Parks and Recreation Sites

Between 1935 and 1939, WPA crews conducted historic restoration and renovation work at this site, Casa-Torre de Ponce de León, built in 1521 for the notoriously brutal conquistador who died before ever occupying the residence. It is better known as Casa Blanca, or "White House." WPA work included roof repairs, installation of lighting, and creation of a garden. It now houses a museum with information about early colonial life on the island.  

WPA crews conducted extensive renovation and restoration work at this 18th century Spanish fort, including repair of the fortress walls, and cleaning, repairing, and lighting tunnels under the fortress, in order to facilitate tourism.  

Between 1935 and 1939, WPA crews conducted extensive historic restoration and renovation work, including restoration of the fortress walls, at this site, a 16th century fort later used as a military site during WWII.

Memorial Park was first established in the 1920s. During the 1930s, the WPA worked on projects throughout the park. A 1939 publication on the WPA describes the WPAs involvement in the park as follows: "Memorial Park - reached over fine, modern highways that have been reconditioned and widened by WPA workers - offers the out-doors lover trails that wind through venerable redwoods and touch the tumbling waters of Pescadero Creek, barbecue pits, picnic tables made of native wood, horseshoe pitching courts, a swimming pool and beach, and many delightful camping areas."   A dam constructed by the WPA in 1938 was demolished in...

The New Deal Civilian Conservation Corps camp was located just below San Pablo Reservoir. CCC laborers living at the camp did work to support water infrastructure improvements for the East San Francisco Bay area. In addition to dam-building, workers at the San Pablo Dam camp planted trees and built fire roads for the new San Pablo check dam and reservoir area. The San Pablo Dam camp was also one of the CCC's African-American camps. In the agency's early years, federal work crews were intentionally integrated communities, with stipulations that each unit enroll African-Americans at a rate proportional to their representation in the...

This CCC built observation point is located along the southern side of the reservoir, about half-way down, and just opposite the outfall tower (the only such structure on the lake). The point includes a rock wall and stairway that was originally intended as a stopping place for motorists to get good views of the lake. It was built in March of 1935 and is now on land that is publicly accessible. The toilet and other CCC structures are no longer functioning, however there is an effort underway to get the CCC sites on the lake officially recognized by EBMUD, as well...

Along with a temporary camp, the CCC built service roads, a new entrance road, an entrance gate, staff residence, and campgrounds and day-use picnic facilities.

" The Sanchez CCC campsite was established in 1935 to protect and preserve the natural resources of the Upper Gila River Valley. The area had been chosen as a national demonstration site by the Soil Conservation Service to stop the dramatic loss of soils and grasslands. During its two-year existence the camp housed 150 young men who built earthen check dams, lines of rocks spreaders, and contour furrows on federal and state lands. Of the original buildings on the site, portions of five still stand. The SCS administration building and the garage/blacksmith shop were constructed with poured concrete forms and...

Mcall.com article: Union Terrace, Jordan Park, Fountain Park and the Lehigh Parkway in Allentown and Saucon Park, Monocacy Park and Franklin Park at Sand Island in Bethlehem were built under WPA and its precursor ...   "Probably it would have taken 50 years of slow progress to accomplish what has been done under WPA in two years," Robert J. Wheeler, then-secretary to the Allentown Planning Commission, told The Morning Call in 1937.

From the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation: Before 1935 York Lake did not exist. It is man-made. It was created out of a swampy wetland, built as part of the New Deal’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a U.S. Federal Government conservation program. The CCC improved the nation’s natural and human resources and created opportunities for the public to recreate and appreciate a healthy outdoor experience. From 1933-37 the 196 Company CCC, whose nearby camp site off Route 183 just south of here, once supplied 200 men a season to work in the state forest. Formerly unemployed men then earned a dollar-a-day,...

