Parks and Recreation Sites

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed a bath house at Phillips Pond in Voluntown, Connecticut. The exact location and status of the facility are presently unknown to Living New Deal.

Two stone arch bridges were built by the Works Progress Administration in Phillipsburg City Park. One is a pedestrian bridge and the other bridge is used for automotive traffic. Built in 1936, these historic stone stone bridges are located on U.S. Hwy 36.

"ith federal WPA funds in 1935, a tennis court and shuffle board facilities were erected" at Phoenix Park in Delavan.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted millions of dollars (not even adjusted for inflation) of improvement and development work at the Picatinny Arsenal and a sub-installation, the Lake Denmark Naval Ammunition Depot, in New Jersey. Work involved the construction and improvement of storage facilities and various utilities. One WPA project description: Repair and rehabilitate buildings, utilities, equipment, water supply, and purification, water and sewer lines, transportation facilities, and airport, improve plumbing, heating, and electrical installations, landscape, grade, and drain grounds, also includes the construction of storage buildings officers quarters extension to storage buildings, officers quarters, extension to carpenter shop, change houses,...

"Pickett State Park is a Tennessee state park in the upper Cumberland Mountains. It is located in Pickett County, northeast of the city of Jamestown, and is adjacent to the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. The park is located on 19,200 acres (78 km2) of wilderness including caves, natural bridges, and other rock formations. About 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) are managed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation as a state park, and the remainder of the property is managed by the Tennessee Division of Forestry as a state forest. The park was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps...

"Pickwick Landing Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Hardin County, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The dam is one of nine dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the 1930s as part of a New Deal-era initiative to create a continuous navigation channel between the river's mouth and Knoxville, and bring economic development to the area. The dam impounds the 43,100-acre (17,400 ha) Pickwick Lake and its tailwaters are part of Kentucky Lake." (Wikipedia)

Between 1938 and 1940 the WPA constructed 19 concrete and stone picnic tables, benches, and fire pits in Brackenridge Park. They are nestled among the trees along Tuleta Drive, just south of the Joske Pavilion. The concrete pads and stone water fountains were added at a later date.

Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor constructed a picnic pavilion in Greenville, Pennsylvania's Riverside Park in 1938. The exact coordinates octagonal structure within the park are unknown to Living New Deal. According to the Record-Argus the Greenville Motor Club supplied the materials used to build the pavilion and a plaque on the pavilion credits the club.  

The stone picnic shelter was constructed during the 1930s (after 1934 when the park was planned for development) by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The city of Roanoke hired landscape architect A. A. Farnham to develop a plan for the park, including the stone picnic shelter.

"A ca. 1938 picnic shelter at Tomlinson Run State Park is another fine example... Built by the CCC, it is a long, one-story, side-gabled building with massive, cut sandstone chimneys on each end elevation. The overall exterior dimensions are 70 feet by 22 feet 3 inches. The façade also is clad with cut sandstone, while horizontal board siding clads the gable ends. The central section of the picnic shelter is open and has large, square columns with oversized, slightly scrolled brackets. The structural framing consists of hand-hewn roof trusses held together with iron strapping and wood pegs. The interior of...

Built by the Works Progress Administration as a picnic shelter in 1937, still used for that purpose.

Pico Park baseball field in Pacific Grove, California, was built in the early 1930s with a combination of private funds and New Deal relief labor -- from either the Works Progress Administration (WPA) or possibly the Civil Works Administration (CWA). It is still in use today and in good condition. The stands and scoreboard appear to be original and there is a lovely line of cypresses along the outfield fence that look about the right age to have been planted during the 1930s.   Behind the stands is a parking lot and a couple low wooden buildings that look to be of...

Formerly known as 'The Indian Caves' or 'The Indian Ghost Caves' around Billings, MT, this pre-historic site has become one of the most visited state parks in Montana. Artifacts dating back several thousand years were found here in 1937. A professional excavation was overseen by William Mulloy and Larry Loendorf with work performed by the Works Progress Administration workers. Over 30,000 artifacts were recovered, but many of them lost as the site was abandoned by the WPA in 1941. Pictographs are what the site is known for today; of the 106 originally recorded images, about 10-20 are visible today. The...

