Park Roads and Bridges Sites

Montpelier Annual Report, 1937: "In the early summer of 1933 the C. C. C. started improvement work at Hubbard Park under the direction of the Vermont Forest Service cooperating with the Montpelier Park Board. From that time until the fall of 1936, they have accomplished projects which have materially enhanced and made more usable our beautiful park. All of the interior park roads have been regraded, widened, drained, and graveled. Many of the crooks and formerly muddy spots have been eliminated and all roads are now usable during all of the seasons. The entrance road from Clarendon Avenue to the Tower road...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made various improvements in the Dixie National Forest in 1935, including lookout shelters, roads, trails and comfort stations (restrooms) at Blow Hard Mountain and Brian Head Peak. A CCC camp had been established at Zion National Park in 1933, and in 1934 the CCC set up a ‘stub camp’ (closed in the winter months) at Cedar Breaks National Monument. In 1935, CCC works teams were sent into nearby Dixie National Forest to carry out various building projects.    

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to improve the conditions at Island Park in Green River, Wyoming. Cassity: "In Green River, Island Park was leveled with traditional cut and fill methods to raise the low spots so that flood water from Green River would no longer stand, and this was followed by installing lawn, roads, and paths."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in the 1930s. The area where the CCC did its work is along state highway 199, just west of the village of Hiouchi and a few miles east of Crescent City, California.  This remains the only significantly developed part of this large park, with its many groves of enormous, first-growth redwoods, such as Stout Grove. Engbeck (2002) notes that, "CCC Company 1903, of Camp Prairie Creek, built a new entrance road and a park custodian's residence. They built a campground near the Smith River with a...

Among the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects identified as completed in a Abilene Daily Reporter article from June 14, 1936 was "park Improvements" in Cisco, Texas. "Lake Improvements consisted of clearing the creek channel below the dam and swimming pool, lining the channel with rock, terracing banks of the creek, and building walks, drives, and a small bridge. Twenty-five men were employed for six months. Total expenditure was $5,000." Living New Deal believes this to be a reference to Lake Cisco.

Lamoille Canyon is the largest valley in the Ruby Mountains in northeastern Nevada. It is a spectacular glaciated canyon, known popularly as "Nevada's Yosemite" and is surrounded by peaks rising over 11,000 feet.  Lamoille Canyon lies mostly within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, which extends in patches across all of Nevada. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established a camp in the lower canyon in 1933 and did extensive work there from 1933-1937, under the supervision of the US Forest Service.  The CCC enrollees built the road up the canyon, built trails, and laid out two campgrounds in the canyon. The large Thomas Canyon...

Lamoille Canyon is the largest valley in the Ruby Mountains in northeastern Nevada. It is a spectacular glaciated canyon with several side valleys, surrounded by peaks over 11,000 feet.  Much of the canyon lies within the huge Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest complex across Nevada and is jointly managed with the Trust for Public Land. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established a camp in the canyon in 1933 and did extensive work there until 1937.  Notably, the CCC enrollees built the 12-mile road up Lamoille canyon (NF-660) from highway 227.   The road climbs from about 6,000 feet at Lamoille to 8,800 at the...

Birmingham's Lane Park was the site of substantial work relief efforts on the part of multiple New Deal agencies: the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Historical marker: "The land was also used for the Allen Gray Fish Hatchery (fed by Pullen Springs), a stone quarry, a complete baseball diamond, and a golf driving range. Several of the stone structures were erected by the WPA. Two hundred acres are now the home of the Birmingham Zoo (est. 1954) and the Birmingham Botanical Gardens (est. 1962)." A CWA/Alabama Relief Administration project was soon after launched to fully develop the...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted extensive work to develop Lee Charles Miller Park in 1935 - 1936. The park is part of the Salt Lake City Parks system and is built on land donated by Minnie Miller in honor of her husband in 1935. The park lies in the ravine of Red Butte Creek as it runs through the Harvard-Yale neighborhood in eastern Salt Lake City, slightly southwest of the University of Utah. The WPA built trails on either side of the creek with stone or timber retaining walls, a stone bridge across the creek, stone steps down from the street...

