South Dakota Sites

WPA-funded animal sculptures have been moved from the CCC camp on American Island to Main Street in Chamberlain. A squirrel and coyote were placed outside the Chamberlain Swimming Pool, and two eagles sit on either side of the Avenue of Flags where it intersects Main St. Godakota.com and americanislanddays.com make this note about the camp and sculptures: "There was a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp located on American Island near Chamberlain, South Dakota. The camp workers were responsible for many of the improvements on the island and around Chamberlain in the 1930s and 40s. A photo taken by Orrion Barger seen in...

Completed in 1936 as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, what is now known as Amsden Lake was developed as a reservoir during the Great Depression. The dam "was built at a cost of $207,000 of clay faced with stone. The Federal Government supplied $150,000, the county $45,000 and the city of Aberdeen $12,000." (NYT) South Dakota Magazine: "Amsden Dam near Andover is a pretty little lake with humble roots. The 235 acre lake sits behind a Works Progress Administration dam. The dam was started in 1934, while South Dakota was in the grip of the Dust Bowl and the nation was mired...

"The Aurora County Courthouse is a flat roofed rectangular three story poured-in-place concrete building constructed in the Art Deco and Art Moderne styles. The facade and sides are symmetrical with seven bays on the front and five bays on each of the sides. The concrete foundation extends up to the sills of the first floor windows. Above that, the first floor concrete has a rusticated appearance of incised mortar joints, creating the appearance of a podium or pedestal upon which the upper stories rest. The second and third floors are smooth concrete. Between the first and...

At Badlands National Park (formerly Badlands National Monument), WPA and CCC workers constructed buildings, created parking areas, made road improvements, and installed utilities. These crews helped develop the park that so many tourists and vacationers enjoy today.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Baltic School in Baltic SD. The structure served as a public school. Its current use is unknown. A building plaque reads: "WPA project number 3883."

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration was associated with the construction of a large stone hangar, since demolished, at Black Hills Airport, also known as Clyde Ice Field.

"One of the most significant WPA projects in Rapid City was Camp Rapid. Construction of permanent buildings began on June 25, 1934 and one year later, Executive Order 7034 allowed the WPA to begin hiring men to take part in the construction of the headquarters building. James C. Ewing, an architect from Rapid City, designed the brick and reinforced concrete Administration Building and Project 956 began in 1936 and was completed by the end of the year. The original buildings main floor consisted of a reception area with a vault and was surrounded by four offices, one of which was...

"Canyon Lake Park was developed around the 1890s by the Upper Rapid City Company, who planted the Lombardy poplar trees that still line the roads of the park. Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy was a partner in the company that planned to develop Rapid Creek and Canyon Lake as a resort with a hotel and a railroad from the downtown area. The lake flooded out in 1907, and thirty years later the WPA rebuilt the lake and dam, adding the rock landscaping. Working in conjunction with the WPA, enrollees at the Custer State CCC camp spent two years in a side camp located...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) maintained a camp on French Creek east of Custer State Park in South Dakota from 1934 to 1941.  It was officially camp SP-3 (meaning State Park #3).  The recruits worked on projects in region under the supervision of Custer State Park rangers and the National Park Service (NPS). The CCC enrollees built many miles of road, telephone lines and boundary fences. To this they added 20 bridges.  They constructed a fire lookout on Mt. Coolidge, along with a ranger's residence there, and fought fires and bark beetle infestations. They developed the Blue Bell Lodge and cabins...

The striking municipal auditorium on Main Street, Hill City, South Dakota was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938. Originally 50 feet x 100 feet, this poured-concrete building has since received additions on its north and south sides. The distinctive building also bears a unique WPA plaque. WPA Project Number 2934

"The new city hall is three stories and a basement in height and houses all of the municipal offices, including the police, health, and water departments, as well as the judicial offices, a jail, a garage, and an auditorium seating 400. The structure is fireproof throughout, with a steel frame and reinforced concrete floor and roof slabs. The exterior walls are face brick trimmed with stone and granite. All sash are metal. Small spots of carved stone ornament are used over the main-entrance door. The building was completed at the end of July 1936 at an approximate project cost of $432,000."

Situated in the center of the 700 block of Main Street in downtown Spearfish, South Dakota, the Spearfish City Hall is set back from the street with two large fir trees covering most of the front facade. The City Hall is a massive, square, two-story stone masonry building. Rising from a concrete foundation, it has rubble limestone walls with coursed red sandstone pilasters dividing the front facade into five bays. The front and side walls extend into a parapet, which is stepped on the front and capped with cast concrete coping. A sloped, flat built-up roof covers the building. Windows...

A three-piece fresco was painted byEdwin Boyd Johnson in 1936 for Sioux Falls's brand-new city hall. The work is still extant and housed in the Commissioners Room.

