Unmarked Sites

Humboldt Redwoods State Park was established in 1921 with purchases of some of the last remaining Old Growth stands of Coast Redwoods by the Save the Redwoods League. It has since been expanded several times and now includes over 51,000 acres, of which 17,000 are old growth redwood stands. California did not establish a state parks system until 1928, and little improvement work had been done at Humboldt Redwoods before the New Deal.  When the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) arrived at Dyerville camp in 1933, the young men got to work right away developing the state park. During their time in the...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built many trails in the Umpqua National Forest, working under the US Forest Service out of several CCC camps (e.g., Steamboat, Illahee). Mention is made of these trails in some information panels around the national forest, but the only one definitely identified is a portion of the North Umpqua River trail between Steamboat and Panther Creek. We will add more information on these trails as it is uncovered.

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 trails wind go from the visitor center across to the main pueblo, along both sides of the ruins and down to the two ball courts below.  They include extensive stairways, supporting rock walls and metal...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was very active in the Coronado National Forest during the 1930s. Coronado National Forest is discontinuous across southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico because the forested areas occur only on isolated mountain ranges called "Sky Islands" – a type of landscape similar to the Basin and Range in Nevada. There were five CCC camps in Coronado National Forest, including Camp F-30 in Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains. We do not know the exact location or years of operation of that camp. "The CCC performed a great deal of work here , building recreational facilities and...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was active in Jerome, a copper mining town hit hard by the Great Depression.  The WPA hired out-of-work miners for several projects in Jerome and nearby towns. One of those projects was planting trees to stabilize the steep hillside on which the town is built (like so many western mining towns).  The favorite tree for the job was the tough, fast-growing Ailanthus, or Chinese Tree of Heaven. Since the species readily spreads by root suckers, they are all over the town to this day.  But the harsh climate of Jerome, varying from winter snow to desert heat,...

The Bootjack CCC camp CO. 1912 in Bootjack CA was involved in the surveying and construction of this road, initially built as a fire road and then into a normal two lane county road. According to articles in the Mariposa Gazette, surveying by the CCC was begun Jan 21, 1936, right-of-way for the road was secured by the Mariposa Chamber of commerce in February 1936. An interruption occurred when Co. 1912 moved to Tehachepi CA for 5 months. Once back, a seven mile section was begun November 1936. A March 1937 article mentions the beginning construction of a $20,000 concrete bridge...

Built in 1940-41 to serve as a multi-purpose community center for the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, this tribal hall is the last known intact New Deal Indian Community Building left in Oregon. Its funding came through the Works Projects Administration (WPA), the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (IRA), and the Indian Division of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC-ID). The hall was designed to support what was then an unorganized group of Indians in southwestern Oregon in addressing economic, social, health and political needs. The functional building provided an auditorium to seat 300, a kitchen for canning...

The State Department was originally built for the War Department in 1940-41 and has been known since 2000 as the Harry S. Truman Federal Building.  It is home to three sculptures commissioned for the original War Department building. •An eagle over the building entrance by Harry Kreis (1942) •A lime casein on plaster work entitled "Defense of the Four Freedoms" by Kindred McLeary (1941) •"War and Peace" by Earl N. Thorp (1941) Another work by Harry Kreis (1942), entitled "Soldier Groups," was originally in the lobby of the War Department but has apparently disappeared (see comment below) A fifth commissioned work, a bas-relief called "Peaceful Pursuits...

National Archives records report that in 1933-34 the Civil Works Administration (CWA) did work on a tuberculosis sanitarium at 14th and Upshur in Washington D.C. There is no longer a sanitarium at this location, and it appears to have been demolished and replaced by the apartment building at 4120 14th St.

"Tuckerman Ravine is a glacial cirque sloping eastward on the southeast face of Mt. Washington, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Although it draws hikers throughout the year, and skiers throughout the winter, it is best known for the many "spring skiers" who ascend it on foot and ski down the steep slope from early April into July." Wiki October 9, 1934: "…eight new ski trails, which will be open for the first time this season. Tuckerman Ravine Ski Trail is the major opus and showpiece of CCC activities carried on under the direction of the Federal and State forestry...

