National Park Service (NPS) Sites

Anacostia Park is one of Washington DC's two largest parks and recreation areas, along with Rock Creek Park.  It covers over 1200 acres along the Anacostia River from South Capitol Street SE to the Maryland boundary in NE.  The New Deal improved the park in major ways, after the Capital Parks system was put under the control of the National Park Service (NPS) by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. New Deal public works agencies developed such key features of the park as Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, Langston Golf Course and Anacostia Pool (see linked pages). Besides those major elements, improvements included,...

Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens is situated on the banks of the Anacostia River at the north end of Anacostia Park.  It is a marsh area that includes several cultivated ponds preserving rare waterlilies and lotuses. Originally known as the Shaw Lily Garden, it was saved from destruction by dredging in the Anacostia River in the 1930s. The park and gardens were taken under the wing of the National Park Service (NPS) as part of Anacostia Park and the Capitol Parks system and expanded with the help of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which worked in Anacostia Park for several years...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was active in Rocky Mountain National Park throughout the New Deal era, 1933-42.  Among the other works undertaken by CCC enrollees was the construction of three amphitheaters, at Aspenglen Campground, Moraine Park Museum and Glacier Basin campground.  These were used for educational presentations by park rangers and staff. The Aspenglen and Glacier Basin amphitheaters were built in 1938 (Brock, p. 43), as part of general upgrades to those campgrounds (Brock, p 41).  The amphitheaters were designed by the National Park Service in Rustic Style and meant to blend into the landscape and surrounding trees.  The one...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) helped develop the Badger Pass Ski Area at Yosemite National Park in the mid-to-late 1930s. Limited skiing had started in 1933 with the opening of the Glacier Point road, making Badger Pass one of the earliest California ski areas.  The Badger Pass lodge was built in 1935.   The National Park Service wanted to encourage skiing and used the CCC to assist with further improvements at Badger Pass. The CCC was involved in at least the following projects: •1938  Widening the Badger Pass Access Road. •1939 – 1940  Building the Badger Pass Ranger Residence. •1940 – 1941  Adding a Comfort Station...

Currently serving as the National Park Service's administrative office for the Fort Vancouver - McLoughlin House Unit, the Dr. Forbes Barclay House shares more than proximity with its better-known neighbor (the McLoughlin House). The two structures not only housed important figures of the Hudson Bay Company, who then retired to Oregon City and contributed to the development of the town, their preservation and restoration are linked in several efforts of the New Deal era as well. Built in 1849, the Barclay House is one of Oregon's oldest examples of Classical Revival architecture. As such, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) funded local...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was very active in Rocky Mountain National Park during the 1930s. The Bear Lake Comfort Station, located on the Bear Lake trail, is one of the many structures in the park built by CCC enrollees.   The rubblestone construction is typical of national park Rustic Style of the first half of the 20th century.  The building now serves to house a generator.  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

The present Big Oak Flat Road was constructed by the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR), with Public Works Administration (PWA) funding, between 1935 and 1940.  It is one of  three main roads into Yosemite Valley, along with El Portal road and Wawona road. Big Oak Flat Road is the main entrance road into Yosemite from the north, designated as state highway 120. At Crane Flat, highway 120 follows the Tioga Road toward Tuolumne Meadows and over Tioga Pass.  Big Oak Flat road splits off to head south toward Yosemite Valley.  Highway 120 from Groveland (west of the park) to the park...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made improvements to three of the existing campgrounds in Rocky Mountain National Park: Endovalley, Aspenglen and Glacier Basin.  These three were the most popular campgrounds at the time and their facilities were antiquated, so CCC stepped in to upgrade them (later, they would add  a new campground at Timber Creek on the west side of the park).  (Brock, p 40) The campgrounds were all renovated according to National Park Service standards embodied in the writings of  E.P. Meinecke – Camp Ground Policy (1932) and Camp Planning and Camp Reconstruction (1934).  In 1933-34 CCC enrollees deployed logs and boulders to...