W.P.A. Bulletin, 1937: "At the southern end of the marsh that was in the center of Winthrop, WPA has created a skating area and rendezvous for aquatic sports out of the formerly ugly Lewis Lake. A dump on one side of the lake was removed. Jagged banks have been changed to gentle grassy slopes, topped by walks. The pond has been changed to two small ponds connected by points of land which will be joined by a rustic bridge. A perfect spot for model yacht races, swimming races, a stroll in the sunlight or under a starry, moonlit sky."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) first developed Little River State Beach in the early 1930s.  CCC enrollees built a park boundary fence, an entrance gate, a parking area, and a day-use picnic facility with tables, benches, stoves, cupboards, and restrooms. All of these improvements have been lost to winter storms and the shifting sands typical of Pacific Coast beaches and dunes, especially in far Northern California. The work was carried out some time between 1933 and 1937 by the men of Company 1903 at Camp Prairie Creek, from where the CCC worked on state parks all along the north coast of California.

New Deal agencies made improvements to Marquette Park in Chicago, Illinois, in the 1930s, including a fieldhouse, comfort stations (restrooms) and footbridges.  Unfortunately, we do not know the dates of these facilities or which agencies were involved. Marquette Park was pieced together from 1879 to 1910. It was originally meant to be a landscaped "breathing space" for the city's immigrant neighborhoods and was included in the Olmsted Brothers 1903 plans for Chicago's system of parks. Marquette Park's improvements occurred slowly, however.  The park's earliest features were a golf course and a nursery of nearly 90,000 trees and shrubs. By 1917, the...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did extensive improvements to McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park near Burney, California from 1934 to 1937. Burney Falls is the second oldest California state park, created in 1922 to protect the spectacular 130-foot tall falls.   According to Engbeck's history of the CCC in California state parks, enrollees did the following work: they cleaned up the park; created a fire break around the park and built a split-rail perimeter fence;  constructed a campground with tables, stoves, cupboards, comfort stations, and a water and sanitary system; remodeled a small park custodian house; built a park entrance station with...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.) developed Tucumcari Metropolitan Park, a.k.a. Five Mile Park, in Tucumcari, New Mexico. "At one time Tucumcari Metropolitan Park had the largest outdoor pool in the entire state of New Mexico, a playground with lots of equipment, a fully landscaped drive through park with bridges, creeks, a pistol and rifle range, a skeet and trap shooting range, and off-road course, horseback riding and was home to the then annual Founder’s Day Picnics." NRHP nomination form: "Referred to as Metropolitan Park, the park became known as Five Mile Park in the 1950s. The completed project marked a five year process...

The park, formerly City Park, was constructed, including clearing grounds, building bridges, sidewalks, tables, benches entrance, water and lights. An entrance was erected, croquet courts and other conveniences and attractions were built throughout the park. The creek was also walled. City park costs were $8,921 and employed 22 men initially, and a total of 32 men for six months. The work included cleaning and preparing the site and erecting culverts over the creek. Additional city park improvements were made for $4,273, hired 34 workers, and was financed by the Works Progress Administration in 1936. The park is still extant and...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), working out of Camp Soapstone, developed Mirror Lake in the Uinta Mountains for recreation. This included a creating a picnic area with a lovely rustic shelter and building a forest service guard station near the entrance. Both still stand. A campground, boat launch and parking have been added to the area, which is very popular for families. The picnic shelter is notable for back-to-back wooden panels on which are etched a map of the Uinta mountains on one side and a description of the resources of the Wasatch National Forest on the other. It is almost certain...

"Moeur Park North and South is located at the NE and SE corners of Mill Avenue and Curry Road. Moeur Park ramadas and associated structures are identified in the 1997 Tempe Multiple Resource Area Update (#255) as individually eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Built in U.S. Park Services style, these roadway, rest, and landscape elements are typical of the New Deal Works Administration Era (WPA). Field stone and concrete materials were used by the WPA to construct features throughout the park. These include; raised planters, stairs, planter borders, stone benches, stone tables, an automobile...

The WPA constructed stone walks, walls, benches, tables, fireplace, pavilions, and footbridges to build Monocacy Park between 1936 and 1937. A swimming pool was also constructed above the dam, but this feature is no longer in use due to sediment. Mcall.com: "The Monocacy Park bridge features two 30-foot towers of hand-cut stone. The creek had to be diverted, most likely with sandbags, to enable the stone masons to erect the towers. Block and tackle, a series of ropes and pulleys, had to be used to set the pieces in place." As of 2016 the park is under restoration.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made extensive improvements Morro Bay State Park, as it did throughout California's new state park system.  These included picnic areas, an entrance road, comfort staton, ranger lodge, and stone walls.  The work was continued by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and state relief workers. As Engbeck (2002) explains: "CCC Company 1916-V, made up of World War I veterans, moved into Camp Morro Bay on May 11, 1934.... Check dams were constructed on Chorro Creek above Morro Bay in order to prevent flooding of the 're-claimed lands' that were to be 'utilized as beach areas and scenic...

