Parks and Recreation Sites

The WPA built the park and several blocks of surrounding sidewalks.

The WPA repaired the walks with gravel and oil, improved the sprinkling system, and re-landscaped as part of the WPA parks project in Berkeley.

The rustic style pavilion was constructed in Livingston Park, currently home to the Jackson Zoological Park.

Lockhart State Park is located at the southwestern edge of Lockhart, Texas and is administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The park consists of 263.7 acres of land that was purchased by the State of Texas on December 14, 1934. The park was constructed by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 3803 between 1935 and 1938. The park was leased to a local country club until 1948 and then opened to the public as a state park. The CCC built the park residence, the combination building, Park Road 10, a stone arch bridge, a swimming pool, a concrete water storage...

The facilities and area at the Locklin Avenue swimming pool, including access stairs from the canyon below and changing rooms were built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938-39. The pool was completed in 1923, well before the advent of the New Deal, and has since been abandoned. According to the Bisbee Daily Review, “Bath house to be remodeled: New change rooms proposed at city swimming pool as WPA project. Bisbee swimming fans may soon have new changing rooms provided for them at the city swimming pool, officials revealed yesterday. Remodeling of the old wooden building at the swimming pool to...

The WPA added 12 acres of parkland to the existing park at Lodi Lake, and a bridge built to link the two parcels of land. Also with the help of WPA funds and 26 men over 20 months, the city constructed dressing rooms, an office building, grading and oil surfacing of the park roads, a parking lot, the installation of riprap, dredging, painting of boats and benches and tables.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built cabins at Mohawk Trail State Forest and Savoy State Forest, MA, circa 1934. The architect of record was L. C. Roy.

The Works Progress Administration, and the Civil Works Administration (WPA) funded improvements at the Logan Playground in Washington DC. The work consisted of the following improvements: WPA, 1935-1936, “grading 1,000 cubic yards.” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia 1936) WPA, 1936-1937, “Completed grading, fencing 400 linear feet; one gate.” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia 1937) WPA, 1937-1938, “Installation of equipment.” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia 1938)

CCC crews built this small recreational lake on Mill Creek in Mark Twain National Forest in 1940. It is at least partially spring-fed and tends to be clear. The dam has a simple concrete spillway. In addition to the lake, the project consisted of a trail around the lake, a campground, and picnic ground.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved the facilities at San Francisco's Lombard Park during the Great Depression. Work consisted of landscaping and building walls and paths and providing recreation facilities for mothers and children.--Healy, p. 56.

The Department of Parks announced the opening of this WPA playground in Queens on August 9, 1939: “The land was acquired at the time the Board of Estimate approved the modified plan for the Atlantic Avenue Improvement, the playground was designed by the Department of Parks, and built for the Park Department by the Works Progress Administration. The small children's area in the southerly part of the playground contains various types of play equipment, a wading pool, and a sand pit. The balance of the area is taken up with basketball, volleyball, and handball courts, a softball diamond and a roller skating...

The Works Progress Administration built a Restroom Building for a Municipal Tennis Courts in Long Bay in Charlotte Amalie.

"... icnic shelters are integral to the public image and identity of West Virginia’s New Deal projects. The shelters also represent the essence of rustic architectural and landscape design. Among the most impressive examples is the Long Branch Picnic Shelter at Cabwaylingo. The ca. 1936 building is a one-story, side-gabled building with cut stone pillars supporting the roof. The 1-by-1 bay building measures 20 feet wide by 12 feet deep on the exterior. A stone wall encircles the shelter. The stone floor featu res a raised relief carving of a pine tree with crossed axes and the words “U.S.” and...

The federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) constructed the Long Creek High School Gymnasium and the school's attendant recreational grandstand in Huntersville, North Carolina. "The Long Creek High School Gymnasium and Grandstand are the only surviving structures from the initial phase of Federally-assisted school construction in Mecklenburg County." The structures "are tangible reminders of how the New Deal relief programs changed rural life in Mecklenburg County." (cmhpf.org) "Long Creek High School opened in 1923 as part of a program of comprehensive school consolidation in Mecklenburg County.  The Long Creek High School Gymnasium and Grandstand were constructed in 1934 initially under arrangements approved...

Long Lake Group Camp is one of two camps developed by the National Park Service during the late 1930s and early 1940s as part of the Yankee Springs Demonstration Area. The camp consists of two “villages” of eight cabins, each arranged in a semi-circle around a fire pit. They include a dining hall and kitchen and latrines. A bathing beach is nearby. As one of the many New Deal work-relief initiatives, the NPS’s Recreation Development Areas (RDAs) program constructed dozens of organized camps and park facilities on tracts of sub marginal farmlands for the dual purpose of conservation and recreation. Labor for...

Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1932 under President Herbert Hoover.  Like many other extant refuges, it was improved during the New Deal by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) working under the Bureau of Biological Survey (which became the US Fish & Wildlife Service in 1940). The refuge encompasses 22,000 acres, most of which is made up of Long Lake. "At Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge, the Civilian Conservation Corp, comprised largely of local residents, played an important role in the refuge's development. Participants worked primarily on water development, wildlife conservation, and erosion control. They constructed dikes to control...

Durham, North Carolina's Long Meadow Pool (located at Long Meadow Park) was constructed with federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds in 1937.

The campground was constructed by the CCC in 1937, along with a unique stone outhouse built into the side of a rock cliff.

Originally named the Longbow Forest Camp, the Longbow Organization Camp is a group facility constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the Sweet Home Ranger District of the Willamette National Forest (WNF).  Starting during the winter season of 1937-1938, the CCC workers completed the campground during the winter season of 1938-1939. Their work was supervised by the US Forest Service. CCC workers from nearby Camp Cascadia (Co. #2907) improved the ten-acre campground along the banks of the South Santiam. They built six sleeping shelters, a community kitchen with attached dining, an amphitheater that seats seventy-five people, and a water system...

1939: "An area of 1 1/2 acres which moved into Millville ownership through tax title foreclosure, adjacent to the Longfellow School property, is in the process of development as a playground and recreational center. The work is being carried out as a W.P.A. project employing 25 men. This parcel presented an exceedingly rough and unsightly appearance, with outcropping ledge and cellar holes being the predominant features discernible. Plans call for the grading, filling, drainage, ledge removal, retaining walls and landscaping which will ultimately transform the plot into a beauty spot, with facilities for playground and recreational activities." The playground is still...

A state website explains that the "Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site explores the cultural interplay among the diverse peoples along the famed Bayou Teche. Acadians and Creoles, Indians and Africans, Frenchmen and Spaniards, slaves and free people of color-all contributed to the historical tradition of cultural diversity in the Teche region."   (https://www.crt.state.la.us) The site was developed by the CCC in the 1930s: "Acadiana was fortunate to have several projects. Most notably was project SP-1 Company No. 277 located in St. Martinville. The project was one of the first in the nation and started on Sept. 20, 1933. Its first major project was the...

"The park is named for Longhorn Cavern, a limestone cave formed by the cutting action of an underground river that receded thousands of years ago. Before the cave became a tourist attraction, it was used over the years by Indians, Confederate soldiers and outlaws, including outlaw Sam Bass. From 1934 to 1942, Company 854 of the Civilian Conservation Corps constructed residences, pavilions and an observation tower in the National Park Service Rustic architectural style. They also explored and developed the cavern and built walkways."   (wikipedia) A Recorded Texas Historic Landmark erected in front of the administration building in 1989 reads: "Longhorn Cavern opened...

Mount Rainier was the nation's fifth National Park, established 1899. During the Great Depression the New Deal's Civilian Conservation Corps greatly aided the park's development. National Register of Historic Places nomination: "In the 1930s, the CCC made further improvements on the landscaping of Longmire Meadow."

Mount Rainier was the nation's fifth National Park, established 1899. During the Great Depression the New Deal's Civilian Conservation Corps greatly aided the park's development. Numerous structures were constructed at Longmire Village by the CCC. National Register of Historic Places nomination: "Comfort stations, fireplaces, and the campground loop roads were added to the Longmire campground in the 1930s with the help of CCC labor."

"Originally the headquarters of the Cleveland Natural Science Club, Look About Lodge in South Chagrin Reservation was built in the late 1930s by the federally-funded Works progress Administration (WPA). The building is only open for scheduled programs."

The Los Angeles County Fair was first held in 1922. New Deal agencies extensively improved the grounds in the 1930s. "The Improvements at the Los Angeles County Fair Grounds, W.P. No. 243, W.P. 4456, W.P. 5546, W.P. 9264, W.P. 9562 and W.P. 9740 were sponsored by the County of Los Angeles, for the construction of exhibition, recreation and service facilities and the landscaping of the grounds. The Los Angeles County Fair located in Pomona, California, the heart of the citrus belt, is one of the largest and most popular county fairs in the United States, attracting exhibitors from all over the country. Five...

Although the zoo was shut down in 1965, the grounds are still standing and open to the public for walking and picnics, and the site is often used in film and photo locations. A sign at the old zoo reads as follows: "The Griffith Park canyon area served as the City's Zoo from its founding in 1912 to 1965, when the Los Angeles Zoo moved to its current location about two miles north of where you are currently standing. Many of the walls, grottos, and other enclosures you see today were built in the 1930s by County Relief workers and Works...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of a municipal pool and bathhouse near the beach in Santa Barbara CA.  This was part of a larger program of improvements of the beach area parks – much of it done by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The bathhouse and pool are still in use as the Los Banos del Mar unit of the municipal pool system. Short & Stanley-Brown describe the project thus:  "The evident thought and care exercised in the design and planning of this municipal swimming pool has resulted in a satisfactory architectural composition. The pool is L-shaped, 50 by...