"There were nine PWA-financed courthouses constructed in South Dakota during the Depression era. Although designs were not standardized, most were three or four story buildings designed in variations of the Moderne styles. Building materials and finishes included brick, stone, concrete, terra cotta, terrazzo floors, marble, wood, steel casement windows, and cast metal ornamentation. Most courthouses from this era are distinguished by their massing and form. Typically larger, block-like buildings on elevated bases, courthouses usually display symmetry with a central entrance and uniformly placed window bays. Detailed surrounds and/or projecting bays often emphasize the central entrance. Interior character-defining features generally include...

This stone building was erected in 1936 with WPA funds as the local community center. It currently serves as the local library and sits next to the police station on Main Street.

"The CCC assigned to Custer State Park had the objective of making nature more enjoyable and accessible to the public. Recreational improvements in the state's largest park included the construction of dams at Horsethief Lake, Stockade Lake, Center Lake and Bismarck Lake. Picnic areas an/or campgrounds were developed at each of these lakes, as well as other sites throughout the park. At Sylvan Lake, the CCC collected the stone for the PWA-financed and WPA-constructed lodge, built seventeen rustic log and stone cabins, a store and a filling station fro use in conjunction with the lodge, installed water and sewer systems,...

" grew rapidly in the 1920s, acquired additional lands; during the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps made many park improvements. CCC men laid out campgrounds and picnic areas, built a massive park museum, miles of roads, sturdy bridges and a stone fire tower, but, most importantly, constructed three dams creating Stockade, Center and Legion Lakes, all of which provide for water-based recreation." --John R. Thune, "Custer State Park"

"The CCC assigned to Custer State Park had the objective of making nature more enjoyable and accessible to the public. Recreational improvements in the state's largest park included the construction of dams at Horsethief Lake, Stockade Lake, Center Lake and Bismarck Lake. Picnic areas an/or campgrounds were developed at each of these lakes, as well as other sites throughout the park. At Sylvan Lake, the CCC collected the stone for the PWA-financed and WPA-constructed lodge, built seventeen rustic log and stone cabins, a store and a filling station fro use in conjunction with the lodge, installed water and sewer systems,...

"The grew rapidly in the 1920s, acquired additional lands; during the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps made many park improvements. CCC men laid out campgrounds and picnic areas, built a massive park museum, miles of roads, sturdy bridges and a stone fire tower, but, most importantly, constructed three dams creating Stockade, Center and Legion Lakes, all of which provide for water-based recreation." --John R. Thune, "Custer State Park"

"The Civilian Conservation Corps built the Peter Norbeck Visitor Center as the park museum during the winter months of 1934-35. The young men of Camp Lodge, ages 17-25, created a structure that blends into the surroundings. They used their talent in construction and native materials of logs and rocks to create a building to educate the public on the parks natural and cultural history. Interpretive exhibits and displays allow visitors to gaze into the eyes of a 1,900-pound bison or witness tree rings dating back 330 years. Displays reveal much about the history of the area, from Black Hills geology to...

"The grew rapidly in the 1920s, acquired additional lands; during the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps made many park improvements. CCC men laid out campgrounds and picnic areas, built a massive park museum, miles of roads, sturdy bridges and a stone fire tower, but, most importantly, constructed three dams creating Stockade, Center and Legion Lakes, all of which provide for water-based recreation." --John R. Thune, "Custer State Park"

"The Wildlife Station Visitor Center is located on the Wildlife Loop Road and provides guests with a place to stop, stretch their legs and visit with park staff about the prairie habitats of Custer State Park or find out where they might see a herd of bison and other wildlife. The building was originally built as the Buffalo Herdsman's house and over the years has housed the herdsman and other park staff but more recently became a Visitor Center around 1990. Inside you will witness the unique craftsmanship of the CCC era as well as exhibits, wildlife mounts and a bookstore."

"The Davison County Courthouse is a flat-roofed, rectangular, four-story, reinforced concrete building with a Minnesota Sandstone veneer constructed in the Art Deco style. The front and sides are symmetrical. A stone foundation rises to just below the level of the first floor windows. On each corner there is a one story projecting bay. The projecting areas and the lack of decorative elements on the first floor create the appearance of a podium upon which the upper three stories rest. The facade contains seven vertical rows of windows separated by piers which rise from the...

Several New Deal agencies contributed to the construction of the Deerfield Dam in the vicinity of Hill City and the Black Hills National Forest, SD. Construction began before the Roosevelt Administration, continued during the New Deal, and finished after World War II. According to the Bureau of Reclamation, "Construction was started on July 7, 1942, by the Farm Security Administration and was later continued by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Civilian Public Service Camp under the Works Projects Administration during World War II. The facilities were completed by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1947."

"The historic amphitheater was constructed in the Dell Rapids City Park in 1936 as a project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA)." Presently listed to the National Register of Historic Places, the "structure continues to be a popular focal point for many summertime activities."

