Parks and Recreation Sites

Dating from WWI, Fort Dix provided training for soldiers enlisted in the U.S. Army. According to a Works Progress Administration (WPA) Information Division document, the WPA engaged in “Campwide improvement to grounds, including grading, checking of soil erosion, improvements to drainage to eliminate mud, and clearing fire trails and brush; construction of target pits and machine gun range, landing field, one mile of railroad. Construction or repair of garage, motor repair shop, schools, tent floors, incinerator, sawmill, woodshop, quarters, storage buildings, mess hall, cold storage plant, hospital, airport buildings, disposal plant, improvements of water supply system, clearing of ditches...

Fort Douglas was expanded during the New Deal by the PWA, CCC and WPA.  The WPA added several homes for senior officers (buildings 621-625 on the central parade grounds, along De Trobriand Street) and non-commissioned officers (buildings 658, 600, 664, 665, 666 on Connor Road), along with entrance columns.  These are all still in use. There are several other WPA works at Fort Douglas that are harder to document or have disappeared:  a recreation hall (gone), bath house (still standing), swimming pool (filled in?), gas station (modified from an earlier stone building that still stands), and improvements to the water and street systems (invisible). The only...

Fort Douglas was expanded during the New Deal by the PWA, CCC and WPA.  The WPA added several homes for senior officers (buildings 621-625 on the central parade grounds, along De Trobriand Street) and non-commissioned officers (buildings 658, 600, 664, 665, 666 on Connor Road), along with entrance columns.  These are all still in use. There are several other WPA works at Fort Douglas that are harder to document or have disappeared:  a recreation building (pictured), swimming pool (filled in?), a gas station (modified from an earlier stone building that still stands), and improvements to the water and street systems (invisible). The only site marked...

From a HABS Survey Report on CCC involvement in the park's development: "This park is located on the east side of the Anacostia River just to the south of East Capitol Street in Southeast Washington.  The initial, roughly sixteen-acre land purchase encompassing the original section of Fort Dupont Park, including the fort, occurred in 1916.   In 1933, the site came under the purview of the NPS and they quickly advanced existing plans to enlarge the park.  They envisioned ‘that the ultimate development of Fort Dupont will be somewhat similar to Rock Creek Park’ and ‘will serve the large population of Northeast...

A HABS Survey Report describes CCC work at Fort Foote Park: “Constructed as part of a ring of Civil War fortifications surrounding Washington, DC, and intended to replace the aging Fort Washington located a few miles down the river, Fort Foote is the best-preserved Civil War-era fort in the area.  Some of its ramparts are fully readable and two massive Rodman cannon are still fixed on the river.  The CCC constructed a sea wall below the fort along 958 feet of Potomac River shoreline.  Built to prevent erosion of the bluff on which Fort Foote sits, the rip rapping entailed 1942...

"The men of the CCC developed this park by building roads, pavilions, shelters, outdoor grills, restrooms, and more.  They rebuilt the deteriorated walls of Fort Frederick (now a National Historic Landmark) and the barrack foundations inside the fort (the barracks were fully restored in the 1970s).  The park now offers historical reenactments of 18th century life, camping, boating, fishing, and hiking."

Between 1935 and 1939, the WPA performed structural renovation and historic restoration work at this site.  

In 1942, the Washington Post reported seven acres allocated by the Federal Works Agency (FWA) for a playfield at Fort Greble, at the intersection of Chesapeake St. and Shepherd St (which no longer goes through).  This is the present site of Fort Greble Recreation Center (also called the Spray Park) and the Leckie Elementary School.  It still features a baseball field and basketball courts, which probably trace their origins to the New Deal work in the 1940s.

This large, lush Brooklyn park dates back 150 years. NYC Parks explains that "Another series of renovations made in the 1930s further enhanced the classical design of the park. Parks architect Gilmore D. Clarke regraded the grounds, added new trees and shrubs, replaced the winding paths with more formal walks, remodeled the playgrounds, and created new spaces for athletic activities." These and other activities were announced in several Department of Parks press releases at the time. In May 1936, a new playground was opened in the northwest corner of the park. In October of the same year, the children's garden in...

