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  • Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve: Improvements - Guerneville CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did extensive improvements at Armstrong State Park, 1933 to 1941.   Over the years, CCC Companies 594, 1553. 1920, 1988 and 2916 were stationed at Camp Armstrong, SP-39 (originally known as Camp Armstrong Woods, P-804), which was located by the present entrance to the park.  The enrollees built an amphitheater, a community building (including warden's headquarters), picnic areas with stone stoves and tables of redwood, a timber bridge, two miles of road improvements, cleared underbrush, and made general improvements to park grounds and other facilities (Goddard 1976). Many of those features remain.  The amphitheater was under renovation during a...
  • Carlsbad Caverns National Park Historic District - Carlsbad NM
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) operated a camp at Rattlesnake Springs from 1938 to 1942 and conducted substantial construction and development work at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, including at what's now known as the Carlsbad Caverns National Park Historic District. Among untold other projects and improvements the CCC undertook trail development and landscaping work and constructed residences and maintenance facilities that are still in use today. Treasures on New Mexico Trails: The Historic District at Carlsbad Caverns National Park comprises a number of Pueblo Revival buildings constructed by Park personnel in the 1920s and 1930s and several stuccoed adobe buildings in the...
  • CCC Camp NA-1 (National Arboretum) - Washington DC
    Camp NA-1 was located in the National Arboretum, Washington, DC, and was home to Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 1360, an all African-American unit. Many of the enrollees in Company 1360 were young men from the city itself. Company 1360 formed on June 7, 1933 at Fort George Meade, Maryland and, after initial work assignments in Chester, Virginia (Camp P-61) and Williamsburg, Virginia (Camp SP-9), the men settled into Camp NA-1 in November 1934. From then until 1941 these young African American men made the earliest significant developments to the National Arboretum – a project of the Bureau of Plant Industry...
  • CCC Camp SP3 - Fairburn SD
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) maintained a camp on French Creek east of Custer State Park in South Dakota from 1934 to 1941.  It was officially camp SP-3 (meaning State Park #3).  The recruits worked on projects in region under the supervision of Custer State Park rangers and the National Park Service (NPS). The CCC enrollees built many miles of road, telephone lines and boundary fences. To this they added 20 bridges.  They constructed a fire lookout on Mt. Coolidge, along with a ranger's residence there, and fought fires and bark beetle infestations. They developed the Blue Bell Lodge and cabins...
  • CCC Camp Wawona (former) - Yosemite National Park CA
    Camp Wawona, at the south end of Yosemite National Park, was one of two hubs for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the park during the New Deal era, 1933-42 (the other hub was at Camp Cascades in Yosemite Valley).  The Wawona area had only been added to the park in 1932 and there was much work to be done to improve that part of the park. The first two camps at Wawona, YNP #1 and 2, were established in May 1933 and were the first CCC camps in the West. These early camps were located at the far end of...
  • Detroit Zoological Park Exhibit Improvements - Royal Oak MI
    New Deal agencies undertook a variety of improvements at the Detroit Zoological Park in Royal Oak, Michigan. Between 1933 and 1937, the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded and built exhibits, service facilities, and buildings at the park. “The Federal Government, as means of alleviating the distressful unemployment condition in Detroit, appropriated funds in 1933-1934 under the CWA and the FERA for construction work at the Detroit Zoological Park. As a result, an extensive program was carried out which practically completed the western end of the park and comprised the...
  • Detroit Zoological Park Improvements - Royal Oak MI
    New Deal agencies undertook a variety of improvements at the Detroit Zoological Park in Royal Oak, Michigan. Between 1933 and 1937, the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded and built exhibits, service facilities, and buildings at the park. The WPA carried out construction and landscaping in the park between 1935 and 1937. This investment resulted in the completion of an animal hospital and administration building.  (Detroit Zoo website)  
  • East Bay Regional Parks: Other Improvements - Berkeley CA and Oakland CA
    The East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) was formed in 1934 and acquired land for parks from the East Bay Municipal Water District in 1936.  The first parks were Tilden, Sibley, Temescal and Redwood in the East Bay Hills behind Berkeley and Oakland CA.   The New Deal provided extensive aid towards improving the new parks for public recreation, working with the Parks District's first general manager, Elbert Vail. Overall, the New Deal agencies spent roughly $3 million on the East Bay parks, about double the tax funds available to the EBRPD over the same period  (Stein 1984, p. 18) Even before the parks...
