Landscaping and Tree Planting Sites

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed two parks in El Cerrito, one of which is Poinsett Park in the Mira Vista section at the north end of the town.  The date of the work is unknown to us. Poinsett Park occupies a narrow strip along a small creek running downhill for roughly two blocks.  The upper end is riparian vegetation, after which the creek disappears into a large culvert and the park is made up of a series of leveled areas stepping down the steep hillside.  First comes a lawn; then a children's playground; then a barbecue pit and refreshment stand....

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed Pokagon State Park into a fully-fledged recreational park in the 1930s, planting thousands of trees, building trails, establishing a group camp, and constructing park buildings, including a gatehouse, bath house (with beach), saddle barn, two-story shelter house, and more. CCC Company 556 occupied Camp SP-7 at Pokagon from 1934 until 1942. To enhance the outdoors experience, projects exhibited designs that were rustic and harmonious with their surroundings, using native materials and adhering to guidelines established through the National Park Service. Pokagon has been home to the longest running annual CCC reunion in the country and continues the...

According to the park's website: "1940 Jack Zedaker leads boys from the National Youth Administration in building two shelter houses (Zedaker Pavilion and the Shelter House at “Indian Spring” near Gutknecht Entrance), four footbridges, planting of trees, construction of trail markers, improvements to trails, and the creation of a parking area. 18,000 maple trees planted, 50,000 willows along Yellow Creek for erosion control."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) engaged in landscaping work on the grounds of the then-new post office in Charlotte Amalie.

Youth employed by the National Youth Administration carried out landscaping and upkeep work in Guayanilla's Public Plaza. Through its student work program, the National Youth Administration provided work opportunities and helped Puerto Rican youth graduate high school and college. "By the spring of 1935 though, 20 percent of the nation’s twenty-two million youngsters remained out of school and either on relief or wandering the country looking for work. In 1937, the President stated: 'I have determined, that we shall do something for the nation’s unemployed Youth…' Beneficiaries would be all male and female youths aged 16 to 25 not regularly attending...

Description of a project undertaken by the W.P.A. in 1938: "Quinobequin Road, Newton, Washington Street to Boylston Street; to construct a pea stone and stone dust walk 5 feet wide and a planting space 10 feet wide, both 9,400 feet long."

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."

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...

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...

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...

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...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped construct Salem-Winston’s Reynolds Park and Recreation Center between 1939 and 1940. “A $300,000 proposed municipal park and recreation center at Winston-Salem, N.C., has received final approval in Washington,” a journalist for Park & Recreation magazine reported. “The development, to be known as Reynolds Park, will be located two miles east of the courthouse square…Within the area will be an 18-hole golf course, a large swimming pool, tennis courts, an athletic field and wooded area for walking and picnicking.” The fruits of this WPA-funded project can still be enjoyed today.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted the following work at the former Ridge Avenue school in Darby, Pennsylvania: "grade the grounds on the Tenth street side of the Ridge avenue school grounds and ... enlarge the cement court to the Tenth street fence and the line of the property of the Friends' Meeting." The school, which was located at the western corner of Ridge Ave. and N 10th St., is no longer extant.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) completed improvements at Riverbank Park in Westbrook ME. "Riverbank Improved by C. W. A. Project The C.W.A. project for improving Riverbank, and greatly appreciated by the Trustees, consisted in the closing of the unsightly dump on the bank of the river and establishing of a new city dump at the foot of Foster Street. A large amount of filling required was moved by trucks in the winter to grade the river bank, also to build a road-way across the gully at the new city dump. The grading, fertilizing and seeding of the improved section was done by...

Researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that a major part of the New Deal creation of what is now Riverside Park involved completely re-shaping the land itself. The park was re-engineered from its natural rather steep slope "into two relatively flat areas separated by a retaining wall... The train tracks run behind the retaining wall and under the upper level of the park. The lower level...is on the same level as the river and contains a vast amount of parkland and numerous ball fields, athletic fields, game courts, and playgrounds." In addition to shaping the land itself, New Deal workers...

In 1934-35, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) helped develop Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary out of the marshes along the south shore of the Potomac River. Roaches Run  is located at the north end of National Airport, which was developed a few years later.  The CCC enrollees built a tidal gate between the lagoon and the river, cleared out brush and landscaped the area.  They built a parking lot for visitors and entry/exit roads from the George Washington Parkway, along with a trail around the lagoon.  A gamekeeper's cottage and feed storage unit were also added. The CCC crews presumably worked under...

