Parks and Recreation Sites

A small town built for the purposes of housing the "clerks, engineers, draftsmen, technicians, and laborers building the Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project, the world’s largest tidal dam. The site was originally the George Rice farm, on the Old Toll Bridge Road and Route 190."   (https://penobscotmarinemuseum.org) "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Quoddy dam project began officially on July 4, 1935. It was estimated that 5,000 workers were needed for the project, and Eastport lacked housing. A model village, named Quoddy, was built three miles from the center of Eastport. It consisted of 128 single family, two-family, and four-family houses; three large...

A WPA project for $21,000 improvements at the Laurel Municipal Stadium included brick seats to accommodate 3,000, a brick stadium house, brick wall at the south end of the stadium, permanent parking space, brick walls, brick ticket booths and replacing wooden curbs with brick curbs. The facility remains in use.

"In the 1930s, the National Park Service created the Raccoon Creek National Recreation Demonstration Area. Men from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the recreation facilities of the park and did conservation work on park lands." "The National Park Service built five Recreation Demonstration Areas through CCC and WPA labor. Near big cities to provide open-air recreation for urban dwellers, the areas were Blue Knob, Hickory Run, French Creek, Laurel Hill and Raccoon Creek. In 1945, these parks were given to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and became state parks." The CCC Camp itself is now listed...

"The original Rainbow Beach was built in 1936 as a WPA project.  The current pool was built in 1970 and opened Memorial Day 1971."

The CCC did extensive work in the park, including building a hand-hewn log and stone footbridge, a comfort station, a picnic pavilion, trails, bridges, and several log structures.

A major upgrade of facilities at the Petrified Forest National Monument (now National Park) was undertaken by the New Deal in the 1930s.  The work was carried out from 1933 to 1940 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), under the direction of the National Park Service (NPS).  Some, if not all, was paid for by a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA). A new park headquarters and visitors' center had been built in 1931 at the South Entrance to the park, but lacked sufficient housing for rangers and staff.  New Deal aid brought the addition of 4 or 5 additional...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was very active in northern Michigan, planting trees, fighting fires and building recreation facilities in state parks.  There was a CCC camp at Higgins Lake.   The CCC built the Ralph A. MacMullan Conference Center next to North Higgins Lake State Park in 1939-42.  The conference center, which covers 32 acres on North Higgins Lake, had an earlier life as the Higgins Lake Conservation Training School, established in 1941.  The school was converted to a conference center in the 1990s. Several of the original buildings constructed by the CCC survive on the center's campus, but further verification...

Ralph Stover State Park in Bucks County, Pennsylvania is a popular destination in whitewater kayaking and rock climbing. "In 1931, the Stover heirs gave this property to the Commonwealth for use as a state park. Recreational facilities were opened in 1935 after development by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA)."   (https://www.delawareandlehigh.org)

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) beautified the grounds of what was then known as Jordan High School, now Ramsdell Middle School. "The redeveloped and newly landscaped grounds are on the Old Erie Canal site."

A 1938 report from the Los Angeles Department of Playground and Recreation describes the WPA's role in creating the Rancho Cienega recreation area: "Forerunner of the great regional recreation centers of the future, the Rancho Cienega Playground was the outstanding addition to the Los Angeles recreation system in 1938. The area comprises thirty acres in the southwest section of the city, along Exposition Boulevard near La Brea Avenue. It is the largest municipal playground devoted exclusively to sports and recreation within the city. The site was donated by Mrs. Anita M. Baldwin in response to a request made by the Los...

The Federal Writers' Project detailed a small CCC undertaking: State 38 crosses the South Branch of Rancocas Creek, water highway for nearly 200 years, now a favorite resort of canoeists. Tiny fir trees have been planted in cut-over tracts by CCC workers.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was charged with two rounds of improvement of the parks and recreational facilities in Washington DC.  A major program of parks improvement was undertaken in 1935-36 and a second, lesser round occurred in the early 1940s, when the WPA was under the Federal Works Administration (FWA). The approved works in the second round were tennis courts at Palisades Playground, Edgewood Playground, and Reservation "C" on the Mall; grading, filling, and constructing tennis courts at Turkey Thicket playground; excavating cinders from west parking area and surfacing east parking lot at Takoma Recreation Center; spreading topsoil on south...

Randall's Island Park cover more than 400 acres of the 500+ acre island.  It contains dozens of tennis courts, baseball diamonds, soccer fields, playgrounds and other recreational facilities, as well as paths, greenways and a marsh.  Frank da Cruz summarizes the extensive New Deal renovation and expansion of Randall's Island Park: "Randall's Island itself, which (with neighboring Ward's Island, now joined to it) lies in the East River between East Harlem, the South Bronx, and Astoria, Queens... Prior to the New Deal it housed institutions such as an orphanage, a poor house, a reform school, a potters field, a refuge for sick and/or...

