Landscaping and Tree Planting Sites

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.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor created Malone Park in Chelsea, Mass.

The Civilian Conservation Corps carried out improvement work at the Maricao Forrest (Bosque Estatal de Maricao). The work included “roads, trails, timber stand improvements and tree planting, as well as recreational developments.”

In 1935, the Public Works Administration (PWA) funded renovations for Marion Park, southeast of the Capitol, such as sidewalk repair, landscaping, and so forth.  Marion Park was first established in 1886, but like other parks in the district had suffered neglect for many years. The New Deal undertook a major program of parks improvement across the city in the 1930s with input from the PWA, Civil Works Administration (CWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  It is likely that the labor for Marion Park improvements was provided by the WPA. Marion park has recently been the scene of controversy,...

The park has Works Progress Administration-built stone benches and a waterfall that connects Cottonwood Creek in Beaconsfield Canyon to Cobbledick Creek and eventually Sausal Creek in Dimond Park.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided assistance in the landscaping and improvements at Berkeley's Civic Center Park, c 1940-41.   "... the land acquisition and most of the construction costs were covered by a local bond issue of $125,000... Research done when the park was declared a city landmark in the late 1990's indicated that at least two small wall-mounted fountains in the park (north and south of the central fountain) were constructed by WPA employees, although the park project remained incomplete at the onset of WWII. WPA support was also obtained for landscaping, benches, as well as for the acquisition...

Marvel Park in Parsons, Kansas was improved by work undertaken by the Civil Works Administration (CWA). The Parsons Sun: "There is no doubt about what the project is doing for the city's park system. As this particular project nears completion it is evident that Marvel park is being made much more attractive because of it and of primary importance is the fact that this Improvement paves the way for the connecting of Marvel and Forest parks, a dream that has been In the minds of civic leaders for years. Some day, perhaps, the two parks will he joined into one,...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) put more than 100 men to work developing Mary E. Lee Park (sometimes called Lake Nasworthy Park) in San Angelo. Work included tree planting.

Red oaks line a section of McLoughlin Boulevard on its southern entry into the City of Portland. The nearly ninety-year-old trees are the legacy of a highway beautification project funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1934. The Oregon State Highway Commission selected this section on McLoughlin Boulevard (99E), along with two sections of Barbur Boulevard (99W), for the state's first comprehensive highway beautification program. Members of the Portland Garden Club joined in designing the landscape plans that focused on native plants. Funding for the six-mile section on McLoughlin Boulevard amounted to approximately $15,000, which covered landscape materials and a...

As motorists travel southbound on the Milwaukie section of McLoughlin Boulevard they pass through a corridor of Giant Redwood trees. The Public Works Administration funded the planting of these Sequoia Giantea in 1934. The Oregon State Highway Commission selected six miles of McLoughlin Boulevard (99E) that connects Milwaukie and Portland to launch the state's first comprehensive highway beautification program. The north unit is still marked by red oaks while this southern section is defined by the giant evergreen Redwoods. Funding for the entire six-mile section amounted to approximately $15,000 for landscape materials and the labor required to complete the landscaping.    

Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers began construction of the Singer Hill Creek Falls landscape feature in May 1936. Oregon City manager J L Franzen designed the series of five waterfalls as part of improvements to the McLoughlin Promenade. WPA funding was $2500 for the combined waterfall project and the Promenade Staircase. Dropping from the Oregon City bluff at Eighth Street, Singer Creek falls into a series of twenty foot wide pools. Four of the pools create a ten foot drop while the fifth drops twelve feet. WPA masons used stone quarried locally encased in cement to create the park's water feature. This...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) contributed to the improvement of Oklahoma City’s McMechan Park in 1940. “McMechan Park at Oklahoma City, Okla., will be expanded to a 17-acre development,” a reporter noted in January 1940, “according to plans disclosed by Donald Gordon, superintendent of parks. A $12,000 WPA project which will include landscaping, tree planting, grading, and establishment of play areas on the site will be submitted.” According to the Parks and Recreation Department, the WPA expanded the park to include land on both sides of McMechan Parkway. The park still serves as a recreation site for Oklahoma City residents today.

In 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed a new water system and comfort station at Media Park, a small park at the intersection of Venice Blvd. and Culver Blvd. The lawn area was also renovated, reseeded, and landscaped. Media Park is leased to Culver City by Los Angeles. A theater company, The Actors Gang, is based here at a rebuilt Pacific Electric Railway substation.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) contributed to the development Memorial Park. "At the close of the war, when the camp was abandoned, part of the site was acquired by the Hogg brothers, who, in 1924, turned 1,000 acres over to the City at cost. Later, an additional 503 acres were obtained. Hare and Hare, Kansas City landscape architects, planned the improvement work which was carried out during the succeeding years, first as a local, then as a State relief project, and finally under the supervision of the Work Projects Administration."