  • Fall River Entrance Ranger Station - Rocky Mountain National Park CO
    In 1936, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed three buildings for what was then called the Bighorn Ranger Station at the east entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park – which was the original entrance on this side of the park. The group included a ranger office with garage, a ranger residence and secondary residence/utility building. The three structures were designed by Edward Nickel of the park service in the classic National Park rustic style popular in the first half of the 20th century. "The residence building particularly reflects the design characteristics of the style with its uncoursed native stone foundation, log...
  • Garage (Building #27) - Carlsbad National Park NM
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed a garage in what is now known as the Carlsbad Caverns National Park Historic District. National Register of Historic Places nomination form, 1988: Warehouse, NPS Bldg #27, probably designed by Ken Saunders, architect, Branch of Plans and Design, Regional Office, Santa Fe; erected in 1940 by CCC workers; formerly also used for storage of supplies and equipment, and as a radio and electric shop, as well as a garage; still used as a garage. Simplified New Mexican Territorial Revival Style; one-story; rectangular plan measuring about 97' x 25'; beige-colored stuccoed adobe walls; flat asphalted roof; concrete floor;...
  • Jackson Park Improvements - Chicago IL
    In 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) pursued a variety of improvements at Chicago’s historic Jackson Park.   “The WPA to town in the park,” the Jackson Park Advisory Council opines. WPA work crews built “comfort stations at the golf driving range,” a “children’s playground,” and “a maintenance building and an overpass at 63rd Street.” The WPA “shortened lagoon shoreline and did other rehabilitation work on Wooded Island and at the Japanese Garden. The 1888 ladies comfort station was rehabilitated.” Moreover, golf course “inlet bridges and the Perennial Garden” were installed. “As part of the WPA work, E.V. Buchsman design...
  • Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park: Development - Crescent City CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in the 1930s. The area where the CCC did its work is along state highway 199, just west of the village of Hiouchi and a few miles east of Crescent City, California.  This remains the only significantly developed part of this large park, with its many groves of enormous, first-growth redwoods, such as Stout Grove. Engbeck (2002) notes that, "CCC Company 1903, of Camp Prairie Creek, built a new entrance road and a park custodian's residence. They built a campground near the Smith River with a...
  • Kennedy Park Improvements - South Bend IN
    The National Youth Administration (NYA) pursued improvements at South Bend’s Kennedy Park in 1939. The park was known as Bendix Park during the New Deal. “Plans for beautifying Bendix Park are being completed by the board of park commissioners of South Bend, Ind.,” a reporter noted in April 1939. “The board hopes to transform the bare land into one of the City’s beauty spots by next summer. The park will be landscaped around the NYA building, which is being financed jointly by the NYA and the park department as a city recreation center. Plans for landscaping include an experimental garden in...
  • Magnetic Park - Plymouth IN
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted multiple projects to develop Magnetic Park in Plymouth, Indiana. The New Deal agency constructed a barn, the Conservation Club House, and a fish hatchery with a capacity of 10,000 fingerlings.
  • Main Utility Building - Yosemite National Park CA
    The Group Utility Building (original name) in Yosemite Valley opened 1935.  It was funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The utility building consolidated a hodgepodge of old shops, forges, storage and maintenance into one facility.  It also provided three bays for fire trucks. It is a mammoth structure covering 18,548 square feet and lacking in any architectural niceties, hence popularly known as "Fort Yosemite."  Despite its size, however, very few visitors ever see it or know of it.  It is tucked away in the maintenance and parking areas north of the Visitors' Center and Yosemite Museum.
  • Payson Lakes Guard Station - Mt Nebo UT
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made extensive recreational improvements on Mt. Nebo, the highest and southern-most peak of the Wasatch Mountains.  The CCC teams worked out of three camps: F-9 at the south end of the Mt. Nebo Loop, F-3 at Hubble Canyon and F-40 near Provo, from 1933 to 1938 – and possibly to 1941 when the last camp closed. After building the Mt Nebo Loop Road (Scenic Byway), the CCC enrollees created campgrounds, picnic areas and trails. Not all this work can be identified precisely, but some can be verified from reliable sources. Payson Lakes Guard Station was built in...
  • Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park: Development - Big Sur CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made extensive improvements to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park on the central California coast, developing it for public recreational use after the state parks commission acquired the land in 1933.  The enrollees worked out of Camp Big Sur from 1933 to 1941.  We believe Camp Big Sur was located either at the present Main Campground or at the Group Picnic Area. The CCC built campgrounds, picnic areas, a campfire center, and several stone restrooms (comfort stations). They also constructed the main lodge with a post office and cabins.  To this, they added a park headquarters and administration...
  • Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park: Lodge and Cabins - Big Sur CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made extensive improvements to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park on the central California coast, developing it for public recreational use. The state parks commission acquired the land in 1933, but had no funds for development.  The CCC worked in the park from 1933 to 1941, but the sources do not always specify exact dates for each improvement.  The most important building constructed by the CCC enrollees is the Big Sur Lodge, which still stands just inside the main entrance to the park. The front portion of the building has been replaced, however, making the lodge appear...
  • Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park: Maintenance Buildings - Big Sur CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made extensive improvements to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park on the central California coast, developing it for public recreational use. The state parks commission acquired the land in 1933, but had no funds for development.  The CCC worked in the park from 1933 to 1941, but the sources do not always specify exact dates for each improvement.  The CCC enrollees built a number of functional buildings for park maintenance, which are clustered at the far end of the main road where they are partially hidden behind a high, earthen berm.  We were not able to determine...
  • Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park: Warden's House - Big Sur CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made extensive improvements to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park on the central California coast, developing it for public recreational use. The state parks commission acquired the land in 1933, but had no funds for development.  The CCC worked in the park from 1933 to 1941, but the sources do not always specify exact dates for each improvement.  The CCC enrollees built a lovely home for the park warden (head ranger) near the entrance to the park. It is constructed in classic "park rustic" style with a stone foundation and craftsman wood structure above.   Next door stands...
  • Point Lobos State Natural Reserve Development - Carmel Highlands CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development work at Point Lobos State Reserve in the late 1930s. The CCC enrollees worked out of a camp at Pfeiffer-Big Sur State Park. Point Lobos was acquired by the state in 1932 after a major mobilization of local citizenry in Carmel and a national fund-raising effort.  Because the site and its seashore wildlife are so spectacular, F.L. Olmsted, Jr. was brought in to draw up a plan for restricted development that would preserve the place while allowing for limited public use.  That plan was adopted by the State Parks Commission in 1936...
  • Point Lobos State Natural Reserve: Residence and Maintenance Buildings- Carmel Highlands CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development work at Point Lobos State Reserve in the late 1930s. The CCC enrollees worked out of a camp at Pfeiffer-Big Sur State Park Because Point Lobos is  meant to guard the environment in a relatively natural state, the CCC work here was minimal, including an access road, a few picnic areas, small parking areas, overlooks and paths (with some stone steps and retaining walls).   The CCC built and renovated a handful of rustic buildings for ranger residences and park maintenance.  Some appear to be the original if modified structures, but public access...
  • Pokagon State Park: CCC Pocket Museum - Angola IN
    The former gatehouse at the entrance to Pokagon State Park was completed by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees in 1937 and used until the mid-1980s. The style of the former gatehouse is classified as Park Rustic.  Using a variety of native materials, the CCC built gatehouses designed to appeal to the eye and draw in visitors with hints of the delights of nature within the park. In 2016, the little building was dedicated as a CCC Pocket Museum, featurng exhibits about the CCC's work in the park and beyond.  There is also a permanent exhibit in the Nature Center (not a CCC building)...
  • Pokagon State Park: Office Building - Angola IN
    Around 1937, CCC workers completed a 2½ story service building, which today houses park offices. It is not in a public area.
  • Pokagon State Park: Saddle Barn - Angola IN
    The saddle barn at Pokagon State Park was constructed by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees in 1938.   It still serves its original function. The structure is classified as Parks Rustic. New Deal agencies built several attractive saddle barns and extensive horse trails in most of the state parks, bringing this activity into the reach of the average visitor.  The saddle barn is not marked as CCC, but there is now a CCC Pocket Museum in the old gatehouse and the Nature Center has an exhibit that lists all the structures CCC enrollees worked on.