“The Boulder City and Overton Camps are probably best known for their involvement in salvage archaeology, most notably excavations at Lost City in the lower Moapa Valley. The rising Lake Mead threatened a number of important archeological sites along the terraces overlooking the Muddy River. One well-publicized project was at Lost City, a five-mile stretch of Puebloan settlements that were soon to be inundated by Lake Mead. In a race against time, Nevada and NPS officials mobilized the young and energetic labor force and resumed the excavation at Lost City.” --The Civilian Conservation Corps in Nevada

The CCC’s role in developing the park, as explained by the state of West Virginia: “During the Great Depression, beginning May 15, 1934, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 1524 occupied Camp Hardy, which was located near the present day entrance to Lost River State Park. By 1937, the CCC boys had built 15 standard cabins, an administration building, the superintendent’s residence, a swimming pool and bathhouse, a spring house covering the Lee Sulphur Springs (named after Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, Robert E. Lee’s father), and several bridges and other small stone structures throughout the park. The stonework of these beautiful buildings...

Love's Lookout Park, north of Jacksonville, Texas in north Cherokee County, was developed by the WPA. After John Wesley Love's death, his "family gave 22.22 acres, including the lookout site, to the state for a park. The city of Jacksonville bought 25 adjoining acres and developed both tracts as a WPA project."

The Lower Blue Campground was built in the mid 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). It involved clearing the land, land improvements, building steps, a stone wall, and a bench for campers. While today the campground that was cleared by the CCC is no longer maintained and now an empty field with the current campground on the side the wall, steps, and bench are still there just abandoned. An interpretive sign is near these CCC sites to explain.

Lowery Field is a multi-use recreation field with 4 baseball diamonds, a football field, a basketball court and a playground. The state archives show a picture baseball field that was built by the Civil Works Administration or Alabama Relief Administration.

Lowman Beach Park, a small park property that provides access to Puget Sound in a primarily residential area of southwest Seattle, was the site of two Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects. The first project involved the construction of a cement mortar seawall along the entire shore line of the park property. This project was started in 1935 and completed the following year. Additionally, WPA workers built a concrete tennis court on the north side of the park in 1936.

A marker erected in 1998 describes the CCC's role in developing Loy Park and Loy Lake: "Grayson County officials became aware of a growing need for a public recreation facility for the area's approximately 65,500 residents in 1930. Three years later the federal government agreed to create a small lake on land provided by the county. The county commissioners court purchased a site 2.5 miles southwest of Denison in October 1933 and secured the services of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a federal public works program, to construct the dam and build a recreational park. In early November, 200 men from...

The Seattle Park Department acquired the property for Loyal Heights Playground in 1941 and, that same year, employed WPA workers to clear and regrade the site, which naturally sloped downward from north to south. More than 7,300 cubic yards of dirt fill were added as part of the regrading project. Work on the playfield continued until December 1941, when all WPA workers at the site were transferred to defense work in preparation for World War II.

On January 15, 1940, the New York City Department of Parks announced the completion of this "new facility" at Alexander Ave. and 136th St.: "It contains four handball courts, a large, open, biuminous-surfaced play area for group games, small and large swings, see-saws, slides, a jungle gym, a completely equipped playground with sand pit and wading pool for smaller children, and a comfort station. A planting area with shade trees borders the playground. Numerous concrete benches have been provided. ... designed by the Park Department and built by the Work Projects Administration..."   (https://kermitproject.org) The park was renamed for Private Carlos J. Lozada in...

An August 1935 Parks Department press release lists what is now the Lt. Joseph Petrosino Park as one of seventy-three play areas developed in the preceding year with "city, state and federal relief funds." The release describes this park as having play areas designed for mothers and infants, older children, adolescents and adults. The playground opened on May 24, 1935. NYC Parks website further explains that "Distributed around its perimeter were handball courts, slides, swings, a wading pool, jungle gym, and recreation building." The park was renovated in 1993. Although neither source identifies which federal agencies were involved, researcher Frank da Cruz explains...

When the state of Michigan was given 3,500 acres of logged-over land on the shores of Lake Michigan in 1926, it was hoped that the nearby Big Sable Point Lighthouse might become a beacon not only for ships but for tourists as well. Back then, the land was reachable only by foot or boat, and the state lacked money to develop it as a park. That changed in 1933 with the advent of the New Deal. The Pere-Marquette S-2 CCC Camp quickly went up on the state’s land and the young men of the Michigan Civilian Conservation Corps began shaping the...