Park Roads and Bridges Sites

According to the park's website: "1940 Jack Zedaker leads boys from the National Youth Administration in building two shelter houses (Zedaker Pavilion and the Shelter House at “Indian Spring” near Gutknecht Entrance), four footbridges, planting of trees, construction of trail markers, improvements to trails, and the creation of a parking area. 18,000 maple trees planted, 50,000 willows along Yellow Creek for erosion control."

Prince William Forest Park was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), with help from skilled workers of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), from 1935 to 1942.  It was then known as Chopawamsic Recreation Demonstration Area (the name was changed in 1948).  RDAs were meant for getting inner city children out into the country to enjoy the benefits of nature and outdoor recreation. The New Deal programs built permanent structures, including the park headquarters and five cabin camps, extensive roads and trails, and five recreational lakes.  Almost all these improvements are still in use today.  The National Park Service, which operates...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) help develop Promised Land State Park in eastern Pennsylvania.  Among other work, the CCC improved roads, planted trees, built cabins, laid out campgrounds and blazed trails. CCC Camp Promised Land was located in the park, but enrollees also did work outside the park such as tree planting in Delaware state forest.  Three CCC companies were stationed at the camp from 1933 to 1940 (?): #337, #5463 and #1399. Promised Land, established in 1905, was only the fourth state park in Pennsylvania, created from cutover forest land purchased by the state Department of Forestry in 1902.  The 3,000...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) provided labor for the construction of multiple facilities at Recreation Park in Asheville, NC. The CWA constructed a barracks at the park, as well as developing a skating rink. The FERA improved roads at the park. The status of these structures is unknown to Living New Deal.

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and Works Progress Administration conducted an improvement project at "Reeds bay park" in Hilo, Hawaii. 18 men were employed on the project as of mid-July 1935. WPA work also included a park road.

President Theodore Roosevelt created a 9,000 acre national bird refuge around Deer Flat Reservoir, now Lake Lowell, by executive order in 1909. It remained unstaffed and undeveloped until the New Deal, when the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) sent in relief workers to make improvements under the management of the U.S. Biological Survey (later the Fish and Wildlife Service). From 1938 to 1942, Works Progress Administration (WPA) relief workers to help build refuge roads and a visitor center.  This work included probably included the stone boundary posts, fencing, a maintenance yard and residences near the east...

The East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) was formed in 1934 and acquired land for parks from the East Bay Municipal Water District in 1936.  The first parks were Tilden, Sibley, Temescal and Redwood in the East Bay Hills behind Berkeley and Oakland CA.  The New Deal provided extensive aid towards improving the new parks (except for Sibley) for public recreation, working with the Parks District's first general manager, Elbert Vail. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up five camps in the East Bay hills and operated in the parks for the entire New Deal decade, 1933-42.   The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made several improvements to Richardson Grove State Park during the period 1933-40.  Richardson Grove was one of the original Old Growth redwood groves purchased by the Save the Redwoods League in the early 20th century and passed over to the California state parks. It was officially established around a single grove in 1922 and has been expanded to 1,800 acres since. Little had been done in the way of improvements before the New Deal, in part because California did not establish a full state parks system until 1928.  Working from camps farther north in Humboldt Redwoods...

Today's U.S. Forest Service Rincon Fire Station (Azusa, CA) was one of twenty Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps in the Angeles National Forest. From 1933 to 1935, CCC Company #905 shared the location with Camp Rincon, a declining private camp run by Burt Luckey. The CCC men stationed here built trails, firebreaks, and roads. In 1938, after the 25-year old buildings were washed out by a flood, a new station was constructed. The new quarters included housing for a CCC fire prevention crew.

Ritter Park is a historic park founded in 1913. The Works Progress Administration carried out improvement work in the 1930s. The National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form for Ritter Park notes that Gus Wofford, a landscape architect who worked for the Board of Park Commissioners, is "credited with the park's two arched stone gates at the 10th Street entrance, a formal flower garden near 12th Street, footbridges crossing Four Pole Creek and related streams, tennis courts, a greenhouse, and picnic facilities. Much of this work appears to have been accomplished through the support of the federal government in the 1930s. The Works Progress...

