau of Land Management), working around...

The museum, located in a 1939 CCC building, opened during the Ninth Annual CCC Festival on November 5, 1994. You will see displays of CCC memorabilia, photographs and examples of CCC workmanship. Big Band music and President Roosevelt's Fireside Chats play in the background. A video of original CCC footage takes you back to the 1930s. There was also a totem pole that was installed in the museum at the time (since removed). The CCC developed eight state parks in Florida: Highlands Hammock, Myakka River, Hillsborough River, Gold Head Branch, O'Leno, Fort Clinch, Torreya and Florida Caverns.  

"On the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain, this 2800-acre park encompasses the remains of a nineteenth-century plantation, Fontainebleau, named after the Parisian forest... The plantation was converted to a park beginning in 1938, one of Louisiana’s first state parks. Originally called Tchefuncte State Park, it opened in 1943 as Fontainebleau State Park. The State Parks Commission hired landscape architect William W. Wells to design the master plan, which was partially implemented by the Civilian Conservation Corp. The plan included group campsites, numerous Creole-influenced brick and rustic wood buildings, a beach, and a picnic area with an open-air shelter. An access road...

This small, rustic structure was built by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers as the administrative building for Oregon’s CCC headquarters. Today it serves as the Forest History Center of the Oregon State Department of Forestry. Oregon had as many as fourteen CCC camps under the jurisdiction of the State’s Forester during the corps’ operation between 1933 and 1942. When plans for construction of a State Forest Department headquarters began in 1935, a 4.5 acre site had already been acquired to the east of Salem to accommodate the state's CCC headquarters.  Located on the eastern banks of Mill Creek, the CCC headquarters...

"On the Hoosier, the CCC crews fought fire, planted trees, developed habitat for fish and wildlife, constructed roads, bridges, campgrounds, and lookout towers. During the early days of the Hoosier National Forest, the CCC served as the primary work force for a skeletal crew of foresters. A CCC camp, located in Kurtz, not only built the lookout tower at Hickory Ridge and Dutch Ridge, but also the one at Trinity Springs. They reconstructed the Tower Road, the Maumee Road, and the old Dutch Ridge Road (now State Road 446). The rock to build the roads was quarried from what is now Blackwell Pond....

"The Huron-Manistee National Forests are two national forests combined in 1945 for administration purposes and which comprise 978,906 acres (3,960 km2) of public lands, including 5,786 acres (23 km2) of wetlands, extending across the northern lower peninsula of Michigan." (wikipedia.org) "There were 11 CCC camps on the Huron National Forest and 25 on the Manistee National Forest. The Manistee men built the Chittenden Nursery at Wellston to supply seedlings for planting." (www.foresthistory.org)

"CCC camps supervised by the Forest Service on the Shawnee National Forest were Camps Dry Hill, Kedron, Hutchins, Simpson, Eddyville, Cadiz, Hicks, Delta, Tamms, and Pomona (an all-black enrollee camp). Men from these camps were instrumental in the relief and clean up work required by the 1937 Ohio River flood disaster."

This CCC Camp in Indian Township was called the "Far East" 192nd co. camp, and was under the immediate supervision of the Maine Forest Service from June 1933 to June 1941. The Far East Camp focused on forest culture, road construction and maintenance, and extended West Street on what is presently called the Stud Mill Road. During WWII the camp was modified, in part, by the addition of a barbed wire fence, additional fences, and four guard towers. After approval from the U.S. Truman Committee this camp then became a Prisoner of War camp in 1944 and housed from 250-500 German...

"Named for the historic mining district, the Crown King Ranger Station includes numerous structures and buildings built by the Civilian Conservation Corps between 1934 and 1938. The office and residence were designed in the Bungalow/Craftsman style with timbered gables and wide front porches fronted by square columns on pedestals. The buildings were designed according to standard Forest Service plans. Each complex is unique however -- modified to make use of local materials and to adapt to the landscape itself. Horsethief Basin facilities were funded by the Public Works Administration as part of a large recreation project for Phoenix residents. CCC...

A manned fire station in the San Bernardino National Park. The supervisor said that the site was once a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp. However, no structures from the original camp survive except for a crumbling square concrete foundation near the outdoor workout area.

"Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park is located seven miles (11 km) south of Mandan, North Dakota. The park is home to On-A-Slant Indian Village, the blockhouses and the Custer house. President Theodore Roosevelt signed the deed to the land to the state in 1907 as Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park... In 1934, the Civilian Conservation Corps built a visitor center, shelters, and roads. They also reconstructed military blockhouses and placed cornerstones to mark where fort buildings once stood, as well as replicating Mandan earthen lodges. Additional reproductions have since been built on the site creating a replica Mandan village, called "On-a-Slant Village."...