The 3803 Junior White Company was established in Texas Jan. 5, 1938. They worked for three years prior to the program's discontinuance developing the park's campground, roads, and completing a partial reconstruction of the fort. The fort's bakery was one of the buildings reconstructed. The camp was abandoned in 1941 due to World War II.      

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted substantial development work at the former Fort Hancock. Numerous projects undertaken by the New Deal agency, totaling more than two million dollars , included utility and infrastructure overhauls, building new military facilities, reconstructing docks, erecting a training camp, and even building tennis courts.

This limestone baseball stadium, built by the Works Progress Administration in 1940, is currently owned by the city of Hays but operated by Fort Hays State University. It has been upgraded several times over the years and is now home to the Fort Hays State baseball team.

The federal Work Projects Administration worked to improve Peekskill, New York's Fort Hill Park and Depew Park during the 1930s. One project (involving either/both parks) was described by the WPA in its project rolls: "Work includes constructing comfort station, shelter building, and fireplace; performing masonry, carpentry, plumbing, and electrical work; installing water pipe, drinking fountains, and edging around running track; painting and roofing; removing stone wall." WPA Official Project No.: 665-21-2-540.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed the Fort Hunt site as a recreational park from 1936 to 1939.  The work was very extensive, including excavating a lake, a golf course, roads and parking areas, and a storm drainage system.  The CCC enrollees built 8 acres of picnic areas with tables, stone fireplaces, restrooms, water pipes and drinking fountains, plus a trail system for hikers.  Lastly, they constructed a park ranger home, shop buildings and an oil storage house, and planted trees and other landscaping. Little of the original work remains, since the park has undergone a great deal of renovation over...

The WPA restored this fort at some point prior to 1938. From Rhode Island: A Guide to the Smallest State: "he Works Progress Administration has restored the old fort, graded the land, and converted it into a park." The site is now the Columbia Park Playground.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted development efforts at Fort Leavenworth as part of multiple projects totaling more than $1 million. Projects included: Construct and improve buildings, structures, and facilities. Cost: $150,000. Sponsor: War Department ‐Q.M.C. WPA Project No. 113‐3‐82‐7 Construct and rehabilitate barracks and quarters and utilities. Cost: $355,045. Sponsor: War Department ‐Q.M.C. WPA Project No. 13‐3‐82‐7 Improve buildings and grounds. Cost: $424,649. Sponsor: War Department. WPA Project No. 165‐2‐82‐23 Improve roads and streets. Sponsor: Commanding Officer, Fort Leavenworth, U.S. Army. WPA Project No. 365‐82‐1‐1 Make general improvements to buildings, utilities, walks, and grounds. Cost: $45,230. Sponsor: Commanding...

The main campus of Fort Lewis College was moved to Durango, Colorado in 1956, but before then it was located at this site, 16 miles southwest of Durango on what was originally a military site, then a boarding school for Native Americans, then a high school, then a two-year college. Since the 1950s, this has been the site of the San Juan Basin Research Center and is currently connected to Fort Lewis College once more as an auxiliary campus used for agricultural research among other purposes. During the 1930s, New Deal programs contributed important resources to the campus: "Dean Bader faced...

Fort Loudoun was in operation from 1756 to 1760, when it was captured by the Cherokee. It fell to ruin until 1917 when it was recognized as an historic site. In 1933, the Tennessee General Assembly purchased the fort and created the Fort Loudoun Association, which managed it until the Tennessee State Parks purchased it in 1977. From 1935 to 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook restoration and archaeological work under the "Fort Loudoun Restoration Project," with plans to reconstruct the fort "as based on historical and archeological research." (wikipedia)

"During 1934-35, the Civilian Conservation Corps restored the fort and established public recreational facilities, which enabled Fort Macon State Park to officially open May 1, 1936, as North Carolina’s first functioning state park."

Fort Mahan, in NE Washington DC, was a part of the Civil War defensive ring of forts circling the capital. The site was transformed into a park in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  The CCC tasked Camp NP-11-DC (National Arboretum) with transforming a hillside site into a picnic grounds.  A HABS Survey Report provides details on the CCC improvements to the park and their current condition: “... In creating the grounds, the enrollees filled a borrow pit dug to provide fill for other area projects, channeled a spring, cleared trash and dead trees and brush, and graded the entire...

