Parks and Recreation Sites

Nebraska.gov: "In the 1920s mechanical refrigeration ended the ice business and Crystal Lake became a private recreation area for picnics, dancing, swimming, boating, fishing, and skating. In 1937 the 63-acre site was purchased by the state and improved by the WPA. Silt eventually filled the lake, and in 1976 a $180,818 renovation of the lake and park was a project of the Ayr Bicentennial Committee. Crystal Lake State Recreation Area is part of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission system."

Prior to the construction of I-94, Crystal Springs North Dakota was a mandatory stop for many early motorists traveling down old U.S. Highway 10, the state’s first Highway. The Crystal Springs Fountain is located about one mile northeast of Crystal Springs. Motorists could not only find a place to stretch their legs but could also dip into the cool clear water of the springs to quench their thirst and cool their radiators. The fountain was fed by an artesian well. The water would collect in the top part of the structure and trickle down to an open drinking fountain. The...

The voters of the City of Cuero passed a bond election for $16,000 to buy 210 acres of land in the mid 1930s. Some of the land was used for residential and commercial development, but the majority was used for a municipal park. The Works Progress (WPA) Administration built a lake, golf course, clubhouse, swimming pool, entrance portals and a baseball stadium between 1935 and 1937. Most material for development was furnished by the government with the city paying another $8,000 for some tools and supplies. The National Youth Administration (NYA) built a large shop, dormitories and other facilities for the...

Established as the Cuivre River Recreation Demonstration Area in 1934 by the National Park Service. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 3771 built roads and structures throughout the park. The park was turned over to the state of Missouri in 1946 to become Cuivre River State Park. The park features many CCC structures still in use such as a one-lane stone bridge, a stone picnic shelter, and group camps. The structures are included in 2 National Historic Districts.

"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 significant place; it is a living memorial to the role WPA played in the recent US history and to the notion of multi nationalism that was surfacing at the time." "As early as 1935, the city of Cleveland began to subsidize their construction and also endorsed requests to the Works Progress Administration for garden construction. Eventually, the WPA funded much...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) conducted extensive development work at Grand Canyon Village, including construction of a stone culvert at Village Loop Drive just west of its intersection with Center Road, and north of parking Lot C. CCC Walking Tour: "Civilian Conservation Corps crews installed this culvert and made many roadside improvements in the area from 1933 to 1937. This culvert has required little maintenance over the last 65 years."

Trail 4 at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park is an interpretive trail, built by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees in 1933.  It is maintained by the park as a memorial to the CCC and is commemorated by a signboard at the trailhead.

The Civilian Conservation Corps built a small shelter above the Eagle Falls Trail (Trail #9) overlooking Cumberland Falls and the gorge downstream.

"Cumberland Mountain State Park is a state park in Cumberland County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The park consists of 1,720 acres (7.0 km2) situated around Byrd Lake, a man-made lake created by the impoundment of Byrd Creek in the 1930s. The park is set amidst an environmental microcosm of the Cumberland Plateau and provides numerous recreational activities, including an 18-hole Bear Trace golf course. Cumberland Mountain State Park began as part of the greater Cumberland Homesteads Project, a New Deal-era initiative by the Resettlement Administration that helped relocate poverty-stricken families on the Cumberland Plateau to small farms centered around what...

The land that is now Cunningham Falls State Park used to be part of the Catoctin Recreational Demonstration Area (now called “Catoctin Mountain Park”).  The land was turned over to Maryland in 1954.  The land was originally worked and developed as a New Deal project, by the WPA & CCC. Today, visitors to Cunningham Falls State Park can enjoy swimming, hiking, picnicking, boating, hunting, fishing, and camping.

"Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia dedicated the plaza in Cunningham’s memory near the center of the park in 1936. That year marked the completion of work by the Works Progress Administration and the Parks Department to develop the southern part of the park. The plan provided tennis courts, playgrounds, stables, bridle paths, playing fields, picnic groves, and parking lots. In the early 1950s the City of New York acquired land for a greenbelt of public parks along the route of the former railroad that ran from Flushing to Babylon. The Kissena Corridor links Flushing Meadows-Corona, Kissena, Alley Pond, and Cunningham Parks in...