"In 1941, WPA workers built the visitors' center, a fountain and stone entrance walls at Riverview Park on the North Side, a project spearheaded by Griswold. Out-of-work Pittsburghers also made drainage repairs, paved roads and improved entrances in Riverview Park, Ms. Rademacher said."

In 1934-35, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) helped develop Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary out of the marshes along the south shore of the Potomac River. Roaches Run  is located at the north end of National Airport, which was developed a few years later.  The CCC enrollees built a tidal gate between the lagoon and the river, cleared out brush and landscaped the area.  They built a parking lot for visitors and entry/exit roads from the George Washington Parkway, along with a trail around the lagoon.  A gamekeeper's cottage and feed storage unit were also added. The CCC crews presumably worked under...

Among the extensive work conducted by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) at Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma was "reconstruction of most main roads through the Refuge. All main roads are being widened to 20 feet and maintained by CCC boys." Other projects included "construction of Seminole beach, Cherokee beach, and Quanah dam roads." The location of the former two roads is unknown to Living New Deal.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was present in the newly-minted Death Valley National Monument  from 1933 to 1942.   At the time, Death Valley had almost no developed roads or other infrastructure.  So the CCC ‘boys’ laid out the basic road system, grading over 500 miles (800 km) of roads.  Most of the modern roads in the park are, therefore, paved and improved versions of CCC roads.    The CCC also built roads and trails to points of scenic interest, such as Ubehebe crater, Artists' Palette and Golden Canyon.  The longest and highest trail was to Telescope Peak in the Panamint Mountains...

A major upgrade of facilities at the Petrified Forest National Monument (now National Park) was undertaken by the New Deal in the 1930s.  The work was carried out from 1933 to 1940 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), under the direction of the National Park Service (NPS).  Some, if not all, was paid for by a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA). Among other works, the CCC enrollees improved and paved the parks' dirt roads, including the main Petrified Forest Road and the Blue Mesa Scenic Road, adding bridges over the washes.  The also built the park's trail system, including...

The planning and construction of the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway largely predates the New Deal, but it was only completed in 1933-36 with help from the National Park Service (NPS), Civil Works Administration (CWA), Public Works Administration (PWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).   The Parkway runs 2.5 miles from the Lincoln Memorial on the Potomac River along Rock Creek to the Connecticut Avenue bridge, just south of the National Zoo.   At that point, the road becomes Beach Drive and the Parkway join Rock Creek Park.  The two are separate units of the National Capital...

At the same time as the New Deal completed the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, it extended the system of trails south from Rock Creek Park (a separate park unit) into the parkway.  All such paths were converted to general purpose walking and biking trails in the 1970s. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built more than two miles of bridle paths in both Rock Creek Park and the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway.  This work was done under supervision of the National Park Service, which had gained oversight of all DC parks in 1933. The Public Works Administration (PWA) paid for the replacement...

The Shoreham Hill bridge was constructed in 1938 as part of the completion of the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway project of the 1930s.  It lies just south of the large Connecticut and Massachusetts Avenue bridges.  It is the third and most northerly of three parkway crossings of Rock Creek by the parkway. The Shoreham Hill bridge replaced a steel truss bridge of 1929, which was considered by the National Park Service (NPS) as a traffic hazard and out of keeping with the established look of the parkway and its other bridges. In 1937, the NPS and the DC Board of...

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 that steam shovels could begin razing the plant for an athletic field and playground to be erected there.... The recreation center will incorporate 16 new tennis courts, a field house, baseball diamond, a football and soccer field and areas where football, softball and lacrosse may be played.  Tennis courts now on the land will remain for the time being." Today, the...

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 twice the size of Central Park in New York.  It was established by Congress in 1890, making it officially a National Park at the time.  It featured prominently in the far-reaching plans for the District of Columbia by the McMillan Commission in 1901-02 and the Olmsted Brothers report of 1918, which envisioned a major park with a scenic parkway running through it. In...