This auditorium and gymnasium space was added to the backside of the Piedmont Elementary School by the Works Progress Administration. It features extensive native rock work, similar to that of the Carter County Courthouse in nearby Van Buren.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to develop Atlanta's Piedmont Park ca. 1936.

"The Peirce Island Outdoor Pool in Portsmouth, New Hampshire (population 21,000), is a Great Depression–era municipal facility that has served several generations during its 69-year history. The pool’s unique location, storied past, and status as a beloved recreational asset make it distinctive. The pool sits on a 27-acre municipally-owned island adjacent to Portsmouth’s downtown. Purchased in 1923 for $11,000, Peirce Island is a popular recreation asset that also offers a boat launch, a network of walking trails, shore access for fishing, a playground, a sand volleyball court, and picnic areas. Built in 1937 by the federal Works Progress Administration, the pool...

Pierce Memorial Field was constructed as a federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) project during the Great Depression. "The site of the athletic field was an abandoned gravel pit ... had gradually been developing into a public dump, ... taking the honor of perhaps the biggest eyesore in East Providence." After acquiring the land the town council "received the approval of the W.P.A. to construct a football field." The total cost of the project was then $300,000.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Co. 541 completed the 1 1/2 story barn in 1936. The Civilian Conservation Corps built a barn in the Pike State Forest in Indiana. “This attractive barn with Craftsman features is near the Pike State Forest headquarters building and constructed about the same time, in 1936. An identical one was built at Ferdinand State Forest, in the next county east.”

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) laborers completed the custodian's cottage in 1936. The building is currently used as the property manager's residence.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed fire towers on steel frameworks to help protect the new plantings and existing forests. The steel fire tower at Pike State Forest was completed in in 1935. The tower stands about 110' tall and has 9 flights of wooden steps.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Co. 541 completed the service building in 1936. The service building is one and a half stories tall with four garage bays.

Administration (WPA) completed the shelter house in 1940. The structure is classified as parks rustic.

"Four recently remodeled stone and timber cabins are nestled along the Iowa River. Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress administration in the 1930s, these cabins have fireplaces to take the chill off a cool fall day. 'Pine Creek' and 'Bittersweet' cabins accommodate up to 6 people, 'Goldfinch' and 'Sandstone' up to four. 'Pine Creek' is accessible to the mobility-impaired. Each cabin features a shower, restroom, stove, and refrigerator. Cabin users must provide their own dishes, eating utensils, bedding, towels and other camping items. The cabins can be reserved online through the park reservation system." -Iowa Department...

"Pine Mountain State Resort Park is a park located in Bell County, Kentucky, United States. The park opened in 1924 as Kentucky's first state park. Each spring, the park hosts the annual Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival, as it has since the festival's inception in 1931. When Pine Mountain State Resort Park was established in 1926, it was named Cumberland State Park. But the name was changed in 1938 in order to avoid confusion with the newly formed Cumberland Falls State Resort Park. During the park's early years, there was little development. Then in 1933 the Civilian Conservation Corps began constructing the...

The beautiful Pinecrest Municipal Golf Course in Idaho Falls, Idaho was constructed as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in 1936-37. The clubhouse at Pinecrest, completed in 1937, is intact. It was built in a classic park rustic style much in favor in the first half of the 20th century, with stone pillars, log walls and wooden interior. There is a WPA plaque on the exterior wall of the clubhouse by the entrance.

The CCC built the Pinehurst Work Center, located in the Giant Sequoia National Monument. The USDA Forest Service "Horseshoe Meadow Crew" is currently stationed there.

The federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) constructed a gymnasium at the old high school in Pineville, North Carolina. 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 round of construction." (cmhpf.org)

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to develop West Virginia's Pinnacle Rocks State Park during the 1930s.

