Parks and Recreation Sites

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up five camps in the East Bay hills, starting in 1933-34 and carrying on until 1942.  From those camps, the "CCC boys" set out into the newly-created East Bay regional parks to do a wide range of improvements, such as clearing brush, planting trees, building roads and trails, and laying out picnic areas. The first camp was set up at Wildcat Canyon at the present site of the Tilden Environmental Education (Nature) Center.  About 3,500 young men rotated through Camp Wildcat Canyon.  As Eugene Swartling, who supervised the camp, recalls, "these young men were not being...

New Deal work relief and conservation crews cleared hundreds of acres of trees and brush and planted hundreds of thousands of trees and shrubs in three of the original units of the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD):  Tilden, Temescal, and Redwood Regional Parks.   This work was part of a major New Deal effort to aid the newly-created Parks District (1934) in improving  its parks for public recreation, direct by the Parks District's first general manager, Elbert Vail.  The natural landscape of the Oakland-Berkeley hills was mostly grassland, with some oak-chaparral woodlands, riparian vegetation and patches of redwood (all of which had...

The East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) was formed in 1934 and acquired land for parks from the East Bay Municipal Water District in 1936.  The first parks were Tilden, Sibley, Temescal and Redwood in the East Bay Hills behind Berkeley and Oakland CA.   The New Deal provided extensive aid towards improving the new parks for public recreation, working with the Parks District's first general manager, Elbert Vail. Overall, the New Deal agencies spent roughly $3 million on the East Bay parks, about double the tax funds available to the EBRPD over the same period  (Stein 1984, p. 18) Even before the parks...

The East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) was formed in 1934 and acquired land for parks from the East Bay Municipal Water District in 1936.  The first parks were Tilden, Sibley, Temescal and Redwood in the East Bay Hills behind Berkeley and Oakland CA.   Even before the parks were acquired, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up camps in the hills in 1933-34, and they operated in the parks for the entire New Deal decade, 1933-42.  A unique contribution to the parks by the CCC helped win public approval for the district's creation. As Gray Brechin notes: "CCC boys at Camp...

The East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) was formed in 1934 and acquired land for parks from the East Bay Municipal Water District.  The first parks were Tilden, Sibley, Temescal and Redwood in the East Bay Hills behind Berkeley and Oakland CA.   Even before the parks were acquired, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up camps in the hills and operated in the parks for the entire New Deal decade, 1933-42. The first camp was in Wildcat Canyon at the present site of the Nature Center. The first road built by CCC work crews was the Loop Road at the center...

The CCC performed forestation work that included the “development of approximately 4,000 acres at the east end of St. Croix as a mahogany forest.”

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed East Newark's first playground. The 50'-by-100' facility opened July 13, 1936. Located on Searing Avenue between Passaic and Grant Avenues, the playground is no longer extant.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built East Park in Connellsville, Pennsylvania between 1936 and 1940.  “In January 1936, Connellsville came together for suggestions to transform the dump back into a more recreational attraction….This transformation started in 1936 and continued until 1940. One of the first things to happen at this site was a fence being built to keep out trucks from dumping. One of the first improvements created as a playground area. By August 1939, many were starting to use the playground area for recreation and even boxing exhibitions.” “As the East Park improvements continued, they were also put on hold with...

East Potomac Park rests on an artificial peninsula created with dredge spoils from the Potomac River by the Corps of Engineers.  The park opened to the public in 1912 and was largely developed in the 1920s. After a flood in 1936, Work: A Journal of Progress reported that the Works Progress Administration (WPA) had done “extensive grading and drainage work” to repair flood damage on the "Speedway," the road circling East Potomac Park. That same year, Work also reported unspecified improvements conducted by the WPA to the Washington Channel off Hains Point.  That might have included rip-rap along the channel for erosion control,...