"Stretching back almost a century ago, the residents of Dell Rapids beat the South Dakota heat with a dip in the Big Sioux River. An historic quartzite bathhouse, built in 1934 as a Civil Works Administration project, is the only remaining monument to one of the most popular swimming beaches in the state." --City of Dell Rapids

"R. L. Bronson, secretary of the Rapid City Chamber of Commerce, first propositioned the idea of a Dinosaur Park to federal agencies after visiting the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition and viewed a mechanically operated reproduction of a brontosaurus. The government approved the five prehistoric sculptures, Triceratops, Triconodon, Brontosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Tyrannosaurus Rex, allowing WPA Project 960 to begin excavation work in March, 1936. An engineer, H. H. Babcock, initially supervised twenty workers as they prepared an area south of Hangmans Hill for the life-size reproductions. An office building that sat on the rim of the Stratobowl during the Stratosphere...

"There were nine PWA-financed courthouses constructed in South Dakota during the Depression era. Although designs were not standardized, most were three or four story buildings designed in variations of the Moderne styles. Building materials and finishes included brick, stone, concrete, terra cotta, terrazzo floors, marble, wood, steel casement windows, and cast metal ornamentation. Most courthouses from this era are distinguished by their massing and form. Typically larger, block-like buildings on elevated bases, courthouses usually display symmetry with a central entrance and uniformly placed window bays. Detailed surrounds and/or projecting bays often emphasize the central entrance. Interior character-defining features generally include large...

The Works Progress Administration built the spillway at the Elm Lake Dam in Frederick SD between 1936 and 1938. The dam at Elm Lake was originally built both to provide a recreation destination and to create a water source for the city of Aberdeen, SD. It still serves this purpose today. The work on Elm Dam included an earthen embankment, low level outlet, concrete-lined primary spillway, and earth-cut auxiliary spillway. A ten-span bridge was also built over the approach channel to the primary spillway.

This walnut relief entitled "The Building of Grand Crossing" by Laci de Gerenday with Treasury Section funding in 1940. It originally hung in the 1936 post office and federal courthouse across the street.

Constructed by the Treasury Department in 1938 as a post office and courthouse. It is still in use by the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota.

The court house and post office was constructed in 1895 and an addition was added in 1932. In 1941, federal funding supplied the building with a new elevator.

WPA crews conducted restoration work at the site between 1935 and 1938. From the Library of Congress: "In 1937, the fort was restored as a WPA project. It has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, but today is in great need of additional need of repair and structural work."  

WPA crews built the South Dakota Governor's Mansion in 1936 in the capitol city of Pierre. In 2004, it was purchased and moved 175 miles to Rapid City, but in 2013 was sold at a foreclosure auction. It remains privately owned, and serves as an event hall. From a local Rapid City television station report in 2008: The current owner paid around $40,000 for the mansion 16 of South Dakota's governors called home.  It cost him five times that to have the property moved from Pierre to Rapid City. Now, instead of being home to South Dakota's first families, it's open to...

This building was part of the Harding County High School in Buffalo, SD, until its demolition at some point between 2013 and 2016. This small school serves the entire county, for all grades, and has a total enrollment of less than 200. A National Parks Service, National Register of Historic Places document explains the school's New Deal history: "The stand-alone gymnasiums and auditoriums erected by the WPA as additions to schools underscored the importance of these amenities to the community schools. Gymnasiums were often added to older schools that had been constructed without one, while auditoriums, too, were a common addition...

"The Harney Peak Lookout Tower was built by Camp F-23, Doran to replace the old wooden structure. Over 7,500 rocks had to be hauled up the mountain on specially built horse-drawn sleds. Everything necessary was sledded up or carried by the men as they climbed to the job site. The U.S. Forest Service recently did repairs at the tower in the hope that the shelter will be respectfully used." (Sanders) "The Harney Peak Fire Tower was constructed at Harney Peak by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1935 to 1938. Stones gathered from French Creek were used to construct the tower. All of...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement work at the federal fish hatchery in Spearfish, South Dakota, including laying a new 736-foot pipeline that replaced a leak-prone pipe.

"The Hughes County Courthouse was designed in the Public Works Administration Moderne style with Art Deco features by the architects Hugill and Blatherwick and constructed by the Henry Carlson Company, all out of Sioux Falls. This governmental interpretation is a simplified version of the exuberant Art Deco style that appealed to a nation in the midst of the Great Depression. The uninterrupted square massing of the building and vertical bands of windows separated by decorative-patterned brick spandrels provide the only historical references to the style. The buildings utilization of Art Deco and Moderne design elements is typical of South Dakotas...

A WPA municipal building on Main St. in Java, South Dakota. It is now used as the Java Public Library.

This bathhouse was built by the WPA in the 1939. It still stands today along the shore of LaBolt Lake, in Grant County, South Dakota. Much of it is in disrepair but it still stands as a nice tourist attraction. It is still used as a very rustic changing facility. The changing rooms have no roof and no door so discretion is a valor when using the facility.