In St. Croix, the Civilian Conservation Corps worked on the development of Federally owned land at Sandy Point. The 1938 Annual Report of the Governor of the Virgin Islands mentions that the land "is being cleared of brush and planted in coconuts, and which is now extensively used as a recreational center by residents of the western part of the island.”  

The Bowl was built in 1936 and was originally intended to serve as an annual performance venue for Fiesta, and now serves as a general performing arts venue for Santa Barbara.

WPA workers were engaged in "landscaping, building equestrian trails and installing sprinkler systems in Santa Cruz parks."

"Seventy-five years ago, Democrats controlling the White House and in Congress launched a series of public-works programs unprecedented in U.S. history. ... No state benefited more from these government-funded programs than New Mexico whose Democratic governor, Clyde Tingley, was a political supporter and friend of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. ... The Santa Fe River Park includes flagstone walkways, a stone-lined acequia channel, picnic tables, limestone-block walls lining the banks and thousands of trees. The park was developed in several phases, at undetermined costs, by the Civilian Conservation Corps between 1935 and 1940. David Kammer, an Albuquerque historian, said Stephen DeBoer, a landscape architect...

The colossal Santee Cooper Project in South Carolina was enabled by a $31 million grant-loan by the Public Works Administration (PWA), "the most expensive PWA project on the East Coast." A state law enabling the project was passed years before work was able to begin thanks to court challenges. The dams, lakes, and electricity created by the project have had immense positive long-term impacts on the state. The project entailed the clearing of 160,000 acres of land using manual labor, mostly utilizing Work Projects Administration (WPA) labor; constructing a dam to impound Lake Marion; constructing a power station and a dam...

In July 1939, work began on construction of the Santiam Pass Ski Lodge, using a design developed by Wesley "Buzz" Gilmore under the supervision of William Parke. Gilmore, a former Civilian Conservation Corps enrollee, and Parke were US Forest Service employees in the Willamette National Forest. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees from Mary's Creek Camp and Fish Lake Camp built the structure over the course of eight months. Made with local materials, the rustic-style lodge is an excellent example of CCC construction and the favored aesthetic of the era. Stone from nearby Hogg Rock makes up the first floor of Santiam...

The Works Progress Administration built the Sappa Park dam and shelter house - Oberlin KS in 1935. WPA crews built the park's dam and shelter house. The park was developed by the National Park Service, with the Works Progress Administration. 

The Sara Delano Roosevelt Park on Manhattan's Lower East Side was named after F.D.R.'s mother. The NYC Parks Department website reports: "The parkland was acquired by the City in 1929 for the purpose of widening Chrystie and Forsythe Streets and building low-cost housing but was later set aside for "playgrounds and resting places for mothers and children." The construction of the park in 1934 was the largest park project on the Lower East Side since the acquisition of Tompkins Square Park a century earlier. Parts of four streets were closed (Hester, Broome, Rivington, and Stanton) to accommodate seven distinct play areas...

This park commemorates the first major American victory of the Revolutionary War in 1777. "Establishment of a national park to commemorate the Saratoga battles, authorized by Congress in 1938,  came about largely due to the direction provided by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The National Park Service accepted 1,430 acres from New York  State, although the area remained under state  administration. A Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp was established at the park in 1939.  Although the program by then was past its peak and was terminated in 1942 due to U.S. participation in World War II, the CCC performed the first methodical...

Saratoga Springs has been famous for its mineral waters, for bathing and drinking, for four centuries, and was known to native people long before that.  The town has a rich history of tourism, horse-racing and gambling, and its many springs have been developed commercially and heavily exploited by bottling companies.  In order to protect the springs from over-pumping, the area was declared a New York State Reservation in 1909. Dr. Simon Baruch, a leading exponent of hydrotherapy, guided the Spa's development in its early years.  In 1928, New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt established a commission to rehabilitate the springs, chaired by Bernard Baruch,...

