Town Park – Canonsburg PA

Description

Multiple New Deal agencies: the Civil Works Administration, Federal Emergency Relief Administration, and Works Progress Administration, helped to develop Canonsburg, Pennsylvania’s Town Park in 1934—1936. In addition to constructing its pool and Park Drive, work relief workers—according to a local the submitter met during a visit in 2017—constructed paths and staircases, stone pillars at park entrances, walls, and picnic facilities. It is unclear exactly to what extent the original Depression-era structures have been preserved.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA), “approved an appropriation of more than $10,000 to complete the bath house. Another $20,000 was approved for general improvement of the park …” WPA workers completed the bathhouse, installed a walkway, and landscaped the entrance.

The stone pillars shown here flank an entrance the west side of the park, on Parkland Drive, just south of the pool. The part-staircase, part-path shown in two images lead up to this entrance. The picnic area and stone wall reside on the east side of the park, below Park Drive and northeast of the playground.