Cascades Camp in Yosemite Valley was one of the two hubs of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) activity in Yosemite National Park from 1933 to 1941; the other was Camp Wawona.  There were around a dozen smaller CCC camps (seasonal and stub camps) added around the park, as well.  Overall, around 7,000 enrollees served in Yosemite. Camp Cascades was officially camp YNP 6 (the 6th camp established in Yosemite) or NP 20 in the western region.  CCC Companies 920 and 942 operated out of Camp Cascades during the decade.  (Co. 942 was integrated up to 1935, as seen in the photograph) The first Camp...

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp Navy-1 was created at Yorktown, Virginia, on November 1, 1935, for the purposes of improving the Naval Mine Depot (a 20-square mile area that is now called “Naval Weapons Station Yorktown”). The camp housed Company 2305, one of several African American CCC units in the area. Prior to its involvement at the Naval Mine Depot, and prior to its re-designation as “Navy-1,” the same camp was devoted to soil erosion control along the York River and along Colonial Parkway. This work was part of a larger CCC project (involving at least 4 other African American companies)...

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp NHP-1 was created at Yorktown, Virginia, for the purpose of developing the Colonial National Historical Park (Jamestown Settlement, Yorktown Battlefield, Colonial Parkway). Camp NHP-1 housed CCC Company 352, which had been formed at Fort Monroe, Virginia, on April 27, 1933. Company 352, along with four other African American CCC companies, developed Colonial National Historical Park. This work would continue until at least the end of 1941 – virtually the entire life of the CCC program. The CCC enrollees worked under the direction of the National Park Service (NPS), which had just taken over the job of caring for military and...

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp NHP-2 was created at Yorktown VA for the purpose of developing the Colonial National Historical Park (Jamestown Settlement, Yorktown Battlefield, Colonial Parkway). Camp NHP-2 housed CCC Company 323, which had been formed in Fort Washington, Maryland, in Spring 1933, before moving to Virginia. Company 323, along with four other African American CCC companies, developed Colonial National Historical Park. This work would continue until at least the end of 1941 – essentially, the entire life of the CCC program. The CCC enrollees worked under the direction of the National Park Service (NPS), which had just taken over the job of...

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp NHP-4 was created at Yorktown, Virginia, for the purpose of developing the Colonial National Historical Park (Jamestown Settlement, Yorktown Battlefield, Colonial Parkway). Camp NHP-4 housed CCC Company 1351, a World War I veterans company that had been formed at Langley Field, Virginia, on May 26, 1933. Company 1351, along with four other African American CCC companies, developed Colonial National Historical Park. This work would continue until at least the end of 1941 – essentially, the entire life of the CCC program. The CCC enrollees worked under the direction of the National Park Service (NPS), which had just taken over...

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp NHP-5 was created at Williamsburg, Virginia, for the purpose of developing the Lake Matoaka area, part of the College of William & Mary campus. Beginning in 1934, Camp NHP-5 housed CCC Company 2303, an African American unit. 2303’s work at Matoaka State Park included “trails and bridges, a boat house, picnic shelters, and an amphitheatre seating 500 persons” (Dist. 4, Third Corps Area history, 1937). Today, it seems this area is no longer called “Matoaka State Park,” but is simply viewed as part of the overall campus and holdings of the college.    Company 2303 also helped four...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was extremely active in Grand Canyon National Park from 1933 to 1942.  There were six CCC camps on the North Rim, South Rim and in the canyon itself and seven companies active over the decade: #818, 819, 847, 2543, 2833, 3318 and 4814.   Grand Canyon National Park received more development funds and labor from the Civilian Conservation Corps than any other location in Arizona. CCC enrollees built many of the recreation facilities still in use today, such as paths, trails, roads, shelters, and campgrounds, along with basic infrastructure, such as telephone lines, electric lines, water pipes and sewer...