"On June 19, 1936, the Parks Department announced the opening of the Randall's Island stadium, with tickets available for the final American Olympic men's track and field tryouts on July 11 and 12, reserved seats costing 75 cents, $1.00, and $2.00 (see press release); 15,000 tickets were sold. The first day of the Olympics tryouts was preceded by an opening ceremony presided over by Robert Moses and featuring Harry Hopkins, FDR's federal relief administrator, and Mayor La Guardia. Lest any doubt remain as to the stadium's WPA pedigree, Robert Moses states (in response to a reference to its "shoddy construction" in...

Wupatki National Monument was established in 1924, following decades of plunder of artifacts by American settlers.  Archaeological excavation and restoration of the main pueblo began in 1933.  In 1939-42, a contingent of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees (from Mt Elden camp at Flagstaff) began development of the monument for public use, building trails, a ranger residence, a utility building, and water supply system. (NNDPA 2012) The ranger residence is located on hill above the current visitor center (it replaced a prior residence inside the main pueblo ruins).  It is an elegant stone building in mid-20th century modern style. The CCC utility...

A major upgrade of facilities at the Petrified Forest National Monument (now National Park) was undertaken by the New Deal in the 1930s.  The work was carried out in 1936--40 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), under the direction of the National Park Service (NPS), with a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA). The most notable achievement was construction of the Painted Desert Inn in the northern portion of the park (above Route 66, now Interstate 40).  Across Petrified Forest Road from the inn are two residences built for the park staff at the same time. Both were done in...

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees from the Mt. Elden Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp near Flagstaff worked at Walnut Canyon National Monument from 1938 to 1942.  As part of the work, the CCC men built several residences for park rangers in wood and stone.  The residence compound is situated off to the side on Ranger Cabin Road, just west of the park entrance. The cross street in the residence area is called "CCC Road". The residences are still in use and do not appear to have been altered significantly. The area is off-limits to visitors.

The Pixley Enterprise reported in 1938 that a Ranger Station had been built in Fountain Springs, at the head of the road to California Hot Springs. The building was made of adobe brick in old California Ranch style. It was a joint project of the Civilian Conservation Corps CCC), National Youth Administration (NYA) and state workers. We have not been able to locate this building and presume that it has disappeared.

The Union Creek Historic District on the upper Rogue River in Union Creek, Oregon, is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places because it is a fine representative of a type of rustic resort popular in the early 20th century and has been little altered since the 1930s.   There are almost one hundred buildings and other facilities in the Union Creek Historic District, almost all of which conform to the Forest Service plans of the 1920s and 30s.  Roughly a third were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) from 1933 to 1942. CCC enrollees worked during summer...

A one-story Rustic building was originally constructed for residence at the Choctaw Lake Recreation Area. MDAH conjectures the agency as the Civilian Conservation Corps; Sanders defined the construction as by the WPA through the Soil Conservation Project, along with other buildings when the lake and recreation area were constructed. From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History: "This recreation area was developed between 1936 and 1938 by the WPA for the Soil Conservation Service. The property was later conveyed to the US Forest Service, USDA. It originally contained a dance pavilion, a lodge, a bath house, and cabins, but these structures...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) and National Y0uth Administration (NYA) aided  in the development of Rankin Park, a 42 acre park in the hills to the west of Martinez.  The city purchased the land for $12,000 in 1938 and New Deal relief workers went right to work, helping city crews and Boy Scouts develop the park for public access and use. The work teams cleared brush, planted trees, built roads, laid out trails, and created picnic areas with stone picnic stoves, as well as adding a ball field, a playground and sanitary facilities. (Contra Costa Times, May 28, 1939) More information is needed...

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." Rappaport Playground is the third site described.

"The Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area, built in 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, surrounds a 45- acre lake. The lake was once a log pond and source of water for the Central Coal and Coke Company Sawmill which logged the area from 1902 to 1920. The area offers recreation visitors camping, picnicking, a swimming beach and bathhouse, concession stand, an amphitheater, an interpretive forest trail, showers, boating and fishing in a beautiful forest setting featured in regional magazines" (fs.usda.gov).

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) operated Camp NP-1-N from 1938 to 1942 at Rattlesnake Springs—now the Rattlesnake Springs Historic District—in Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The group conducted substantial work at the site. Bob Hoff's Carlsbad Caverns History Blog: At Rattlesnake Springs, the CCC enrollees built a ranger residence still in use today. They also constructed a service road and a water diversion ditch and constructed masonry work to line the Rattlesnake Springs pond. While National Park Service Landscape Architect Harvey Cornell provided the plans for the CCC camp layout in 1938 it is not clear to what extent CCC enrollees constructed the...

