Mark Graves/The Oregonian
Several beloved parks and landmarks around Oregon owe their existence to one of the most difficult moments in American history: the Great Depression.
Dozens of places in Oregon were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration (later renamed the Works Projects Administration), two programs created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 as part of The New Deal that aimed to help relieve unemployment by putting people in jobs that would serve the public good.
While that included funding for artists, writers and musicians (resulting in Woody Guthrie's famed "Roll on, Columbia, Roll On"), much of the work done under the CCC and WPA was physical labor, with workers constructing bridges, buildings, roads and parks.
In Oregon, the New Deal resulted in the construction of the Bonneville Dam, the state Capitol in Salem, the original Portland airport and much more. But crews also built several parks and places that have since become woven into the fabric of our state's culture.
While you're traveling around Oregon, take the opportunity to travel back in time and discover the fascinating history of some of our most beloved landmarks. Here are 10 of the dozens of projects created by the CCC and WPA in Oregon:
Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian
Timberline Lodge
One of the most iconic landmarks in Oregon, Timberline Lodge stands at an altitude of nearly 6,000 feet on the upper slopes of Mount Hood. Constructed by WPA workers in 1937, the lodge was no easy job. Between 100 and 470 workers were on site daily, according to lodge owners, working quickly in the short summer window on the mountain. Workers were paid between 55 cents and 90 cents an hour, many of the unskilled workers paired with skilled artisans as apprentices. The result is a gorgeous lodge, both inside and out, that still draws a steady stream of tourists today.
Jamie Hale/The Oregonian
Crater Lake National Park
The majority of the buildings at Crater Lake National Park were built by the WPA and CCC, which also built campgrounds, and landscaped and improved Rim Road around the lake. More than a dozen buildings were created in the "rustic style" architecture, according the Crater Lake National Park Trust, using natural materials to blend into the landscape. Crews also did significant work on the Crater Lake Lodge, which was first built in 1915 and has a complex history of its own.
Terry Richard/The Oregonian
Dee Wright Observatory
The Dee Wright Observatory looks like a fortress made of stone, a strange shelter constructed from the same hunks of black basalt atop which it sits. The observatory stands at McKenzie Pass in the central Cascade Mountains, and offers great views of Mount Washington, the Three Sisters, Mount Jefferson and Mount Hood. CCC workers built the observatory in 1935, naming it after Dee Wright, the crew's foreman who died a year earlier, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
Jamie Hale/The Oregonian
Silver Falls State Park
Hikers who have enjoyed access to the gorgeous waterfalls of Silver Falls State Park near Silverton have the CCC to thank. Crews set up camp at what today is the North Falls Group Camp, then set to work building the infrastructure of the park. That included construction of roads, trails, bridges, stairs, rock walls, parking lots and picnic shelters. CCC workers also built the South Falls Lodge and planted more than 1 million trees to re-forest the heavily logged area.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff/The Oregonian
Waterfront Park
Portland's Waterfront Park was always a work in progress, but during the Great Depression it got some help from the WPA. Between 1935 and 1936, about 100 workers constructed the concrete railing and lamp posts at the edge of the seawall on the Willamette River, also installing steel mooring posts to assist docking ships, according to state records.
Mark Graves/The Oregonian
Rocky Butte
The development of Rocky Butte was one of the WPA's biggest projects in Portland, second only to the construction of the original airport. Between 1934 and 1939, at a cost of more than $500,000, crews landscaped and constructed the road, tunnel, retaining walls, guard rails and ultimately the now-popular viewpoint atop the extinct volcanic cinder cone, according to state records. In all, the project was estimated to have employed as many as 700 men.
Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian
Council Crest
Council Crest Park sits at one of the highest points in Portland and over time has undergone several shifts in identity. In 1938, Council Crest was the site of a decrepit amusement park, accessed by a streetcar that ran up the hill. That March, WPA crews were dispatched to take down the old buildings, clear the land and construct trails to transform Council Crest into a public park. By 1941, the work was finally complete, and the park opened to the public.
Jamie Hale/The Oregonian
Lithia Park
Ashland's Lithia Park was built in 1892 and later redesigned in 1914 by landscape architect John McLaren, known for his work on Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. While the town initially planned to pump lithium-heavy mineral water from a nearby spring into the park, those plans had largely faded by the time President Roosevelt launched The New Deal. Instead of construction, the WPA crews in Ashland did major landscaping and trail work at Lithia Park, morphing it into the landmark Oregonians know today.
Jamie Hale/The Oregonian
McLoughlin Promenade
The McLoughlin Promenade seems to connect everything in Oregon City. Spanning the edge of a bluff overlooking the town, with a view of Willamette Falls, the promenade begins beside the historic McLoughlin House, and is accessible either by the famed Municipal Elevator or the Grand Staircase built by WPA crews. Workers with the WPA finished construction of the promenade in 1939, according to the City of Oregon City, having created pathways, guardrails, staircases, tunnels and small waterfalls. Alterations and repairs have been made since then, but most of the original work still stands.
Jamie Hale/The Oregonian
Jessie M. Honeyman State Park
Originally called Camp Woahink, Jessie M. Honeyman State Park near Florence on the Oregon coast was largely constructed by CCC crews in the late 1930s. Workers constructed the Cleawox Lake Bathhouse, park office and several kitchen shelters, all of which have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They also did work on roads, stone curbs and landscaping at the park.
Courtesy of Chris L. Fussell
NORTHWEST TRAVEL GUIDES
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Native American History: The Tamástslikt Cultural Institute in Pendleton is the rare museum in Oregon that speaks from a Native American perspective.
--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB
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