East Potomac Park rests on an artificial peninsula created with dredge spoils from the Potomac River by the Corps of Engineers.  The park opened to the public in 1912 and was largely developed in the 1920s. A swimming pool had been contracted for in 1927 but never built.  So, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) stepped up in 1935 to take on the project – which was begun in 1936, interrupted by the Potomac flood that year, and completed afterward. The pool was located at the north end of the golf course and for three-quarters of a century it was a "favorite for...

East Potomac Park rests on an artificial peninsula created with dredge spoils from the Potomac River by the Corps of Engineers.  The park opened to the public in 1912 and was largely developed in the 1920s. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) both made improvements in East Potomac Park.  CCC work at the park featured the construction of twelve tennis courts surrounded by a 10-foot chain link fence. A HABS report provides the details: "The CCC constructed the tennis courts, and by extension the chain link fence, between 1938 and 1942.  Fieldwork conducted in 2004 found an extant, though...

Ridgefield, CT timeline, 1939: "A Works Progress Administration project begins in June to alter and improve the athletic field on East Ridge at the high school."

The Civil Works Administration completed the Agriculture Building at the "East Texas fair grounds" in 1934. The location and status of this structure is currently unknown to Living New Deal.

In 1942, the Washington Post reported the allocation of $12,925 to the Federal Works Agency (FWA) for new construction and/or improvements to Eastern High School's recreation center.  The report does not specify what work was to be done. The current status of the New Deal improvements is unkonwn. The baseball diamond part of the high school fields may well have its origin in the work of the early 1940s. The high school itself, constructed in 1923, was not a New Deal project.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed the former Eastern New Mexico State Park, occasionally referred to as "Blackwater Draw Park", ca. 1934-6. Flynn: "This CCC-built site was originally created to reforest 9,600 acres of that Dust Bowl area. Later the state government reduced the amount of acreage to 400. The CCC built a large bath house, other houses, camping areas and a lake. All but one long house near the highway remains and was most likely the home for the park manager. In 1951 the state deeded the property to Eastern New Mexico University in Portales and they later built a large...

“As the demise of the CCC program neared, the Forest Service escalated CCC work along the eastern Sierra Nevada, in western Nevada. Still, the program at Camp Galena was modest in comparison to the large programs at Camps Paradise, Lamoille, and Charleston Mountain…The men of Camp Galena (assisted by the WPA) built a ski hut on Galena Creek, a ski trail for the University of Nevada ski team, and a stone fish hatchery at Galena State Park. A mobile spike camp in Verdi installed check dams to control bank erosion and construct drift fences along the California-Nevada state line in...

The park was originally called Phoenix Park, renamed Eastlake Park in 1903, and bought by the City of Phoenix in 1914 (City of Phoenix African American Historic Property Survey pp 29-30). The survey further states that: "In 1937 Works Progress Administration funding provided for the construction at Eastlake Park of a bathhouse, showers, and dressing rooms for the pool. Two years later, the city added lights, swings, sandboxes, sports facilities, and equipment." "...the park was a significant site for civil rights rallies and the starting point of all civil rights marches to the Capital; until it grew too large to continue...

The Works Progress Administration built the entrance gates and wall around the Eastland City Park. The project also included the building of picnic tables and restrooms. Abilene Daily Reporter, September 3, 1935, p. 5. District 13 WPA Office Sends Application for 26 Projects to San Antonio State Headquarters. "City of Eastland: Concrete wading pool and swimming pool in Eastland park; 236 months; $8,739.50 federal; $9,949.55 total" Abilene Morning Reporter News, October 6, 1935, p. 1 and 12. New Projects Get Approval: Benefit 15 Communities in This District Blanton Wires. "Eastland park was approved for park  $3, 320, and for park improvement $1,055" Abilene Daily Reporter,...

Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers provided landscaping improvements to the Eastmoreland Golf Course, the City of Portland’s oldest municipal course, during 1937. The $26,348 project budget was made up almost entirely of labor costs. As a Parks Bureau report notes, Parks Superintendent Charles P. Keyser took care in the use of relief funds to expand the City’s budget since “they could be expended only for parks improvements or expansions, not maintenance of existing facilities” (p. 31). The exact nature and location of the improvements are unknown to us.

