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  • Abe Andrews Park - Norman OK
    Formerly known as Norman City Park, this site was established in the late 1890s and considerably improved during the New Deal: "Between 1935 and 1937, under the New Deal programs, several items were constructed in the southwest portion of the park. Work was performed by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Works Progress Administration with some work done by the National Youth Administration. A beautiful native stone amphitheater was constructed which is still in use today. The amphitheater is a semi-circle, with three sections of twenty rows of seating. The seats are native stone benches with concrete caps. At the rear of...
  • Badger Park - Shullsburg WI
    "The landscape was planned and supervised by Phillip Wyman, a landscape architect from Milwaukee in the 1930's. This park holds an important geographical position in the visual landscape of the city. Badger Park is an 81/2 acre park, developed in 1934-1935 as a WPA project... The park includes a swimming pool, bath house, shelter houses, double tennis courts, concession stand, a picnic ground with fireplaces, tables and benches, a natural amphitheater commanding a view of two baseball diamonds and a football field... After the details were worked out, final approval was given by the federal government to start the park...
  • Balmorhea State Park - Toyahvale TX
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC): 1856 CCC Camp SP-47-T operated in this corner of west Texas. The CCC developed Balmorhea State Park, and constructed its iconic pool, between 1935 and 1940. Texas.gov: CCC Company 1856 arrived here in July 1934. They first built barracks, a mess hall and a kitchen to support 130 to 200 men and their supervisors. This would be home for the next few years. The CCC men crafted a 1.3-acre pool around the springs, along with a concession building, two bath houses, San Solomon Courts, and other improvements in the park. They used local limestone and fashioned adobe bricks...
  • Banneker Recreation Center Development - Washington DC
    During the 1930s, Banneker Recreation Area was developed as part of a larger Capital Parks improvement program undertaken by the Public Works Administration (PWA), Civil Work Adminstration (CWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA), and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Notably, the CWA was responsible for the completion of the historic Banneker Swimming Pool and Bath House in 1933-34.  Those facilities are still in place. Other New Deal work at Banneker included: “...tennis courts built; baseball diamond, football and soccer fields graded and equipped; running track and horseshoe courts installed; landscaping around field house completed.”   (National Archives) Most of this was probably done by the WPA, which...
  • Baruch Playground - New York NY
    This park is located on the site of a former tenement and adjacent to what was the first free public bathhouse when it opened in 1901. This and other early bathhouses were built for the sake of public sanitation after Dr. Simon Baruch lobbied hard for new health laws. In 1939, Dr. Baruch's son donated the land for this park to the city at a time when it was still surrounded by tenements, and in order to provide both a local playground and to improve the bathhouse structure itself. The Department of Parks press release from the park's opening on May...
  • Bath House - Eufaula OK
    This charming stone bathhouse, built by the WPA in 1939, is still in use, with some slight alterations. A 1985 Oklahoma Landmarks Survey of WPA projects in the state describes the structure in detail: "This bathhouse was originally a single-story structure, but now has two levels. It is a rectangular (55' x 25') building constructed of uncut native stone of auburn and buff colors in masonry of random rubble. The roof is gabled. Shutters were installed on the first floor windows. The entrance to the bathhouse is arched. The entrance to the pool is square. The tent-like structure attached o one...
  • Bathhouse - Vernon TX
    In 1937 the Wichita Falls Times described a Works Progress Administration (WPA) in a photo caption: "a bath house ... as an addition to city park facilities in Vernon." The status and location of the project are unknown to Living New Deal.
  • Bathhouse and Swimming Pool - Electra TX
    The Electra city pool "was built in 1935-36 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the facility includes a stone building with native stone from the area."
  • Bathhouse at 4H Pool - Dunbar/Institute WV
    According to a newspaper account, FERA built a new bathhouse at the 4H pool west of Dunbar.It is unclear if the pool that currently exists at the site is the original, and it is believed that the current bathhouse is a replacement of the New Deal project.
  • Beachland Park Pool and Bathhouse - West Hartford CT
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the Beachland Park pool and bathhouse in West Hartford CT in 1936.  
  • Bessey Ranger District Construction and Reforestation - Halsey NE
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) reforested "20,000 acres of drifting sand hills and expanded Bessey Forest Nursery producing 30 million saplings for reforestation." The CCC also "constructed a public campground and picnic area, shelter house, bath houses, and a swimming pool in the park."
  • Bottomless Lakes State Park - Roswell NM
    "The New Mexico State Park system was founded in order to tap funding and labor from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. Bottomless Lakes State Park was the under this new system . "The CCC began work at Bottomless in 1935 and completed all projects by 1938. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), another government relief effort labor force, was also significant in this effort. Roads, trails and recreational structures were the fruits of their labor. "The primary result of the CCC effort at Bottomless Lakes State Park was a large bathhouse and pavilion at the southern-most lake at this...