Among the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects identified as completed in an El Paso Times article from June 7, 1936 was "Memorial Park grading and landscaping, $21,609."

Meridian Hill Park is a formal, landscaped park in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, with terraces, pools, balustrades and a large cascade in the Italian baroque style. It is, in many people's estimation, the jewel of the District parks system.   Land for the park was purchased in 1910 and construction began in 1912, but was never completed.  In 1935-36, the PWA stepped in to fund completion of the park by providing a grant of $145,000. A 1936 article in the Washington Daily News described the work being done: “Cascades completed and placed in operation. South terraces graded; top soiled and seeded; shrubs and...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out improvements to the grounds at the Miller Valley Elementary School in Prescott AZ in 1936-1937.  From the WPA project card in the National Archives, it appears that these included a stone entrance to the school grounds. The school was closed in the 2010s, but the old WPA stone walls have survived at the corner of W. Iron Springs and Miller Valley Roads.

Regarding New Deal work at this site, Flynn writes: "Structures at this facility include a greenhouse, annex, and landscaping. The landscaping includes a rock wall and long trench on a hill side behind the building."

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) relocated and reconstructed the former United States Mint Building in Charlotte, North Carolina: now the Mint Museum. The project was completed at a cost of $46,724.75. "Between 1932 and 1935 communities throughout North Carolina, including Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, benefited from a broad array of public works funded primarily by Washington.  These included the reconstruction in Eastover of the former United States Mint Building ..." Furthermore, the FERA improved and graded the grounds at the site.

"Moeur Park North and South is located at the NE and SE corners of Mill Avenue and Curry Road. Moeur Park ramadas and associated structures are identified in the 1997 Tempe Multiple Resource Area Update (#255) as individually eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Built in U.S. Park Services style, these roadway, rest, and landscape elements are typical of the New Deal Works Administration Era (WPA). Field stone and concrete materials were used by the WPA to construct features throughout the park. These include; raised planters, stairs, planter borders, stone benches, stone tables, an automobile...

The Civilian Conservation Corps planted trees on 400 acres and built 6 recreational cabins on Mona Island.

The seven-acre Montclair Park in Oakland was built with the aid of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938-40.  This gem of a park lies just north of Montclair Village in the Oakland hills and below Montclair Elementary School.   The park features large grass fields, a baseball field, and 4 pickleball courts – originally a single tennis court (renovated c. 2021).  There are two ranks of stone bleachers on the hill above for viewing.  The tennis courts by the school are much more recent. The park also includes a recreation center, duck pond, picnic areas, play areas and extensive rock walls...

Nipmuck State Forest's Mountain Laurel Sanctuary began "as a beautification project of the Civilian Conservation Corps" in 1935. Located along Snow Hill Road, it features Connecticuts state flowers, and is particularly beautiful during peak bloom.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)'s Camp Fernow, which housed Company #183, was stationed at Natchaug State Forest in Eastford, Connecticut. The camp was established June 29, 1933 and was discontinued May 28, 1941. Among other projects independently listed on other pages, work included: "tree planting, 8 miles of truck trails, improvements to the Forest Ranger's house, and construction of the Eastern District sawmill, a sawdust and plainer shed, a warehouse, a machine shop, and the 3 lumber sheds that supplied the entire eastern half of Connecticut."

The United States National Arboretum was established as a public center for scientific research, education, and gardens to conserve and showcase the floral bounty of America and the world.  It was authorized in 1927, but the actual development of the arboretum was accomplished during the 1930s by the New Deal. The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded land acquisition, as well as extensive planning and mapmaking, for the Arboretum. Young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) performed the work under the supervision of the Bureau of Plant Industry (today's Agricultural Research Service) of the Department of Agriculture (USDA)  The Arboretum was established by an...

