Parks and Recreation Sites

CCC crews built Marcoot Fire Lookout tower in what would become Mark Twain National Forest in 1936. The tower is on Route 72 and consists of the tower and outbuildings, some of which appear to be from the original project.  It currently is not in use. Interestingly, this tower is located on the original route of the Trail of Tears, the forced expulsion of the Cherokees from their native home in the east to what became Oklahoma.

"Marcus Garvey Park is one of the oldest public squares in Manhattan. Central to the life of Harlem for more than 150 years, it has served as a meeting place for neighbors, a front yard and play area for schoolchildren, and a holy place for members of local churches. Known as Mount Morris Park for more than a hundred years… Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, with the help of the Federal Works Progress Administration, installed playgrounds and a system of stone walls, terraces and stairs that remains in place today. In the mid-1960s the park again underwent dramatic changes. The City constructed a...

Originally known as Bushwick Park, this land was first developed as a park in the 1890s. During the New Deal, the WPA and the Department of Parks did a major renovation and reconstruction of the park. A press release announcing the park's reopening on August 13, 1941, described what had been accomplished: "The first steps in the modernization of the park to serve the needs of all age groups were taken in 1936 when a one-half acre playground was built in conformity with a development plan for the entire park… The renovation and reconstruction of the remaining six and one-half acres, provide...

The Civilian Conservation Corps carried out improvement work at the Maricao Forrest (Bosque Estatal de Maricao). The work included “roads, trails, timber stand improvements and tree planting, as well as recreational developments.”

Marine Park is the largest public park in Brooklyn. It surrounds the westernmost inlet of Jamaica Bay. The City acquired the first parcels of land in Marine Park in the 1920s and expanded the area in the 1930s. This park was extensively developed by New Deal labor and funding. A July 30, 1936 Department of Parks press release announced the opening of new facilities at the Marine Park, including immediately "three baseball diamonds, two football and soccer fields and one-half of the oval-shaped bicycle and roller skating track." To be constructed in total were "ten baseball diamonds, four football and soccer...

An August 1935 Parks Department press release lists Mariners Harbor Playground 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 and older children. NYC Parks reports that the playground opened on "December 10, 1934 with a basketball/volleyball court, a playground, and a spray shower. The site name was changed several times over the years, to Mariner’s Playground in 1996 and to Harbor Playground in 1997, before its original name was recently reinstated." Although neither source identifies which federal agencies...

The National Youth Administration built the Marion County Roadside Park near Jefferson, Texas between 1935 and 1938. The park serves the same function as of 2019. A state historical marker at the site reads: "This roadside park was constructed by the National Youth Administration (NYA) with the support of President Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression. Development began in 1935, after the Mary Louise Hussey family conveyed the land upon which the park would be located. Following its completion in 1938, the park provided residents and travelers a pleasant venue for resting and picnicking. The park eventually fell in...

In 1935, the Public Works Administration (PWA) funded renovations for Marion Park, southeast of the Capitol, such as sidewalk repair, landscaping, and so forth.  Marion Park was first established in 1886, but like other parks in the district had suffered neglect for many years. The New Deal undertook a major program of parks improvement across the city in the 1930s with input from the PWA, Civil Works Administration (CWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  It is likely that the labor for Marion Park improvements was provided by the WPA. Marion park has recently been the scene of controversy,...

"Authorized by the California State Legislature in May 1939, the 35-A District Agricultural Association held its first annual county fair in Mariposa October 1939." A couple of years later the Work Projects Administration made major improvements. "WPA Project No. 165-1-08-292, Sponsor 35-A District Agricultural Association." "Description: Improve fairgrounds. Work includes constructing grandstand, exhibition buildings, barns, comfort station, concession hall, and office building; excavating; backfilling; roofing, painting; rehabilitating barns; installing water lines, tank, hydrants, plumbing, sewer and electric facilities; and performing carpentry, sheet metal, and incidental and appurtenant work. Publicly owned property." March 19, 1941, total Federal funds $72,092, average men employed 270, total...

"Psychological Color Chart; Dr. Oswald's Color Solid" (1940), oil on canvas, is in the west wing.

Beniamino Bufano created two sculptures for the Maritime Museum in 1942 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. "Seal" is a red granite sculpture, and "Animal" a black one.

Sargent Johnson created this two part project "Sea Forms" for the WPA "comprised of a 30 feet long, 14 feet high greenish-gray slate facade titled, Sea Forms, that was placed over the main entrance to the Maritime Museum on Polk Street and a 125 feet long, 14 feet high glazed tile of green and white abstract patterns resembling sea forms that covered the stair wells to the promenade deck." The glazed tile mural is located at the north portico.