"In 1934, Ravenswood Manor Park became part of the newly-formed Chicago Park District. Using federal relief funds, the park district rehabilitated the park's landscape, planting hundreds of shrubs and an impressive perennial garden."

"Ravine Gardens State Park is a 59-acre (240,000 m2) Florida State Park located in Palatka, Florida. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The park was constructed by the Works Progress Administration, with cypress buildings, rock gardens and fieldstone terraces. Near the park entrance is The Court of States and a 64-foot (20 m) obelisk dedicated to Franklin D. Roosevelt."

According to the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites (2009 edition), the history of Rawlins Park dates back to about 1872, when Congress authorized $10,000 for a statue of Union General John Rawlins.   From 1935 to 1938, Rawlins Park was redesigned and renovated by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).  This work included a reflecting pool and new landscaping, and probably more.  (There are two reflecting pools at the park today). A recent walking tour guide to New Deal Washington reports that Rawlins Park “is typical of Works Progress Administration projects that rehabilitated parks throughout the U.S.” (NEA, 2009) A Historic American...

Two steel-reinforced concrete stadium bleachers facing each other are set in a man-made slope. The bleachers are supported at the rear by concrete columns attached with segmental arches.

This WPA athletic field was originally built for Herington High School, now Herington Elementary School. "Rising from a concrete slab the field house building has random-range, quarry-faced ashlar limestone walls and a composition shingle roof. The end gables are parapeted above the rooflines. The entrance passage from Hawley Street to the field is marked by parapeted pointed arches on both sides of the building. Small 3-light metal windows with cast stone sills are placed high on the exterior walls and tucked directly below the eave line. The passage ceiling is beadboard... A handful of windows and doors have been sympathetically in-filled with...

The Raymond M. O'Connor Park and the Kennedy Playground within it were developed with federal relief funds in the 1930s. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed work on the park in 1935. The NYC Parks site explains that the park "was established as part of the massive expansion of recreational facilities, largely through Federal emergency relief funding, which took place in the 1930s under Parks Commissioner Robert Moses. In 1931 the city purchased property in the Bayside neighborhood of Queens for $95,000 to create a public playground and thoroughfare... the land was landscaped with lawns, shade trees and sidewalks by...

In 1936, the Washington Post reported that Works Progress Administration (WPA)  crews had done unspecified work at the Raymond Recreation Center, which was likely constructing the playground. This work was part of a  nearly $1 million WPA program of park and playground improvements in 1935-36. In 2013, the playground was renovated again; the image shows this construction underway.

Montana's Big Timber Pioneer newspaper reported in early 1937 that several National Youth Administration (NYA) recreation projects had recently been completed around Butte:  "winter sports area at Robbers' Roost, four tennis courts which will be ready for use the next spring, 44 regulation horseshoe courts and three playground areas."

A WPA press release from Jan. 1938 reported: "Bayview, Skargit County, will have a new recreation building and the grounds improved with a WPA grant of $6,935." The exact location and status of the project is unknown to Living New Deal.

A Rustic Style building with walls of vertical logs is conjectured to have been constructed by the Emergency Relief Administration. Similarly styled log buildings were documented as constructed in other areas in Mississppi.

Big Timber's Pioneer newspaper reported: "WPA approval received here makes possible this winter of an outstanding log recreation center for the isolated Keystone community. Five unemployed men will clear the building site immediately."

The WPA built this recreation center and auditorium in a city park on the shore of Lake Coeur D'Alene. The building is still in use today.

Graded and constructed 4 tennis courts 150 feet x 240 feet, convenience station and concrete retaining walls. Form a sand lot, it is now a community asset for the Richmond District.--Healy, p. 63. This park is now known as the Margaret O. Dupont Park.

The Works Progress Administration built the Recreation Center Grandstand in Ocala FL.

Montpelier's Recreation Field was developed as a New Deal project in 1938-9. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $45,000 grant for the project, whose total cost was listed as $100,052. PWA Docket No. Vt. 1088-F. The facility was described in Annual Reports of the City of Montpelier. The 1939 report , detailed the park development's progress at that date: The Recreational Field ... is located on the Worcester Branch road, 1 2/5 miles from the corner of Main and State Street. The project consists of a Swimming Pool approximately 350 feet long, 150 feet wide and about 11 1/2 feet deep in the...

The primary baseball field at Montpelier Recreation Field was built in 1939. Frequently mis-attributed to the Work Projects Administration (WPA), the facility was part of a larger park project undertaken with Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The stadium was home to the New England Collegiate Baseball League, and since 2003 it has been the home field of the Mountaineers. The field has a 1,200-seat capacity grandstand. While the baseball facility itself has been referred to as "Recreation Field," this was just one part of the greater park project—which included a pool, bath house, and football field—that the City of Montpelier originally referred to as Recreation Field. Description, from the city annual report...