Gardens and Nurseries Sites

Between 1935 and 1939, WPA crews conducted historic restoration and renovation work at this site, Casa-Torre de Ponce de León, built in 1521 for the notoriously brutal conquistador who died before ever occupying the residence. It is better known as Casa Blanca, or "White House." WPA work included roof repairs, installation of lighting, and creation of a garden. It now houses a museum with information about early colonial life on the island.  

"Between May 11, 1933 and March 31, 1942, ten CCC camps were established within, or on leased land adjacent to, Shenandoah. At any one time, more than 1,000 boys and young men lived in camps supervised by the Army and worked on projects directed by the Service and the Bureau of Public Roads. Until the park was established officially on December 26, 1935, the bulk of CCC activity took place on the narrow 100 foot right-of-way of the Skyline Drive, in the few areas of purchased or donated land transferred to the federal government by the Commonwealth of Virginia, or on...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) began to pursue improvements at San Jose’s St. James Park in 1937. While the two-square block city park had long been central to public and political life in the city, project leaders hoped that the New Deal initiative would make it “more attractive than ever.” Specific improvements such as “revamping” the park’s landscape and constructing an underground sprinkler system were estimated to cost $35,000. Another $150,000 were initially penciled in for the construction of new facilities and more general improvements in and around the park, but only restrooms were built. It appears.   An historical evaluation of...

Concrete foundation, hipped and gabled roof, and flat-roofed dormers all 4 sides. Site of Starve Hollow nursery immediately to South with white pine plantings. Constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) between 1938 and 1939.

A waymarker in Oklahoma describes this municipal park, located within a block of the WPA built American Legion Hut and the WPA State Armory: "Stephenson Park contains several of the familiar WPA-constructed clues. Although I was unable to located any plaques or etchings in the concrete reading "WPA", the typical wall and bridge construction gave it away. The Edmond Historical Society website confirms that the park was a WPA Project. The park has a rolling landscape, with a small creek run-off which has two WPA-constructed pedestrian bridges. They are both arched across the waterway, with concrete platform and stone walls. At the...

The Tilden Park Botanical Garden for California native plants was built by the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) with the aid of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1940-42. The garden was the brainchild of Professor Howard McMinn of Mills College, in 1938.  He knew of an extensive collection of California native plants at the US Forest Service's California Forest and Range Experiment Station in Berkeley, which had been assembled with the help of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) teams gathering seeds. Under Prof. McMinn's urging, the Forest Service and EBRPD formed a cooperative agreement to create a new botanic garden...

"Public Works Administration funds financed construction of the Tucson Plant Materials Center. Hispanic workers hired with Federal Emergency Relief Administration funds made the adobe blocks. The eight original buildings at the center were later assembled by Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees between 1935 and 1941. Designed according to the Pueblo Revival style which imitates early southwestern Native American and Spanish architecture, the buildings were constructed with flat roofs, rounded corners, vigas (exposed wooden roof beams), and rough-carved, wooden porches. Today only two buildings, the administration and the general utility building, remain. The Tucson Plant Materials Center was one of 48 nurseries...

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 Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden in Tyler TX. A historical marker at the site reads: "The property that is now home to the Tyler Rose Garden was first purchased by the City of Tyler in 1912 for the construction of a park and fairgrounds. After many years and at the urging of the former American Rose Society President Dr. Horace McFarland, an application to the Works Project Administration (WPA) was made in 1938 to fund the construction of a municipal rose garden. The $181,255 federal grant was thought to be the largest municipal park and rose garden...

According to WPA records in the National Archives, in 1939 WPA labor was used to "Construct and rehabilitate water and sewer facilities, and roads, improve grounds, at the United States Experimental Gardens in Arlington County Va." Exact location and current status of the gardens is unknown.

Men of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked from 1934 to 1941 on the Arboretum of University of Wisconsin Madison, providing the majority of the labor needed to establish the ecological communities that make up the Arboretum. This was accomplished by excavating and moving land to return farmland to it’s natural condition as well as reintroducing native plants. Between 1900-1920 there were many civic leaders of the fast-growing city of Madison, Wisconsin interested in returning the countryside to it’s natural glory. These leaders recognized the importance of the conservation of open spaces for the citizens of the city. To ensure the...

"In the 1930's the Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook a series of improvements including the construction of the loop road around the summit ." A 1937 WPA Bulletin reported: In 1934 Waitt's Mount in Maiden looked like a quarry-workers' nightmare. It was a huge, bald and jagged granite ledge whose slope was covered with twisted, stunted trees and tangled underbrush; probably the most useless piece of land in this section of the state. Today the Mount is a beautifully terraced park which commands a 15-mile panorama of metropolitan Boston. The park, built by the WPA, has landscaped slopes, shade trees, rustic...

The WPA did extensive work in creating both the park's rock and rose gardens. According to the Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory Nomination, the "rock gardens in Woodward Park were laid initially by WPA laborers, although there is some evidence that the work was begun somewhat earlier by CWA workers."   (https://www.okhistory.org) "Constructed by the WPA using hand labor and teams of horses and a part of Woodward Park and the Tulsa Garden Center, the Municipal Rose Garden was inaugurated in 1934 and is a continuing project of Tulsa Parks and the Tulsa Garden Club. The first roses for the garden were planted in 1935."  ...

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees made many improvements at Yosemite Village and Curry Village at the east end of Yosemite Valley, in the heart of Yosemite National Park. At the time, these were known as the Old Village, New Village and Camp Curry. At Yosemite Village, the CCC teams installed log curbing, laid out new paths, and planted ferns, trees, and shrubs around the administration building, new hospital, residences, and Yosemite Museum. Some of the landscaping was done with native plants transplanted from various places outside the valley.  CCCers placed flagstones around the telescopes in front of the museum. Under the direction of...