Parks and Recreation Sites

Among the challenges in constructing the final link in Oregon's Highway 101, the state's bridge engineer responded by designing Chasm Bridge on Neahkahnie Mountain. Using Bureau of Public Roads funds and design advice from the National Parks Service, workers completed the bridge in 1937. An information plague located at a viewpoint on Neahkahnie Mountain describes the project, writing: "Built on the sheer face of Neahkahnie Mountain, this 59-foot reinforced concrete deck girder is a major engineering feat! Designed by Glenn S. Paxton, the bridge features stone masonry on its face and railings, which extend nearly uninterrupted around the mountain." Chasm Bridge is also...

"The CCC played a crucial role in landscape and restoration work of the 128 acre Chateau de Mores State Historic Site, which was opened to the public on August 7, 1941." (MedoraND.com)

Camp Roosevelt: C.C.C. Company #171 operated from May 23, 1933 to March 31, 1937, and worked to develop what was later designated as Chatfield Hollow State Park. It was originally "developed as a Civilian Conservation Corps recreation area within Cockaponset State Forest."

According to a Works Progress Administration (WPA) Information Division document, a new museum was built in the park. As well, “Five miles of road and 20 miles of trail have been completed by WPA workers, with large auto parking spaces and picnic grounds, open air fireplaces with tables and benches and shelters…a ten-acre lake, formed by damning streams in the vicinity will provide boating and bathing facilities. A 600 foot earthen dam is being constructed, and the muck in a lowland area is being dredged out of for the lake bed…The western edge of the lake will be filled with...

On June 25, 1936, the Department of Parks announced the completion of a reconstructed area at this neighborhood park in Chelsea, explaining: "...the reconstructed area will have a large play area with one ball field, handball courts, complete play equipment for small children and a wading pool." The park was further redesigned by the WPA in 1940, which added a new asphalt surface to west section of the park "graded so that it can be flooded for ice-skating when sub-freezing temperatures permit. In season it will be used for roller skating, roller hockey, softball, basketball and other group games." The WPA also...

This small park near the waterfront in Chelsea was first acquired by the NYC Parks Department in 1915. In 1923, the park was named in honor of Thomas F. Smith, a Chelsea native turned successful politician. It was further transformed in the 1930s: "In 1931 the park was compromised by the opening of the West Side also known as the Miller Elevated Highway, which bisected the property. Improvements were made to the easterly portion in the mid-1930s, including the introduction of handball and shuffle-bard courts, horseshoe pits, and London planetrees (Platanus x acerifolia)." More precisely, the Department of Parks press release announced...

"The park’s history is tied to Camp Morehouse, a Civilian Conservation Corps camp that was located nearby, and a company of young men who began construction of the park in the 1930s. The Morehouse Enterprise reports June 8, 1933 that CCC Company 1491 under the command of U.S. Army Capt. Ralph L. Ware had arrived in Bastrop via train from Camp Beauregard. The company included 188 enrollees from Morehouse and surrounding parishes. The men would be stationed at Camp Morehouse about 12 miles north of Bastrop  on land owned by the Crossett Lumber Co., where they planned to build a lighting plant,...

" buildings were erected by workers of the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration. Two programs of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal program to pull the country out of the Great Depression. They began working in 1933 — only three years after the park opened on Memorial Day in 1930. Roads were built and drainage systems were put in by those workers in a park designed by Dr. Laurie Coz and students of Syracuse University’s School of Forestry. Using nature and its environs, they carefully sculpted out a park with forested areas for cabins and clear fields for sports fields,...

NYSParks.com: "Located in Chenango Valley State Park in scenic Broome County, the original 9-hole course, known as Riverside Golf Course, was designed by engineer James Evans and landscape architect Laurie Cox and constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. In 1967 the course was redesigned by Hal Purdy and expanded to 18 holes."

"Cheraw State Park is located in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of South Carolina. This large park is best known for its championship 18-hole golf course and the 300-acre (1.2 km2) Lake Juniper, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Visitors can rent kayaks, canoes, and non-motorized jon boats to explore the lake as well as fish for the catfish, bass, and bream found in the lake. The park also has several cabins available for rent with views of the lake. There is no charge for admission to Cheraw State Park. In 1934 the U.S. Government, as well local citizens, donated...

In 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a three-story lifeguard station in Long Beach, CA. Originally located at the foot of Linden Avenue, it was moved to Cherry Avenue in 1961.

Today's NYC Parks website explains that: "The land now occupied by Cherry Clinton Playground was owned by the Board of Education through the first few decades of the 20th century, and was used as the Seventh Ward Athletic Field until jurisdiction was transferred to Parks on June 16, 1938. The park was opened to the public on April 3, 1940 and included four paddle tennis courts, four handball courts, and a basketball-volleyball court." The 1940 press release announcing the playground's opening further explained that the playground was "designed by the Park Department and built by the Work Projects Administration."