"The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established a camp in 1933 and had a presence until 1942. During that time they paved roads, did trail restoration, and created a dam. The men who worked for the CCC also started guiding visitors through the caves." CCC work in the park also included the extensive collection of buildings and walls pictured here. They are near the east entrance to the Pinnacles National Monument, redesigned Pinnacles National Park in 2013, and were built using a rock found only in the Pinnacles: green pumice lapilli tuff.

On September 30, 1941, Parks announced the opening of a new playground behind Public School 119 to be shared by the Department of Parks and the Board of Education. The press release explained that the playground was divided in two sections. In the south section, "A central free play area is flanked by three combination volleyball Legend basketball courts with removable goal posts, and a string, three shuffleboard courts and four paddle tennis courts. This entire section may be used for roller skating and flooded for ice skating." The north section contained benches and trees, a brick comfort station, a...

Pioneer Park, located at 421 Nimrod Street, Nevada City, is a city-owned community park constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The Pioneer Park Historic District, a National Register eligible park, is set in a designed landscape that is tiered on a north-south axis by masonry stone retaining walls centered around a community swimming pool. Ornamental trees are planted throughout the landscape, and has a riparian natural vegetation, which follows Little Deer Creek with reinforced stonewalls.. The landscape elements create "rooms" for various uses from recreational sports, commemorative memorials, and historic sites. Of the 40 resources in the park, there...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed Valley City's Pioneer Park. In 1937 the WPA completed a stone amphitheater as well as four fieldstone cairns to mark the entrance to the park.

The WPA built an adobe wall around Calvary Cemetery in Mission Hills, the oldest civilian cemetery in San Diego. The cemetery is now park of Pioneer Park.

"The same year the WPA crew worked on the tennis courts, they dug three lily ponds along the creek through Pioneer Park. The beautification project cost $3,537, with the city picking up just $137 of the total cost. ...  While the lily ponds have vanished, other New Deal projects remain in daily use."

"At Pioneer Park, a Works Progress Administration crew created tennis courts north of the wading pool in 1935."

“When the Pipestone National Monument was established in 1937 as part of the National Park Service to protect quarries sacred to many Native American groups, the site already had picnic tables and a shelter built by the CCC-ID. In 1939, an educational program on maple sugar production was held at the Nay-tah-waush and Beaulieu (Consolidated Chippewa) sites. Through it, program leaders taught sugar bush improvement and modern maple sugar production.”

The federal Works Progress Administration undertook a $93,900 project starting in 1935 to modernize and otherwise improve several public (now-former) bath facilities in Brooklyn, NY. The public baths at 1752 Pitkin Ave. were constructed in 1903; the baths closed in 1949 and the building is privately owned. The facilities identified as part of the WPA project were: 209 Wilson Ave. Municipal Baths, Coney Island Duffield Street Hicks Street Pitkin Ave. Huron St. Montrose Ave.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the following: Playing field, north and south seating. Former Pittsburg High School is currently (2014) Pittsburg Middle School.

The CCC worked to develop Pittsfield State Forest during the 1930s. From BerkshireWeb.com: "In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) planted large tracts of spruce and red pine on the former grazing land. They also constructed roads, dams, and buildings. The land, which had remained in private ownership, was then sold to the state. Many of the forest's present buildings date from the CCC era, including the ski lodge with its enormous stone fireplace." From the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs: "The renovation of this administration building is a victory in the effort to preserve the rustic CCC...

In 1940, CCC 'boys' from the Boonville Civilian Conservation Corps camp S-122 built the facilities at Pixley Falls State Park on Route 46 south of Boonville NY.  According to Podskach: "They made clearings for campsites and created a wading pool with a stone masonry dam on the stream. The next summer the boys built a 25-ft reinforced concrete bridge and the park project was completed."  Podskach also includes a photo (see below) of a picnic shelter presumably built by the CCC boys. The original picnic shelter is still prominent and there are picnic tables but no designated campsites.  A path down to...