Originally called Fort Humphreys, this Army post was established during World War I. The name was changed to Fort Belvoir in 1935. "Title I of the Work Relief and Public Works Appropriation Act gave $13,942,572 in WPA funds and $52,283,400 in PWA funds for Army housing. Spent at 64 posts, 285 projects, 1091 sets of quarters. These projects had to be substantially completed by Jan. 1, 1940...Both Jadwin Loop Village and Gerber Village expanded in 1939 with the addition of row houses using PWA workers."   (https://www.fortbelvoirhousinghistory.com) WPA work on the site in 1938-40 included: "Improve grounds at Fort Humphreys…including rehabilitating roads and sidewalks,...

Fort Bunker Hill was a part of the Civil War ring of forts defending the capital. The site was transformed into a park in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as a park for a recently built suburban neighborhood. Sadly, it has been abandonned by the city park authorities and left in an overgrown and dilapidated condition. A HABS report details the CCC development of the park: “By the end of 1935, CCC work had begun at the site with Camp NP-11-DC planting trees and constructing walks.  Work at the site continued into at least early 1937.  This Camp and...

The Civilian Conservation (CCC) helped the National Park Service reconstruct Fort Churchill in the 1930s. Fort Churchill was an 1860s army post built along the Overland Emigrant Trail, which was abandoned in 1869 when its usefulness had passed. Afterward, it fell into ruin. “On behalf of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Senator McCarran and Congressman Scrugham secured a CCC camp to restore the historic site. During the summer and fall of 1935, Camp Fort Churchill constructed a campground and a day-use area and built a number of park buildings. Pleased with the restoration and new facilities, the DAR presented...

In 1937, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) undertook historical restoration for a number of sites in the National Parks, including the Civil War-era Fort Donelson battlefield.

Fort Douglas was expanded during the New Deal, including several buildings and improvements to the water and street systems.  The CCC took over a warehouse (building 101) and added stables and quarters along both sides.  The PWA funded the construction of large new barracks (building 100). The WPA added several homes for senior officers (buildings 621-625 on the central parade grounds, along De Trobriand Street) and non-commissioned officers (buildings 658, 600, 664, 665, 666 on Connor Road), along with entrance columns.  The WPA also built a recreation building and swimming pool (no longer extant), bath house and a gas station (modified from...

Fort Douglas was expanded during the New Deal, including several buildings and improvements to the water and street systems.  The CCC took over a warehouse (building 101) and added stables and quarters along both sides.   In addition, the PWA funded the construction of large new barracks (building 100) and the WPA added several homes for senior officers (buildings 621-625 on the central parade grounds, along De Trobriand Street) and non-commissioned officers (buildings 658, 600, 664, 665, 666 on Connor Road), along with other improvements. More photos taken by the WPA during the 1930s are in the archives of the library at the University of...

Fort Douglas was expanded during the New Deal by the PWA, CCC and WPA.  The WPA added several homes for senior officers (buildings 621-625 on the central parade grounds, along De Trobriand Street) and non-commissioned officers (buildings 658, 600, 664, 665, 666 on Connor Road), along with entrance columns.  These are all still in use. There are several other WPA works at Fort Douglas that are harder to document or have disappeared:  a recreation building (pictured), swimming pool (filled in?), a gas station (modified from an earlier stone building that still stands), and improvements to the water and street systems (invisible). The only site marked...

From a HABS Survey Report on CCC involvement in the park's development: "This park is located on the east side of the Anacostia River just to the south of East Capitol Street in Southeast Washington.  The initial, roughly sixteen-acre land purchase encompassing the original section of Fort Dupont Park, including the fort, occurred in 1916.   In 1933, the site came under the purview of the NPS and they quickly advanced existing plans to enlarge the park.  They envisioned ‘that the ultimate development of Fort Dupont will be somewhat similar to Rock Creek Park’ and ‘will serve the large population of Northeast...

A HABS Survey Report describes CCC work at Fort Foote Park: “Constructed as part of a ring of Civil War fortifications surrounding Washington, DC, and intended to replace the aging Fort Washington located a few miles down the river, Fort Foote is the best-preserved Civil War-era fort in the area.  Some of its ramparts are fully readable and two massive Rodman cannon are still fixed on the river.  The CCC constructed a sea wall below the fort along 958 feet of Potomac River shoreline.  Built to prevent erosion of the bluff on which Fort Foote sits, the rip rapping entailed 1942...

