Anacostia Park is one of Washington DC’s two largest parks and recreation areas, along with Rock Creek Park. It covers over 1200 acres along the Anacostia River from South Capitol Street SE to the Maryland boundary in NE. The New… read more
Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens is situated on the banks of the Anacostia River at the north end of Anacostia Park. It is a marsh area that includes several cultivated ponds preserving rare waterlilies and lotuses. Originally known as the… read more
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded and provided labor for an improvement and beautification program in Norfolk’s Ballentine Park in 1937. The WPA allocated $12, 836 for the project with the city adding an additional $4,884. “The project call[ed] for… read more
The federal National Youth Administration (NYA) built circular walls surrounding Barton Springs and created a terraced sunken garden. The site can be found along Barton Creek in Zilker Metropolitan Park, just off the Lady Bird Lake Bike Trail. There are… read more
The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted development work at Ben Ficklin Park in San Angelo, Texas. Work included $3,095 on a garden.
The Berkeley Rose Garden lies on the west side of Euclid Avenue in the Berkeley Hills. It was constructed in the little valley of Codornices Creek, which emerges in a viewing pool at the bottom of the garden. The rose… read more
“The Boyce Thompson Arboretum was established in 1923. Franklin Crider, a University of Arizona botanist, managed the research unit to study soil retention by plant roots. In 1933 a small group of Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees from camp F16A at… read more
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed improvements in Brookdale Park NJ (Essex County) in 1937. Initial construction of the park began in 1928 following an Olmstead Brothers’ design. “The basic work was in place by 1930,” suggests the Essex County… read more
The federal Civil Works Administration constructed the old entrance, Huntington’s Gate, to Brookgreen Gardens outside Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. Living New Deal believes that the old gate is no longer extant. “Huntington’s Gate, Route #49, CWA Project #99. Archer and… read more
The New Deal supported various improvements to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden during the Great Depression, among which was the Herb Garden: “Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor was used to build the 1938 Herb Garden, a Caparn design taken from a… read more
The New Deal supported various improvements to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden during the Great Depression, among which was the Osborne Garden. “Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor was used to build the 1938 Herb Garden, a Caparn design taken from a… read more
The buildings of Brooklyn College were financed by a massive federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project undertaken during the Great Depression. After the buildings were constructed, Works Progress Administration (WPA) laborers worked on improving the campus, primarily through landscaping efforts, beginning in 1938…. read more
This sunken garden is chiseled out of the hill adjacent to the 1871 Governor’s Mansion that overlooks the Missouri state capital. The gardens were started in the late 1930s by the WPA. Work included extensive rock wall work. There is… read more
Camp NA-1 was located in the National Arboretum, Washington, DC, and was home to Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 1360, an all African-American unit. Many of the enrollees in Company 1360 were young men from the city itself. Company 1360… read more
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,… read more
“The Conservatory Garden is a six-acre formal garden named after a conservatory (i.e. greenhouse) that was built here in 1898. During the Depression, Parks commissioner Robert Moses (1888-1981) decreed the aging structure too expensive to maintain and had it demolished… read more
Three different community gardens were built under one State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA) project in the cities of Alhambra (at Orange & Fremont streets), Pomona, and Arcadia. The gardens are no longer extant.
“The Gardens were developed as a joint effort between Cleveland’s ethnic communities, the City of Cleveland and the Federal Government – namely the Work Progress Administration. This is one of the aspects that sets this park aside as a historically… read more
“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… read more
The historic Dutch Gardens in New City, New York, part of Courthouse Park, were constructed between 1935 and 1938 with federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor. This was significant as the only W.P.A. outdoor construction project to be designed and… read more
Miami and the surrounding Dade County were effectively without city or county parks until the 1930s. The city got its first park in 1925, after which the city was devastated by a hurricane the following year. The county received its… read more
“This structure houses rare and beautiful plants, trees, and flowers, and is an important unit of the general park improvement program for St. Louis. The steel frame of the building supports structural glass panels on its vertical surfaces which are… read more
The Fort Worth Botanic Garden had its origins in 1912 when the park board purchased a tract of land southwest of Trinity Park and named it Rock Springs Park. In his 1909 park master plan for Fort Worth, landscape architect… 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
Several lava rock terraces at the Hawaii Nature Center (formerly the Department of Forestry’s Nursery) were built by FERA in 1934.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked to improve what is now the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s High Plains Grasslands Research Station (then Cheyenne Horticultural Field Station), located northwest of Cheyenne, Wyoming. USDA.gov: “1935 – Many inprovements were made to the… read more
“In Clovis, the Curry County Court House is listed as one of the buildings built in 1936. Twila Ky Rutter, Grant Facilitator and Procurement Clerk, unable to locate a photograph of the building as it was originally, referred me to… read more
The Houston Federation of Garden Clubs (HFGC) was founded by several Houstonian women in 1936 with the goal of building a garden center to hold their meetings and educational forums. That dream bore fruition five years later when Mayor Oscar… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed the International Peace Garden during the 1930s.
A site devoted to the history of the park (www.letchworthparkhistory.com) has compiled an extensive list of CCC work done in the park: During the Great Depression, Letchworth Park was the site of several Civilian Conservation Camps. (See the Glimpse of… read more
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made extensive improvements to Lithia Park, a 100-acre park at the heart of Ashland OR, from 1935 to 1938. Lithia Park was established in the early 20th century along Ashland Creek above the main… read more
The Morcom Amphitheater of Roses – originally known as the Municipal Rose Garden – is one of the grandest city rose gardens in the country. It began as a project of the Oakland Businessmen’s Garden Club in 1930 and the… read more
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 United States National Arboretum was established as a public center for scientific research, education, and gardens to conserve and showcase the floral bounty of America and the world. It was authorized in 1927, but the actual development of the… read more
In an effort to beautify the area around a pond in Neshotah Park, the City of Two Rivers had rocks hauled to the park over a period of about three years. In late October 1938 50 WPA workers were transferred… read more
The Federal Writers’ Project wrote of the New York Botanical Garden: “The botanical garden, incorporated by the State Legislature in 1891, after a two-year campaign for funds, is maintained by city appropriations, membership fees, and funds from the sale of… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.)’s Camp Graves operated between May 27, 1933 and April 22, 1936 at Nipmuck State Forest in Union, Connecticut. Among the C.C.C. accomplishments were “8 miles of truck trails” and “fire suppression on the Connecticut—Massachusetts border.”… read more
The Norfolk Botanical Garden is a 155 acre garden with 12 miles of paved trails and 65,000 plants. It receives about 300,000 visitors every year. Among the many interesting things at the Garden are tram tours, boat tours, a library,… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was present in Death Valley National Monument from 1933 to 1942. The main CCC camp was at Cow Creek, just north of the park headquarters and visitors center at Furnace Creek. CCC ‘boys’ built the… read more
The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) supplied labor for the development of a “Rhododendron Gardens Park” in Asheville, North Carolina. The project cost was $4,089.29, all footed by the federal government. The location and status… read more