"...the vast New Deal flood-control project (1938-42) that dammed the Tallahatchie River and created Sardis Lake, an artificial reservoir that covered hundreds of square miles in western Lafayette and eastern Panola counties. The dam itself was a giant, mile-long mound of earth, one of the world's largest, with sculpturally modernist steel and concrete elements framing the spillway and the water level control towers" (Hines, 1996, p. 112). Later, the Sardis State Park was added. The site was renamed the John W. Kyle State Park and Dam, though the name Sardis Lake is still used as well.

On July 9, 1941, the Department of Parks announced the completion of what is now the Eugene Sarsfield Playground in Brooklyn. The press release announcing the park's opening reported: "To provide a flat play surface it was necessary to construct a concrete retaining wall of variable height along the north property line with a short stairway access provided from Avenue "M". An 8' chain link boundary fence has been placed on top of this wall and along the entire property line. A second entrance leads from Flatlands Avenue near the corner of Ryder Street. Seventeen 2½-3" diameter Norway maples have been planted...

Saucon Park was one of numerous parks in Bethlehem, PA developed by New Deal agencies during the Great Depression. Mcall.com article: Union Terrace, Jordan Park, Fountain Park and the Lehigh Parkway in Allentown and Saucon Park, Monocacy Park and Franklin Park at Sand Island in Bethlehem were built under WPA and its precursor ...   "Probably it would have taken 50 years of slow progress to accomplish what has been done under WPA in two years," Robert J. Wheeler, then-secretary to the Allentown Planning Commission, told The Morning Call in 1937. " compares the WPA work to what the ancient Egyptians achieved when they...

Savage River State Forest is the largest state forest in Maryland. It offers the following: “Biking trails, boat launch, cross country skiing, campsites, fishing, flat water canoeing, hiking trail, historic interest, hunting, picnic, riding trails, shelters, snowmobiling, white water canoeing” (https://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/western/savageriverforest.asp). With CCC labor during the Great Depression, “Thousands of trees were planted in the state forest, and considerable timber-stand improvement was accomplished. Many forest fires were brought under control” (https://www.dnr.state.md.us/centennial/CCC_History_Part_II.asp).

This stone stadium was built by the WPA in 1942. The stadium hosts school sports and community events. The Lamar School District wants to demolish and replace the structure, due to the cost it would take to restore the existing Savage Stadium.

The CCC worked to develop Savoy Mountain State Forest during the 1930s. From the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs: "Savoy Mountain State Forest was created in 1918 with the purchase of 1,000 acres of this abandoned farmland. During the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) reforested much of this area with Norway and Blue Spruce, and built new concrete dams at Bog, Burnett and Tannery Pond to replace older dams."

The Works Progress Administration built the Saw Hill Park in St. Francis KS.      

In 1938, the Civilian Conservation Corps developed the Saxman Totem Park. The program was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service effort to employ Alaska Natives and conserve totems and Native cultural assets. Many of the poles that the CCC recovered from abandoned villages were found in an advanced state deterioration, which made conservation difficult. While restoration was the preferred approach, the CCC often opted for recarving, or partial recarving, if the pole could not be salvaged. The park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The master carver at Saxman was Charlie Brown. The park was designed along...

This site was acquired by the city through condemnation in 1929 and 1930 and became parkland shortly thereafter. In August 1935, the Department of Parks announced the opening of a new playground at the site, which included "a wading pool and the usual play apparatus." It used to be known as the Lafayette High School Playground after the nearby school and was renamed the John S. Scarangella Playground in 1992. The playground was renovated in 1997. As researcher Frank da Cruz explains here, almost all New York City Parks Department projects between 1934 and 1943 were accomplished with New Deal funds...

The WPA built a bathing pavilion at Scarborough Beach. The precise location of the structure, if it remains, is unclear.

The Stillwater Overlook - South was built as part of an extensive roadside development project in the Stillwater area. Work on the Stillwater-area projects apparently occurred in 1935-1939, first using federal relief labor hired under the National Recovery Work Relief (NRWR) program in 1935-1936, and then using labor from the National Youth Administration (NYA) in 1936-1939. A. R. Nichols, the MHD Roadside Development Division's Consulting Landscape Architect, designed the Stillwater-area projects. The Stillwater Overlook - South was constructed in 1936-1939 as part of a roadside development project that improved a .9-mile stretch of T.H. 212 (now T.H. 36). The overlook...