"When federal funds became available under the Civil Works Administration (CWA), with only three weeks of planning time Milwaukee city and county officials developed projects to employ 26,000 workers in the winter of 1933-34 doing landscaping, road grading, street repair and painting. One of the largest projects employed almost 2,000 men straightening out an S-curve in the Milwaukee River and constructing a lagoon and islands in Lincoln Park in order to reduce flooding on the north side of Milwaukee. County park projects included construction of a quarry at Currie Park."

Cuscaden Park in Tampa's Ybor City was constructed by the WPA in 1935.

The Sidney B. Cushing Memorial Theater was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1936-38. It occupies a natural amphitheater at 1900 feet elevation, near the top of Mt. Tamalpais.  It is known locally as the "Mountain Theater."  This magnificent outdoor amphitheater has serpentine rock seating and holds around 4000 patrons, who enjoy stunning views over San Francisco Bay. The theater lies in Mt. Tamalpais State Park and is still in regular use for summer theater productions.

"The CCC assigned to Custer State Park had the objective of making nature more enjoyable and accessible to the public. Recreational improvements in the state's largest park included the construction of dams at Horsethief Lake, Stockade Lake, Center Lake and Bismarck Lake. Picnic areas an/or campgrounds were developed at each of these lakes, as well as other sites throughout the park. At Sylvan Lake, the CCC collected the stone for the PWA-financed and WPA-constructed lodge, built seventeen rustic log and stone cabins, a store and a filling station fro use in conjunction with the lodge, installed water and sewer systems,...

" grew rapidly in the 1920s, acquired additional lands; during the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps made many park improvements. CCC men laid out campgrounds and picnic areas, built a massive park museum, miles of roads, sturdy bridges and a stone fire tower, but, most importantly, constructed three dams creating Stockade, Center and Legion Lakes, all of which provide for water-based recreation." --John R. Thune, "Custer State Park"

"The CCC assigned to Custer State Park had the objective of making nature more enjoyable and accessible to the public. Recreational improvements in the state's largest park included the construction of dams at Horsethief Lake, Stockade Lake, Center Lake and Bismarck Lake. Picnic areas an/or campgrounds were developed at each of these lakes, as well as other sites throughout the park. At Sylvan Lake, the CCC collected the stone for the PWA-financed and WPA-constructed lodge, built seventeen rustic log and stone cabins, a store and a filling station fro use in conjunction with the lodge, installed water and sewer systems,...

"The grew rapidly in the 1920s, acquired additional lands; during the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps made many park improvements. CCC men laid out campgrounds and picnic areas, built a massive park museum, miles of roads, sturdy bridges and a stone fire tower, but, most importantly, constructed three dams creating Stockade, Center and Legion Lakes, all of which provide for water-based recreation." --John R. Thune, "Custer State Park"

"The Civilian Conservation Corps built the Peter Norbeck Visitor Center as the park museum during the winter months of 1934-35. The young men of Camp Lodge, ages 17-25, created a structure that blends into the surroundings. They used their talent in construction and native materials of logs and rocks to create a building to educate the public on the parks natural and cultural history. Interpretive exhibits and displays allow visitors to gaze into the eyes of a 1,900-pound bison or witness tree rings dating back 330 years. Displays reveal much about the history of the area, from Black Hills geology to...

"The Wildlife Station Visitor Center is located on the Wildlife Loop Road and provides guests with a place to stop, stretch their legs and visit with park staff about the prairie habitats of Custer State Park or find out where they might see a herd of bison and other wildlife. The building was originally built as the Buffalo Herdsman's house and over the years has housed the herdsman and other park staff but more recently became a Visitor Center around 1990. Inside you will witness the unique craftsmanship of the CCC era as well as exhibits, wildlife mounts and a bookstore."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) "Built two earthen dams to flood marshlands and provide breeding and feeding habitat for waterfowl and animals. Also performed a wildlife census, completed winter feedingprojects and stocked lakes."

