Parks and Recreation Sites

SILive.com: "Among the other major WPA projects on the Island were ... development of park lands at Clove Lakes Park."

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) constructed a clubhouse at a golf course in Riverton, Wyoming. The location and status of this facility are unknown to Living New Deal.

The National Youth Administration (NYA) completed landscaping work in Cobb Park Landscaping - Abilene TX. NYA Park Project To Begin Thursday: A National Youth Administration park Improvement project for the city of Abilene will begin Thursday, it was learned here yesterday. Ben Jackson, district NYA supervisor, has instructed local Works Progress administration officials to assign 40 youths to the project. It will consist of building two tennis courts and planting of shrubs md other greenery. Most of It Is to be in Cobb park.

In operation from Dec. 9, 1933 to Jul. 30, 1941, C.C.C. Camp Filley conducted extensive development work in the Cockaponset State Forest in Middlesex County, Connecticut. Camp Hadley, Company #2101, also operated on this site, from Sept. 5, 1935 to Apr. 4, 1941. Projects included tree planting; renovations to the Forest Ranger's house; construction of a lumber shed, garage, brick charcoal kiln, a picnic shelter, and clean-up after the flood of 1936 in the town of Middletown. Work also included development at Chatfield Hollow State Park, designated as such in 1949. It was originally a Civilian Conservation Corps recreation area within Cockaponset State Forest.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) built tennis and handball courts at Codornices Park – most of which lies on the east side of Euclid Road and is accessed via a pedestrian tunnel from the ball courts, which are on the west side of the road.  The tennis and handball courts adjoin the more famous Berkeley Rose Garden.  The CWA was the short-lived predecessor (1933-34) to the better known Works Progress Administration (WPA), which constructed the Rose Garden.  It is likely that the CWA began the work for the Rose Garden by creating the semi-circular hollow out of the valley cut by Codornices...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) contributed greatly to the development of the park system in Woonsocket, R.I. Cold Spring Park benefited from landscaping improvements and the development of athletic fields.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the Colliding Rivers Overlook (or Viewpoint), where the North Umpqua and Little Rivers come together. The work as presumably done in 1938, the same year the CCC constructed the Glide Ranger Station just across the road (now the Information Center for the Colliding Rivers Viewpoint). The overlook consists of a small parking area and terraces on two levels for viewing the rivers, with both a ramp and stairway between levels. There is a path to a secondary overlook that is today blocked by trees, and there is a restroom (comfort station) that appears to be...

The Seattle Park Department acquired the land for Colman Playground in 1910, shortly after the opening of nearby Colman School. A regrading project in the early 1910s made the site suitable for picnics and baseball, but otherwise the Park Department made few improvements to the site prior to the 1930s. When WPA funding became available, several neighborhood organizations joined together and convinced the Park Board to upgrade the playground. Major work on improving Colman Playground started in 1937, when WPA workers began constructing the two-story, reinforced concrete shelter house that stands near southwest corner of the playground. As construction of the...

During the late 1930s, with funds from the WPA, the Seattle Park Department upgraded Colman Playground. The largest component of the improvement project was the construction of a new shelter house near the southwest corner of the playground. WPA workers began constructing the shelter house in 1937. Designed by Seattle architect Arthur Wheatley, the two-story, reinforced concrete structure housed a playroom, caretaker's room, and storage room on its lower level, and a social room, office area, and restrooms on its upper level. A plaque on the north side of the building reads: "Built by Works Progress Administration, 1936-1937." Despite the...

Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) work relief division efforts included "an athletic field and recreation park to mark the site where Columbus landed in 1493" in Aguadilla, ca. 1937. Known as Colón Park, the area lies just inside Municipio de Aguada, just outside Aguadilla. The images shown on this page are general scenes of Colón Park; it is unknown what connection, if any, the facilities shown on this particular page have with PRRA efforts.

Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) work relief division efforts included the reconstruction of an 1893 monument commemorating the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's landing, at the site where he landed in 1493. The PRRA made improvements to what is now known as Colón Park, an area that lies just inside Municipio de Aguada, just outside Aguadilla. The monument resides inside a traffic circle within the park. A plaque faces north, and says the following (in Spanish as well as English): To Commemorate the Landing of Christopher Columbus on November 19, 1493. This monument was erected on November 19, 1893 by the Board of...

Colonial National Historical Park (CNHP) was created by Congress and President Herbert Hoover in 1930 and consists primarily of the Yorktown Battlefield, the historic Jamestown Settlement, and Colonial Parkway. Several federal agencies participated in its development. The National Park Service (NPS) provided general supervision of the entire historic site project after it was given responsibility for all historic battlefields by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Public Works Administration (PWA) contributed at least $600,000 (and probably much more) in funding. Relief agencies provided labor power: the Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked over the winter of 1933-1934 (probably for mosquito control and general clean-up)...

Colonial Parkway is part of the National Park Service's Colonial National Historical Park. It is a scenic 23-mile parkway that links together Virginia's Historic Triangle of colonial-era communities: Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. Different portions of the parkway were built between 1930 and 1957. In the 1930s, the US Forest Service and the National Park Service used Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers to built the parkway.

"Located on the south side of South Table Mountain, the amphitheater was constructed by the WPA during 1933-35. With an estimated 2,500 seats, it is the second largest of only four known historic open-air amphitheaters in Colorado. The fieldstone and concrete seating area was built on the natural slope below the mesa’s edge. It forms an inverted Ushape that is flanked by concrete mortared stone walls, which are buttressed for support. An associated footbridge, crossing a drainage, provides access from a parking lot."   (www.historycolorado.org) The amphitheater was built to serve Camp George West of the National Guard. One of its primary...

The Devils Kitchen Picnic Shelter in Colorado National Monument was built by  the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1941. It is unusually large, with three sandstone fireplaces, and includes a comfort station (restrooms). The shelter was built in National Park Service Rustic style. Much of the material came from Rim Rock Drive construction. Construction was carried out by CCC enrollees from Camp NM-2-C in the monument and led by LEMs (Local Experienced Men) with the requisite craft skills, reputedly stonemasons of Italian descent.      

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the 23-mile Rim Rock Drive from one end of the Colorado National Monument to the other.  It is a remarkable road that winds along the top of the cliffs, with spectacular views of the Colorado Plateau countryside below. Construction of the road was a risky undertaking, with three tunnels through the cliffs, the longest of which is 530 feet.  Apparently, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) also participated in the construction of the road and the Public Works Administration (PWA) provided funding to the National Park Service for the road, but that needs further confirmation. Rim Rock road...

"The Saddlehorn Caretaker's Residence and Garage are located at the intersection of Rim Rock Drive and Saddlehorn Loop Road, approximately 5 miles from the west entrance of Colorado National Monument. Both buildings are rectangular, one-story structures designed by the National Park Service and constructed of native red sandstone masonry by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935 and 1936. The style exemplifies National Park Service Rustic Architecture. The buildings are in good condition and maintain integrity of location, setting, design, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association from the historic period.

"Built by the CCC in 1937, to accommodate the recreational needs of visitors to Colorado National Monument, the station is significant for its association with ...  relief programs during the Great Depression. It is a strong example of National Park Service Rustic style architecture." (www.historycolorado.org)

"Significant for its association with the CCC and WPA, the district includes four good examples of National Park Service Rustic style architecture. The structures were constructed of locally quarried sandstone by the CCC with Emergency Conservation Works funding. The 1937 Roads and Trails Shop, 1938 Oil House, and 1941 Open Storage Building functioned as garages, warehouses, storage facilities, and maintenance buildings for the park. Completed in 1942, the Building and Utilities Shop housed the primary administrative offices for Colorado National Monument until 1963, when a Visitor Center was completed."   (www.historycolorado.org) The utility area is located at the intersection of Rim Rock...

