Comfort Stations (Restrooms) Sites

"St. Mary's Park, the largest park in the southeast Bronx, bounded by East 149th Street, St. Ann's Avenue, St. Mary's Street, and Jackson Avenue, June 22, 2015. This park was totally reconstructed by the WPA at the same time as Crotona Park, and reopened in October 1941. The Parks Department press release of October 13, 1941, says: St. Mary's Park consisting in large part of steep and rocky terrain had fallen into a state of shabbiness and disrepair owing to hard usage, outmoded design and erosion due to failure of old drainage systems. The large size of the area made it...

Multiple New Deal agencies worked to develop Ashland, Massachusetts's Stone Park. The Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) constructed toilet facilities and bleachers in 1934. The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) continued work in 1935. Federally funded labor also improved the park's drainage and conducted other repairs.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)  built the Storm Mountain Picnic Area in the lower reaches of Big Cottonwood Canyon, a major recreational area for Salt Lake City.  The CCC young men, supervised by the US Forest Service, laid out picnic sites, built a footbridge over Big Cottonwood Creek and rip-rapped the creek.  They also constructed two stone comfort stations (restrooms), which are no longer in use.   The Storm Mountain picnic area includes a beautiful stone amphitheater. The picnic area is not marked as CCC in origin, but the amphitheater is.  The small dam just above the Storm Mountain picnic area is part...

On October 1, 1936, the Department of Parks announced the completion of significant developments in Stuyvesant Square park: "At Stuyvesant Square Park the south half of the rectangular section west of Second Avenue and bounded by Second Avenue, East 15th Street, Rutherford Place and East 17th Street has been redesigned and reconstructed, with the exception of the central portion, comprising eight percent of the west half of the park. The area developed includes wide, semi-circular walks, with continuous rows of benches." In December of the same year, the Department announced further work on the northeast section of the square, including the construction...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did major work developing the former Patrick's Point (now Sue-Meg) State Park, which had just been purchased by the new State Parks Commission in 1929. The CCC work was carried out between 1933 and 1937 by the men of Company 1903 at Camp Prairie Creek. Engbeck reports that the CCC enrollees tore out an old road and reconfigured the entry road in a more naturalized fashion; constructed a campground and day-use picnic area, with combination restrooms, washrooms and laundry rooms; rehabilitated a staff residence; and cleared a protective firebreak around the perimeter of the park  (Engbeck, p. 24). The CCC...

Sunset Park in Brooklyn was improved by the WPA in 1935 (when a small children's playground was added) and, more extensively, in 1940. A press release announced the completion of the later project: "In Sunset Park, the westerly portion located at Fifth Avenue, 41 to 42 Streets, has been redesigned and reconstructed. The new work consists of the rearrangement of new bituminous walks, curbs, concrete stairs, entrances, concrete walls, new overlooks, benches, chain link and wrought iron fencing, a small children's play area with sand pit and play apparatus, and a new modern comfort station. The opening of these park areas designed...

The Works Progress Administration's National Youth Administration (WPA/NYA) hired youths to construct the stone shop building and 2 restrooms in Sunset Park in Salina Kansas. During the 1950s, the shop building doubled as a voting station. The shop building bears an NYA plaque.  

The 285,000 gallon concrete pool was started August 25, 1936 and completed a year later. It was officially dedicated in 1938. Total cost of construction for the pool, walkways, rock house for living quarters for the caretakers, showers, concession room, filtration plan, and smaller rock clubhouse for the golf course was $36,000, of which the city funded $5,000.

This park in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn was built by the Department of Parks in 1934. The press release announcing its opening described the facilities as including "a general girls' play field a boys' play field, a wading pool, basketball court, and an area for outdoor playground apparatus. Handball courts are also provided for boys. A brick recreation building with toilet facilities and indoor playrooms is being constructed.” The NYC Parks site also says that several Pin oaks were planted "in the hope that they might provide much needed areas of shade in the future." Although these sources do not...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a number of stone comfort stations (restrooms) at picnic areas in Tilden Regional Park in 1940-42.  It is possible that some were also built earlier by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which laid out many of the picnic areas.  There are many newer wood and stone restrooms built by Tilden Park staff, but the older stonework – especially of Italian stone masons working for the WPA – is usually distinct from later stonework by the Park District.  The restrooms found at these areas are probably original WPA or CCC work: Padre, Willows, Laurel, Jewel Lake, Big...