  • Bukolt Park - Stevens Point WI
    Bukolt Park was originally known as Water Works Park: "As with Iverson and Goerke Parks, Water Works Park got its big push during the recovery period of the 1930s when WPA construction was at its peak. Major improvements included landscaping, parkways, fireplaces, beautification of the lagoon including bridges and in 1935 and 1936 construction of the bathhouse, beach area, ramps and a diving tower. A large lodge built in the park was completed in 1940. On May 5, 1936, the council renamed the park the John J. Bukolt Park in honor of the founder of the Automatic Cradle Manufacturing Company, now Lullabye Furniture...
  • Cacapon State Park - Berkeley Springs WV
    According to the West Virginia Department of Commerce: “Cacapon Resort State Park was the first CCC state park to be completed. Camp Morgan was established October 4, 1934 in what is now the main picnic area in the park. The land was devastated by clear-cutting of the timber and by poor agricultural practices of small subsistence farmers during the Great Depression. The men were responsible for the construction of 27 miles of roads and trails within the park, bath house, lake, dam and beach, picnic areas and shelters, stables, supply house, staff residences and rental cabins. The 12-room Old Inn was...
  • Camp Edwards - Cape Cod MA
    "Between 1935 and 1940, Massachusetts and the federal government, primarily using Works Project Administration funds, constructed 63 buildings (all but Buildings 102 and the old Williams Hospital have since been demolished) and two, 500-foot (150 m) wide turf runways at Otis Field. The project was the largest WPA project in state history, employing over 600 workmen. In 1938, Governor Charles F. Hurley dedicated Camp Edwards, named after the former commander of the 26th Infantry Division, Major General Clarence Edwards." (Wikipedia) WPA Bulletin: The Bourne WPA Notional Guard Camp Project is the largest undertaking of this kind in the country. It is twenty-three square...
  • Carver Park Bathhouse and Pool - Milwaukee WI
    "The bathhouse and original swimming pool were built in 1940 with the help of the WPA program. Under County jurisdiction the site was originally named Lapham Park. This name was used until the late 1950’s when it was changed to Carver Park."
  • Castine Swimming Pool (demolished) - Castine ME
    There is a three page history of the pool in the Castine Historical Society newsletter by Lynn Parsons (winter 2011) detailing the role of the New Deal in bringing about this fine example of public recreation. According to a Selectman's report from March 2, 1934, the town voted $1,000 for a CWA project on land donated by Warren Hooper and William Bevan. It opened July 4, 1935 under the supervision of the Public Grounds Department, receiving considerable public support and was very popular with children. In 1937 the Public Grounds Dept. suggested the construction of a bath house. $1,967.55 was...
  • Cedars of Lebanon State Park - Lebanon TN
    The creation of the Cedars of Lebanon State Park in Tennessee was a multifaceted joint project of the Resettlement Administration, the CCC, the forestry division, NPS and the WPA: "Project development began in the fall of 1935, with forestry personnel, along with RA and CCC workers, planting new seedlings of juniper cedar, black walnut, black locust, ash, yellow poplar, and mulberry trees. The crews introduced erosion controls and built roads and trails... The WPA constructed recreational facilities, including picnic areas, overlook shelters on the Jackson Cave Trail, and the original park lodge. Lebanon Cedar Forest was officially opened in September 1937...
  • Centennial Beach Bathhouse - Naperville IL
    Naperville's Centennial Park beach received a bathhouse during the New Deal, which is still standing today: "In 1934, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed the bathhouse, built from limestone taken from the quarry at the facility’s western edge. The completed bathhouse had stone steps leading down to the swimming area. The shallow section included a sandy area and the deep section had three anchored rafts, a 12-foot diving tower, two spring boards and one lifeguard stand." The bathhouse was recently renovated: "One of the top priorities was to preserve the historic bathhouse and much care was taken to ensure that its character remained...
  • Centennial Park Art Center - Nashville TN
    One-story, brick, H-shaped building with tile roof. This building was originally constructed by the Works Progress Administration as the swimming pool and bathhouse for Nashville's Centennial Park. The swimming pool and bathhouse were closed during the Civil Rights movement as many Southern communities simply closed pools rather than de-segregating them. In 1972, the bathhouse was converted to the Centennial Art Center, and the pool converted to a sunken sculpture garden.