Humboldt Redwoods State Park was established in 1921 with purchases of some of the last remaining Old Growth stands of Coast Redwoods by the Save the Redwoods League. It has since been expanded several times and now includes over 51,000 acres, of which 17,000 are old growth redwood stands.   California did not establish a state parks system until 1928, and little improvement work had been done at Humboldt Redwoods before the New Deal.  When the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) arrived at Dyerville camp in 1933, the young men got to work right away developing the state park.  There were three CCC...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was active in Rocky Mountain National Park during the whole of its lifetime, 1933 to 1942.  There were at least six camps in the park, three of which were permanent and three seasonal. The camps were labeled NP-1, 3, 4, 7, 11 and 12. The first camp was NP-1 at Little Horseshoe Park in the northeast part of the park.  The second camp was NP-3 located about 12 miles north of Grand Lake at Phantom Valley, a tent camp that only lasted 1933-34. Camp NP-4 built in 1934 in Hollowell Park was the first permanent camp with...

Cedar Breaks National Monument was created by President Franklin Roosevelt on August 22, 1933, with just over 6,000 acres carved out of Dixie National Forest in southwest Utah. This was Roosevelt's first national monument declaration and it set a precedent that FDR would follow again and again: transferring monuments and parks from the US Forest Service to the National Parks Service – which grew substantially under the New Deal. In 1934, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) sent men from Zion Canyon to set up a 'stub camp' (closed in winter) at Cedar Breaks, where they started working on improvements to the...

Among the challenges in constructing the final link in Oregon's Highway 101, the state's bridge engineer responded by designing Chasm Bridge on Neahkahnie Mountain. Using Bureau of Public Roads funds and design advice from the National Parks Service, workers completed the bridge in 1937. An information plague located at a viewpoint on Neahkahnie Mountain describes the project, writing: "Built on the sheer face of Neahkahnie Mountain, this 59-foot reinforced concrete deck girder is a major engineering feat! Designed by Glenn S. Paxton, the bridge features stone masonry on its face and railings, which extend nearly uninterrupted around the mountain." Chasm Bridge is also...

Under the New Deal, the defunct Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Canal was acquired by the federal government and restored from Georgetown in the District of Columbia (where it enters the Potomac River) to Seneca MD, a distance of 22 miles.  This lay the basis for the future C&O Canal National Historical Park.   The C&O canal, built between 1824 and 1850, is historically significant as one of the best preserved remnants of the great canal boom of the first half of the 19th century. Today, it functions as one of the major recreational assets of the greater Washington DC area. The canal...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) conducted extensive development work in Grand Canyon National Park from 1933 to 1942. Among its trail development work, the CCC constructed the Clear Creek Trail, which connects North Kaibab Trail to Clear Creek to the east of Phantom Ranch. The National Park Service's CCC Walking Tour, discussing various CCC trail development projects, notes: "Even more ambitious was the nine-mile (14 km) Clear Creek Trail (1933-36) ..."

Colonial National Historical Park (CNHP) was created by Congress and President Herbert Hoover in 1930 and consists primarily of the Yorktown Battlefield, the historic Jamestown Settlement, and Colonial Parkway. Several federal agencies participated in its development. The National Park Service (NPS) provided general supervision of the entire historic site project after it was given responsibility for all historic battlefields by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Public Works Administration (PWA) contributed at least $600,000 (and probably much more) in funding. Relief agencies provided labor power: the Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked over the winter of 1933-1934 (probably for mosquito control and general...

Colonial National Historical Park (CNHP) was created by Congress and President Herbert Hoover in 1930 and consists primarily of the Yorktown Battlefield, the historic Jamestown Settlement, and Colonial Parkway. Several federal agencies participated in its development. The National Park Service (NPS) provided general supervision of the entire historic site project after it was given responsibility for all historic battlefields by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Public Works Administration (PWA) contributed at least $600,000 (and probably much more) in funding. Relief agencies provided labor power: the Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked over the winter of 1933-1934 (probably for mosquito control and general...

