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| Record Creator: | Parks and Recreation Commission, State |
| Description: | This collection of approximately 2,000 negatives shows work conducted on Washington State Parks by Civilian Conservation Corps workers, 1933-1938. Images include construction of picnic areas, campgrounds, kitchen shelters, bathrooms, caretakers’ homes, trails, and bridges, as well as CCC activities, camps, and daily life. Moran, Lewis and Clark, Deception Pass, Millersylvania, Riverside, Rainbow Falls, Carkeek, Denny Park, Mt. Spokane, Saltwater, Beacon Rock, Ginkgo, and Twanoh State Parks are included in this collection.
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program for unemployed men that focused on natural resource conservation from 1933 to 1942. As part of the New Deal legislation proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the CCC was designed to provide work for young men suffering as a result of the Great Depression, as well as to provide a natural resource conservation program on federal and state lands. Members would enlist for a duration of 6 months; living in camps, wearing uniforms and abiding by strict standards and discipline. In its duration, about 3 million CCC men worked in public lands across the nation. Many of Washington’s State Parks were built entirely by CCC men; creating one of the finest park systems in the country. |
| Related Records: | For more information, or to learn about related records, contact the Washington State Archives at (360) 586-1492, or email research@sos.wa.gov. |
| Access Restriction Notes: | These images are open for research. |
| Sources of Transfer | State Government Archives |
| Notes | These photographs were digitized by Sean Krier, Kristen Brown, and Jennifer Huapaya, Washington State Archives. Indexing by Maggie Cogswell and Sean Krier, Washington State Archives. |
| Agency History: | The State Board of Park Commissioners was created in 1913 and consisted of the Governor, the Commissioner of Public Lands, the State Auditor, the State Treasurer, and another person appointed by the Governor. No guidelines or funding were provided. In 1915, the Board began keeping minutes and accepted land for two parks, Larrabee State Park in Whatcom County and the historic Jackson courthouse in Lewis County. In 1921, House Bill 164 changed the name of the body to the State Parks Committee and gave the “care, charge, control and supervision of all parks and parkways.” The Committee was to acquire more land for parks, adopt and enforce rules and regulations, improve and beautify parks and make them available for camping, grant concessions in parks, and plant trees along non-forested highways. The only sources of revenue were camping fees, rentals from concessions, and 25% of rural traffic fines. By this time, the state had also acquired Crawford State Park in Pend Oreille County, which has a limestone cave, city parks in Tacoma and Zillah, and several undeveloped tracts of land. Over the next seven years, the state acquired Deception Pass State Park from the United States government (which reserved the right to reoccupy it in time of war), Bay View State Park in Skagit County, and Twanoh State Park on Hood Canal. The parks were attracting at least 150,000 visitors a year. In 1928, the Parks Committee asked for greatly increased funding, and Governor Roland Hartley responded by vetoing the entire state parks budget. Most parks were closed for four years, although private businesses were allowed to keep five of them open. In 1932, Governor Clarence Martin was elected and the Parks Committee regained funding. During the 1930’s, land for new parks was acquired, including Beacon Rock, Fort Canby, Lewis and Clark, Lewis and Clark Trail, Peace Arch, Rainbow Falls, Riverside, Steptoe Butte, and Sun Lakes. The state parks benefited greatly from the Great Depression, as hundreds of Civilian Conservation Corps workers built campgrounds, bathrooms, kitchens, garages, water systems, ski lodges, roads, trails, and boating facilities, and fought forest fires. Both the Depression and World War II meant diminished spending and resources for parks, but the end of the war meant more of both, as well as a growing population interested in recreation. 1947 legislation restructured the state parks agency and gave it a new name: the Washington Parks and Recreation Commission. It now had seven members: the Secretary of State, the Commission of Public Lands, the State Treasurer, and four citizens appointed by the Governor and approved by the Senate. The Commission was required to hire a director, create rules and regulations, and study park and recreation needs. It was funded by receiving $1.20 of every $3.00 driver’s license fee. A Recreation Division was created in 1947 and staffed in 1949, to study recreation needs and provide advice to local communities, colleges, military posts, and hospitals and other institutions By 1950, the Commission owned 79 pieces of property, including 41 developed parks, and was attracting 1.6 million visitors a year. Historical and geological sites gained prominence as the first historian was hired in 1953, archaeological investigations took place in some parks, and interpretive displays were created. Group camping became more popular and the state developed Camp Wooten in Columbia County, Camp Delaney in Sun Lakes State Park, and others, as group camps. Land acquired during the 1950’s included Birch Bay, Curlew Lake, Dosewallips, Fort Simcoe, Lake Sammamish, Old Fort Townsend, several islands in the San Juans, and many others. The state also enhanced its boating facilities, and took over several federal forts including Fort Casey, Fort Columbia and Fort Flagler. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Referenda 11, 18, and 28 provided recreation funding, and there was also federal money available, as well as state funding for off-road vehicles, skiing and snowmobiling. Many more lands were acquired, including Battle Ground Lake, Fort Ebey, Fort Ward, Fort Worden, Olmstead Place, Potlatch, Rockport, and several islands and marine facilities. In 1969 the Parks and Recreation Commission was restructured again; the members are now all citizens rather than elected officials. More recent acquisitions include the historic Ebey’s Landing, Manchester (a former naval fuel depot), Mount Pilchuck, Saint Edward (a former Catholic seminary), Twenty-five Mile Creek, several more islands, the Goldendale Observatory (with a twenty-four-inch reflecting telescope), and many others. The Seashore Conservation Area was developed, along with several trails, Environmental Learning Centers, and a conference center and cultural center at Fort Worden. The Commission now operates 120 state parks. |
| Preferred Citation: | [Title of image], [date], [photographer if known], State Parks and Recreations Commission, Photographs of Park Development, 1933-1938, [State Park Number], Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov, [date accessed]. |
| Record Count: | 2,396 |
