Parks and Recreation Sites

"Zoo Lake was originally known as Northeast Lake. It is located in the northeast quadrant of Oklahoma City, on Grand Avenue, east of Martin Luther King Blvd. This is a 68-acre lake which is a mecca for bird watchers and fisherman... The lake and the dam were constructed by the WPA in the 1930s. The dam is located on the north side of the lake, and the coordinates shown above are from the dam. A rock spillway is located just south of the dam. In the 1940s, the lake was used for swimming, and folks would come from all over the...

The Works Progress Administration built a swimming center for Northwestern State University. Northwestern State University closed the Nesom Natatorium in May of 2012.

The Montana newspaper Big Timber Pioneer reported in early 1937 that "Eighteen miles from Livingston on the road to Gardiner NYA workers have transformed a wooded area into a five-acre camping spot. Rustic tables and benches were built and placed in the area, channels were dug to change the course of the creek and make water available for irrigation of grass plots at the picnic sites. Two springs were developed and 300 yards from the camp a woodland swimming pool. 50 by 120 yards, with an average depth of four feet, has been built."

Montana's Big Timber Pioneer newspaper discussed recent accomplishments of the National Youth Administration in Montana. Among the projects discussed: "In the center of Deer Lodge a skating rink has been provided and will be maintained by the NYA."

Montana's Big Timber Pioneer newspaper discussed recent accomplishments of the National Youth Administration in Montana, among which: "Two skating rinks have been provided in Anaconda. The project was sponsored by the city. The NYA also has taken over the ski slide, reconditioned it and put it in shape for use."

This WPA relief map of the NYC Water Supply System is now on display in the Queens Museum of Art. The information plaque displayed with the map reads: "For the 1939 World's Fair, city agencies were invited to produce exhibits for the New York City Pavilion (now the Queens Museum of Art). The Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity (a New York City Department of Environmental Protection predecessor agency) commissioned the Cartographic Survey Force of the Works Progress Administration to create the magnificent relief map of the New York City water supply system and watershed that you see in this...

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) laborers completed a barn in 1935. The barn is located in a clearing, surrounded by 60-year-old forest.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) laborers completed the custodian's cottage in 1936. The building is classified as parks rustic. Today the custodian's cottage is the property manger's residence.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed fire towers on steel frameworks to help protect the new plantings and existing forests. The fire tower at O'Bannon State Park was completed in 1937 by CCC laborers. The steel tower replaced a temporary, 55' wooden tower. The fire tower stands around 100' tall with 9 flights of stairs within the tower.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) laborers constructed a service building in 1935. The building is a series of connected sheds extended in a L shape. Today the service building is used as the park's office.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) laborers completed the shelter house in 1935. The structure is classified as parks rustic.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) laborers completed the shelter house that overlooks the Ohio River. The shelter is classified as parks rustic.

The campsite is marked primarily by low stone walls and scattered foundations. The camp was occupied in December of 1934 by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Co. 517, which was comprised of young African-American boys. Upon completion of their work, the camp was discontinued in the fall of 1937 and Co. 517 moved on to another location.

CCC and WPA crews constructed this football stadium for the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City. From the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Quarterly: "With the help of Works Project Administration (WPA) laborers and a $50,000 WPA grant, development continued from 1932 through 1936.* The Alumni Association raised the remaining funds to finish the field by contacting the school's 750 alumni through meetings held in 26 alumni regions around the country. With the successful fundraising drive, the $132,000 O'Harra Memorial Stadium was dedicated on September 16, 1938. Black Hills businesses and government agencies also provided valuable...

"One of Florida's first state parks, O'Leno was first developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. The suspension bridge built by the CCC still spans the river. Visitors can picnic at one of the pavilions or fish in the river for their dinner." (www.floridastateparks.org)

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor remodeled and rebuilt O'Neil Park in Quincy.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a field house at O'Rourke Field in Quincy, Mass. Quincy's Historical and Architectural Survey writes: "Other projects elsewhere in the City included ... the field house at O'Rourke Playground ..." The building is still in use today, though likely as a storage facility. Local sources visiting in 2014 state: "the cement stairs leading up to the field house doors exhibit major cracks ... due to the field house's foundation settling over the years as it is located in a low lying area right near Furnace Brook."