Both the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out projects at the Mount Diablo State Park from 1933 to 1942.  The CCC work is well-known, and it is acknowledged by the State Parks on their website and in signage at the Summit Building. Less recognized is the WPA work in the park, which was mostly on roads.  There is also extensive drainage work alongside and under the roads that features lovely rustic stonework.  The State Parks website attributes drainage works to the CCC but they may well have been done by WPA workers, too. WPA job cards in...

Starting in 1933, the young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the Mount Nebo loop road in Utah (and part of Juab) County, Utah. Today, it is forest road FR 015 and officially designated as the Mt. Nebo Scenic Byway by the US Transportation Department. Mount Nebo is both the southern-most and highest peak in the Wasatch Mountains, at 11,929 feet. It is snow covered all winter and the Mt. Nebo road is closed for the winter season. Mt. Nebo Loop Road travels from Payson to Nephi, climbing over the back of Mt. Nebo at more than 9,000 feet, with...

The Civilian Conservation Corps carried out work at Mount Philo State Park near Charlotte VT. According to the Vermont State Park website, "In the early 1930s a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) unit was assigned to the mountain. This crew built the current access road, campground, ranger’s quarters, picnic area and summit lodge.”

Nipmuck State Forest's Mountain Laurel Sanctuary began "as a beautification project of the Civilian Conservation Corps" in 1935. Located along Snow Hill Road, it features Connecticuts state flowers, and is particularly beautiful during peak bloom.

The CCC did extensive work in Muir Woods National Monument. The National Park Service site summarizes their activity: "The men began work in Muir Woods and the surrounding Tamalpais State Park. Projects included a revetment (rockwork stream banks) in Redwood Creek; construction of a stone-faced concrete bridge on Fern Creek; construction of utility buildings and benches; and the construction of the Sidney B. Cushing Memorial Amphitheater (the "Mountain Theater"), near Rock Springs, on Mt. Tamalpais. The CCC completed its last project in Muir Woods in May 1941, and was disbanded shortly thereafter."   (https://www.nps.gov/) Not everything the CCC did was ideal by modern standards,...

The New Deal carried out a major renovation of the National Mall, the green centerpiece of Washington DC.  Funding was provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and labor power by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). As of 1939, the PWA had expended $1,050,000 on the reconstruction work. As one newspaper put it, “...the mile long park connecting the Capitol with Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial probably would still be in an early stage of development but for the allocation of PWA funds to finish the project." In 1934, with the aid of funds from the PWA, work began under the supervision of the...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted development work at Old Mill State Park. The park contains a 25-acre historic district that includes eight structures built by the WPA in 1937, including a suspension bridge and a water tower.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the Overlook shelter on Brian Head Peak in the Dixie National Forest in 1935.  The rustic stone shelter at 11,300 feet provides a panoramic view of the Cedar Breaks, which were declared a national monument by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933.  The CCC team also built the road up to the overlook. A CCC camp had been established at Zion National Park in 1933, and in 1934 the CCC set up a 'stub camp' (closed in the winter months) at Cedar Breaks. In 1935, work teams were sent into Dixie National Forest where they worked...

The Henry Hudson Drive provides access to sections of the Palisades Interstate Park in New Jersey located on the banks of the Hudson River. The section of the drive from the Englewood Cliffs entrance to the Edgewater entrance were built by New Deal laborers.  (A section to the north of this portion precedes the New Deal.) Three New Deal agencies—the Civil Works Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the Works Progress Administration—were involved in the construction of the road. Further north, the Alpine Approach Road and its retaining walls in the northern section of the park were also built by New Deal...

The Denali National Park headquarters district is the administrative center of the park.  As the hub of park management, the headquarters district includes park offices, maintenance operations and staff residences.  The National Park Service (NPS) moved the park headquarters to the present site in 1926, which was still outside the park until the boundary was extended east to the Nenana River in 1932.  The district contains an extensive collection of National Park Service Rustic structures, designed by the National Park Service's Branch of Plans and Designs and built in the 1920s and 1930s.  The first developments at the headquarters district in 1928-32...