"The fairgrounds have long been a gathering place for the state’s agricultural community and have also served as a vehicle to educate, promote and entertain the public about Colorado agriculture. Since 1901, farmers and stock men and women have come to the annual exposition at this location to display and compare their products, to see and learn about the latest advances in agricultural technology and techniques, and to purchase quality livestock. The 4-H club, a youth organization orientated toward agriculture education, has maintained a steady presence at the fairgrounds since 1918. The complex benefited from a number of Depression-era New...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) carried out major work at Colossal Cave and the surrounding park north of Vail AZ (now a suburb of Tucson, but far to the east in the 1930s). They improved access to the cave itself, built a large visitors'/administration center, laid out a campground and picnic area, opened roads and trails and built a water supply system.  The Arizona State Park Service oversaw the work. CCC workers constructed La Selvilla campground and El Bosquecito picnic area below the hillside, as well as a pump house to take water up the hill to the cave and visitors'...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) carried out major work at Colossal Cave and the surrounding park north of Vail AZ (now a suburb of Tucson, but far to the east in the 1930s). They improved access for visitors to the cave itself, built a large visitors'/administration center, laid out a campground and picnic area, opened roads and trails and built a water supply system.  The Arizona State Park Service oversaw the work. Work inside Colossal Cave included widening the entrance and passageways, installing rock walkways and handrails, and added lighting and a water pipeline. This work was done in 1934-37 by...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) carried out major work at Colossal Cave and the surrounding park north of Vail AZ (now a suburb of Tucson, but far to the east in the 1930s). They improved access for visitors to the cave itself, built a large visitors'/administration center, laid out a campground and picnic area, opened roads and trails and built a water supply system.  The Arizona State Park Service oversaw the work. We know that CCC workers built roads and trails in the park.  They almost certainly built the main road up to the visitors' center, plus the parking lot and...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) carried out major work at Colossal Cave and the surrounding park north of Vail AZ (now a suburb of Tucson, but far to the east in the 1930s). They improved access for visitors to the cave itself, built a large visitors'/administration center, laid out a campground and picnic area, opened roads and trails and built a water supply system.  The Arizona State Park Service oversaw the work. The visitors/administrative complex is a massive stone edifice on the side of the hill at the main opening of the cave – one of the most beautiful CCC works...

"On the west rim of Pine Creek Gorge, the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, the 368-acre Colton Point State Park resonates with the rustic charm of the Civilian Conservation Corps era of the 1930s. The rugged overlooks offer great views of the canyon."   (www.dcnr.state.pa.us/)

In 1939, a dead-end wall was constructed at the south end of Columbia Avenue in Salina, Kansas by youths who were employed by the National Youth Administration (NYA). The NYA was a division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that focused on training, employing, and educating young people between the ages of 16 and 25. Chris Cotten, Parks and Recreation Director of the City of Salina, Kansas tells us that "n April 1939 the Salina Journal reported that 35 NYA youths, working part time and using rubble masonry, were hired to construct 'ten dead-end walls' on streets that terminated at the Smoky Hill...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did extensive improvements on Columbia Island in 1934-35. Construction of Memorial Bridge and the George Washington Parkway had made the island more accessible in the late 1920s.  A  HABS Survey describes the CCC's work: "The CCC enrollees were responsible for cleaning up debris, clearing, grading, selective cutting, topsoiling, and seeding and sodding the open areas located between the waterways and various roadways, a large part of which was completed between October 1934 and March 1935.  CCC Camp NP-6-VA (Fort Hunt) also rip rapped the island's southeastern shoreline along the Potomac River, a sea wall meant to lessen the...

Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) laborers landscaped and conducted other work at Columbus Circle in Syracuse, New York. Work concluded in 1936.

Columbus Park, located in Manhattan's Chinatown, was one of the city's earliest major parks. By the early 1930s, it was quite rundown. New Deal programs greatly remodeled and upgraded the park and its facilities. In October 1934, the Department of Parks announced the opening, presided over by Mayor LaGuardia, of the newly remodeled Columbus Park, saying: "This old park with its fine big trees formerly included a small play area, which was in reality only a broken surfaced area containing poorly arranged rusted swings and slides. It has been replanned to double the size of the play area and provide...