WPA project description: "Improvement of the grounds surrounding this Martha's Vineyard community's new school provides a proper setting for the new structure completed recently by WPA workmen. After carefully grading a little more than an acre around the school WPA men set out twelve fir trees which provide a pleasant frame for the new building." The location and status of these facilities is presently unknown to Living New Deal.

This fire lookout tower was constructed as a New Deal project in 1941, potentially by the CCC. It is in reasonably good condition though it is no longer in use and the initial stair has been removed for safety reasons.

Crews from the nearby Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp in Leeds, UT, built the road to Oak Grove and completed the Oak Grove Campground sometime between 1933 and 1942. The campground featured a tennis court, wading pool, and playground.

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.

"Oak Lodge is a historic recreational complex in Chatfield Hollow State Park in Killingworth, Connecticut. that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The main building is a large Rustic-style structure built in 1937 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The lodge was built on the west side of Schreeder Pond, an artificial pond also built by the CCC. It was part of the development of recreational activities within Cockaponset State Forest. The CCC benefited from the construction excellence of its masons, wrought-iron smiths, and woodworkers, and some of their best work is shown in Oak Lodge....

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed comfort stations (restrooms)  and, Living New Deal believes, picnic areas in Oakdale Park. According to a Salina Parks and Recreation Master Plan Overview, the city is looking to replace the comfort stations, as the "current 1930's WPA restrooms are not ADA, and are deteriorating."

The Works Progress Administration built the Oakes Field in South Charleston in 1939. The western edge of the stadium shares a common boundary with the former US Naval Ordinance plant. The field has an entrance to residential areas at 4th Avenue on the east center field and to the south through a stone wall with a gatehouse. Along the southeastern border is the Oakes Field House (1939 PWA). The stadium surrounds a football field with a track and has a drive-in entrance from 4th Avenue. To the south, a gate with long concrete ramp provides a walking entrance through the 12 foot,...

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Oakes Field House (former Recreation Building) in South Charleston in 1939. The Recreation Building, as it was called in 1939, is a two-story brick building with gable and seven bays facing 3rd street. The central three bays have arched doorways evocative of Palladian windows. The building is about 72 feet wide and 115 feet long with a small one-story raised brick structure extending towards the Oakes Field. An addition (possibly original, date is unknown) of approximately 12 x 22 feet is on the northwest corner. There are ten large two-story windows running along the...

The federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) constructed a gymnasium at the old high school for the Oakhurst school district in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (now within the city limits of Charlotte). The structure, whose exact location is unknown to Living New Deal, no longer exists. "The Long Creek High School Gymnasium was one of eight facilities of its general type constructed in Mecklenburg County under the arrangements outlined above, the others being at the high schools then in the local school districts of Huntersville, Paw Creek, Pineville, Sharon, Oakhurst, Berryhill, and Bain. Only the Long Creek Gymnasium survives from this initial...

The public golf course in Oakland, Maryland is one of 254 new golf courses created by the WPA during the Great Depression (they reconstructed or improved 378 others). According to the Golf Club at Oakland: “On January 7, 1937, over 100 Oakland citizens petitioned Mayor Lawrence M. Fraley and the Town Council to build a golf course. In support of the course were F. D. Bittle, Ralph Towler, and local Works Progress Administration (WPA) chief, Henry Tarring, Jr….On March 15, 1937, federal funding was approved from President Roosevelt’s ‘WPA’ and design of the new golf course began…The original design was a par 34,...

Originally formed as the result of glacial action during the Ice Age 15,000 years ago, Oakland Lake is a kettle lake, part of the Alley Pond Park system in northeast Queens. It is surrounded by glacial boulders and is fed by underground springs and a ravine that flows into the lake from the south. The lake served several purposes until it was transferred to New York City's Parks Department in 1934. The Parks Department notes: "In the 1930s, Works Project Administration (WPA) workers lined the brook feeding Oakland Lake with blocks, and later, the brook and a small pond leading into the...