This park surrounding Echo Lake in the Colorado Rocky Mountains contains two structures built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC): a stone pavilion and a concession stand. They were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995, along with the Echo Lake lodge, an older building that is not from the New Deal era.

The boathouse on the east side of Echo Park Lake was constructed in 1932 with unemployment relief bonds that predated the New Deal program. With the reopening of Echo Park in 2013, after a $45 million renovation, the boathouse now contains a cafe and a boat rental kiosk.

Echo Valley State Park is a 100-acre natural area, originally built by the CCC. On December 12, 1935 the Park was named Echo Valley. A stone and log shelter 35 ft X 27 Ft. with a stone fireplace and 945 square foot porch were built in 1936 and are extant. The shelter house overlooked the man made lake. The CCC also planted 310 shrubs and 75 trees. In April 1939 1,500 trees were planted by Echo Valley Chapter of FFA. In 1962 a CCC lime kiln was destroyed. The park was abandoned from 1970 to 1984 due to lack of state funds....

Ecola State Park offers one of the most widely recognized views of the Pacific on the Oregon Coast. Development of the four miles of coastline for park began in 1934 with the work of CCC enrollees from CCC Camp Saddle Mountain (#1258). A number of CCC workers from Company #1258 were located in the 450-acre park from fall 1934 through the spring of 1936. During that time, under the direction of the National Park Service, they completed improvements including an access road, a water system, and a picnic area. They also constructed new trails through rugged terrain and engaged in forest...

Now the ECOS Environmental Center, this facility by Porter Lake in Forest Park was constructed as a field house by the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) in 1936-7. It was known as the "Warming House" and was used for skating until 1970.

According to the Carlsbad Current-Argus, WPA efforts in Eddy County included "landscaping Carlsbad courthouse grounds."

The historic shelter building in Cincinnati's Eden Park is located behind PlayHouse in the Park with a playground, pool, and basketball court attached. It has some beautiful mural artwork as well.

CCC Camp SP-3, made up of World War I veterans, "complete extensive work at three city parks in Fargo (Lindenwood, Edgewood, and Oak Grove) ca. 1935. The designation of Edgewood Park appears to have changed, and is possibly now known as Trollwood Park; located along the Red River in north Fargo, Trollwood Park houses the Edgewood Golf Course.

During the 1930s, Edgewood Playground, as it was then known, was upgraded as part of a larger Capital Parks improvement program undertaken by the Public Works Administration (PWA), Civil Work Adminstration (CWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA), and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). At Edgewood, the WPA graded and constructed tennis courts and may also have built a baseball diamond and other recreational facilities.  The CCC also did unspecified work there, probably landscaping. Today, Edgewood Recreation Center still has tennis courts, basketball courts, a field house and traces of an old baseball diamond (in satellite view).  It is unknown how much evidence remains of...

Edisto Beach State Park is located on the coast of South Carolina, 50 miles south of Charleston, near the town of Edisto Beach in Colleton County. "Edisto Beach State Park, rich in Native American history, and was donated to the South Carolina Department of Parks and Tourism in 1935 by Edisto Company. Development of the park was completed shortly after by the Civilian Conservation Corps, which was a New Deal program created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The program was designed to provide employment during the Great Depression while addressing needs to conserve natural resources. The “CCC” played a large role...

The Edmondson Park Swimming Pool and Bathhouse in Oskaloos IA was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1937. It was one of over a dozen public swimming pools constructed in Iowa during the New Deal. The Oskaloosa pool measures 75 x 150 feet and was of “particular pride” to the WPA officials and engineers who designed it. Oskaloosa’s bathhouse was regarded as one of the most beautiful in the state upon its completion. Built out of limestone quarried in Mahaska County IA the 53 x 75 foot structure is set upon a scenic spot in the municipal park. In 2005, the...