Columbus Youth Camp provides outdoor activities for adult and youth groups. Credited work by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) included a 350 ft-long dam forming a 17 acre lake, 6 cabins for overnight stays, stone shelter house at the lake, and remodeling an 1837 farmhouse into the camp administration building. The 2023 article gives a total WPA expenditure of $50,000. The 1935 article gives a figure of $15,000 for construction of the dam. Anecdotal local history credits the donor of the original property, Q. G. Noblitt, chairman of Noblitt-Sparks Inc. (Later Arvin Industries Inc., since merged with Meritor Inc.) with...

"The primary attraction in the park continues to be Polk's giant chain, which is estimated to have been over a mile long before flooding and erosion destroyed part of it. With an anchor weighing between four and six tons and each chain link being eleven inches (279 mm) long, the Civilian Conservation Corps built a stone monument to hold the chain in 1934."

The Works Progress Administration built a 6800 seat rock masonry amphitheatre in City Park (now Comanche Trail Park) in Big Spring, Texas between 1939 and 1940 under official project number 665-66-2-578.

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.

An inventory of WPA project photographs compiled by Becky Jordan at Iowa State University includes reference to numerous public works projects undertaken by the agency in Iowa between 1935 and 1940. The collection of 1,271 photographs documents the variety and extent of New Deal related efforts undertaken in the Hawkeye State. The Comiskey Field Clubhouse in Dubuque (Project 430) is included among the many WPA projects described in the collection. Living New Deal believes this structure to have been demolished.

Built the playing field consisting of running track, 2 high jumps, pole vault, shot put, broad jump, pit and runway, equipment house; remodeled training quarters; surfaced basketball court and painted grandstands--Healy, p.72. This facility operated as the High School of Commerce Athletic Field until 1952. By 1980, it had been razed to make room for the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. A plaque on the corner of the building at Hayes and Van Ness now commemorates the dynamic history of this city block.

Originally known as "City Park," the oldest park in Brooklyn dates back to 1836. The park became a popular place after the WPA significantly redeveloped the park in 1939-1940. The WPA relocated old trees and constructed baseball, football, basketball and handball facilities. On June 7, 1940, the Parks Department held a ceremony to celebrate the park's official re-opening. Robert Moses, Mayor LaGuardia and the NYC Work Projects Administrator presided, and the ceremony was attended by 2,000 people. The following year, the WPA completed further work, erecting chain link fences and portable bleachers for the park's two baseball diamonds.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) conducted extensive development work at Grand Canyon Village, including construction of the Community Building, with funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA) and under the direction of the National Park Service (NPS). The NPS CCC Walking Tour says this: "The two-story wooden building just to the west of the corral is the Community Building. The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Community Building, while the CCC and the National Park Service provided the labor. Begun in 1934 and completed in 1935, it replaced a structure in another location that had burned the year...

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.

In 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) converted Ross Field, a World War balloon training school for more than 3,500 military personnel located in Arcadia, CA, into a public park. They constructed a golf course, swimming pool, and tennis courts. "Before opening day Oct. 12, 1938, the WPA crew christened each golf hole: The fifth is 'Railroad' because it paralleled the Pacific Electric tracks; the 11th is 'Wind' because the prevailing wind blows in players' faces, and the 16th is 'Clubhouse Turn' because it was the first turn on pioneer Lucky Baldwin's original racetrack site. A plaque paying tribute to the...

In 1939, a dead-end wall was constructed in Salina, Kansas in an area that now sits behind Salina Community Theater. The wall was built by youths who were employed by the National Youth Administration (NYA). The NYA was a division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that focused on training, employing, and educating young people between the ages of 16 and 25. Chris Cotten, Parks and Recreation Director of the City of Salina, Kansas tells us that "n April 1939 the Salina Journal reported that 35 NYA youths, working part time and using rubble masonry, were hired to construct 'ten dead-end walls' on...