Colonial National Historical Park (CNHP) was created by Congress and President Herbert Hoover in 1930 and consists primarily of the Yorktown Battlefield, the historic Jamestown Settlement, and Colonial Parkway. Several federal agencies participated in its development. The National Park Service (NPS) provided general supervision of the entire historic site project after it was given responsibility for all historic battlefields by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Public Works Administration (PWA) contributed at least $600,000 (and probably much more) in funding. Relief agencies provided labor power: the Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked over the winter of 1933-1934 (probably for mosquito control and general...

Colonial National Historical Park (CNHP) was created by Congress and President Herbert Hoover in 1930 and consists primarily of the Yorktown Battlefield, the historic Jamestown Settlement, and Colonial Parkway. Several federal agencies participated in its development. The National Park Service (NPS) provided general supervision of the entire historic site project after it was given responsibility for all historic battlefields by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Public Works Administration (PWA) contributed at least $600,000 (and probably much more) in funding. Relief agencies provided labor power: the Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked over the winter of 1933-1934 (probably for mosquito control and general...

Colonial National Historical Park (CNHP) was created by Congress and President Herbert Hoover in 1930 and consists primarily of the Yorktown Battlefield, the historic Jamestown Settlement, and Colonial Parkway. Several federal agencies participated in its development. The National Park Service (NPS) provided general supervision of the entire historic site project after it was given responsibility for all historic battlefields by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Public Works Administration (PWA) contributed at least $600,000 (and probably much more) in funding. Relief agencies provided labor power: the Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked over the winter of 1933-1934 (probably for mosquito control and general clean-up)...

Colonial Parkway is part of the National Park Service's Colonial National Historical Park. It is a scenic 23-mile parkway that links together Virginia's Historic Triangle of colonial-era communities: Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. Different portions of the parkway were built between 1930 and 1957. In the 1930s, the US Forest Service and the National Park Service used Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers to built the parkway.

Originally named the Wolf Creek Tunnel, construction on this 800-foot long tunnel began in 1940 as one of the final steps in completion of the Wolf Creek Highway's path through the Coast Range linking the Portland area with northern Oregon coastal communities. Kibbe and Kearn, a Portland firm, cut the tunnel's bore. Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers completed the stone masonry veneer on the tunnel's east and west portals. The project was completed in 1941. Oregon State Highway engineers designed the rustic-style tunnel portals. The plans were reviewed by National Park Service landscape architects and carried out by WPA masons under...

In 1909, an abundance of dinosaur fossils were discovered  by a team of paleontologists collecting for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, near Jensen, Utah. It was one of the most important dinosaur excavation sites in the United States at the time. In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson set aside 80 acres around the fossil discovery site as a National Monument. President Franklin Roosevelt expanded the monument to its present size of nearly 200,000 acres in 1938. About 3/4th of the enlarged monument lies in Colorado, making this one of the few bi-state national parks or monuments.  It is administered by the...

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...

Farmington Bay Wildlife Management Area is an 18,000 acre migratory bird refuge on the shore of the Great Salt Lake.  It began life as Farmington Bay State Park in the 1930s, when the Utah State Department of Fish and Game (now the State Division of Wildlife Resources) sought to transform the delta of the Jordan River into a wildlife refuge. The National Park Service (NPS) was brought in to assist the state in developing the area and, in turn, called on the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to do the labor. The CCC set up Camp SP-2 on the shore of Farmington Bay...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) landscaped Fern Spring, creating an attractive, naturalistic rock garden and planting a variety of ferns, wildflowers, and ground covers. A log guardrail was installed to define the parking area and log seats were placed in the woods around the spring to improve the popular spot. The original wooden structures have been replaced or disappeared over time. Fern Spring had been a sacred site for the native people of Yosemite Valley, long before the park was created in 1863. To this day, Fern Spring is a favorite stopping point for Yosemite visitors. It is located just beyond the Pohono Bridge on...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was active in Rocky Mountain National Park during the whole of the program's lifetime, 1933 to 1942.  There were four main camps in the park. The CCC participated in a fish-restocking program, which the National Park Service had initiated in 1931 to deal with depleted lakes and streams due to years of unregulated fishing.  The main contribution of the CCC was to build four fish-rearing ponds, at Horseshoe Park, near Endovalley campground, at Hollowell Park, and near Grand Lake. The ponds were roughly 200 x 100 feet and 10 feet deep. (Brock, p 42). Fry from the Estes...

