Parks and Recreation Sites

The January 16, 1936 issue of the Woodland Daily Democrat "reported that WPA-funded landscaping was transforming the 'old city dump at the east end of Court Street' into a 'new park for the City' and that 'much interest is being shown in the proposed target range which will occupy part of the park'." Though the park no longer appears to contain a target range, if it ever did, there is still a very nice park with a pagoda, a playground, a band stand and several other amenities at this location.

The CCC assisted in the creation of this state forest between 1933 and 1942. From the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs: "The well preserved CCC roads and water holes illustrate the importance of the CCC in creating park infrastructure. The stone arch bridge shown here is an outstanding example of CCC craftsmanship."

French Charley’s Playground is located within the northern part of Bronx Park, near the park entrance at East 204th Street by Webster Ave. "In June of 1941, Parks developed this playground and the fields, and the WPA (Works Progress Administration) provided the labor force for the new construction."   (www.nycgovparks.org) WPA work included the playground itself, as well as footbridge to the park at East 204th St., landscaping, paths and a large, rounded stone retaining wall. "The park is about 16 feet below street level and the WPA had to convert the sloping landscape into two levels that are flat, which involved moving...

"During the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Federal government purchased much of the land used for charcoal production as part of a national project to reclaim marginal lands. This project provided jobs and improved local economies by developing recreation sites called recreation demonstration areas. Two Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps were built at French Creek and operated until the early 1940s. The camps built two dams, two group camps, several tent camping areas, beaches, roads, picnic areas, and started the restoration process for the historic core of Hopewell Furnace." "The National Park Service built five Recreation Demonstration Areas through CCC and...

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers conducted the following work in Cambridge, Massachusetts. From a W.P.A. Bulletin: WPA beautification of the Cambridge Fresh Pond Parkway golf course includes the filling of unsightly water filled pools, messed with an accumulation of assorted junk and discarded automobiles.

The zoo is located in Roeding Park. The zoo's history goes back to 1907. The WPA added the cat barn exhibit and small chain link cages in the 1930s.

The stadium was originally built in 1926, but later improved by the WPA. The archival photo pictured details each feature the WPA worked on at and surrounding this stadium, including new adjacent handball and tennis courts. The WPA work on this stadium was most likely included the 1942 work referred to in the following quote from the stadium's website: "The stadium, originally know as Fresno State College Stadium and renamed for Fresno State's first football coach, Emory Ratcliffe, in 1941, was expanded with a high-rise grandstand on the west side in 1942, boosting the seating capacity to 13,000."   (www.fresnocitycollege.com) This may also...

"Frog Meadow Guard Station was constructed between 1933 and 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, (CCC) to provide a residence for Forest Service fire patrolmen stationed in that area. In the early 1980's, the Forest Service no longer needed the use of the cabin, and it was closed until just recently. The cabin is 900 square feet, single story and consists of 1 bedroom with a closet, 1 bathroom, a living room and a kitchen with a service porch. The original cabinets, walls and bath fixtures remain, although the floor was covered with new vinyl tile recently. The exterior is...

The Civilian Conservation Corps Veteran's Camp 1778 comprised of World War I Veterans constructed a state park on the former grounds of the Fort Hays Military Reservation in Hays, Kansas. The camp was located along the banks of Big Creek and the enrollees occupied buildings the present-day Fort Hays State University campus. The veterans constructed roads, bridges, and picnic areas that included limestone shelters and fire pits. The campers built a small dam in Big Creek to create a recreation area for fishing and boating. Some of these projects including the shelters were completed or maintained by the National Youth Administration. In...

"Frozen Head State Park and Natural Area is a state park in Morgan County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The park, situated in the Crab Orchard Mountains between the city of Wartburg and the community of Petros, contains some of the highest mountains in Tennessee west of the Blue Ridge... In 1933, Tennessee Governor Harry McAlister set aside a large part of Brushy Mountain State Prison's lands for the establishment of Morgan State Forest. The Civilian Conservation Corps arrived that same year to construct roads and facilities for forest maintenance. CCC operations continued in the forest until 1941, although rattlesnakes...

In 1933, a troop of men from the Civilian Conservation Corps troop V-1668, made up of veterans, started building what would become the Fullersburg Forest Preserve. The men built a caretakers cottage (Old Water Mill), a boathouse, bridges, and picnic shelters at the site. They also renovated a mill located at the site. The work in the park was largely finished by 1936 (Du Page Clerk), and by 1937 the historic Graue Mill, originally built in 1852, was functioning as an educational facility for the community (Sweet). The oldest standing part of the Fullersburg Forest Preserve is the Graue Mill. The...

In 1940 the Department of Parks announced the opening of a new playground was opened in what is today Fulton Park, located in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The playground was "designed by the Park Department and built and landscaped by the Work Projects Administration," and describes the playground as follows: "This small children's playground consists of kindergarten swings, see-saws, slides, a sand pit and a free play space with a shower basin and has been surfaced with bituminous material to provide for all year round usage. The entire area is landscaped with shade trees and concrete benches have been provided." Fulton...