Between 1933 and 1939, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) provided labor for the construction of the Virginia Kendall Park Reserve, now Cuyahoga Valley National Park (est. 2000), in Peninsula, Ohio during the Great Depression. 530 acres of land willed and transferred to the Akron Municipal Parks Board and under the leadership of Harold S. Wagner and F.A. Sieberling petitioned the CCC in August 1933 for a camp. It was granted and in December of that year Unit #576 arrived with 208 recruits first under the command of of Lt. JR Tobin and soon replaced by Captain AW Belden. The CCC camp...

CCC built fire station and ranger (formerly Warden) stations just south of the Paso Picacho campground.

Waurika's Cy Sloan Stadium (formerly Harmon Park Stadium) was built in 1939 by the Works Progress Administration, and it bears a WPA 1939 stamp. It has a current capacity of 1,300.

The DC Armory was paid for by a congressional appropriation (part of the District’s general funding bill for fiscal year 1940), and probably also through local revenue sources such as real estate taxes and parking fees. The DC Municipal Architect’s Office was responsible for planning and supervising the construction. The Armory was completed in 1941 at a total cost of about $1.5 to $2.5 million. One year after the Armory opened, the New Deal’s Federal Works Agency (FWA) approved funding for a recreation area in the “stadium-armory area at the end of East Capitol Street” (Evening Star, 1942). It was reported...

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers expanded D.W. Field Golf Course in Brockton, Mass. WPA Bulletin: Brockton WPA added ten acres to the original 30 acres of fairways, built bunkers to tax the skill of players, widened fairways and did extensive grading and reseeding work at the D. W. Field public golf course.

The New York Times reported in 1941 that, as part of WPA efforts, Brooklyn would receive six new playgrounds, located at: "Third Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street, Second Avenue and Fifty-fifth Street, Fort Hamilton Parkway and Fifty-second Street, Albany and Foster Avenues, Park and Nostrand Avenues and Eastern Parkway Extension and Fulton Street." D'Emic Playground , so named in 1973 after a local community stalwart, is, according to New York City's Parks Department website, "bordered by 3rd Avenue, 34th and 35th Streets. The City of New York acquired the site in 1940 in connection with acquisition of land for the Gowanus Expressway,...

Daingerfield State Park, located in Morris County, Texas, is a 506.913-acre recreational area (including an 80-surface-acre lake), deeded in 1935 by private owners and opened in 1938. The park offers picnicking, camping, boating, fishing, swimming, hiking and nature study. The original improvements were made by two companies of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Company 2891 and Company 1801(C) developed the park from 1935 to 1939. Both companies used local timber and stone as well as concrete to construct distinctive features. The companies built the entrance sign, boat house, fisherman’s barracks, combination building, Lake Daingerfield, retaining walls, culverts, steps, trails, two cabins and Park...

The Daniel Boone Homestead is a 579-acre park with multiple historic structures including the birthplace of famed pioneer Daniel Boone. The site is owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The National Youth Administration (NYA) played a key role in the development of the site. Over 100 NYA workers graded the landscape, built roads, trails, fences, and campsites, installed picnic tables and planted trees. They excavated the Daniel Boone Lake, constructed the Wayside Lodge, and a few of the most skilled workers assisted in the restoration of the homestead. Architect G. Edwin Brumbaugh and landscape architect Markley...

"Like many of the newer forests purchased under the Weeks Act of 1911, the Daniel Boone (originally the Cumberland National Forest) was acquired by President Franklin Roosevelt’s administration for restoration by the newly created Civilian Conservation Corps" (nationalforests.org).

