The David City Park begins long before the Great Depression of the 1930s. In 1889, Mrs. Phoebe Miles donated twelve acres to David City for a park, with the stipulation that the city pay the taxes and make improvements. During… read more
Florida “boasted several notable and highly visible WPA projects, including the Daytona Beach Bandshell Oceanfront Park Complex (NR 1999) and the Bayshore Boulevard Sea Wall (NR 1985) in Tampa. Conceived to help promote Daytona Beach’s flagging tourist industry and assembled… read more
“The historic amphitheater was constructed in the Dell Rapids City Park in 1936 as a project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA).” Presently listed to the National Register of Historic Places, the “structure continues to be a popular focal point… read more
“According to a write-up in the Andovers Trail Guide, the land that makes up the park was purchased by the city in 1877 originally for use as a cemetery. It was changed into a city park in 1896, and was… read more
Devou Park Band Shell was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), as part of a $97,251 grant to the city for park improvements. The band shell was completed in the summer of 1939. “The Devou Park band shell was… read more
The New Deal constructed this band shell in an Escondido city park.
The Sunrise Circle amphitheater was built between September 1933 and March 1934. It was constructed in a “natural amphitheatre” at the top of Flagstaff Mountain, which had been cleared of debris during the spring of 1933 as part of the… read more
This rock wall and the concrete stone seating steps that are built into it were constructed by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1940. The rock wall is approximately three feet high and it surrounds a playing field. They… read more
“The Forest Theatre is a stone amphitheater structure built into the hillside on the eastern edge of the UNC-Chapel Hill campus and contiguous with Battle Park. Outdoor drama was first performed on this site in 1916 to celebrate the tercentenary… read more
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… read more
Frank Newhall Look Memorial Park was constructed between the years 1928 and 1930, as the result of a large one hundred and fifty acre land grant from Mrs. Fannie Burr Look who was the wife of the late Frank Newhall… read more
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… read more
The commission created by the Texas legislature in 1935 to oversee Texas’ Centennial joined with the public works administration to build a memorial to Texas revolution events in Gonzales. The memorial includes a museum, amphitheater, and reflecting pool designed by… read more
Constructed as a New Deal project (attributed on one page to the Civil Works Administration, but more likely, based on the date, a Federal Emergency Relief Administration construction), Sioux City’s historic Grandview Park Bandshell “is 102 feet wide, 51 feet… read more
The amphitheater, located on the campus of Southern Arkansas University, was constructed by the NYA in 1936-38.
The WPA contributed to the construction of the Hart Park Bandshell in 1938. There is a plaque commemorating the WPA’s role in the creation of the project.
Hollywood Bowl Improvements, WP 997, WP 2687, WP 6097, WP 4953, WP 9590, and WP 11052, sponsored by the County of Los Angeles, are designed to increase the beauty, add to the capacity and provide greater safety, convenience and comfort… read more
The facility in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge was constructed with the support of $94,000 from the New Deal administration funding. The Works Progress Administration hired 150 craftsmen to construct the structures of wood. They were later faced with concrete… read more
From Elmo Richardson, Natural Resources Journal, April 1966: The construction of Hyde State Park [Hyde Memorial State Park] afforded the first, as well as the best, example of the role of the CCC in state recreation programs. Activities and problems… read more
“The J.J. Richards Band Shell was built during 1936 and 1937 by the WPA.”
The spacious Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem, originally called Colonial Park and known for many years as Bradhurst Park, first opened in 1911, but was only fully developed under the New Deal. When the Department of Parks announced the planned… read more
Completed in 1938, these concrete-based football stadium bleachers were constructed in a former quarry that furnished rock to many local New Deal projects. The stadium is still called “The Pit.”
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in the 1930s. The major CCC contribution was the Jedediah Smith campground, which is just off state highway 199 west of the village of Hiouchi…. read more
Outdoor theater, seating capacity of 350. "The theater was built by the Civil Works Administration (Project Number 5) and was dedicated on 22 April 1934. That same year, the park commission reported that the 'CWA funds not only provided much… read more
In the summer of 1933, the City of Sweetwater offered land on Lake Sweetwater to the State of Texas in exchange for the state developing a park. Development started with the Civil Works Administration in the winter of 1933 with… read more
“Another distinctive and ambitious project was at Pine Mountain, the site of the annual Mountain Laurel Festival. CCC corpsmen excavated an amphitheater from the hillside and constructed new seats and facilities for the thousands of visitors who made the annual… read more
The Leslie L. Diehl Band Shell was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in Dayton OH.
In the summer of 1935, the College of the City of New York (today’s City College of New York), completed construction of the north ramp of Lewisohn Stadium with funding from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) (CCNY Newspaper). Lewisohn Stadium was… read more
The Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Federal Emergency Relief Admn (FERA), and the Civil Works Admn (CWA) built multiple facilities in McClain Rogers Park in Clinton OK. The Amphitheater and Bandstand was one of the structures built with New Deal help. Contributor note:… read more
McCormick’s Creek State Park received the first Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp in Indiana. The 589th CCC company was active from December of 1933 to July of 1935. After the CCC laborers were relocated in 1935, WPA laborers arrived and… read more
The Amphitheater was completed by Works Progress Administration (WPA) laborers in 1936. The style of the amphitheater is classified as Parks Rustic. There is a semi-circular seating area in a natural depression. There are stone footings for benches and a… read more
The Amphitheater was completed by WPA laborers in 1936. The style of the amphitheater is classified as Parks Rustic. There is a semi-circular seating area in a natural depression. There are stone footings for benches and a stone stage.
The WPA conducted extensive work on Memory Grove Park, or Memory Park, including landscaping, building rock walls, cutting paths, and so on.
“Designed by O. J. Munson and funded by the WPA/ FAP and a gift from the Class of 1937, the Band Shell was located where Bessey Hall now stands (see map). As captured in this 1954 photograph of a performance… read more
The Lake Clara bridge, boat house, band shell and retaining wall [since, at least in part, removed] were all built by WPA workers of native limestone and are still standing. The bandshell was completed in 1938.
The federal Works Progress Administration constructed an amphitheater for what was then known as Montclair State Teachers College. The 2,000-seat theater was constructed into a hillside, its 22 tiers of seats measuring between 92 and 190 feet long. The stage,… read more
Moraine Park, a large valley in the southeastern portion of Rocky Mountain National Park, was purchased in 1931 by the National Park Service, which cleared the area of most of its former private resort structures. In 1934, the Public Works… read more
The Sidney B. Cushing Memorial Theater was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1936-38. It occupies a natural amphitheater at 1900 feet elevation, near the top of Mt. Tamalpais. It is known locally as the “Mountain Theater.” This… read more
The Bristow town website explains that the amphitheater was “built by the CCC and the NYA, one of the first youth projects completed. Eleanor Roosevelt came to Bristow to dedicate the project in March 1937.” A 1985 National Register nomination… read more