Built clubhouse as a neighborhood improvement, containing clubroom with fireplace, kitchen and office, directors and caretakers.

The WPA worked on Funston Playground in San Francisco.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to construct "a recreation field extending from 15th to 19th Sts. inclusive on Newark Bay front." Additionally they constructed two comfort stations, walks, pathways and roadways; and undertook "filling, grading, and seeding the lowland park at 16th St." The WPA also demolished an old park house at the park, constructed two baseball fields, and constructed a shower and wading pool for children; among other improvements. G. Thomas DiDomenico Park is still in use today; modern facilities include: "restrooms, playgrounds, handball court, municipal pool, amphitheatre, boat launch, walking paths, benches, baseball/softball/soccer fields, basketball court, tennis...

The Department of Parks acquired this land, later named the Galapo Playground, in 1940 and announced the completion of a playground on the site in July 1941: "New concrete walks have been centered in the 24' sidewalk area along Avenue "V" and Bedford Avenue with a row of pin oaks on each side in panels of concrete blocks. Continuous sections of benches have been placed against the Avenue "V" property line fence adjacent to the entrances. A concrete walk extends along East 24 Street and Gravesend Neck Road with a single row of trees spaced in a concrete block strip adjacent...

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Civil Works Administration completed improvements at the Gallinger Playground in Washington DC, between 1933 and 1934. The work consisted of the following improvements: “New shelter(s) built."

This two-story Modern Deco brick building was completed in 1938 by the Public Works Administration to serve as the community recreation center for this part of St. Louis. The center is still in operation. The community center is surrounded by a large playground.

From the Maryland Department of Natural Resources website for Gambrill State Park: “Most of the buildings and facilities within the park were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. The CCC was a Federal program that was created during the Great Depression. The goal of the program was to create jobs for young men and to help restore the nation’s struggling natural resources…The Tea Room has been a popular feature of Gambrill State Park for over 70 years. The Tea Room is a native-stone building, built by the CCC in the 1930’s. It was originally designed for community events and...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed a garage in what is now known as the Carlsbad Caverns National Park Historic District. National Register of Historic Places nomination form, 1988: Warehouse, NPS Bldg #27, probably designed by Ken Saunders, architect, Branch of Plans and Design, Regional Office, Santa Fe; erected in 1940 by CCC workers; formerly also used for storage of supplies and equipment, and as a radio and electric shop, as well as a garage; still used as a garage. Simplified New Mexican Territorial Revival Style; one-story; rectangular plan measuring about 97' x 25'; beige-colored stuccoed adobe walls; flat asphalted roof; concrete floor;...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook several improvements at what was then known as Chancellor Playground (and today known as Garden State Chancellor Park) beginning in 1936. The large-scale project involved "replacing two bridges washed away by storms, building new bleachers, regrading diamond, etc. Cost of this work is figured as $25,693.90, WPA supplying $22,391.50." (Herald)

This 100 acre lake, north of Gardner, was created by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1938. According to a local history site, "Prior to building the lake, a camp was built to house the 200+ transient workers who would live there during construction. It was called 'Transient Camp # 9'. The camp buildings included a mess hall, bath houses, barracks, a kitchen, hospital, waterworks and recreation hall. The laborers were provided food shelter, clothing, and medical care, and were paid $1 to $3 per week. Excavation began in 1935. By May 1936 there were 225 men working...

"Extensive improvements to the park in the 1930s included WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION-funded construction of a colonnaded boathouse, footbridges, and retaining walls along the lower lake, all made from locally quarried stone."

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Civil Works Administration funded and constructed improvements at the Garfield Playground in Washington DC, between, 1933-1934. “Playing area increased by relocation of hedges, graded, relocation of equipment.”

The Garfield Playground was one of a limited number of Seattle park facilities to receive upgrades through the New Deal's Civil Works Administration (CWA) program. The main CWA project at the playground involved the construction of a retaining wall along the western edge of the property. CWA laborers began work on the $12,000 project in 1933 and completed it the following year. Several years later, funding from the Works Project Administration (WPA) allowed the Park Department to proceed with additional improvements to the playground. In 1938, WPA workers painted the baseball field's backstop and bleachers. One year later, they built three...

This property in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn, just next to Milestone Park, was acquired by Parks in 1937. In March, 1939, Parks announced the completion of a new playground on the site "equipped with swings, see-saws, jungle gym, slides and a shower basin which can also be used as a roller skating rink." The new playground also contained a "brick comfort station" and "concrete benches and shade trees." The work "was performed by the Works Progress Administration but planned and inspected by the Department of Parks." The site remains a functioning playground today.

A Texas historical marker erected in the park in 2007 explains the CCC's involvement in the park's development as follows: "CCC Company 879 began its work at Camp SP-42-T (Garner State Park) in April 1935. During the first phase of development (1935-37), construction included the main entrance portal and road, and the keeper’s lodge. In 1937, the CCC began construction on the heart of the new park, the combination building, known as the Pavilion, and a dance floor, on a high bluff near the Frio River. The building architecture, known as NPS (National Park Service) Rustic, utilized native limestone and wood...