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 paths as part of various works done in Rock Creek Park (as well as in Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway). All such work was done under supervision of the National Park Service, which had gained oversight of all DC parks in 1933. The Public Works Administration (PWA) paid for the replacement of eight bridges that had been washed away in a...

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 from Beach Drive and the Rock Creek and Potomac parkway.  It runs for two miles from Beech Drive to Arkansas Avenue. The WPA-built roadway was 30 feet wide with a bituminous covering. A stone retaining wall was built along two-thirds of the route and the whole parkway was landscaped by the WPA workers (Work 1936). Civil Works Administration (CWA) crews did preparation...

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).  This project was undertaken in 1934-1935 by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers. A newspaper report notes that the CCC work in the park included, “Bingham Drive extended to make new entrance to park" (Daily News 1936) Contemporary photographic evidence suggests that the new section of Bingham Drive was constructed with a bituminous macadam pavement and that hand labor was used to smooth the road banks in...

"The park was designed by Horace Cleveland in 1878, and was constructed in the 1880s. Many of the roads, bridges and sidewalks were built by the Works Progress Administration from 1935 to 1940."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out improvements to the famous Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA, between 1935 and 1936. According to a 1939 WPA report, "seven new comfort stations were built with the necessary sanitary sewers to accommodate the large crowds attending the Rose Bowl events. Six pedestrian bridges, over the drives and the adjacent flood control channel, were constructed to provide direct and safe access to the comfort stations and the stadium itself. The project also involved the installation of 1,300 lineal feet of 23 inch reinforced concrete pipe to properly drain the playing field, landscaping of 50 acres...

"While on mountain, the CCC crews improved camping and picnic grounds, “to make Casper Mountain a heaven on earth for local picnic parties and passing tourists” and also substantial work at Rotary Park part way up the mountain near Garden Creek Falls, constructing fireplaces, picnic tables and benches, and other features." Furthermore, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) improved roads and trails at Rotary Park.

Sabino Canyon Recreation Area is in Coronado National Forest at the northeast corner of Tucson AZ. At the behest of the city of Tucson and Pima County, it was developed out of former mining and grazing land in the Santa Catalina Mountains by New Deal agencies, which built roads, dams and recreational facilities.  Relief workers hired under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and Works Progress Administration (WPA) all contributed to the park's improvement.  A major recreational lake never materialized, as funds ran out in the mid-1930s and, beside, dams in the desert quickly fill with sediment...

According to Big Timber Pioneer newspaper, Sacajawea Park in the town of Livingston, MT was one of 55 public parks 'built or improved' by the WPA in Montana between fall 1935 and Sept. 1938. The construction of Sacajawea Park involved a diversion of the Yellowstone River, creating a lake "that provide habitat for waterfowl. An arched stone bridge built by the WPA separates two of the ponds creating Sacajawea Lake." In addition to other "extensive improvements," WPA labor built a "lighted turf athletic field; and a spacious hard-surface tennis court area." Swimming and boating facilities were also provided.

Development of Saddle Mountain State Park began with the arrival of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company #1258 in 1935. Over a five-year period, the CCC enrollees built the seven-mile access road to the base of Saddle Mountain, picnic grounds and a parking lot at the trail head, and the hiking trail to the mountain's summit. Saddle Mountain is a north coast landmark, known for its colorful wildflowers and rare plants, its basalt formations, and the impressive panoramic views from its 3290-foot summit. Access to these natural amenities still rely on the CCC-built zig-zag hiking trail that rises 1620 feet over a...

Saucon Park was one of numerous parks in Bethlehem, PA developed by New Deal agencies during the Great Depression. Mcall.com article: Union Terrace, Jordan Park, Fountain Park and the Lehigh Parkway in Allentown and Saucon Park, Monocacy Park and Franklin Park at Sand Island in Bethlehem were built under WPA and its precursor ...   "Probably it would have taken 50 years of slow progress to accomplish what has been done under WPA in two years," Robert J. Wheeler, then-secretary to the Allentown Planning Commission, told The Morning Call in 1937. " compares the WPA work to what the ancient Egyptians achieved when they...