Mount McKinley (now Denali) National Park, created in 1917, was substantially improved during the New Deal. Led by the National Park Service (NPS), roads, buildings, infrastructure and recreational facilities were added to the park. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided funds for the Alaska Roads Commission (ARC) to complete the main road across the park and for the NPS to build the first park hotel near the train station. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked at the park for two summers doing extensive work in the park headquarters district and on park infrastructure .  At the time, the main access to the...

The WPA constructed a rock retaining wall in the parking lot at the James Marshall Monument, located within the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma, California.

"The Paugnut Forest Administration Building (also known as Burr Pond Park Bungalow) is a historic building at 385 Burr Mountain Road in Burr Pond State Park, Torrington, Connecticut. Built in 1937 by a crew of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), it is one of the finest examples of Bungalow/Craftsman architecture built by the CCC in the state. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986."

This is a suspension-type bridge with steel cables by 1936 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). A restoration was completed in 2017 and was reopened for foot traffic. It is the only WPA project remaining in Fairfield County.

Pelham Bay Park, the largest in the city of New York (three times the size of Central Park), sits on Pelham Bay in the northeast corner of The Bronx. It was established in 1888, when The Bronx was still separate from New York City. The park was greatly improved by Robert Moses and the NY City Parks Department, with the help of federal New Deal funds and workers from the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Works Progress Administration (WPA). On November 10, 1941, the New York City Department of Parks announced the completion of the massive overhaul of the 60-acre Isaac L. Rice Memorial...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted numerous projects at what is now Petersburg National Battlefield, as detailed in Wallace and Conway's "A History of Petersburg National Battlefield," developing infrastructure, creating illustrations for the museum, and even serving as park guides. "CCC Company 1364 arrived from Camp Meade, Maryland, early on the morning of July 13, 1933, and established a camp, Camp MP-2, in the Fort Stedman area of the park." "Since the establishment of the camp in the park in 1933, most of the work of clearing underbrush, road building, sodding, and tree planting was done by...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made extensive improvements to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park on the central California coast, developing it for public recreational use. The state parks commission acquired the land in 1933, but had no funds for development.  The CCC worked in the park from 1933 to 1941, but the sources do not always specify exact dates for each improvement.  Probably the most impressive structure built by the CCC enrollees is the road bridge across the Big Sur river to Weyland campground. It consists of two huge stone piers and a deck of redwood logs supported by steel cables....

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made extensive improvements to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park on the central California coast, developing it for public recreational use after the state parks commission acquired the land in 1933.  The enrollees worked out of Camp Big Sur from 1933 to 1941.  We believe Camp Big Sur was located either at the present Main Campground or at the Group Picnic Area. The CCC built campgrounds, picnic areas, a campfire center, and several stone restrooms (comfort stations). They also constructed the main lodge with a post office and cabins.  To this, they added a park headquarters and administration...

Two stone arch bridges were built by the Works Progress Administration in Phillipsburg City Park. One is a pedestrian bridge and the other bridge is used for automotive traffic. Built in 1936, these historic stone stone bridges are located on U.S. Hwy 36.

In 1940, CCC 'boys' from the Boonville Civilian Conservation Corps camp S-122 built the facilities at Pixley Falls State Park on Route 46 south of Boonville NY.  According to Podskach: "They made clearings for campsites and created a wading pool with a stone masonry dam on the stream. The next summer the boys built a 25-ft reinforced concrete bridge and the park project was completed."  Podskach also includes a photo (see below) of a picnic shelter presumably built by the CCC boys. The original picnic shelter is still prominent and there are picnic tables but no designated campsites.  A path down to...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development work at Point Lobos State Reserve in the late 1930s. The CCC enrollees worked out of a camp at Pfeiffer-Big Sur State Park. Point Lobos was acquired by the state in 1932 after a major mobilization of local citizenry in Carmel and a national fund-raising effort.  Because the site and its seashore wildlife are so spectacular, F.L. Olmsted, Jr. was brought in to draw up a plan for restricted development that would preserve the place while allowing for limited public use.  That plan was adopted by the State Parks Commission in 1936...