The planning and construction of the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway largely predates the New Deal, but it was only completed in 1933-36 with help from the National Park Service (NPS), Civil Works Administration (CWA), Public Works Administration (PWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).   The Parkway runs 2.5 miles from the Lincoln Memorial on the Potomac River along Rock Creek to the Connecticut Avenue bridge, just south of the National Zoo.   At that point, the road becomes Beach Drive and the Parkway join Rock Creek Park.  The two are separate units of the National Capital...

In 1937, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) demolished an abandoned reservoir at 16th St. and Morrow Drive, filled in the hole, leveled the adjacent area, and sodded and seeded the entire area.  The open space was intended to be used for recreational purposes in Rock Creek Park and today appears to be the site of the Carter Barron soccer fields, next to the Brightwood Recreation Center (also built by the WPA).

The New Deal contributed substantially to the betterment of Rock Creek Park in the 1930s.  This involved a number of federal agencies. Rock Creek Park is a key greenway in the District of Columbia and, at 1750 acres, is almost twice the size of Central Park in New York.  It was established by Congress in 1890, making it officially a National Park at the time.  It featured prominently in the far-reaching plans for the District of Columbia by the McMillan Commission in 1901-02 and the Olmsted Brothers report of 1918, which envisioned a major park with a scenic parkway running through it. In...

In 1931, the San Diego Teachers College moved to a new site on Montezuma Mesa northeast of the city. The college changed its name to San Diego State College in 1935.  The Works Progress Administration (WPA) did major development work on the site to accommodate the new college and improve the site.   WPA relief workers built a sewage disposal system, drainage facilities, roadways, walls, walkways, and gutters, and completed grading, landscaping, excavation for the college.

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 federal Works Progress Administration constructed sidewalks and landscaped school grounds in Oakhurst, New Jersey ca. 1936. It is unclear to Living New Deal whether these projects were related / located at the same facilities. WPA N.J. Project No. 5-233.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted a project to improve the building and grounds of the school in Lynch, Nebraska, completed Jan. 1934. Norfolk Daily News, Jan. 10, 1934: "The interior of the school building has been repainted, revarnished and redecorated. The hill behind the building has been removed so that the school grounds will look nicer and can be landscaped. A deep trench has been dug around the grounds to lay open all winter and catch moisture. In the spring it is to be planted to shrubbery and trees."

Youth employed by the National Youth Administration carried out landscaping work for Ponce’s public schools. Through its student work program, the National Youth Administration provided work opportunities and helped Puerto Rican youth graduate high school and college. "By the spring of 1935 though, 20 percent of the nation’s twenty-two million youngsters remained out of school and either on relief or wandering the country looking for work. In 1937, the President stated: 'I have determined, that we shall do something for the nation’s unemployed Youth…' Beneficiaries would be all male and female youths aged 16 to 25 not regularly attending school." Excerpt from...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) conducted substantial work at Shenipsit State Forest in northern Connecticut. Work was undertaken by Camp Conner, housing Company #1192, which operated from Sept. 5, 1935 to May 23, 1941. Projects, which include those given separate pages on this website, included "miles of hiking trails" and "clean-up after the Flood of 1936 and the Hurricane of 1938 in East Hartford, Stafford Springs, and South Windsor."

Although the State's initial acquisition of land for the park occurred in 1931, the early development of Silver Falls State Park can be credited to several of the New Deal programs. A significant portion of the land for the park was purchased by the federal Resettlement Administration (RA) c 1935, and developed for recreational use through the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1942. As shown on the map below, a portion of the land that became Silver Falls State Park was once Silver Falls City.  Surrounding this old logging town, the...

The early development of Silver Falls State Park can be credited to several of the New Deal programs. A significant portion of the land for the park was purchased by the Federal Resettlement Administration (RA) c. 1935, and developed for recreational use through the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1942. During that period, a distinction was made between Silver Falls Park, which was accessible to the public, and the area designated as the Silver Creek Recreation Development Area (RDA), which was a special federal program designed to allow urban...

Although the State's initial acquisition of land for the park occurred in 1931, the early development of Silver Falls State Park can be credited to several of the New Deal programs. A significant portion of the land for the park was purchased by the federal Resettlement Administration (RA) c 1935, and developed for recreational use through the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1942. As shown on the map below, a portion of the land that became Silver Falls State Park was once Silver Falls city. Surrounding this old logging town, the...