"More than 4000 artifacts and hundreds of Indian burials were excavated at the site of the Yokut Indian village near Taft, California in 1933-34. Dr. William Duncan Strong, of the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE), headed the Tulamniu C.W.A. Project SLF-73 with Winslow Walker, also of the BAE, as assistant director. The excavations were one of a number of archaeological projects organized and financed by the Civil Works Administration as a means of reducing unemployment. Artifacts and skeletal materials were shipped to the United States National Museum for study after completion of the field work. This collection of material was...

A stretch of six miles of Tulare Lindsay Highway (Avenue 232) was widened and resurfaced with a federal grant of $25,000.   The money presumably came from the Bureau of Public Roads, but this has not been confirmed.

The Tumacácori National Monument was set aside by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 to protect the ruins of the Mission of San Jose de Tumacacori.  In 1918, it came under the administration of the National Park Service and its regional 'custodian', Frank Pinkley.  Congress created the Tumacácori National Historic Park in 1990, adding the ruins of two nearby missions, Los Santos Angeles de Guevavi and San Cayetano de Calabazas. Under the park service's guidance, Tumacácori mission church and its dependencies were stabilized in 1920-21, but intentionally not fully restored.  Only with the aid of the New Deal did the park come...

The Tumacácori National Monument was set aside by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 to protect the ruins of the Mission of San Jose de Tumacacori.  In 1918, it came under the administration of the National Park Service and its regional 'custodian', Frank Pinkley.  Congress created the Tumacácori National Historic Park in 1990, adding the ruins of two nearby missions, Los Santos Angeles de Guevavi and San Cayetano de Calabazas. Under the park service's guidance, Tumacácori mission church and its dependencies were stabilized in 1920-21, but intentionally not fully restored.  Only with the aid of the New Deal did the park come...

The Tumacácori National Monument was set aside by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 to protect the ruins of the Mission of San Jose de Tumacacori.  In 1918, it came under the administration of the National Park Service and its regional 'custodian', Frank Pinkley.  Congress created the Tumacácori National Historic Park in 1990, adding the ruins of two nearby missions, Los Santos Angeles de Guevavi and San Cayetano de Calabazas. Under the park service's guidance, Tumacácori mission church and its dependencies were stabilized in 1920-21, but intentionally not fully restored.  Only with the aid of the New Deal did the park come...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the Tunlaw Road Houses in Washington, DC in 1943. This development of 92 living units was built for white national defense workers (Washington, DC was highly segregated at the time). According to the web page “Gover Park History,” “The Tunlaw Road Houses were razed in 1954 to make way for construction of 4000 Tunlaw in 1960. “ The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced unsafe alley dwellings in Washington, DC with more modern and affordable houses and...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the Tuolumne Meadows campground in 1933-34, according to a plan laid out by the National Park Service (NPS) and with financing from the Public Works Administration (PWA).  It is the largest campground in Yosemite National Park.  The campground regularized camping at Tuolumne, which had previously been a free-for-all with cars driving across the meadows and people camping wherever they liked. The damage to the meadows had been extensive before the National Park Service brought a halt to the anarchy. First, the NPS restricted camping to designated campgrounds and then implemented a new plan for individual campsites,...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the Tuolumne Meadows campground in 1933-34.  It is the largest campground in Yosemite National Park. The CCC enrollees also built three comfort stations for the campground, done in classic National Park rustic style of boulders and timbers.  At the time, a comfort station was more than a restroom, because it included washing facilities. The three comfort stations still operate and have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.    

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the Tuolumne Meadows campground in 1933-34 and added a "contact station" or entrance station in 1936. The building is done is classic National Park rustic style, with massive boulder walls. An entrance kiosk has been added to the campground in recent years.  

In the late 1930s, the Public Works Administration (PWA) funded a new sewage collection and treatment system for Tuolumne Meadows.  It replaced the original septic tanks for the campground comfort stations and was extended to take in a broader area around the campground. More information is needed on the amount and timing of the PWA funding. The old spray field system for distributing treated sewage has been recently replaced with settling ponds. It is unknown how much of the original piping survives.

