Parks and Recreation Sites

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) developed Washington Memorial Park in Guernsey, Wyoming. "In Guernsey, Washington Memorial Park was fenced, graded and given sidewalks and water mains." There does not presently appear to be a park by this name in Guernsey; the site and status of this project is presently unknown to Living New Deal.

According to the Washington Park Association (WPA), the Works Progress Administration (same abbreviation) helped Washington Park " its current shape." The Association notes, "(The Washington Park Association chose their name wisely when they picked WPA for our abbreviation.)" The details of this project are unknown to Living New Deal. Part of Bergen County's parks system, Washington Park straddles the border between Jersey City and Union City, N.J., and is still in active use.

"A new drive and parking station was laid out at Washington Park. The lagoon at Washington Park was drained and cleaned."

The Works Progress Administration completed improvements at Washington Park Improvements in Pasadena CA. A plaque located on site reads: "Washington Park is one of the City of Pasadena's earliest public parks. Renowned landscape architect Ralph Cornell and horticulturalist Theodore Payne were hired by the City in 1922 to create a plan for the park and “sunken gardens.” Their design included curving paths, river rock walls, ramadas, picnic areas, and many native plants and formal plantings. Included also were tennis courts and a children's playground. Among Payne and Cornellis other Pasadena projects are Memorial Park and La Pintoresca Park. A wash that ran through...

"Final approval of two improvement projects for the City of Yakima was announced today by Don G. Abel, Works Progress Administrator. ... project, slated to be under way December 13, will consist of revamping the landscaping in Washington Park, building of cinder paths, improvement of old ones and a general realignment of the natural setting. Eighteen men will be allotted to the project. While this project will cost the City of Yakima only $288, the WPA will invest $3,351, Abel stated." The exact location of Washington Park in Yakima, Washington is unknown to Living New Deal.

Washington, Pennsylvania's Washington Park bears a stone pavilion that was built by the WPA.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) constructed what was then known as the V.F.W. Pool at George Washington Park in Casper, Wyoming, in 1934. Work relief labor conducted additional development work at Washington Park. Casper Star-Tribune, March 3, 1935, discussing work relief projects from 1934: "Within the park is the Veterans of Foreign Wars' swimming pool and dressing-room building, the latter requiring an outlay of $15,978 last year." The status of the facility is unknown to Living New Deal.

The Washington Park Zoo is thought to be the only zoo completely designed and landscaped by the WPA (Works Progress Administration) and its predecessor agencies (FERA – Federal Emergency Relief Administration, and CWA – Civil Works Administration.) It spans across 15 acres on a hilly sand dune in Michigan City, IN, close to the southeastern tip of Lake Michigan and to this day houses more than 220 animals of 90 different species from around the world. Planning for a zoo board first began when Albert R. Couden was appointed city manager in 1928. He hoped the zoo would work as a...

The WPA constructed new buildings and made improvements to existing zoo facilities. They built a new elephant house. The zoo no longer exists at this location.

The federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted restoration / improvement work at Washington Reservation / Washington Park during the 1930s.

Washington Square playgrounds were improved during the 1930s with the help of the New Deal. In 1935, Robert Moses proposed a major renovation of the park but he encountered neighborhood opposition. The agencies involved in funding or completing improvement work are unknown to the Living New Deal. During his tenure as Parks Commissioner, Moses used New Deal funding and labor to build public park facilities, yet rarely credited the New Deal agencies that supported the projects. Because he prohibited the placement of New Deal plaques and corner stones, we have few sources that tie public parks in New York to...

"Washington State Park is a Missouri state park in the central eastern part of Missouri containing native American rock carvings. These carvings, or petroglyphs, carved in dolomite rock, are believed to have been made around 1000 to 1600 and give clues to the lives of the prehistoric native Americans who once inhabited this part of Missouri. It is also believed that the park served as ceremonial grounds for these Middle Mississippi people who were related to the builders of the Cahokia Mounds in Illinois. "Most of the carvings are of birds, arrows, footprints, turkey tracks, human figures, and various geometric shapes...