Timpanogos Cave was designated a national monument on October 14, 1922 and was initially developed and maintained by the U.S. Forest Service.  The National Park Service took over from the Forest Service in 1933 as part of the Roosevelt Administration's reorganization of national parks and monuments. Timpanogos NM was administered from Zion NP until 1955. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) sent the first New Deal workforce into the monument for the summer of 1933.  The Company 940 established a camp at the site now occupied by the Granite Flat campground. Mostly notably, CCC enrollees built a new trail to provide better access...

This Tioga Pass comfort station was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1934.  It sits near the Entrance/Ranger Station at the east entrance to Yosemite National Park, which was built earlier.   The building is done in classic National Park rustic style, with walls constructed of large boulders. Comfort stations was the name used at the time for restrooms with additional washing facilities, which this one does not have; hence, it is literally just a 'restroom'. The Tioga Pass road, which was largely built by the CCC, is closed from the first major snowstorm in November until early summer because...

The Tumacácori National Monument was set aside by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 to protect the ruins of the Mission of San Jose de Tumacacori.  In 1918, it came under the administration of the National Park Service and its regional 'custodian', Frank Pinkley.  Congress created the Tumacácori National Historic Park in 1990, adding the ruins of two nearby missions, Los Santos Angeles de Guevavi and San Cayetano de Calabazas. Under the park service's guidance, Tumacácori mission church and its dependencies were stabilized in 1920-21, but intentionally not fully restored.  Only with the aid of the New Deal did the park come...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the Tuolumne Meadows campground in 1933-34.  It is the largest campground in Yosemite National Park. The CCC enrollees also built three comfort stations for the campground, done in classic National Park rustic style of boulders and timbers.  At the time, a comfort station was more than a restroom, because it included washing facilities. The three comfort stations still operate and have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.    

"Several of the campground buildings and cabins hold important historic and educational value. The bunkhouse and dining hall area still reflects the architectural signature of its builders, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Likewise, the three CCC‐built cabins, remotely nestled in the woods, retain the historical aesthetics of the era in which they were constructed. ...in 1933, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established a camp on the hill where the present outdoor center stands. Approximately 16 structures were erected. Additionally, the CCC was responsible for the construction of over eight miles of trails, installation of a public...

From NYC Parks: "William McCray Playground is one of nine playgrounds that was built by the Parks Department through a war memorial fund, and was opened simultaneously on July 15, 1934. The War Memorial Fund of $250,000 was established in 1921 with monies collected by the Police Department, and by 1934 the fund—never spent—had grown in value to $350,000. Seeking additional open spaces for children, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses obtained a legal ruling which permitted use of the fund for playground development. Marked with a commemorative tablet, each property was to honor the memory of a soldier who gave his life...

On June 19, 1939, the Department of Parks announced the opening of two playgrounds in Flushing Meadows Park, one along the Grand Central Parkway, just south of Horace Harding Boulevard. This is most likely what is now known as the World's Fair Playground. The 1939 press release explained that: "These two recreation areas are part of the plan for the ultimate development of the park after the Fair is over and will provide recreation facilities for the present children of the adjacent communities and for an increase in population as additional housing develops around the park. In the playground near Horace Harding...

The original 32-acre tract that established Yaquina Bay State Park was donated by the United States Department of Commerce, Lighthouse Service on September 1, 1934. Shortly after, Civilian Conservation Corps workers from CCC Camp Newport began development of the site. Located on the north shore of Yaquina Bay, with access to the ocean beach and views of the jetty, the park offered scenic amenities given its distinctive location as well as its historic landmark. The wooden Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, active from 1871 to 1874, served as a focal point for the new picnic area developed by CCC enrollees. They also laid-out...