Landscaping of 40 acres in Fort Mason, San Francisco, San Francisco county. Planting trees and shrubs, seeding lawns. This project is a continuation of work begun under Federal Parks Project.--Mooser, p. 95.

The Fort is located on the West side of the island. Build rubble masonry walls, install irrigation system, excavation, weeding, seeding, and trimming slopes, transplanting seedlings.--Mooser, p. 94.

In 1934 several New Deal Programs provided funding and employed Fort Monroe laborers in the construction of the Fort Monroe Bandshell in Continental Park. The new bandshell replaced the previous one that had been destroyed by hurricanes in 1933. Capt. Harrington W. Cochran designed the bandshell for the 2nd Coast Artillery Band which played there for the first time in April 1934. Robert Kelly, Casemate Museum Historian at the Fort Monroe Authority, notes that Capt. Cochran's diary "documents Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Public Works Administration (PWA), and the Civil Works Administration (CWA) all either funding projects and/or providing labor for improvements across the post."

Fort Mountain State Park in northern Georgia was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the 1930s. Part of the Cohutta Mountain Range, the park gained its name for a stone structure located along a mountaintop in the area.   The park officially opened in 1936. The CCC built the park’s infrastructure and constructed many of its facilities such as the lake and recreational buildings. CCC work crews also did forestry work and made hiking trails. “One of the most notable contributions by the CCC,” according to Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites, “is the large stone fire tower that stands...

Waymarking: "The Yacht Basin was an undertaking of the WPA (Works Project Administration) that took two years to complete, employing local workers during the Depression. ... Located at Mile Marker 135 on the Okeechobee Waterway, 15 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, Fort Myers Yacht Basin is a well designed and protected marina. It is owned and operated by the City of Fort Myers."

Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, preserves the site of the Battle of Fort Necessity. "In 1935-37, a Civilian Conservation Corps camp was located at Fort Necessity. The Corps constructed barracks and other support buildings at the site of the present day administration and maintenance facilities. The Fort Necessity Memorial Association had hoped the CCC would repair and restore the tavern, but very little, if any, of this work was actually done by the Corps. The Corps planted trees, constructed small dams, built bridges, culverts, picnic areas and roadways. The buildings were razed, but many of the other structures...

Fort Niobrara NWR - Valentine NE Fort Niobrara Wildlife Refuge was established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 by Executive Order.  The principal aim was to protect bison and elk herds which had dwindled almost to extinction under the pressure of market hunting in the 19th century.  It was created out of the old frontier Fort Niobrara and today covers almost 20,000 acres of grasslands and riparian forest in Nebraska. In October 1933, the CCC began work in the refuge. A number of projects were identified, including a big game fence measuring twenty-one miles, a seven mile four-wire stock fence, fire prevention...

Established in 1833, Fort Nisqually was the first European settlement on Puget Sound and was sold to the Du Pont company in 1904. Efforts to preserve the fort were begun in 1933 and taken over by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) from 1935 to 1940. WPA laborers relocated the fort to Tacoma's Fort Defiance Park and "re-created several others to present Fort Nisqually as it was in 1855." (metroparkstacoma.org)

A historical marker explains the CCC's role in developing the Fort Parker State Park: "In August 1935, construction of a state park began here on the former town site of Springfield under the direction of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The group assigned to build Fort Parker State Park was Company 3807(C), an African American CCC Camp. From 1935 to 1942, the park company constructed park buildings, roads and facilities, erected a dam across the Navasota River, and reconstructed old Fort Parker. Located nearby, old Fort Parker was rebuilt in preparation for a Texas Centennial observance in 1936, and was the first...

"In the beginning of the P.W.A. practically every one of the national parks received financial assistance from it. Some of the parks and monuments were new and unimproved and others needed finishing. Among the many buildings were the Administrative Building and Museum near Hot Springs, Arkansas, the Administrative Building and Museum at Chickamauga, and the restoration of Fort Pulaski in Georgia. This old fort was built in 1810. The project consisted of repairs and rehabilitation and provision of space for a museum. The work was completed in July 1936 at a construction cost of $76,453."