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Memorial in Washington DC was completed in 1997 at cost of $48 million dollars, funded largely by the federal government. It is located in West Potomac Park, along the tidal basin between the Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson memorials.  The memorial is managed by the National Park Service. The FDR Memorial is divided into four sections, with each section representing one of FDR’s four terms in the White House. The Cultural Landscape Foundation describes it: “The memorial’s rooms and water features, built primarily of red South Dakota granite, use stone to express the fracture and upheaval of the...

Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Parks were created separately, but because they are contiguous they are administered today by the National Park Service (NPS) as a single unit. Sequoia was the third national park, created in 1893, while Kings Canyon became a national park in 1941, under the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt.   During the New Deal of the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did extensive work in both national parks, building campgrounds, trails, roads, ranger stations and other facilities.  More specific information is needed on these projects.  

The New Deal vastly improved Yosemite National Park in California, which has long been the showpiece of the national park system.  Several federal agencies operated in the park from 1933 to 1942, under the general supervision of the National Park Service: the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Public Works Administration (PWA), and Bureau of Public Roads (BPR), plus the short-lived Civil Works Administration (CWA)  (December 1933 to April 1934). Major works around Yosemite are detailed in the various site pages listed on the right. Nevertheless, some of the immense amount of work done during the New Deal cannot be pinpointed, so we...

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) companies 385 and 1355—both African American units—restored, improved, and maintained Gettysburg National Military Park between 1933 and 1942. CCC projects in and around the battlefield included: road, trail, and fence construction; tree planting and maintenance; tree and stump removal; firefighting; snow shoveling; and utility pipe installation (presumably for water, sewage, or drainage). “The CCC also reconstructed the XII Corps earthworks on Culp’s Hill and provided manpower for the 75th anniversary commemoration of the battle in 1938” (James J. Campi, Jr., Hallowed Ground, 2013).   The CCC worked with the National Park Service (NPS) to plan projects with...

The federal Bureau of Public Roads (BPR), funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA), built the 15.7 mile Glacier Point Road from Chinquapin Flat on the Wawona Road to Glacier Point, 1933-35. This project was part of a complete overhaul of Yosemite National Park roads carried out under the New Deal in the 1930s. The Glacier Point Road replaced a primitive saddle road built in the 1870s. Surveys for the route were done in 1930-31 and grading began in 1932. Then, funding for the project became available through the National Industrial Recovery Act, which created the PWA.    "The new road was to...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was extremely active in Grand Canyon National Park throughout the New Deal. The CCC enrollees worked under the direction of the National Park Service (NPS) and some of the projects were funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA).  The first CCC camp was established on the South Rim, where Company 819 started working on improvements to the facilities around Grand Canyon Village, the main visitor center for the park, c. 1933-1937. The CCC enrollees built a stone wall along the Rim Trail, the Kolb Studio stairs, the Community Building, rock pillars on Navajo Street, and various paths, culverts,...

The Half Dome cables, originally installed in 1920 by the Sierra Club, were replaced and strengthened by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees in 1934. These cables allow thousands of people each year to hike to the top of this famous peak. The Half Dome trails runs from the valley floor to the top of Half Dome, over 8 miles (via the Mist Trail) with a 4,800-foot elevation gain.  The final 400 feet are so steep that   two steel cables, bolted to the rocks, are needed for handholds. Every Spring the cables are brought out from winter storage and  raised onto...