"The men of the CCC developed this park by building roads, pavilions, shelters, outdoor grills, restrooms, and more.  They rebuilt the deteriorated walls of Fort Frederick (now a National Historic Landmark) and the barrack foundations inside the fort (the barracks were fully restored in the 1970s).  The park now offers historical reenactments of 18th century life, camping, boating, fishing, and hiking."

The 3803 Junior White Company was established in Texas Jan. 5, 1938. They worked for three years prior to the program's discontinuance developing the park's campground, roads, and completing a partial reconstruction of the fort. The fort's bakery was one of the buildings reconstructed. The camp was abandoned in 1941 due to World War II.      

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed the Fort Hunt site as a recreational park from 1936 to 1939.  The work was very extensive, including excavating a lake, a golf course, roads and parking areas, and a storm drainage system.  The CCC enrollees built 8 acres of picnic areas with tables, stone fireplaces, restrooms, water pipes and drinking fountains, plus a trail system for hikers.  Lastly, they constructed a park ranger home, shop buildings and an oil storage house, and planted trees and other landscaping. Little of the original work remains, since the park has undergone a great deal of renovation over...

Fort Knox is a massive granite fort built to protect the Penobscot river in the aftermath of the failure of the US to protect river towns and the valuable lumber trade from British depredations during the Revolution, the War of 1812, and northern border tensions around 1838-39. Construction began in 1844 and continued until 1869. It was used intermittently and never saw action. In 1923, the US military sold it as surplus to the State of Maine for $2,121. During 1935-1936, a work crew from the Ellsworth CCC Co. 159 helped transform the fort into a major tourist destination. According to...

The main campus of Fort Lewis College was moved to Durango, Colorado in 1956, but before then it was located at this site, 16 miles southwest of Durango on what was originally a military site, then a boarding school for Native Americans, then a high school, then a two-year college. Since the 1950s, this has been the site of the San Juan Basin Research Center and is currently connected to Fort Lewis College once more as an auxiliary campus used for agricultural research among other purposes. During the 1930s, New Deal programs contributed important resources to the campus: "Dean Bader faced...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.) restored "several historic buildings in Fort Mackinac."

"During 1934-35, the Civilian Conservation Corps restored the fort and established public recreational facilities, which enabled Fort Macon State Park to officially open May 1, 1936, as North Carolina’s first functioning state park."

Fort Mahan, in NE Washington DC, was a part of the Civil War defensive ring of forts circling the capital. The site was transformed into a park in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  The CCC tasked Camp NP-11-DC (National Arboretum) with transforming a hillside site into a picnic grounds.  A HABS Survey Report provides details on the CCC improvements to the park and their current condition: “... In creating the grounds, the enrollees filled a borrow pit dug to provide fill for other area projects, channeled a spring, cleared trash and dead trees and brush, and graded the entire...

In 1934 several New Deal Programs provided funding and employed Fort Monroe laborers in the construction of the Fort Monroe Bandshell in Continental Park. The new bandshell replaced the previous one that had been destroyed by hurricanes in 1933. Capt. Harrington W. Cochran designed the bandshell for the 2nd Coast Artillery Band which played there for the first time in April 1934. Robert Kelly, Casemate Museum Historian at the Fort Monroe Authority, notes that Capt. Cochran's diary "documents Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Public Works Administration (PWA), and the Civil Works Administration (CWA) all either funding projects and/or providing labor for improvements across the post."

Fort Mountain State Park in northern Georgia was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the 1930s. Part of the Cohutta Mountain Range, the park gained its name for a stone structure located along a mountaintop in the area.   The park officially opened in 1936. The CCC built the park’s infrastructure and constructed many of its facilities such as the lake and recreational buildings. CCC work crews also did forestry work and made hiking trails. “One of the most notable contributions by the CCC,” according to Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites, “is the large stone fire tower that stands...

Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, preserves the site of the Battle of Fort Necessity. "In 1935-37, a Civilian Conservation Corps camp was located at Fort Necessity. The Corps constructed barracks and other support buildings at the site of the present day administration and maintenance facilities. The Fort Necessity Memorial Association had hoped the CCC would repair and restore the tavern, but very little, if any, of this work was actually done by the Corps. The Corps planted trees, constructed small dams, built bridges, culverts, picnic areas and roadways. The buildings were razed, but many of the other structures...