New Deal agencies realigned and reconstructed the Old Tioga road from 1933 to 1943, from Crane Flat to Tuolumne Meadows.  An important element of the road project was the bridge over the Tuolumne River, just east of the Tuolumne Meadows campground. The bridge was constructed in 1933-34. Funding came from the Public Works Administration (PWA); the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) managed construction, using private companies; and the National Park Service (NPS) oversaw all work in the park. The Tuolumne River bridge is a modern design of steel beams and concrete, but is dressed up with stone siding to accord with the...

A 35-unit subsistence homestead community, located 5 miles north of Tupelo off the Natchez Trace consisted of modest, one-story frame houses. Twenty of the units remain, and are owned by the National Park Service since transfer in 1940, and were used to house park personnel until recently. A man-made lake and recreation area was constructed in the community, although the dam broke in the 1960s and nothing remains of that feature. First initiated by the Division of Subsistence Homesteads, the project was completed by the Resettlement Administration. The original plans called for 25 units, industrial-type homesteads, and in 1934, Tupelo Lumber...

Several structures along Lincoln Log Loop in the Tusuyan Ranger Station complex were originally constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  "The Tusayan Ranger Station is one of the most historically-intact Forest Service administration complexes in Arizona. Six buildings were constructed by Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees from the Grand Canyon camp, NP2A, between 1939 and 1942. They include a residence and associated shed, office, barn and corral, garage, and seed shed. Designed in the National Park Service Rustic architecture style, the buildings are sheathed in a masonry veneer of red sandstone cut from a nearby quarry. The site represents the expanded...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out pavement repair and other, unspecified improvements to a segment of Twelfth Street NW, from Constitution Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue, in 1935-36.  The street was “widened to conform with the design of the Triangle area, and repaved with sheet asphalt pavement.”   The work was part of the $949,496 WPA allotment for DC roadwork for fiscal year 1936.   The work is likely still extant, but invisible beneath subsequent repavings.        

In 1941, Work Progress Administration (WPA) labor was used to, "Develop and improve a public park area from 12th to 14th streets, and Constitution Avenue to Madison Drive, including constructing sidewalks, curbs and tree wells; landscaping; filling; grading; placing topsoil; fertilizing; seeding; adjusting manholes; demolishing obsolete buildings; and performing appurtenant and incidental work." (National Archives) In 1964, this site was converted into the location of what is now the National Museum of American History.

In 1941, the Washington Post reported the start of a $1,158,000 road paving program carried out by the Public Roads Administration division of the Federal Works Administration (FWA). One of the streets slated to be paved was 21st Street between Virginia Avenue and C Street, NW. Although the street has been repaved since 1941, the New Deal played a role in its continued maintenance.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out pavement repair and other, unspecified improvements to Twenty-Second Street NW, from Constitution Avenue to E Street, in 1935-36. The work was part of the $949,496 WPA allotment for DC roadwork for fiscal year 1936. This WPA roadwork is undoubtedly no longer visible, in part because the War Department building (now the State Department) was built over 22d Street in the early 1940s.

The field house at Twin Oaks Playground was constructed by the Civil Works Administration (CWA) relief crews in 1933-34. The playground itself dates to 1920.  Originally a "white" playground in Washington’s segregated playground system, Twin Oaks was officially opened to all children in 1953. The 1-½ story field house follows the Colonial Revival design developed by municipal architect Albert L. Harris after the vernacular Hall-and-Parlor houses of the Tidewater region, a regionally appropriate style that was informal and good for recreation areas. In 1936, the Washington Post reported that Works Progress Administration (WPA) crews had also done work on the Twin Oaks Playground,...

The Tyler Little Theater opened on May 16, 1939. It was built with funds from private donations, the City of Tyler and the Works Progress Administration. Designed by in the late Art Deco style by architect Shirley Simmons and constructed by R.L. Clanahan, the brick building featured two auditoriums. When World War II began, there were no longer enough men to continue performances and the theater shut down. The building is currently used as a church.