The small frontier town of Washington, Texas entered history on March 2, 1836 when representatives of the largest settlements in Texas met inside an unfinished building near the banks of the Brazos River to declare independence from Mexico. When independence was gained, some of those delegates lobbied to designate Washington as the permanent capital of the new Republic of Texas. However, that honor went to Austin, and by the end of the nineteenth century, Washington was little more than a ghost town. In the 1910s, community groups and influential citizens lobbied Texas legislators to make the state acquire sites related...

Washginton's Walk is an area of parkland extending along the south edge of Jerome Park Reservoir, stretching roughly from Strong Street Playground to Old Fort Four Park. Although we have yet to uncover direct textual evidence of New Deal involvement in the development of this stretch of parkland along the south end of Jerome Park Reservoir, researcher Frank da Cruz makes a persuasive case here for the likelihood of New Deal involvement in building Washington's Walk. First, photos of the area from 1924 show that the park did not exist at that point. So, da Cruz explains, "unless the Bronx...

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) each worked to develop the Washoe Country Club in Reno, Nevada. The historic golf course is still in use today. Work began in May 1935 (by the FERA) and the course was completed in October 1936 (by the WPA).  The course was built on the site of the original Reno airfield.

The Watauga County Courthouse complex in Boone, North Carolina "includes a Works Projects Administration funded building as part of its annex." The striking stone building "was completed in 1939 and housed the Watauga County Library from 1946 through 1997." The building is located at the southwest corner of Queen Street and North Water Street. The News and Observer explained: With county functions becoming greater, Watauga found itself with insufficient space in which to house the public health officer, the county agent, the home demonstration agent, the public welfare department, school superintendent and other governmental agencies. The new county native stone structure now provides...

Construction for Watauga State Park began in 1939 with the CCC arrival to survey, clear land, and begin dam construction and other facilities (Van West, 2001). Kingsport Times (Sept. 18, 1939) indicated the name Watauga was rejected due to so many nearby projects with the name Watauga, and the park was to be named Kettlefoot State Park, but other records indicating a name change were not located. The CCC camp was expected to be completed by October, 1939, and landscape architects were developing park designs. Watauga State Park was developed as one of four Recreation Demonstration Areas for Tennessee (Jones...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted work to improve the Watchung Reservation as part of a massive collection of New Deal improvements to the Union County Parks System.

An inventive Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollee came up with the idea of making a glacial boulder into a drinking fountain by drilling a hole through the boulder and piping in water from a nearby creek. The Water-In-A-Rock fountain is situated along the East Mendenhall Glacier Trail. It no longer functions, but the holes for the pipe and a sign are still visible and it is marked with an information panel.  

Relief workers from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) helped carve out and construct the Waterside Theatre at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on Roanoke Island. The theater has undergone renovations and changes over the years but is still very much in operation. Waterside Theater is home of the long-running play “The Lost Colony," written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul Green, a native of North Carolina.  The story of the mysterious lost colony of Roanoke has been running consistently, though not entirely uninterrupted, since 1937.  WPA Federal Theater Project (FTP) actors took part in the original performances. As FTP historian...

In 1942, the Washington Post reported the allocation of $11,382 to the Federal Works Agency (FWA) for new construction and/or improvements to the Buchanan Recreation Center, adjacent to the Buchanan School in the city's southeast quadrant. The Buchanan school is Watkins Elementary School and extensive play fields, a playground, skating rink and old tennis courts adjoin the school. It is uncertain what remains of the New Deal work today.  

"From 1935 until 1941, young men at the Civilian Conservation Corps Camp SP44 in Watkins Glen State Park built park buildings, trails, stonework, bridges, and many other projects." The buildings of the CCC camp now serve as the Hidden Valley 4-H Camp.

"The Sentry Bridge dates back to the 1930s and was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The bridge is located at Watkins Glen State Park near the main entrance to the Gorge Trail ..."

