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The CCC and WPA In Missouri State Parks
Civilian Conservation Corps/Work Progress Administration enrollee labor created facilities in the Missouri state parks system that endure to the present. Nearly 250 building and structures they constructed are now in the National Register of Historic Places. These and other projects are still visible throughout the 17 current Missouri state parks and historic sites improved by their efforts:
| Arrow Rock State Historic Site |
Arrow Rock |
Dr. Edmund A Babbler Memorial
State Park |
Wildwood |
| Sam A Baker State Park |
Piedmont |
| Bennett Springs State Park |
Lebanon |
| Crowder State Park |
Trenton |
| Cuivre River State Park |
Troy |
| Knob Noster State Park |
Knob Noster |
| Lake in the Ozark State Park |
Kaiser |
| Lewis and Clark State Park |
Rushville |
| Mark Twain State Park |
Stoutsville |
| Meramec State Park |
Sullivan |
| Montauk State Park |
Salem |
| Pershing State Park |
Laclede |
| Roaring River State Park |
Cassville |
| Van Meter State Park |
Miami |
| Wallace State Park |
Cameron |
| Washington State Park |
De Soto |
The CCC/WPA Legacy
Many Missouri state parks benefited from the hard work of the men in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Work Progress Administration (WPA) relief programs during the Great Depression of the 1930s. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill creating the CCC in March 1933. Thousands of CCC enrollees in companies of about 200 men lived in tents and barracks in Missouri state parks. WPA workers also participated in park construction projects under the Emergency Construction Work (ECW) program between 1933 and 1942. CCC and WPA/ECW workers built lodges, shelters, administrative buildings, camps, restrooms, bridges and other structures. They also laid out trails, planted trees, fight fires, combated floods, and help control erosion on park lands. their labor and craftsmanship left an enduring legacy for park visitors
The CCC Era at Roaring River State Park
Roaring River State Park was among the first parks in Missouri to benefit from President Franklin D Roosevelt's New Deal, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) company #1713 was organized at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., in June 1933 and was moved to roaring River State Park the same month.
During the next seven years, they built 33 buildings, mostly of the log and stone quarried by the men. They completed six acres of landscaping, and topographical and linear surveys. They built many miles of roads and trails, bridges, fire guards, fences, drinking fountains, fish races, garages and a hatchery building to name a few. The labor of the men of the CCC "… transformed wilderness into parks with picks, shovels, and axes."
In 1934, CCC Company #1713 was chosen as an outstanding company in the seventh corps area. The company always ranked first in the amount of work accomplished, and its work was considered the best in the district in architectural design and construction. They also received the Army and Navy Journal Awards.
Under the management of U.S. Army personnel, more than 1,500 men served at Roaring River State Park in CCC Company #1713 over a period of seven years. On Nov. 1, 1939, all members of the company and all their equipment were transferred to Pershing Memorial Park (now Pershing State Park) near Laclede in Linn County.
CCC Company #1713 has left a permanent memorial to the service of its members here in the majestic mountains of southwest Missouri. The work that was performed by this company has left a lasting impact that has been and will be enjoyed by millions.