Once a U.S. Federal Courthouse & Post Office, the building at 101 S 1st St. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa now serves as the city hall. The courtroom is now the chambers for the city council, and is the location for four murals generated under the Treasury Relief Art Project between 1936-1937.

In 1934, 3.1 miles of old California Route 23 (now US 395) from Point Ranch to the Bodie Road, south of Bridgeport, were graded and surfaced at a cost of $45,000.  Funds came from the federal government Bureau of Public Roads.

In 1933-34, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked at the United States Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery repairing the grounds and cleaning tombstones.  It is one of the country’s oldest national cemeteries, the final resting place for more than 14,000 veterans, mostly from the Civil War

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built paths and rock walls in the University of California Botanical Garden, including a rock bridge over Strawberry Creek.  The CCC enrollees worked out of a camp in Strawberry Canyon in 1933-34.

The Ukiah Municipal Golf Course, now known as the Ukiah Valley Golf Course, was constructed in 1935-1936 with federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds and labor. It is a full 18-hole course, designed by Paul Underwood. "he golf course has cost $28,000, of which WPA contributed $18,000 and the City of Ukiah $10,000. The city is to repay no part of the contributed sum received from the WPA and for its outlay the city has acquired 154 acres of land, a clubhouse valued at $3,000, golf equipment (including a tractor, mowers, hose and pipe) valued at $4000." Ukiah Republican Press, August 26,...

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. The United States Forest Service (USFS)  began planning the recreational development of Union Creek in the 1920s, as outdoor recreation by automobile expanded rapidly. Subsequent development of the area followed forest service plans and the USFS has maintained the integrity of the district for the last century. There are almost one hundred...

This large office building in the Suitland Federal Center –also known as Federal Office Buildings #3 – was constructed by the Public Building Administration (a branch of the Federal Works Agency) in 1941-1942 to be the headquarters of the U.S. Census Bureau, which remained in the building until 2007. Unfortunately, due to deterioration, the building was demolished a few years after that. 

Anchoring downtown Zeeland, the new one-story 60 by 70 foot post office was built for $68,000. Construction was completed in just seven months, tapping into a pool of unemployed workers available during the New Deal Era. Although the population of Zeeland at that time did not justify such a large post office, Zeeland was then home to 60 hatcheries, shipping up to 13 million live chicks and turkey poults to farmers per year, by rail and through the postal service. The post office opened on December 2, 1935.

The United States Travel Bureau existed from 1937 to 1943 as an office within the Interior Department, and its mission was to promote travel in the western hemisphere and especially within the United States. The U.S. Travel Bureau had offices in Washington, DC, New York, and San Francisco. In DC, its office was located at 1702 F Street NW (at the corner of F and 17th), across from today’s Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The building that the Travel Bureau was located in is probably no longer extant. In their WPA Guide to Washington, DC, federal writers described the Travel Bureau’s office: “Its...

University at Albany, State University of New York's Hawley Hall was opened in September 1909 as the Auditorium, one of three buildings (with the Science and Administration Buildings) on the original Western Avenue (Downtown) Campus. On December 12, 1927 the Auditorium was named Hawley Hall. The building served as an auditorium and gymnasium until February 1933 when the first floor was opened as the College library. Since the Great Depression the Dewey Graduate Library, at the University at Albany Downtown Campus, features numerous murals designed by William Brantley Van Ingen (1858‐1955), "a student of John LaFarge and Louis Comfort Tiffany, as...

The federal Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) funded construction of the railroad overpass on University Avenue in Berkeley – which today leads into the Interstate 80 freeway.  At the time, it was known as an "overhead".  The overpass is still in use today. The overpass is almost 1,000 feet long and carries four lanes of traffic, two in each direction.  It was jointly designed by state highway engineers, city engineering staff and engineering officials of the Southern Pacific Railroad.  The builders were Heafey-Moore Co. and Fredrickson & Watson Co., private contractors.  An article in California Highway and Public Works gives these details: "The...