"Scenic State Park CCC/Rustic Style historic resources are located in two historic districts that include a public use area and service yard. The park contains ten contributing buildings and structures built among stands of virgin Norway and white pine on the shores of Coon and Sandwick Lakes. Architects for the park buildings were from the National Park Service... Scenic State Park was the first in the state to provide a complete range of recreational facilities developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The park’s Rustic Style buildings represent a remarkable collection of log structures that received considerable acclaim from the National Park...

11 WPA bridges exist on the Lake Trail. Just above Panther Hollow Lake, two small streams emerge from the bifurcated Hollow. Nearly a dozen small bridges cross the two streams. One of these branches extends northward to the Tufa Bridge below the Visitor Center. This trail suffers from neglect and flood damage and is nearly impassable. The other stream flows from the east from the area near Barlett Dr. Higher on the sides of this hollow are the Upper and Lower Panther Hollow Bridle Paths. Along the stream, the Lake Trail links the Bridle Path to Panther Hollow Lake. Today, the...

Although Schermerhorn Park dates to the 1920s, Works Progress Administration workers made significant improvements in the 1930s and 1940s. including terraced walls and a nature center still in use.

WPA photos (pictured) show the Schiller Park pools and locker house built by the WPA in Buffalo, New York. Google images do not show an existing pool. Google Earth shows remains of the Pool House (42 54’ 43”N 78 48’ 07”W) but the 12 foot and 4 foot pools are filled in.

"Mature evergreen and deciduous trees dot the grassy park. Two concrete bridges with limestone-faced side walls carry the concrete path across a stream. Wood frame picnic shelters have gable roofs and rest on concrete slabs. Lights attached to large wood poles illuminate the path and playground areas. Tennis courts have lights mounted on metal poles. A circular, mortared stone element, approximately 2 1/2 feet tall and 5 feet in diameter, is located in the southeast quadrant of the park. It is unclear what function it originally served... Only the two foot bridges and circular stone element are extant. The tennis courts...

Schlegel Park in Reading, Pennsylvania is one of many local parks that was improved by the WPA during the New Deal. WPA workers constructed a new field house in the park.

The Department of Parks issued a press release on April 19, 1939 announcing the opening of Schmul Park on Staten Island. Park Commissioner Robert Moses presided over the ceremonies. The release explained that: "Approximately one-half of this 8½-acre plot has been developed by the Works Progress Administration under the supervision of the Park Department into a recreational area, equipped with playground apparatus, for the children of the adjacent community. There is also a one-story brick comfort station. Later, when sufficient fill is available, the remaining portion of the park will be developed to provide facilities for baseball and other types of group...

This fire lookout is located at the summit of Schonchin Butte within the Lava Beds National Monument. Schonchin Butte is a cinder cone volcano that makes up part of the Medicine Lake Volcano. The fire lookout was built in 1939-41 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and is also registered as a National Historic Place by the National Parks Service (NPS) as a contributing structure as part of the Lava Beds National Monument Archeological District. This lookout went through a major renovation in 1994 and it looks to be in excellent condition today and maintained very well. There are four informative...

The Schoodic Peninsula is "located four miles (6 km) east of Bar Harbor, Maine, as the crow flies and contains 2,266 acres (9 km2), or approximately 5%, of Acadia National Park." Following a deal with John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and the National Park Service to move a Navy radio facility from Mount Desert Island to Schoodic Point in 1935, the CCC was involved in the construction of the United States Navy base NSGA Winter Harbor, the 4 mile Schoodic Park Loop Road, a new causeway bridge, demolishing older buildings in Lower Harbor to create a cleared area at Frazer Point,...