  • Chase Park Improvements - Seminole OK
    Between 1937 and 1939 the WPA made improvements to Chase Park in Seminole, Oklahoma. The improvements included the construction of a wading pool and bathhouse. The Oklahoma Historic Preservation Survey notes that "...The workers who built the bathhouse and pool were drawn from relief rolls and had lost their jobs due to the economic depression. Their labor supplied the city of Seminole with recreational facilities that have been of benefit to many children on the hot summer days of southern Oklahoma. The facilities are unique to Seminole for their type and materials. They also demonstrate the variety of construction undertaken by...
  • City Beach - Plattsburgh NY
    The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) transformed what is now Plattsburgh's City Beach "from a small inadequate watering place to its present high state. The bath house was enlarged, board walk constructed, nearly a mile of sandy beach graded and cleared, diving floats installed and a refreshment stand and parking area constructed so that it is now possible to take care of more than 10,000 bathers at one time." (Plattsburgh Daily Press)
  • City Hospital Pools and Bathhouse - Buffalo NY
    A WPA photo (pictured) shows a bathhouse and two swimming pools built by the WPA for what was then the Buffalo City Hospital. The hospital was renamed the Edward J. Meyer Memorial Hospital in 1939, and has since been expanded into the Erie County Medical Center. Google images show that the bath house building and pools (now empty) are still standing. Their current function is unknown.
  • City Park - Anson TX
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) began work on the development of a city park, swimming pool, and golf course in January 1939. Bath houses, seats, wading pool, bandstand, rock veneer golf house with showers, and picnic tables of rock veneer and concrete were also constructed. The WPA provided a grant of approximately $45,000 and the city voted $12,000 in bonds to construct the swimming pool and municipal park. Engineer Cecil Hauk drew plans for the project. Frank H. Spicer of the WPA was in charge. The project was estimated to take ten months and initially employed 54 men. The park...
  • City Park - Haskell TX
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded the construction of a city park in Haskell, Texas. A story published in the Abilene Reporter-News in 1937 provides details about the project: "WPA Builds City Park At Haskell HASKELL, Jan. 25 -- (AC)-- Completion was being made today of the city park and swimming pool constructed by the Works Progress Administration. The eight-acre park site has been grade, trees and shrubbery planted, the entire park enclosed with a native stone, hedge and wire fence. A swimming pool, bath house and amphitheater have been erected. Channel of a small stream has been opened and lined with rock and...
  • Cleburne State Park - Cleburne TX
    The park was built by CCC Co. 3804 who were at the park from the spring of 1935 to Aug 1940. According to "Parks for Texas," CCC work includes the dam and lake, a limestone residence and maintenance area, entrance portals, and fireplace units. Additional work was completed by the WPA in 1941, including a bathhouse and concession building, plus a water and sewer system.
  • Comanche Trail Park Pool (demolished) - Big Spring TX
    The PWA built this pool outside Big Spring near the town's eponymous spring. Between 2008 and 2011 the pool was demolished and redeveloped as a more modern water park. Based on satellite imagery from Google Earth, no visible traces remain, but it is possible there is a marker.
  • Coronado Park - Phoenix AZ
    "Phoenix has no shortage of projects. The city’s park system is a major benefactor, with huge undertakings in places like South Mountain Park and Encanto Park and smaller projects, such as a bathhouse in Coronado Park...South Mountain Park near Central Avenue and Baseline Road was home to a CCC camp that employed 4,000 young men between 1933 and 1940. They built lookout points, ramadas, trails and bathrooms that are historical and architectural gems today."
  • Crotona Park Pool and Bathhouse - Bronx NY
    "This Olympic-size swimming pool and bathhouse complex opened on July 24, 1936. It was one of ten dedicated that year by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses (1888-1981). The project, funded by a special Works Progress Administration (WPA) grant of $10 million, featured a 925,000 gallon swimming pool, 39,000 gallon wading pool, 450,000 gallon diving pool and a bathhouse. The latter was designed by noted architect Aymar Embury II (1880-1966), and is an art deco interpretation of a French castle." This pool was one of many WPA projects in Crotona Park.
  • Crotona Park Reconstruction - Bronx NY
    The park existed before the Depression, but was completely rebuilt in 1934-41 by the WPA: "As ice skating grew popular in the Bronx around the turn of the century, Parks paved the perimeter of Indian Pond and installed a warming hut and concession stand for skaters. In the 1930s, Works Progress Administration (WPA) employees built the boathouse on the east side of the pond and entirely rebuilt the area around the lake. Other projects in Crotona Park completed during the tenure of Parks Commissioner Robert Moses (1888-1981) included the construction or renovation of five baseball diamonds, twenty tennis courts, twenty-six handball...