The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park was originally the San Francisco Aquatic Park, created by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1936-1939. The 32 acre park included a lagoon and a bathhouse. The lagoon was ringed by breakwaters, with three small towers, a promenade and grandstand.  The bathhouse was built in the distinctive Streamline Moderne style of the late 1930s and originally housed a restaurant above and showers and dressing rooms in the basement.  The Aquatic Park was an extremely popular swimming spot for San Franciscans when it was built.   A contemporary description: "... A water park, par excellence. ......

The park has Works Progress Administration-built stone benches and a waterfall that connects Cottonwood Creek in Beaconsfield Canyon to Cobbledick Creek and eventually Sausal Creek in Dimond Park.

CCC work created the Mark Twain National Forest. From Wikipedia: Mark Twain National Forest (MTNF) is a U.S. National Forest located in the southern half of Missouri. MTNF was established on September 11, 1939. It is named for author Mark Twain, a Missouri native. The MTNF covers 1,491,840 acres (600,000 ha), 78,000 acres (320 km²) of which are Wilderness, and National Scenic River area... In the 1870s, citizens of southern Missouri began an era of extensive logging of the state's native oak, hickory, and pine forests. Lumber mills were commonplace, but by the 1920s they had disappeared, along with much of the state's...

Company 1743 of the CCC was an all-black company that came to Mark Twain State Park from Washington State Park in De Soto.  There was initial resistance to having an all-black company in the area, but the quality of their work dispelled any doubts about them.  They were called the Thunderbirds.  The most obvious structures they constructed were the entrance to the buzzard’s roost picnic area and the shelter in the area as well as walls and the roads in the area.  There were more extensive plans that were scrapped with the onset of WWII.

According to the Troy Daily News, the Works Progress Administration constructed concrete bleachers for football seating at Troy's athletic park.

"The Marlow High School stadium was completed by the WPA in 1936. Unfortunately, most of the construction no longer remains, with the exception of four arches which still stand at the entrance. The original stone marker shows "BUILT BY WPA 1936." Two granite markers have been laid in the wall which read "W.P.A. 1936" and "PARK BOARD J.E. SHIELDS / CLYDE FERGUSON / JOHN C. FISHER" The four original arches have wood fencing installed in them, to form a wall at the entrance of the stadium. The Marlow High School "Outlaws" play their Division 3A football here on Friday evenings during the school...

"Using federal relief funds, the park district soon converted the golf shelter into a more substantial fieldhouse, and built comfort stations, and a series of footbridges leading to the islands."

Marrowbone Lake, located in the northwest reaches of Nashville, was created by Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers.

One of many county line historical markers placed in West Virginia. Each side denotes the county that is being entered. The West Virginia historical marker program began in 1934 with the beginning research for the markers with the intention of placing markers around the state to encourage tourism. Dr. Roy Bird Cook, a Charleston druggist, a longtime commission member, and a vocational historian worked on the project. Approximately 5,000 sites were collected with 440 markers selected by the commission for placement. Most of these along 44 state and federal highways. The funds came from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Works Progress...

WPA Bulletin, 1937: "Picnic Cave Unusual Feature of Playground Lunenburg — An underground cave equipped with a fireplace and picnic facilities for 40 persons is the outstanding feature of Lunenburg's WPA-built recreation centre at Marshall Field. The grounds also boasts a cinder track, a baseball diamond, and two half-completed tennis courts. But the cave is most popular— especially with the Boy Scouts and other young people's organizations who have held many meetings and hot-dog roasts there. As it was not scheduled as part of the project, many of the townspeople and NYA workers pitched in and did the extra work. The cave is about...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided assistance in the landscaping and improvements at Berkeley's Civic Center Park, c 1940-41.   "... the land acquisition and most of the construction costs were covered by a local bond issue of $125,000... Research done when the park was declared a city landmark in the late 1990's indicated that at least two small wall-mounted fountains in the park (north and south of the central fountain) were constructed by WPA employees, although the park project remained incomplete at the onset of WWII. WPA support was also obtained for landscaping, benches, as well as for the acquisition...

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." Martin Luther Playground is the second site referenced. According to New York City's Parks Department website, Martin Luther Playground, so named in 1987, "was originally acquired by the city in 1907. The property was expanded in 1940 and was opened to the public on June 5, 1942."

The forest was acquired in 1933 and shortly after was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). CCC laborers constructed two pairs of sandstone markers at the entrance of the park.

The 1934 Dept. of Conservation Annual Report indicated that the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) completed "1 lookout tower." The CCC constructed fire towers on steel frameworks to help protect the new plantings and existing forests. The fire tower at Martin State Forest was completed in in 1933. The tower was constructed of steel and stands about 100' tall. At the base of the fire tower are a pair of stone gateposts.