Under the New Deal, the defunct Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Canal was acquired by the federal government and restored from Georgetown in the District of Columbia (where it enters the Potomac River) to Seneca MD, a distance of 22 miles.  This lay the basis for the future C&O Canal National Historical Park.   The C&O canal, built between 1824 and 1850, is historically significant as one of the best preserved remnants of the great canal boom of the first half of the 19th century. Today, it functions as one of the major recreational assets of the greater Washington DC area. The canal...

The CCC assisted in the development of this state forest. For example, according to a brochure and web page from the Jacob’s Ladder Scenic Byway: “Between 1933 and 1940 the Chester-Blandfield State Forest took shape thanks to the hard work of approximately one hundred and fifty young men who were part of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). With the Depression in full force, the CCC offered these young men work, regular pay, a place to live and the camaraderie of shared experiences. They came mostly from the Boston area, but also from local towns along Jacob’s Ladder Trail, and their...

Completed in 1936 to provide space for community theater and musical performances, this beautiful Works Progress Administration stone amphitheater remains in good condition in Chestnut Ridge Park, off of East Avenue in Akron, Ohio. The amphitheater has been given Ohio Historic Preservation Office No SUM-354-16. Akron submitted a$1,000,000 proposal to WPA to improve Glendale and Waters parks, along with 10 other parks (Akron Beacon Journal, Dec. 23, 1935, p. 23). The projects were announced approved in March 1936, and Akron’s share of $30,000 was financed with bonds. Work was provided for “several hundred men”, 24 separate projects on 38 park properties and...

Chestnut Ridge Park in Orchard Park, New York was one of a number of parks in Erie County improved ca. 1936 by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA).

In 1936, the Washington Post reported that improvement work was going forward at several city playgrounds, the Chevy Chase Recreation Center playground among them. This would have been part of a major New Deal park renovation effort across the district.  The work was likely done by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which had undertaken a nearly $1 million program of park and playground improvements in 1935-36.

"Chewacla State Park is a 696-acre (2.82 km2) state park in Auburn, Alabama. It is located just south of Interstate 85 in Lee County, Alabama... The park has six renovated Civilian Conservation Corps-era stone cabins featuring hardwood floors, stone fireplaces, bathrooms,Tvs, and modern kitchens. Cabins have central heating and cooling systems. The cabins are available year around and require reservations."

Chickamauga Dam is located on the Tennessee River in south-central Tennessee just east of downtown Chattanooga. Construction began in 1936 as a part of Tennessee Valley Authority’s area improvements and was completed in 1940. Before the dam’s construction, the city of Chattanooga often experienced major flooding. The dam provides hydroelectric power to the area and creates Chickamauga Lake, which is used for recreation and a wildlife reserve. Two segregated recreation areas- Booker T. Washington State Park and Harrison Bay State Park- were also created with the construction of the dam and lake. "When the Tennessee Valley Authority was formed in the...

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park preserves two civil war battles. The park was established in the late 19th century. During the Depression, the "Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park had four camps at its disposal. Troops at these facilities performed a variety of missions, including construction of roads, fire trails, bridle paths, as well as landscaping, tree surgery, and erosion control." The last CCC camp in the park closed in April 1942.

The CCC was extensively involved in development of the portion of the Chickasaw National Recreation Area formerly known as Platt National Park: "Originally known as Sulphur Springs Reservation, and later renamed Platt National Park, the park was established in 1902 through an agreement with the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations and the federal government... Though a number of landscape elements in the Platt District relate to the early period of the park’s establishment, the majority of historic landscape resources relate to the period 1933-1940. During this period, NPS professionals planned and designed extensive park infrastructure which was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)....

"Veterans Lake is located in the western portion of the Chickasaw National Recreation Area's Platt Historic District. The lake is an excellent fishing venue, hiking and picnicking nearby. No-wake boating is allowed on the lake. It was created by the damming of Wilson Creek. Veterans Lake was built in in the mid-1930s by the WPA and became part of Chickasaw National Recreation Area in 1983. Land for the lake was funded by local citizens in the Sulphur area. The 67-acre lake was named in honor of American war veterans. The lake offers three miles of shoreline, along with a boat ramp,...

The Chickatawbut Observation Tower is a historic tower on Chickatawbut Road in Quincy (MA) within the Blue Hill Reservation. Unfortunately it is not open to the public. The tower was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s (I don't know the exact year). Though I’m not 100% positive, I’d guess that the shelter structure at the tower's base was part of the same 1930s project.

Description of W.P.A. projects: "Chickatawbut Road, Braintree; work will be started in the early spring of 1939 on the general improvement and beautification of the Chickatawbut Road entrance to Blue Hills Reservation. Work will include tree removal, clearing, excavation, rip-rapping of brooks, rubble wall construction, fence relocation, road drainage, resurfacing of surface road, grading, loaming and seeding and all incidental work." "Chickatawbut Road at Granite Street, Braintree; improvement and beautification of this entrance to the Blue Hills Reservation."