"The largest of West Virginia’s state parks, at 10,100 acres, Watoga is also among the oldest, dating back to the first land acquisitions by the West Virginia Game and Fish Commission in the 1920s. The park is located in southern Pocahontas County on the Greenbrier River. It was named for Watoga, a nearby town... Two Civilian Conservation Corps camps were established, Camp Watoga in 1933 at the park’s present maintenance area and Camp Seebert at the mouth of Island Lick Run in 1934. Also in 1934 Watoga was changed from a state forest to a state park. A third CCC camp,...

The 3.3-acre Watson Gleason Playground, located in the Soundview neighborhood of the Bronx, was constructed with WPA labor. New York City's Parks Department writes: "In 1938 the City of New York acquired the entire block bounded by Watson, Noble, Gleason, and Rosedale Avenues. Designed by the Parks Department and built with labor provided by the Work Projects Administration (WPA), the playground opened one-and-one-half years later. Parks Commissioner Robert Moses presided at the dedication ceremony, which featured Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Borough President James J. Lyons, Acting WPA Administrator Major Edmond H. Leary, and President Roderick Stephens of the Bronx Borough of Trade. The...

Town Report, 1938: National Youth Administration An average of 35 young people from needy families have been given part time employment by this branch of the W.P.A., on various worthy and useful projects. The boys have improved the land at Waushakum Pond purchased by the town for a bathing beach; have graded and improved town playgrounds, and since Sept. 21, 1938, have been continuously employed in clearing up the effects of the hurricane damage in the parks and playgrounds. The girls have acted as helpers in the Nursery schools.

The Wawona Covered Bridge is one of only 12 covered bridges in California and the only one in Yosemite. It was originally built by Galen Clark as a modified queen post truss without a cover in 1868, making it the oldest surviving bridge in the state. After being sold to the Washburn group of investors, it was covered with Douglas fir cladding in 1878, enclosing the Ponderosa pine structure and its iron tie rods. The adz marks on the beams are still visible. Additions were completed in 1900 when extensions at each end brought the bridge to its current length of 138 feet. The...

The New Deal made possible the construction of a ranger station in the Wawona area, which was added to Yosemite National Park in 1932.  The present complex includes a ranger station and an interpretation office, as well as two ranger residences, that date back to the New Deal.  The ranger station and interpretation office have different origins, however.  The latter building was the original ranger station at Wawona, built in 1934 or 1935 (Greene), which has been modified over time and repurposed.  The former was moved here from  the former Chinquapin ranger station site, built in 1934, which was eliminated decades ago...

The New Deal made possible the construction of a ranger station in the Wawona area, which was added to Yosemite National Park in 1932.  The ranger station complex includes two ranger residences and accompanying garages.  These buildings still exist, but are now used for different purposes. According to the Superintendent's Monthly Report of December 1934, the Public Works Administration (PWA) provided the funding to the National Park Service (NPS) for the ranger station complex (Broesamle 2022). This contradicts the 2012 NPS report on design in the park, which attributes the buildings to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) (see quote below).  The latter...

New Deal agencies played a major role in the transformation of the narrow and dangerous Wawona wagon trail into a safe and comfortable route into Yosemite Valley. The route from the South Entrance to the Valley floor is 27 miles.  It is one of three access roads to Yosemite Valley, along with the El Portal road and Big Oak Flat Road. The National Park Service and the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) signed a Memorandum of Agreement in July 1925, authorizing the planning and construction of new roads within Yosemite National Park. Surveying was begun in 1928 and initial construction was...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) amphitheater was built ca. 1935-36. A 1985 National Register nomination form for Creek County described the site: "This amphitheater is a two-story, rectangular (35' x 25') structure constructed of cut, coursed, and rusticated native stone of buff color. Pilaster strips on the back give the building an art deco flavor. The stage is concrete and has been painted white. The concrete seats have been removed... Construction of this amphitheater reflected the cultural interests of the WPA and gave some economic security to many destitute laborers in the area. The project infused wages of some 120,000 man-hours...