Fort Niobrara NWR - Valentine NE Fort Niobrara Wildlife Refuge was established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 by Executive Order.  The principal aim was to protect bison and elk herds which had dwindled almost to extinction under the pressure of market hunting in the 19th century.  It was created out of the old frontier Fort Niobrara and today covers almost 20,000 acres of grasslands and riparian forest in Nebraska. In October 1933, the CCC began work in the refuge. A number of projects were identified, including a big game fence measuring twenty-one miles, a seven mile four-wire stock fence, fire prevention...

A historical marker explains the CCC's role in developing the Fort Parker State Park: "In August 1935, construction of a state park began here on the former town site of Springfield under the direction of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The group assigned to build Fort Parker State Park was Company 3807(C), an African American CCC Camp. From 1935 to 1942, the park company constructed park buildings, roads and facilities, erected a dam across the Navasota River, and reconstructed old Fort Parker. Located nearby, old Fort Parker was rebuilt in preparation for a Texas Centennial observance in 1936, and was the first...

"Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site includes a visitor's center with exhibits, videos, a bookstore, and self-guided tours of the fort grounds and outlying sites. The tour marks the archaeological remains of the fort's buildings. A cabin built by the Civilian Conservation Corps has been furnished to depict the period quarters of an officer's wife and a non-commissioned officer’s quarters. Visitors can also tour the nearby battlefields which are located within a five mile radius of the visitor center and include interpretive trails." A headline in Montana's Big Timber Pioneer newspaper suggests that the project was completed in 1938.

The U.S. Army constructed Fort Ridgely in 1835. It became a state park in 1934 and received significant improvement work from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).   The CCC erected buildings made of local Morton rainbow granite and conducted an archaeological survey, supervised by the Minnesota Historical Society. Based on the survey, Corpsmen helped restore the original fort commissary which became a museum and meeting hall. In all of the state’s parks, “the fort commissary is the only remaining historic reconstruction done by the CCC.”

The fort dates back the early nineteenth century, when it was used to “promote and protext the interests of the United States in the region’s fur trade” (historicfortsnelling.org). Between 1938 and 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) performed structural renovation and historic restoration work at this site, including sidewalks, sewers, porches, and garages. National Park Service: "Fort Snelling benefited from New Deal programs such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The programs provided funding for a general reconditioning of the fort, including landscaping and infrastructure. Workers graded and resurfaced existing roads, built new sidewalks and curbs and...

From a HABS Survey Report describing CCC work on the Fort: “Ca. 1936, CCC enrollees reconstructed a portion of the Civil War-era fort-part of Washington's defensive ring-using ‘concrete logs and timbers to simulate original log construction.’  This reconstruction included part of the fort's moat, banquette, revetments, gun platforms, and an underground powder magazine, all set within a sloped lawn and accessed by gravel walks. The 2004 field survey found that the reconstructed fort and magazine remain intact and in reasonably good shape.  Access to the underground magazine has been blocked and the walkways at the site (save the perimeter sidewalks along the...

Fort Washington was built to defend the river access to Washington D.C. in the early 19th century. In the 1930s, both the WPA and the CCC made general improvements to the Fort and surrounding park. The WPA made "general improvements to building and facilities at Fort Washington…including rehabilitating school, barracks, kitchens, latrines, gymnasium, and officers' club, including facilities, replacing sanitary sewers, altering and enlarging target facilities, improving roads by widening, straightening, resurfacing, and constructing curbs and gutters." (National Archives) A HABS Survey describes CCC activity at the Fort: “CCC work occurred during two periods at Fort Washington, first by Camp NP-6-VA (Fort Hunt),...

Fort Winfield Scott served as a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) training and supply facility. Between 1933 and 1939, Fort Mason, which was under Fort Scott’s command, was the supply center for the several hundred CCC camps on the Pacific Coast. Fort Winfield Scott was also the first stop for CCC rookies. Here, they received their enrollment certificates and standard-issue equipment, and did their first drills, before moving on to camps throughout California. Included in this entry are primary source materials from artist Leon Bibel, who was enrolled and discharged from the CCC at Fort Winfield Scott. The materials include Bibel’s CCC...

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 1811 arrived in Mineral Wells in June 1933 to begin work on project SP-8, a state park that never was completed and transferred to the state. The company divided its time between the park and improvements to facilities at nearby Camp Wolters. The CCC built several rock buildings at Camp Wolters, of which only one survives according to the interpretive sign near the building. The company left Mineral Wells in January 1934. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was active at the camp from 1938 to 1940. The most visible remnant of the WPA work is the...