Researcher Frank da Cruz makes a convincing argument that this former playground was built with New Deal funds: "According to a present-day NYC Parks Department web page, 'This property, bounded by East 146th Street, Walton Avenue, and the Grand Concourse, was acquired by the city in 1913 and assigned to Parks in 1934. Garrison Playground opened in 1936, and reopened in 1940 after the widening of the Grand Concourse' (which was a WPA project). The playground was open as recently as June 2014 (next image) but in June 2015 when I took these photos the entire block was being demolished,...

The Gasquet Ranger Station was used by the Forest Service to manage the southwestern portion of the Siskyou National Forest, until it was transferred to what it now called the Smith River National Recreation Area in 1947. Today it used both as an office for the Forest Service staff and as a visitor center. The ranger station is part of a larger complex of structures built by the CCC during the 30's, of which seven buildings remain today along with a rock wall. The ranger station is also the only building that is directly visible from the road. Collectively, the...

The Works Progress Administration built the gazebo in downtown Cooper between 1938 and 1940 as documented by a plaque on the gazebo.

In 1938 the WPA workers assisted in the construction of Geiger Grade lookout and Park along Geiger Grade Road which, in 1936, also underwent a WPA road improvement project. The photos here show typical WPA rock work. In their book entitled Building Nevada's Highways, Jennifer E. Riddle and Elizabeth Dickey tell us that "...the Highway Department and the WPA worked together to construct a park along Geiger Grade (Route 341), that snaking section of roadway that was the historic lifeline between supplies in Washoe Valley and Comstock Bullion. 'WPA boys' and highway department day laborers used local stone to build barbecues, wells,...

The Gem Lake Trail at Rocky Mountain National Park is on the National Register of Historic Places (2008, 5LR.11810.1), in part for New Deal improvements: "The trail is associated with the early resort industry and tourism in the Estes Park region, particularly in its function as an equestrian route.  The trail assumed its current alignment with the completion of alterations in 1923.  During 1940 and 1941, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) performed trail maintenance and improvements in keeping with National Park Service Naturalistic Design principles of the 1920s through the 1940s.  The property is associated with the Rocky Mountain National Park and...

The Civilian Conservation Corps built a camp, dam, stone overlook, and other structures in General Butler State Park (Butler Memorial Park) in Carrollton KY.

Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Parks were created separately, but because they are contiguous they are administered today by the National Park Service (NPS) as a single unit. Sequoia was the third national park, created in 1893, while Kings Canyon became a national park in 1941, under the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt.   During the New Deal of the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did extensive work in both national parks, building campgrounds, trails, roads, ranger stations and other facilities.  More specific information is needed on these projects.  

The New Deal vastly improved Yosemite National Park in California, which has long been the showpiece of the national park system.  Several federal agencies operated in the park from 1933 to 1942, under the general supervision of the National Park Service: the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Public Works Administration (PWA), and Bureau of Public Roads (BPR), plus the short-lived Civil Works Administration (CWA)  (December 1933 to April 1934). Major works around Yosemite are detailed in the various site pages listed on the right. Nevertheless, some of the immense amount of work done during the New Deal cannot be pinpointed, so we...

Genessee is the largest park in the Denver Mountain Parks system. It was established in 1913. "During the New Deal, two Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps operated near Genesee beginning in 1935. The large stone shelter near Genesee Mountain, completed in 1939 by the CCC workers, still provides space for group picnicking and family or organization events. With a capacity of 300, it is the largest shelter in the Mountain Parks; reservations for use are available by fee."  (https://mountainparkshistory.org)

"Geneva State Forest was formerly part of a vast land holding of timberlands owned by the Jackson Lumber Company. The lumber company, as was a common practice of the time, clear cut the land. They were left with land that was of little use. Jackson Lumber Company tried to sell the land for as little as 50 cents an acre. They were unsuccessful and ultimately chose to donate the land to the State of Alabama instead of paying property taxes for land they could no longer use. The land transfer took place during the Great Depression. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)...

"In 1934, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) converted an eleven-year-old pier into a waterside recreation center at a cost of one million dollars. ... Opened in 1936, the George Cromwell Recreation Center soon came to play a vital role in Staten Island’s sports and recreational activities. President Roosevelt hosted a gala ball there in 1939, and Sugar Ray Robinson fought his last amateur fight there in 1940." "(...) the city took $1 million from the federal Works Progress Administration, which was headquartered at the pier, to convert the structure — known as Pier 6, located on Murray Hulbert Avenue — into a...

The George Wright Clubhouse is a facility part of a municipal golf course located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston, MA. The course was designed by Donald Ross and named for George Wright, one of the original members of the Cincinnati Red Stockings professional baseball team. The clubhouse was built by the Works Progress Administration. This Norman style clubhouse cost $200,000 in 1930s' dollars, the overall golf course's construction, including the clubhouse, is estimated to have been $1,000,000, in 1930s' dollars. The course opened in 1938 and remains open to this day owned and run by the City of Boston....

"George Wright Golf Course is a Donald Ross designed, public golf course in Hyde Park, Massachusetts that was opened in 1938 after receiving President Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration (WPA) funding to complete the construction."