NYC Parks explains: "O’Connell Playground opened on July 15, 1934, and is one of nine playgrounds that were built by Parks through the War Memorial Fund. The Fund was established in 1921 with $250,000 collected by the Police Department. In 1934, the fund remained untouched and had grown in value to $350,000. Seeking additional open spaces for children, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses obtained a legal ruling that permitted the fund to be spent on several playground developments. The properties were intended to honor the memories of individual soldiers who had given their lives in combat. The Fund was transferred to Parks on...

This distinctive stone stadium was built by the WPA in 1939. A 1999 document from the Cherokee Strip Museum describes the stadium's origins: "This year we are celebrating the 60" anniversary of Perry Stadium, the home of Daniels Field. Men of the federal Works Project Administration (WPA) at an estimated cost of $100,000 built the sandstone structure in 1939. To those too young to remember, the WPA was an agency conceived by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to help overcome the Great Depression. Originally the stadium included a baseball field as well as the football gridiron, but old age caught up with...

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers constructed an athletic field at the former Danvers Agricultural School in Danvers, Massachusetts. From a W.P.A. Bulletin: Students, townspeople, and particularly young children will be benefited on completion of a six acre WPA Athletic Field at the Danvers Agricultural Institution. One third of this area will be a fully equipped playground for children.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed a "dam to create Darling Pond" during the 1930s.

The David City Park begins long before the Great Depression of the 1930s. In 1889, Mrs. Phoebe Miles donated twelve acres to David City for a park, with the stipulation that the city pay the taxes and make improvements. During the depressed financial climate of the 1890s the city was unable to uphold their bargain, and the land reverted to Mrs. Miles. In 1902, a group of citizens organized the David City Park Association and purchased the twelve acres. In addition to buying the land, they also planted trees and made other improvements. In 1905, the city passed a bond issue...

The Seattle Park Department utilized funds and labor from the Civil Works Administration and the Works Progress Administration, as well as the state-based Washington Emergency Relief Administration, to complete a series of maintenance and improvement projects at David Rodgers Park. The 8.5-acre park occupies a steep and heavily wooded hillside in Seattle's North Queen Anne neighborhood. The city was gifted the northern half of the park in 1883 and purchased the southern half of the park in 1909. In 1910, the city constructed a couple of paths through the park, followed by the installation of a small wood-frame comfort station...

The Davidson Lake Shelter/Lookout was built for public recreation by the CCC in 1935 and is part of the Admiralty Island Canoe Route. Located in the central region of Admiralty Island, on the western end of Davidson Lake. The cabin has been maintained and restored with materials similar to the original. As of 1992 it was in good condition and well maintained. A 1992 National Register of Historic Places survey describes the characteristics and condition of the cabin: “The Davidson Lake Shelter Cabin is a three-sided Adirondack style temporary shelter on the Admiralty Island Canoe Route that was constructed by Civilian Conservation...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed the Davie Tennis Stadium in 1936-37 with an allocation of $65,000.  WPA relief workers built five tennis courts, with lights for night play and bleachers for viewing,  plus a community center in rustic style  that has a WPA plaque in front.  Low stone walls circle the courts and run around the short entrance road; stone pillars flank the park gate.  The park opened to the public on September 1, 1937. The park lies within the city limits of Piedmont CA, itself entirely within the city limits of Oakland!  Piedmont residents opposed the park but Oakland built...

The Works Progress Administration constructed Mobile's Davis Avenue Community Center. The center opened in 1936 and it included facilities such as tennis courts and a pool. Today, the facility is known as the Davis Avenue Recreation Center. The center holds historical significance for the African American history in Mobile and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 27, 2011.

"Construction of Davis's first public park in 1937 was importantly funded by the WPA. Of the $13,128 total cost, the WPA contributed $8,355, leaving $4,773 for the city." - Davis: Radical Changes, Deep Constants The WPA constructed a public restrooms in the northeast corner of the park. "It was built in 1937 as a WPA project and was the first public restroom in Davis. It is also the only WPA building in the City of Davis, lending it additional historical significance. " (daviswiki.org)