In 1936 Work: A Journal of Progress reported that Works Progress Administration (WPA) relief crews had conducted grounds maintenance at the Smithsonian Institution, not specified but likely consisting of planting shrubs, turning soil, and other landscaping work.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) were called on to aid local farmers in control works for soil erosion.  Their work played an essential role in the origins of the Soil Conservation Service (SCS).   "Farmers in Arroyo Grande, desperate to eke out a living during the Great Depression, were plowing their land to plant bean and pea crops. The unintended result was massive erosion. 'Arroyo Grande was an eye opener', Hugh Bennett, the first chief of the Soil Conservation Service, wrote in 1935.  'I can think of no other place in the United States where erosion is...

New Deal relief workers made some improvements to state beaches along the Sonoma County coast, all of which are now included in the Sonoma Coast State Park that runs from Bodega  Bay to Jenner, California. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed trails at Salmon Creek Beach, Portuguese Beach, Schoolhouse Beach, Wright's Beach and Goat Rock.  Relief workers also added pit latrines at the first three of those and transplanted of dunes grasses to prevent wind erosion of sand dunes at some of these beaches. At Jenner Beach, CCC Company 572 built a parking lot by the road and a hiking trail down...

Springfield Park was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and were "turned over to the Park Department" on August 18, 1939. "A three-acre lake, once a mosquito-breeding swamp, is the center of the Springfield Gardens development," wrote The New York Times, "which embraces seventeen and one-half acres and includes an athletic field, a football gridiron, two basketball courts, two softball diamonds and more than 100 shade trees."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.)’s Camp Hook was stationed at Squantz Pond State Park from May 24, 1933 to Oct. 30, 1935. Projects undertaken at the park included: foot trails along Squantz Pond construction of the Squantz Pond entrance road recreation area improvements at Squantz Pond gypsy moth removal tree planting

The Works Progress Administration carried out landscaping work on the St. Jones Creek (today St. Jones River) in the vicinity of Dover.

Between 1934 and 1940, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge (then called the St. Marks Migratory Bird Refuge) located about twenty-five miles away from Tallahassee FL. Overseen by the U.S. Biological Survey, the work was done by enrollees at Camp BF-1 – one of the first African American CCC camps in Florida. CCC teams constructed roads, cut fire lines, built structures, and facilitated the establishment of the refuge as it stands today. According to the Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge, “lmost everything was fabricated by the CCC men. Poles that carried the power...

In 1935-36, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted cleanup efforts at Stanton Park, just northeast of the Capitol. Crews removed underbrush, poisonous plants, and dead trees to make the park more usable for the public. The park's redesign in 1933 was also likely done by the New Deal, but more evidence is needed.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) planted around 400 street trees in the city of Martinez in the winter of 1933-34. The plantings consisted of walnuts and sycamores.  (Henderson 2014) Susana Park had just been deeded to the city by the Masonic Lodge, which stands nearby.  Many of the trees in the park are probably planted by the CWA.  Rock work at the entrances to the park may well be CWA, but that cannot be confirmed (benches connected to the low rock walls were removed in a recent renovation of the park). A special ceremony was held at Susana Park to plant trees...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided labor to improve Stockton’s Stribley Park in 1938. The improvement project was one of several WPA efforts in the City. “It is reported that $21,903 will be spent in a city-wide improvement program of municipal playground facilities at Stockton, Calif., which is under way as a WPA project,” a contemporary journalist reported in June 1938. “Two tennis courts will be constructed at Stribley Park and two at the Municipal Baths.” The park still exists today. Facilities include baseball diamonds and picnic areas. It appears as though the tennis courts mentioned above were refurbished as handball courts.

By 1940, the tracks of the former Warwick Railroad had been removed from the center of Suburban Parkway in Oakland Beach. As a WPA project, this center strip was landscaped.

The Works Progress Administration completed land improvements in the Tahoe National Forest in 1936. "Forest Rd. Improvement & development - Installation of Communication System. Alder Creek to Crystal Peak, Nevada & Sierra Counties. Clear & brush 51 acres of land adjacent to highways and roads for a distance of 14 miles with a Federal cost of $3440. Clear & brush 22 acres of land through forests for future road construction for a distance of 6 miles with a Federal cost of $1556. Install a communication system for a distance of 20 miles with a Federal cost of $844. All roads are...