  • Crowley's Ridge State Park - Walcott AR
    "Crowley's Ridge State Park is a 291-acre (118 ha) Arkansas state park in Greene County, Arkansas in the United States atop Crowley's Ridge. Located on the former homesite of pioneer Benjamin Crowley, the park contains many excellent examples of the work done by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s...The park was originally constructed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the original stone and log structures give the park a rustic feel."    (wikipedia.org) Specific CCC structures  include: "The Bathhouse was constructed c.1935 at Crowley's Ridge State Park by the men of the 4733rd Company of the Civilian Conservation Corps,...
  • Crystal Beach Pool and Bath House - Madison IN
    Works Progress Administration built the Crystal Beach Pool and Bath House in Madison IN. The National Parks Service describes the history of the pool: "Madison’s Crystal Beach Swimming Pool and Bath House are two monuments of the WPA’s work in southern Indiana. They showcase the marriage of functionality and artistry seen in many WPA projects. Constructed in 1938, the pool and bath house embody the Craftsman style popular during the 1930s and 1940s. Vincennes, Indiana, architect Lester Routt designed the two-story, rough-cut stone bath house, which features a full front porch with a wood balcony supported by stone columns. The gable-on-hip roof...
  • Crystal Lake State Park - Barton VT
    "Crystal Lake State Park consists of the park's recreational area, the bathhouse, and the thin strip of beachfront land along the northern border of Crystal Lake in Barton, Vermont. Crystal Lake is a glacial lake nestled between the mountains and it is about three miles long and one mile wide. The park has a half a mile of sandy shoreline that extends along the north side of Crystal Lake and there is a marked swimming area with a sandy beach in front of the bathhouse. David Fried designed the bathhouse for the Vermont Forest Service in cooperation with the National...
  • Cuyahoga Valley National Park Development - Peninsula OH
    Between 1933 and 1939, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) provided labor for the construction of the Virginia Kendall Park Reserve, now Cuyahoga Valley National Park (est. 2000), in Peninsula, Ohio during the Great Depression. 530 acres of land willed and transferred to the Akron Municipal Parks Board and under the leadership of Harold S. Wagner and F.A. Sieberling petitioned the CCC in August 1933 for a camp. It was granted and in December of that year Unit #576 arrived with 208 recruits first under the command of of Lt. JR Tobin and soon replaced by Captain AW Belden. The CCC camp...
  • David City Park and Auditorium - David City NE
    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 the depressed financial climate of the 1890s the city was unable to uphold their bargain, and the land reverted to Mrs. Miles. In 1902, a group of citizens organized the David City Park Association and purchased the twelve acres. In addition to buying the land, they also planted trees and made other improvements. In 1905, the city passed a bond issue...
  • Deep Eddy Pool Improvements - Austin TX
    The spring-fed Deep Eddy Swimming Pool was originally built in 1916 as part of a private resort on the banks of the Colorado River called "Deep Eddy Bathing Beach." The City of Austin purchased the resort on May 31, 1935 to use as a park. Early June 1935 saw heavy rains and flooding in Central Texas with peak discharge along the Colorado River at Austin occurring on June 15. This flood destroyed all the buildings at the resort and filled the pool with debris. The city quickly took advantage of New Deal funds for work relief projects. The Works Progress Administration...
  • Delano Park - Decatur AL
    "When the Great Depression hit in the 1930s, Franklin Delano Roosevelt used landscape and park projects to provide relief and hope for America. The second great period of park building occurred during this ten year period when the CWA and WPA work teams focused much of their attention on our "City Park" building the Rose Garden, bathhouse, wading pool, bandstand, and the stone armory, now known as Fort Decatur Recreation Center." (decaturparks.com)
  • Dell Rapids City Park Bathhouse - Dell Rapids SD
    "Stretching back almost a century ago, the residents of Dell Rapids beat the South Dakota heat with a dip in the Big Sioux River. An historic quartzite bathhouse, built in 1934 as a Civil Works Administration project, is the only remaining monument to one of the most popular swimming beaches in the state." --City of Dell Rapids
  • Dockton Park - Vashon WA
    "The Dockton King County Park was created during the Great Depression as a project of the Works Progress Administration. Theo Berry was the local storekeeper and WPA administrator. The original structures, which included a bathhouse, a kitchen building, a bandstand, toilet facilities and a lifeguard residence, have since been replaced."
  • Doctors Park Bathhouse - Bayside / Fox Point WI
    The Doctors Park Bathhouse in Bayside, Wisconsin, a northern suburb of Milwaukee, is adjacent to Tietjen Beach on Lake Michigan and within 75 feet of the shoreline. This former bathhouse was constructed as a Work Projects Administration (WPA) project in 1939-1940, part of a far broader county-wide park improvement program undertaken by the New Deal agency. While the park straddles Bayside and Fox Point, the bathhouse is located north of the border, in Bayside. For many decades the bathhouse provided a place to change into a swimsuit and shower off sand before heading for home. the building housed lifeguards to...
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