The WPA constructed a large stone terrace as well as undertaking numerous other improvements at Oakland Lake Park in 1937-38. The Fort Worth Park Department's 1937-38 Annual Report elaborates: "A WPA project is working in this park at the present time. This project is for the complete development of this area, and includes the construction of a stone terrace overlook above the lake; concrete steps and walks leading down to the lake; extension of water lines; establishment of new tennis courts complete; opening new picnic areas; construction of standard baseball diamonds; erection of a floating, casting dock in the lake adjacent...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to the Oakland city zoo in 1935-36 when it was located in Sequoia Park (now Joaquin Miller Park). In 1939, the zoo relocated to its present site in Durant Park in the East Oakland hills. WPA project cards show the approval of  $4,791 toward "Enlargement of elephant paddock in Sequoia Park; clearing out young Acacia growth in Park" in 1935  and $17,940 for "Landscaping - Sequoia and Heights Parks - Oakland, etc." in 1936 The WPA also built the Woodminster Amphitheater and Cascade in Joaquin Miller Park later in the 1930s.

"The construction of Oakley High School Stadium in 1938 was financed through the New Deal-era Works Progress Administration (WPA) and has hosted football games and track meets since its completion in 1939. Lewis Mershon was the lead builder and used a team of unskilled WPA laborers made up of financially struggling local farmers. The limestone and concrete stadium faces a standard 100-yard football field with natural grass surface encircled by a 400-meter track and includes two locker rooms, restrooms, a tornado shelter, and outdoor bleacher seating. It exhibits symmetry, vertical and horizontal lines, and rounded features, all of which gives...

The federal Work Projects Administration worked to improve Ocean Beach and many of its attendant facilities during the 1930s. One project called for the reconstruction of "life guard stations, comfort stations, locker rooms, restaurants, and fences."

(10.28 Acres) Plymouth Avenue and Lobos Street. Graded 6,000 cubic yards, built concrete and rubble walls and paths, gutters, tennis courts, water system, landscaped 9 acres. A large convenience station was built which is to become a part of a club house that is planned for the future.--Healy, p. 64.

The original bandshell was built by the WPA, though it was dismantled in the 1940s and rebuilt in the 1950s.

The WPA built this stadium on the beach in Oceanside, CA.

Numerous New Deal agencies had a tremendous impact on the development of Ocmulgee National Monument, the site of pre-Columbian southeastern settlement dating back millennia. "The largest dig ever conducted in this country occurred here at Ocmulgee and the surrounding area. Between 1933 and 1936, over 800 men in Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration (WPA), Civil Works Administration (CWA), Federal Emergency Relief Administration (ERA & FERA) and later the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) excavated under the direction of Dr. Arthur R. Kelly from the Smithsonian Institute. Kelly was the only archaeologist at the Ocmulgee camp and conducted evening training courses for the men....

The CCC worked to restore Earthlodge at Ocmulgee National Monument. NPS.gov: "At the Earthlodge, enrollees puddled clay in large pits, mixed in straw, and then applied the mixture to the inner concrete wall to simulate the Indian architecture. The public was admitted to this historic structure on November 11, 1937 after the CCC 'boys' completed the steel walkway and installed electric lights."

CCC work at Ocmulgee National Monument included: "preparing trails, including a bridge between the museum and Earthlodge that has become a local landmark." While the wood surface of the bridge has been replaced, the stone base supports are original.

The striking Art Moderne visitor center at Ocmulgee National Monument has New Deal roots, featuring involvement by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The National Park Service (NPS) website has this to say about the visitor center: "Designed by NPS Architect James T. Swanson, the building is an excellent example of the (Art Moderne) style, which grew out of the more well-known Art Deco, and was popular in the 1930s. The style is characterized by smooth surfaces, curving corners and a horizontal effect. The building is a showplace of the Art Moderne style with smooth concrete surfaces,...

"Oconee State Park is a state park located in the Blue Ridge Mountain region of South Carolina. This 1,165 acres (4.7 km2) park has several recreational opportunities to choose from. They include cabins, camping, fishing and boating in the two small lakes located on the park grounds, hiking on eight nature/hiking trails, and several picnic and meeting facilities... Oconee State Park was created by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. This park was created during the Great Depression when Franklin D. Roosevelt put men to work in civilian works projects. Some of the park buildings existing today were made by...