11 WPA bridges exist on the Lake Trail. Just above Panther Hollow Lake, two small streams emerge from the bifurcated Hollow. Nearly a dozen small bridges cross the two streams. One of these branches extends northward to the Tufa Bridge below the Visitor Center. This trail suffers from neglect and flood damage and is nearly impassable. The other stream flows from the east from the area near Barlett Dr. Higher on the sides of this hollow are the Upper and Lower Panther Hollow Bridle Paths. Along the stream, the Lake Trail links the Bridle Path to Panther Hollow Lake. Today, the...

Seney National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1935 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt for the protection of migratory birds and other wildlife. It began under the Bureau of Biological Survey, which morphed into the US Fish & Wildlife Service in 1940. Under the reorganization all migratory bird preserves became national wildlife refuges. Seney NWR covers over 95,000 acres, of which 25,000 are wilderness.  The federal government purchased the land in the midst of the Great Depression because, as the official website puts it, "This is a land that was once heavily logged, burned, ditched, drained and cultivated. Despite repeated attempts, the...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) conducted substantial work at Shenipsit State Forest in northern Connecticut. Work was undertaken by Camp Conner, housing Company #1192, which operated from Sept. 5, 1935 to May 23, 1941. Projects, which include those given separate pages on this website, included "miles of hiking trails" and "clean-up after the Flood of 1936 and the Hurricane of 1938 in East Hartford, Stafford Springs, and South Windsor."

In 1938-40, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) made substantial improvements to Shoshone Falls Park. They built the road down to the park, paths and steps, and almost surely all the stone walls and handrails along the cliff overlooking the falls. They may have constructed the viewing platform lower down, as well. Shoshone Park came into existence through a donation of land (~300 acres) to the city of Twin Falls by Frederick and Martha Adams in 1932. A plaque on site commenorates that donation. Civic organizations made small improvements to the park from 1933 to 1938, at which time the city announced...

Although the State's initial acquisition of land for the park occurred in 1931, the early development of Silver Falls State Park can be credited to several of the New Deal programs. A significant portion of the land for the park was purchased by the federal Resettlement Administration (RA) c 1935, and developed for recreational use through the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1942. As shown on the map below, a portion of the land that became Silver Falls State Park was once Silver Falls City.  Surrounding this old logging town, the...

The early development of Silver Falls State Park can be credited to several of the New Deal programs. A significant portion of the land for the park was purchased by the federal Resettlement Administration (RA) c. 1935, and developed for recreational use through the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1942. During that period, a distinction was made between Silver Falls Park, which was accessible to the public, and the area designated as the Silver Creek Recreation Development Area (RDA), which was a special federal program designed to allow urban youth...

The C.C.C.'s Camp Graves "created trails to the Soapstone Mountain Fire Tower in Shenipsit State Forest."

New Deal relief workers made some improvements to state beaches along the Sonoma County coast, all of which are now included in the Sonoma Coast State Park that runs from Bodega  Bay to Jenner, California. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed trails at Salmon Creek Beach, Portuguese Beach, Schoolhouse Beach, Wright's Beach and Goat Rock.  Relief workers also added pit latrines at the first three of those and transplanted of dunes grasses to prevent wind erosion of sand dunes at some of these beaches. At Jenner Beach, CCC Company 572 built a parking lot by the road and a hiking trail down...

South Mountain Park in Phoenix AZ was developed for public recreation by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) from 1933 to 1940.  During that time, the CCC enrollees built many, if not most, of the roads and trails in the park – though we cannot be sure exactly which ones.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.)’s Camp Hook was stationed at Squantz Pond State Park from May 24, 1933 to Oct. 30, 1935. Projects undertaken at the park included: foot trails along Squantz Pond construction of the Squantz Pond entrance road recreation area improvements at Squantz Pond gypsy moth removal tree planting