The New Deal carried out a major renovation of the National Mall, the green centerpiece of Washington DC.   Funding was provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and labor power by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). As of 1939, the PWA had expended $1,050,000 on the reconstruction work.  As one newspaper put it, “...the mile long park connecting the Capitol with Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial probably would still be in an early stage of development but for the allocation of PWA funds to finish the project."  Work began in 1934 under the supervision of the Superintendent of the National Capital Parks,...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement and development work at the Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. WPA project details: "Construct and rehabilitate buildings and facilities" Official Project Number: 109‐3‐22‐13 Total project cost: $10,000.00 Sponsor: U.S. Navy Department "Make improvements at Naval Air Station" Official Project Number: 165‐2‐22‐391 Total project cost: $22,758.00 Sponsor: Commanding Officer, Lakehurst Naval Air Station, U.S. Navy "Excavate, clear, and level grounds, and provide bridges, roads, and fences" Official Project Number: 265‐2‐22‐40 Total project cost: $153,464.00 Sponsor: Commanding Officer, Lakehurst Naval Air Station, U.S. Navy "Improvements at Lakehurst NAS" Official Project Number: 709‐2‐44 Total project cost: $16,107.00 Sponsor: U.S. Navy Department "Improvements at Lakehurst NAS" Official Project...

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp SP-24 was established at Capitola, just east of Santa Cruz, for the purpose of working on nearby California beach state parks at New Brighton and Sea Cliff. The California state parks system had only been created c 1930, and all parks existing or purchases in the 1930s needed work on recreational facilities.  The CCC was active in state parks all over California.  New Brighton Beach was purchased by the state in 1933. Camp SP-24 was active in the late 1930s, but we do not have exact dates.  We know that the CCC enrollees of Company 5447 worked...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.)'s Camp Graves operated between May 27, 1933 and April 22, 1936 at Nipmuck State Forest in Union, Connecticut. Among the C.C.C. accomplishments were "8 miles of truck trails" and "fire suppression on the Connecticut—Massachusetts border." Additional projects are linked to from this page.

WPA project description: "Improvement of the grounds surrounding this Martha's Vineyard community's new school provides a proper setting for the new structure completed recently by WPA workmen. After carefully grading a little more than an acre around the school WPA men set out twelve fir trees which provide a pleasant frame for the new building." The location and status of these facilities is presently unknown to Living New Deal.

The Palisades Interstate Park system, a major beneficiary of New Deal public works projects, spans New York and New Jersey and stretches from The Palisades—cliffs overlooking the Hudson River in sight of Manhattan—to forested hills dotted with lakes in the western Hudson Highlands. The park system was founded in 1900 through the activism of women’s clubs that fought to protect the Palisades
from quarrying. They were aided by some of the richest men in America, among them J.P. Morgan, the Rockefellers and the Harriman family. Mixing civic idealism and the desire to preserve the beauty of their own region, they purchased or...

As part of Civil Works Administration (CWA) efforts in Wyoming "Afton’s park was prepared for planting trees."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement work at an athletic field and park in Beatrice, Nebraska. Beatrice Daily Sun: "A recently completed WPA project at the park resulted in major improvements. The north bank was landscaped, the cinder running track was widened, rest rooms were constructed, and the seating capacity of the concrete bleachers was doubled." The location and status of this project is currently unknown to Living New Deal.

An early Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in Scribner, Nebraska was described as follows: General Improvement program for the Scribner city park. This includes: Construction of a 16 by 24 foot concrete and tile combination band stand and rest rooms: construction of 500 feet of 4 foot sidewalk; laying 550 feet of 1 inch water main to fountain and rest rooms; laying 750 feet of electric conduit and lighting system; removing 45 old tree stumps, and landscaping the 3 acre's on which the park is located. Eleven persons are working on this project.

President Franklin Roosevelt created Patuxent Research Refuge (PRR) with Executive Order 7514, December 16, 1936, and Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace dedicated it on June 3, 1939.  The refuge began with 2,670 acres and has since grown to 12,841 acres. It is “the nation's only national wildlife refuge established to support wildlife research” (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service). Several New Deal agencies helped to build the extensive facilities at the Patuxent Research Refuge. At the time, wildlife refuges came under the direction of the Bureau of Biological Survey (later merged into the Fish & Wildlife Service).  The Works Progress Administration (WPA)...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted numerous projects at what is now Petersburg National Battlefield, as detailed in Wallace and Conway's "A History of Petersburg National Battlefield," developing infrastructure, creating illustrations for the museum, and even serving as park guides. "CCC Company 1364 arrived from Camp Meade, Maryland, early on the morning of July 13, 1933, and established a camp, Camp MP-2, in the Fort Stedman area of the park." "Since the establishment of the camp in the park in 1933, most of the work of clearing underbrush, road building, sodding, and tree planting was done by...

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,...

"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."

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...

In 1933, workers for the Civil Works Administration (CWA) made trails on the cliff face at Lands End and "planted thousands of Monterey Cypress around Lands End to ‘beautify’ the area."