An inscription on a bronze plaque on the Flag Pole (top of hill) reads on either side: West Side “This Park was made possible by a bequest to Oskaloosa by James DePew Edmundson 1936.” East Side-  “How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood.” "This $100,000 Edmundson Memorial Park honors two famous men in our County – our first sheriff, William Edmundson, 24 and his son, James Depew Edmundson, 25 whose gift made it possible when in 1937, he donated $20, 000 toward this Park.   All of the labor was done by about 120 men in our...

Otherwise known as Centinela Park. The WPA built the park's water fountain and eight tennis courts in the 1930s. Other structures may have been built at that time too--more documentation is needed. From an article in Inglewood Today: "Archibald Garner was also  commissioned to create the water fountain monument at the outcropping of the springs in then Centinela Park, now Vincent Park.  The fountain was originally designed to provide water for adults, children, and dogs... Garner chose granite for his sculpture.  It is made of chunks of stone of various sizes, placed irregularly to form a low column with a polished...

"The development of the Edwards Athletic Fields has been one of the most popular projects undertaken in the town of Brunswick. Started a few weeks before the close of CWA, it is being carried to completion by the ERA. The original area acquired by the town was a ten acre square including a large field and some woodland. While the field had been used for baseball, it was not level and there were no facilities for other sports. With ERA labor the entire tract has been leveled, a baseball diamond and a football have been loamed and seeded. The turf will be...

Eighth Lake is one of the Fulton chain of lakes in the southwestern portion of the Adirondack Park in  upstate New York.  State route 28 passes along the lakes as it crosses the park.  The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established a camp between 7th and 8th Lakes in 1933 – named Eighth Lake camp (S-58), and started on forest clearance and navigation improvement projects between the lakes. The CCC 'boys' also started work on the 8th Lake Campground (which abuts 7th Lake, in fact) in 1933; but they had to leave for less harsh climes as winter set in. The next...

The brick and concrete band shell is a concert and public performance stage constructed in 1939 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

Although the El Dorado County Fair was first held in 1859, it moved to this location in 1939. The property was purchased by the state of California, and federal funds were used to finance construction on the property: "The W.P.A. and the New Deal were responsible for the initial construction of permanent facilities at todays fairgrounds. Between the end of the Great Depression and the beginning of World War II, bare ground was transformed into the facility used today. There are plaques on several of the buildings dedicated to the hard-working men and women of the C.C.C. who labored on...

The historic El Monte Clubhouse in Ogden, Utah was constructed as part of a New Deal project by Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). These agencies precede the Works Progress Administration (WPA), to which the building is sometimes attributed. "The project was started under the civil works administration and which is being finished by the ERA. The CWA and ERA organizations have appropriated $17,000 for the building against $5550 from the city." (Ogden Standard-Examiner)

In addition to the New Deal Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration ( PRRA), the PWA, CCC, and Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration (PRERA) all operated on the island as well. As on the US mainland, the CCC built many of the trails, lookouts, buildings, and roads in various federal and insular parks and forests, including in the majestic El Yunque National Rainforest. "El Yunque is a monument to the impact of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Most of the trails and observation points, and even Highway 191, were CCC projects-and they have seen better days. The major roadside recreational sites include two interpretive trails, the tiny...

"Although the dam was constructed to regulate water flows in New Mexico, Texas and Mexico, the lake became a recreational attraction from its inception. Recreation took off significantly after the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed buildings, landscaping, roads and trails throughout the park from 1934-1940. The CCC also constructed a fish hatchery below the dam which was operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service until 1965, when it became part of New Mexico State Parks. Visitors to the Dam Site Recreation Area can see this era preserved in buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors to the Dam...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed Elijah Perry Park (then called "South Camden Park") in Camden, New Jersey. Among the amenities were a "spacious bath house ... swimming pool, 200 feet by 78 feet; wading pool amid a playground for children; tennis court." Camden's Evening Reporter described the facilities in June 1936: The bath house is constructed of concrete block and stone. Its exterior is of salmon-tinted California stucco with white granite trim. Locker rooms on the main floor are equipped with 1,600 clothing baskets of wire, each with a numbered brass tag. As many as 2,400 persons can use the...