- City:
- Berkeley, CA
- Site Type:
- Parks and Recreation, Bathhouses
- New Deal Agencies:
- Works Progress Administration (WPA), Work Relief Programs
- Started:
- 1939
- Completed:
- 1940
- Quality of Information:
- Good
- Marked:
- No
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
After the Public Works Administration (PWA) financed the construction of Lake Anza in Tilden Park by damming Wildcat Creek, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the Bath House and ancillary buildings, c 1940.
This work was part of a major New Deal effort to aid the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) in improving its four original parks and making them available for public recreation in the 1930s.
The Bath House has been demolished and replaced by a newer and larger structure.
Source notes
Elbert Vail, The Early Story of the East Bay Regional Parks. Unpublished manuscript, available at East Bay Regional Parks District archives.
Elbert Vail, Progress Report, c 1940, available at East Bay Regional Parks District archives
Elbert Vail, 1940 Master Plan. Oakland CA: East Bay Regional Parks District, 1940, available at East Bay Regional Parks District archives
Amanda Sue Marshall, "WPA and CCC worksites in East Bay Regional Parks," research report for Living New Deal, January 2, 2012.
Mimi Stein, A Vision Achieved:Fifty Years of the East Bay Regional Parks District. Oakland CA: East Bay Regional Parks District, 1984. @ https://www.ebparks.org/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=25719
Brechin, Gray. 2008. "Forgotten Foundation". Bay Nature Magazine. January 1. https://baynature.org/articles/jan-mar-2008/forgotten-foundation
Smith, Harvey. 2014. Berkeley and the New Deal. Charleston SC: Arcadia Books.
Amanda Sue Marshall, The East Bay Hills: A Brief History. Charleston SC: The History Press, 2017.
Site originally submitted by Shaina Potts on August 2, 2020.
Additional contributions by Richard A Walker.
At this Location:
- Tilden Regional Park: Lake Anza - Berkeley CA
- Tilden Regional Park: Brazilian Room - Berkeley CA
- Tilden Regional Park: Golf Course - Berkeley CA
- Tilden Regional Park: Botanical Garden - Berkeley CA
- Tilden Regional Park: Wildcat Canyon Road - Berkeley CA
- Tilden Regional Park: Picnic Areas - Berkeley CA
- Tilden Regional Park: Stone Restrooms - Berkeley CA
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