In 1942, the Washington Post reported the allocation of $7,953 to the Federal Works Agency (FWA) for new construction and/or improvements to the Congress Heights Recreation Center (now Recreation Area). As part of the District’s new PlayDC initiative, the playground… read more
The federal Work Projects Administration worked to improve the Connecticut Hill State Game Management Area (then the Connecticut Hill State Game Refuge) in Newfield, New York during the 1930s. One project was described by the WPA in its project rolls:… read more
Continental Army Plaza was built by the New York City Department of Public Works in 1903. In 1936, Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds – and presumably workers – were used to renovate the plaza in order to improve access… read more
The Civil Works Administration (CWA) built Cony Park in Eastport ME in 1934. “Cony Park, located adjacent to Shackford Head State Park, boasts beautiful views of Cobscook Bay, a large pavilion with picnic tables, outdoor musical instruments, and 3 horseshoe… read more
The Cook Forest Association was formed in the 1920s to protect old growth pines from logging. In 1927, Cook Forest became a state park and would later become designated a Natural National Landmark. “On March 31, 1933, President Franklin D…. read more
The Log Cabin Inn was originally built and used by the Civilian Conservation Corps as living quarters. Later it was used as a restaurant. Today the park uses the building as a museum and education center. The Log Cabin Inn… read more
The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed three tennis courts at what was known as Cookerow Park / playground in Boonton, New Jersey. The exact location or status of the facility is unknown to Living New Deal.
In 1942, the Washington Post reported the allocation of $27,600 to the Federal Works Agency (FWA) for new construction and/or improvements to the Coolidge Recreation Center adjacent to the new Coolidge Senior High School in the city’s northwest quadrant. It… read more
This 1930s WPA amphitheater in the Auburn School Park Preserve was recently restored and is still used for local events.
Cooper Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn was improved by the WPA during the 1930s. According to the New York City Parks website, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper’s “descendants sold the site of the old glue factory to the City of Brooklyn… read more
The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted unspecified work along the Cooper River [Valley] in New Jersey ca. 1936.
As recorded in a discussion of the Mount Hood National Forest in the US Forest Service publication The Forest Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps: 1933-1942: “The Cooper Spur Trail Shelter was one of several shelters built by the CCC… read more
On June 8, 1938, the Department of Parks announced the completion of the redesign and reconstruction of Cooper Park (now also known as Cooper Triangle). The site was the location of an important political speech by Abraham Lincoln in 1860…. read more
The West Virginia Department of Commerce writes: “The forest and its amenities are directly attributable to the development CCC Camp Rhododendron, formerly Camp Preston. A priority for the forest was fire fighting and wildlife food plots to increase hunting and… read more
CCC crews built this fire lookout tower at Coot Mountain. The tower overlooks the Current River and the National Scenic Riverways to the north and east. It is at the end of a gravel road though relatively easily accessible. Outbuildings… read more
The Works Progress Administration provided employment for workers to construct an athletic field at the Copiah-Lincoln Junior College.
The National Youth Administration (NYA) project provided work for boys to construct a brick field house to house visiting athletic teams, football lockers and showers, stock rooms and athletic offices. The one story structure was located east of the tennis… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built “log buildings, bridges, trails and developed several other structures for the park.”
The CWA constructed this park at Corlears Hook. From a 1934 New York City Parks Department press release: “Facilities: An open shelter is to be erected. There are four handball, four horse-shoe pitching, one volley ball, two basketball and shuffle… read more
Corlears Hook Park is located on the Lower East Side across FDR Drive from the East River. The park was completed in 1905. In 1934, the Department of Parks announced the opening of a new playground in the park constructed… read more
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) began improvements at Bellingham WA’s Cornwall Memorial Park in 1937. The WPA also allocated $29,000 for the construction of a state-of-the-art bowling green at the site. This was in addition to earlier improvements, which included… read more
NYC Parks recounts: “The land that is now Corona Golf Playground was previously a strip of wasteland, known as the Corona Ash Dumps. In his classic novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald described the area as ‘a valley of… read more
Made a start on what is to be an important unit of the group of playgrounds. Photographs show the rugged character of the country being remoulded for recreational needs.–Healy, p. 66.
Tennis court and playground construction along 15th Street beginning with cliff shoring, earth-moving work atop Corona Heights (once called Red Rock Hill), photographed on Jan 21, 1937. The flattened areas just north of the hill’s summit rock outcrop and high… read more
“Coronado Heights is a hill northwest of Lindsborg, Kansas. It is alleged to be near the place where Francisco Vasquez de Coronado gave up his search for the seven cities of gold and turned around to return to Mexico. In… read more
Atop the hill that is now known as Coronado Heights Park sits an iconic castle, picnic areas, and restrooms that were constructed by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s. Indeed in 1936 the Lindsborg Historical Society sold… read more
“Phoenix has no shortage of [New Deal] projects. The city’s park system is a major benefactor, with huge undertakings in places like South Mountain Park and Encanto Park and smaller projects, such as a bathhouse in Coronado Park…South Mountain Park… read more
Charleroi Stadium, or Cougar Stadium, was built in 1937 as a New Deal project: the Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $36,818 grant for the school construction project in Bradford, whose total cost was $84,311. “By any name, it has been… read more
At over 1,000 feet, Council Crest Park occupies the highest point in the City of Portland. From 1907 to 1929, an amusement park occupied that vantage point. Despite its superior position and streetcar access, it took eight years before the… read more
“South of town, the WPA built a rustic club building for the 9-hole golf course at a new country club; the building, however, was heavily altered and later burned.” The building “served as a city-owned recreation center until its conversion… read more
The WPA allocated $16,326 at the end of 1938 to make improvements to the Phillips County Fairgrounds in Dodson, Montana. Gary Winthorpe: “These fairgrounds were actually completed in 1942, not 1939 [as Living New Deal originally posted]. They continued to… read more
What is now Palace Apartments started out as Williamson Mill (a cotton mill)—built in 1902. Sometime after that it was bought and plans were made to convert the building into a county multi-use building (basketball, boxing, tennis, indoor track, concerts,… read more
This small playground in East Harlem was named after “New York City’s first African American Deputy Commissioner of Cultural Affairs.” NYC Parks explains that the City acquired this land in 1936. In June 1937, Parks announced the completion of a… read more
“In the fall of 1999, the Plano City Council established a tax increment finance district in downtown Plano. Four and a half million dollars of the projected income from the district was earmarked for the creation of the Courtyard Theater…. read more
Cove Lake State Park, originally planned as Fort Mountain Park, was the third joint effort of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and the National Parks Service (NPS). The initial 668-acre park was built along the… read more
“In 1937, the old pavilion was finally replaced with a Mediterranean style brick and concrete building designed by Huntington architect David Dusenberry that featured men’s and women’s locker rooms, showers and lavatories. The locker rooms would be in the two… read more
The history of Craighead Forest Park portraits a close collaboration between the local community and federal government during the Great Depression “to stave off the ravages of poverty, misery and human degradation.” (1) It dates to 1937 when the Young… read more
A large, vaguely classical styled structure, built by the WPA as Cranston’s main stadium. It was designed by Providence architects and engineers Frank P. Sheldon & Son. It is mainly used for high school athletics, but also occasionally hosts larger… read more
“The Crawford County Fairground property currently includes the WPA grandstand and four agricultural buildings plus a series of other animal shelters and associated structures, compactly arranged in neat rows at the center of the property. A dirt road enters the… read more
“The 418 acre park has a series of gravel roads circulating around reclaimed strip mine pits. Some of the roads terminate in small earthen boat launches into the pit lakes. In 1926 mining company landholders donated the land to the… read more