WPA crews rebuilt historic Fort Recovery between 1935 and 1939. The fort was originally built in 1794 on the site where Army General Arthur St. Clair was roundly defeated by the armies of a confederation of Miami and Shawnee Native Americans. The fort was memorialized in 1910, and a museum opened on the site in 1938. From the National Archives file: “They also built, for use as a museum, a replica of the log cabin occupied by General St. Clair on his arrival there in 1791, and in addition constructed a modern library building.”

The Public Works Administration (PWA) and Federal Works Administration (FWA) both funded improvements at Fort Reno Park in 1942. In October 1942, the Washington Post reported that the FWA would demolish a 5 million gallon reservoir to construct a 20 million gallon reservoir in its place. PWA work reported by the paper was not specified. The park is no longer a working reservoir. After WWII, it was a White House Army Signal Agency facility, and it is now best known for hosting a yearly free summer concert series. There are several play fields at the park and it is unknown if...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) began to restore the foundation of Fort Rice and build replica structures on the historic site in 1937.  Located eighteen miles south of Mandan in Morton County, Fort Rice was originally built as an Army post during the Civil War. The WPA mapped out a program of improvement for both the site and the North Dakota State Park system more generally. “No structures remain but there are markers for the site and individual building locations. The main marker is enclosed in a stone shelter. Two replica blockhouses were constructed by the WPA in the 1930s, but they...

The U.S. Army constructed Fort Ridgely in 1835. It became a state park in 1934 and received significant improvement work from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).   The CCC erected buildings made of local Morton rainbow granite and conducted an archaeological survey, supervised by the Minnesota Historical Society. Based on the survey, Corpsmen helped restore the original fort commissary which became a museum and meeting hall. In all of the state’s parks, “the fort commissary is the only remaining historic reconstruction done by the CCC.”

Landscaping and removing fire hazards on 403 acre military reserve adjacent to Fort Scott, San Francisco. Tree trimming and clearing under brush, constructing fire breaks, removing fallen logs and debris, thereby removing a serious fire hazard. And planting ice plant to stop wind erosion of sand dunes.--Mooser, p. 89.

In 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted cleanup efforts at Fort Slocum Park, on the site of a Civil War-era fort, in the district's northeastern quadrant. Crews removed underbrush, poisonous plants, and dead trees to make the rustic park more salubrious for public use. The outline of the old earthworks of Fort Slocum are clearly visible in satellite view.

The fort dates back the early nineteenth century, when it was used to “promote and protext the interests of the United States in the region’s fur trade” (historicfortsnelling.org). Between 1938 and 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) performed structural renovation and historic restoration work at this site, including sidewalks, sewers, porches, and garages. National Park Service: "Fort Snelling benefited from New Deal programs such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The programs provided funding for a general reconditioning of the fort, including landscaping and infrastructure. Workers graded and resurfaced existing roads, built new sidewalks and curbs and...

From a HABS Survey Report describing CCC work on the Fort: “Ca. 1936, CCC enrollees reconstructed a portion of the Civil War-era fort-part of Washington's defensive ring-using ‘concrete logs and timbers to simulate original log construction.’  This reconstruction included part of the fort's moat, banquette, revetments, gun platforms, and an underground powder magazine, all set within a sloped lawn and accessed by gravel walks. The 2004 field survey found that the reconstructed fort and magazine remain intact and in reasonably good shape.  Access to the underground magazine has been blocked and the walkways at the site (save the perimeter sidewalks along the...

In 1942, the Washington Post reported the approval of $11,200 in funding for the Federal Works Agency (FWA) to build or make improvements to the former Stevens Playground, now Fort Stevens Recreation Center.  The work may have included tennis courts and play fields, but it has not been confirmed that the work was completed or which part of the present facility is New Deal, if any. Note that this is a few blocks north of the other Fort Stevens New Deal work site.

The WPA undertook several projects to improve Bayside, New York's Fort Totten during the 1930s and early 1940s. One project called for the WPA to repair and reconstruct buildings; improve the "water and lighting installations" as well as "sewer installation and other utilities;" and "improve the roads and grounds" at the base. Much of the grounds now serves as a city park.