  • Pounds Hollow Recreation Area - Junction IL
    Pounds Hollow was the first recreational site constructed for Shawnee National Forest. A dam, beach, bathhouse, boat dock, utility buildings, roads, and a caretakers house were constructed by CCC crews from Camp Cadiz.
  • Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park: Visitors Center - Orick CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made the first improvements to the newly-acquired Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.  Company 1903 worked out of a CCC camp established at the north end of the 'prairie' at the present park entrance.  The first order of business was to develop Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park itself, after which teams from Company 1903 worked at other state parks along the north coast of California. The most notable legacy of the CCC's presence in the park is the Visitor's Center, which originally served as the Warden's (or Custodian's) Residence. It is a single-story rustic building, somewhat modified...
  • Prince William Forest Park - Triangle VA
    Prince William Forest Park was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), with help from skilled workers of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), from 1935 to 1942.  It was then known as Chopawamsic Recreation Demonstration Area (the name was changed in 1948).  RDAs were meant for getting inner city children out into the country to enjoy the benefits of nature and outdoor recreation. The New Deal programs built permanent structures, including the park headquarters and five cabin camps, extensive roads and trails, and five recreational lakes.  Almost all these improvements are still in use today.  The National Park Service, which operates...
  • Rainbow Forest Residential Compound - Petrified Forest National Park AZ
    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...
  • Ralph A. MacMullan Conference Center - North Higgins Lake MI
    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...
  • Ranger Residence - Wupatki National Monument AZ
    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...
  • Ranger Residences - Petrified Forest National Park AZ
    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...
  • Ranger Residences - Walnut Canyon National Monument AZ
    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.
  • Ranger Station Compound - Union Creek OR
    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...
  • Recreation Park Facilities - Asheville NC
    The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) provided labor for the construction of multiple facilities at Recreation Park in Asheville, NC. The CWA constructed a barracks at the park, as well as developing a skating rink. The FERA improved roads at the park. The status of these structures is unknown to Living New Deal.
  • Recreational Development - Rocky Mountain National Park CO
    Rocky Mountain National Park was established in 1915 to preserve a spectacular section of the highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains.  Several new additions to the park have been made over the years, until it reached its present size of 415 square miles. The park saw considerable recreational development in the 1920s under the National Park Service (NPS), but it benefitted enormously in the 1930s from the New Deal.  Most notable of the New Deal agencies was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), but the \ park also gained funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA), road work by the Bureau of...
  • Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park Improvements - Oakland CA
    The East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) was formed in 1934 and acquired land for parks from the East Bay Municipal Water District in 1936.  The first parks were Tilden, Sibley, Temescal and Redwood in the East Bay Hills behind Berkeley and Oakland CA.  The New Deal provided extensive aid towards improving the new parks (except for Sibley) for public recreation, working with the Parks District's first general manager, Elbert Vail. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up five camps in the East Bay hills and operated in the parks for the entire New Deal decade, 1933-42.   The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was...
  • Richardson Grove State Park Development - Garberville CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made several improvements to Richardson Grove State Park during the period 1933-40.  Richardson Grove was one of the original Old Growth redwood groves purchased by the Save the Redwoods League in the early 20th century and passed over to the California state parks. It was officially established around a single grove in 1922 and has been expanded to 1,800 acres since. Little had been done in the way of improvements before the New Deal, in part because California did not establish a full state parks system until 1928.  Working from camps farther north in Humboldt Redwoods...
  • South Higgins Lake State Park Store - Roscommon MI
    In 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the Park Store building at South Higgins Lake State Park, which still stands.   It is "one of the many buildings constructed around Northern Michigan by during the depths of the Great Depression... and it  has stood the test of time, but not without some periodic restoration." (Reznich 2012) The CCC undoubtedly did other improvements in the park, but we do not have details on that.
  • South Mountain Park: Lookouts - Phoenix AZ
    South Mountain Park in Phoenix AZ was developed for public recreation by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) from 1933 to 1940.  The best known of the works by the CCC is the large stone shelter at the Dobbins Lookout, which is the popular symbol of the park and famous for its spectacular views of the city of Phoenix.  Dobbins lookout is accessible by car via Summit Road, which has a large parking area with low stone walls (presumably by the CCC, as well). There is a small stone shelter not far west of Dobbins Lookout and a platform lookout, with a low...
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