This Works Progress Administration (WPA) amphitheater was built ca. 1935-36. A 1985 National Register nomination form for Creek County described the site: "This amphitheater is a two-story, rectangular (35' x 25') structure constructed of cut, coursed, and rusticated native stone of buff color. Pilaster strips on the back give the building an art deco flavor. The stage is concrete and has been painted white. The concrete seats have been removed... Construction of this amphitheater reflected the cultural interests of the WPA and gave some economic security to many destitute laborers in the area. The project infused wages of some 120,000 man-hours...

This small Brooklyn playground was opened by the Department of Parks in December 1935. The press release announcing the opening explained that it, and the other 12 playgrounds opened on the same day, collectively contained: "88 small swings; 72 large swings; 36 seesaws; 14 playhouses; 15 large slides; 11 sand tables; 10 garden swings; 7 small slides; 7 small tables; 6 handball courts; 6 jungle gyms; 5 shuffleboard courts; 5 wading pools; 4 parallel bars; 3 horizontal bars; 3 horizontal ladders; 3 horseshoe pitching, etc.; 2 basketball courts, 1 shower." As researcher Frank da Cruz explains here, almost all New York...

This gymnasium was a PWA project (docket #1052-D), labeled as a high school but now part of the Weiser Middle School campus.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) supported the construction of welfare housing in Houlton ME between 1933 and 1935. Excerpts from the Annual Town Reports, Houlton Maine: 1933 Partial Cost of Houses Constructed For Welfare Department 13 people involved and the Houlton Planing Mill $1,337.83 Welfare Department – Labor Expenses 41 men employed as laborers $1,525.00 paid from R.F.C. Account. ADMINISTRATION Besides the High School lot, the Chairman personally supervised the building of six small houses which were occupied when built by those unable at that time to own or rent homes. Report of Federal Activities...

The Civilian Conservation Corps built facilities at the Wellington State Beach. The work included several structures, picnic facilities, and the landscaping of the beach. Brief history of the park, from NH State Parks: "One dollar; what will it buy today? In 1931, for one dollar and the generosity of an ecologically-minded summer visitor from New York City, the state of New Hampshire obtained the deed to Wellington Reservation. It was "to be forever kept as a public forest reservation, to be used for the development of a bird sanctuary, for public recreation, . . and for any purpose tending to the promotion...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed Festival Hall, an auditorium, at the Wells County Fairgrounds, located at the southeast corner of North Dakota Highway 15 and U.S. Highway 52. "Also constructed during the depression years was Festival Hall (1938). A WPA project, it was purportedly designed by Wells County agent and fair manager, E. W. Vancura. The main floor of the 136' x 44' building is comprised of a wooden-floored auditorium with a large stage at its north end and a very small stage midway along the building's west wall. The basement was designed to house industrial exhibits during the...

According to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, “Some of the park development and most of the road systems are attributed to Civilian Conservation Corps activities in the 1930s.”

An inventory of WPA project photographs compiled by Becky Jordan at Iowa State University includes reference to numerous public works projects undertaken by the agency in Iowa between 1935 and 1940. The collection of 1,271 photographs documents the variety and extent of New Deal related efforts undertaken in the Hawkeye State. Included among the many WPA projects described in the collection is the West High School stadium (Project 1055) in Waterloo, Blackhawk County.

One of architect Clarence “Cap” Wigington’s distinctive St. Paul structures, the West Minnehaha Recreation Center was built between 1937 and 1938 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Wigington was the first black municipal architect in the country, and many of his designs were brought to completion by New Deal funding and local laborers. See the Harriet Island Pavilion (now Clarence W. Wigington Pavilion) and Hamline Playground Building for other examples of his WPA-era work in St. Paul. The West Minnehaha Recreation Center, known as “West Minne” by locals, was built of Platteville limestone and has received many additions and renovations since...