The pump house was created by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) laborers in 1934. It is the only building left from a collection of service buildings constructed by the CCC between 1933-1935.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers completed the shelter house in 1934. The shelter is commonly known as "Tower Hill Shelter House." The shelter consists of 2 sandstone fireplaces and cooking surfaces. The structure is classified as parks rustic with craftsmen details.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) completed the trailside shelter in 1934. The walls, floors, foundation, and fireplace were constructed with stone. The structure is classified as parks rustic.

Marvel Park in Parsons, Kansas was improved by work undertaken by the Civil Works Administration (CWA). The Parsons Sun: "There is no doubt about what the project is doing for the city's park system. As this particular project nears completion it is evident that Marvel park is being made much more attractive because of it and of primary importance is the fact that this Improvement paves the way for the connecting of Marvel and Forest parks, a dream that has been In the minds of civic leaders for years. Some day, perhaps, the two parks will he joined into one,...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) put more than 100 men to work developing Mary E. Lee Park (sometimes called Lake Nasworthy Park) in San Angelo. Work included tree planting.

One of many county line historical markers placed in West Virginia at the Wetzel/Marshall County Line. The West Virginia historical marker program began in 1934 with the beginning research for the markers with the intention of placing markers around the state to encourage tourism. Dr. Roy Bird Cook, a Charleston druggist, a longtime commission member, and a vocational historian worked on the project. Approximately 5,000 sites were collected with 440 markers selected by the commission for placement. Most of these along 44 state and federal highways. The funds came from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Works Progress Administration. In addition to...

In North Attleborough, Mass., the WPA "built a fieldhouse at Mason Field."

Miami and the surrounding Dade County were effectively without city or county parks until the 1930s.  The city got its first park in 1925, after which the city was devastated by a hurricane the following year. The county received its first donation of land for a park in 1929, which became Matheson Hammock Park.  In 1930, the park system got its own director and a beach park, Surfside, was added in 1932. The county began improvements on the parks using mostly convict labor and men sent by the Charity Office once the Depression hit, as well as starting a Roadside...

Personal description of the park by project submitter John Walker: "The entire park including the coquina coral atoll pool, was manmade. My grandfather, Robert "Bob" C. Long was a CCC worker, and worked on the project and helped to build the atoll pool. He and many of the other CCC workers carved their initials and names in the coral they laid around the manmade coral atoll pool deck. It is a natural salt, sea water atoll pool. A hurricane damaged the pool, and in a hasty repair of the pool, many of the stones used that bore the initials of many...

NYC Parks states that this small park was acquired by the City in 1936-1938. It opened to the public on April 16, 1937. The press release announcing the opening explained: "the new playground has see-saws, swings, jungle gym, garden swings, slides, sand tables, play houses and game tables for chess, checkers and backgammon, and also benches and shade trees." The site was eventually renamed Mathews-Palmer Playground "after park and community advocates May Mathews and Alexandra Palmer." Although these sources do not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that almost all New York City Parks...

"In 1934, the United States Government bought Lake Mattamuskeet and created Mattamuskeet Migratory Bird Refuge. The purchase included all physical structures and improvements on the land, including the Pumping Station. The Mattamuskeet Drainage District ceased to exist and the lake soon refilled. Between 1935 and 1937, the government converted the Pumping Station into a hunting lodge and headquarters building for the new refuge. Company 424 of the Civilian Conservation Corps did much of the conversion work, with 17 to 23 year old 'CCC boys' working side by side with civilian contractors. The transformed building opened to the public in November...

Maurice Park, also known as the Frank Principe Park, was constructed by the Department of Parks and the WPA in 1940. The November 1940 press release announcing the opening of the new Park described the WPA's work in detail: "Every square foot has been well utilized in this intensively developed tract which was formerly the property of a privately owned Water Company. Acquired by the City in 1937 for unpaid taxes and assessments totaling $358,817.00, the property was placed under the jurisdiction of the Department of Water Supply. Because the pumping station was inactive the Park Department, in February 1939, succeeded...

Max Starcke Park is a 227 acre park located along the Guadalupe River. It is the main municipal park in Seguin. The land was a pecan orchard prior to the park's dedication in 1938. The park was designed by Robert H.H. Hugman and built by the Works Progress Administration and National Youth Administration in 1937 and 1938. It was named for Maximilian (Max) Hugo Starcke who served as an alderman in Seguin from 1909 to 1912 and as mayor from 1928 to 1938.

The town of Maydell "...developed on the rail line that ran between Rusk and Palestine, and in 1933 a forest conservation camp under the auspices of the Federal Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was established here. The camp was closed in 1937, but the benefits of its programs are still evident in the I. D. Fairchild State Forest, now a wildlife sanctuary."   (https://atlas.thc.state.tx.us)