In the 1890s, the city of Chicopee purchased a tract of land along Cooley Brook for the creation of a reservoir, which later took place in 1926. Nearly a decade later during the Great Depression the area was selected for expansion and the creation of a state park by the Civilian Conservation Corps The CCC operated Camp 1156 in Chicopee, Massachusetts from 1935 to 1937. The camp that resided in Chicopee was near Cooley Brook Reservoir where Chicopee Memorial State Park is located today and housed about two hundred young men. CCC workers conducted efforts throughout the Chicopee Memorial State Park...

"One of the older Louisiana parks, the park was added to the Louisiana State Park system in 1939. Under the direction of the National Park Service, the Civilian Conservation Corps significantly developed the area." (Wikipedia)

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed the Chief Shakes Historic Site in 1940 on a 0.704 acre tract of land located on Shakes Island in Wrangell Harbor. The park was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the restoration of totems and Native cultural assets. At the center of the park is a 1940 replica of an early 19th Century Tlingit community house. Nine totem poles surround the house—a Sealion Prince, Kadashan Red Snapper, Kadashan Crane, Underwater Grizzly, Three Frogs, Bear Up Mountain, and Sea Serpent. Seven of these totems poles are reproductions of older poles, while two are originals....

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed the Chief Shakes Historic Site in 1940 on an acre of land located on Shakes Island in Wrangell. The clan house is a 1940 replica of an early 19th Century Tlingit community house. The house is surrounded by nine totem poles and it contains two posts that represent two killer whale fins. A 1970 nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places describes the formal qualities of the structure: “A central square fire pit is the focus of the structure's interior. The fire pit is surrounded by a planked platform that would have...

Between 1933 and 1939, crews of Civilian Conservation Corps workers built a trail from the Old Kasaan to the park, constructed a small park, restored traditional native houses, relocated totem poles from abandoned villages, and restored and reconstructed some of the poles. A registration form of the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) describes the role of the CCC in the restoration of the Totem Park: “The U.S. Forest Service used the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal program, to provide jobs in Southeast Alaska during the 1930s. The program was used to develop recreational facilities in Tongass National Forest, to...

The Whale House at the Chief Son-I-Hat's Whale House and Totems Historic District was built during the 1880s at Old Kasaan. Around 1904, Chief Son-I-Hat moved from the old village to a new site at Kasaan Bay called Kasaan or New Kasaan. The Chief also moved his Whale House and entrance totem to the new site. A registration form of the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) describes the role of the CCC in the restoration of the Whale House: “It is not known if Son-I-Hat or one of his sons actually lived in the Whale House at Kasaan, however it...

"It was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a product of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, that turned Charlton Flat and Chilao into prime recreation areas. A CCC camp was set up at Charlton Flat in June 1933, and another one at Chilao six years later. The young and energetic lads of the CCC built an elaborate campground and picnic area at Charlton Flat, and a campground, ranger station, and maintenance facilities at Chilao. It was their labor that erected the fire lookout on Mount Vetter in 1935, and built fire roads and trails all over the back country. Seldom...

Install sewerage system including excavation and backfill, sheet piling, pipe laying and manholes. Replace paths and roads removed due to trenching.--Mooser, p. 95.

Provided lighting system and surfaced courts for tennis and basketball.--Healy, p. 58.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) undertook conservation work in Chippewa National Forest, under the supervision of the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In 1935 and 1936, workers for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the Chippewa National Forest Headquarters. The building, overseen by Ike Boekenoogen, “an expert in log building techniques,” is “made entirely… from Minnesota forest products. The exterior is Scandinavian style notch-and-groove (chinkless) log construction. And many interior details, including the fifty-foot glacial stone fireplace designed by Nels Bergley, the wooden stairway, and the ironwork on the door hinges and fireplace, were made by hand.” The building is used to this today and is in the National Register of Historic Places.

"Chiricahua National Monument was constructed by a single Civilian Conservation Corps camp, NM2A, between 1934 and 1940. These young men reconstructed the Massai Point Road and built the trails, campground structures and visitor center, the lookout on Sugarloaf Peak, and the exhibit building on Massai Point. The buildings were assembled from boulders or blocks quarried from native welded tuff (hardened ash) found in the surrounding mountains. Designed in the National Park Service Rustic style, the buildings sit low and close to the landscape mimicking the surrounding rock environment and have been screened with native vegetation. A CCC exhibit in the...

The WPA allocated $15,019 for improvements at the Chouteau County fairgrounds in Fort Benton, Montana in August 1938.

The CCC carried out road and trail construction in the Chugach National Forest.

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Bear Pit at the Cincinnati Zoo in Cincinnati OH. The enclosure contained three pits for polar and brown bears. The design of the exhibit sought to emulate a natural environment for the animals. The project was completed in 1937. The construction cost was $94,873 and the total cost was $107,041.

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Reptile Building at the Cincinnati Zoo in Cincinnati OH. The design of the exhibits and air conditioning system sought to emulate the natural habitat for the animals. The diorama exhibits included an artificial swamp, rocks, pools of water, and sand.   The project was completed in 1937. The construction cost was $120,199 and the total cost was $130,395.