The document summarizes the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) program in Massachusetts from 1933 to 1942. It describes how the CCC was established during the Great Depression and environmental crises to provide work and education for young men while conserving natural resources. Over 100,000 men served in 68 CCC camps across Massachusetts, carrying out projects like building infrastructure, planting trees, fighting fires, and developing recreational areas that still impact the state today. The CCC left a legacy of environmental stewardship and community spirit.
6. Duststorm Converging Crises Widespread disaster befell America’s natural resources Dust storms displaced soil, homes and people
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8. Converging Crises Widespread disaster befell America’s natural resources Dust storms displace soil homes and people USDA, NRCS
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22. Roosevelt’s Tree Army Camps became a regular part of the landscape CCC camp distribution in Massachusetts 1933-1942
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26. Life in the CCC Work projects were the foundation of the Cs
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30. Work in the CCC Cook Trail, Spencer State Forest Road Building Access to forest interior
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33. Work in the CCC Freetown State Forest Fire Hazard Reduction Water holes for fire suppression
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37. Work in the CCC Recreational Development Rustic paths, trails, benches and footbridges Boulder Park, Chester State Forest, 1936
38. Work in the CCC Recreational Development Swimming facilities Boulder Park Pool, Chester State Forest, 1936
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51. Life in the CCC The CCC Provided formal opportunities for an education Drafting SP-13, 197 Co., Leominster State Forest
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55. Life in the CCC Cooking & Baking School 1951 and 2950 Companies, Lompoc, CA The CCC provided formal opportunities for an education
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59. The Legacy of the CCC Evening serenade Closing the last camp By 1942, the CCC played its farewell tune, as was no longer needed as an emergency relief program
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63. The Legacy of the CCC Roads, Myles Standish State Forest Impacts on Massachusetts’ land
64. Fearing Pond Campfire, Myles Standish State Forest The Legacy of the CCC Impacts on Massachusetts’ land
65. Eliot Tower, Blue Hills Reservation The Legacy of the CCC Impacts on Massachusetts’ land
67. Bog Pond Dam, Savoy Mt. State Forest The Legacy of the CCC Impacts on Massachusetts’ land
68. Berry Pond Circuit Road, Pittsfield State Forest The Legacy of the CCC Impacts on Massachusetts’ land
69. Fish pool, Windsor State Forest The Legacy of the CCC Impacts on Massachusetts’ land
70. Rent (avg./month) $18 Bread 7 cents/loaf Eggs 18 cents/dozen Peanut Butter 23 cents/quart Soup 10 cents/can Bacon 38 cents/lb. Toilet Paper 9 cents/2 rolls Gasoline 10 cents/gallon Woman’s winter coat $15 The Legacy of the CCC Impacts on the people What could $25 do for a family?
71. CCC Day at State House, 2007 The Legacy of the CCC Impacts on the people Honoring CCC alumni
72. The CCC Legacy CCC commemorative plaque, Wendell State Forest The Legacy of the CCC Impacts on the people
73. The CCC Legacy Public Stewardship A community spirit of contribution to society and the environment in which we live.
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75. The Civilian Conservation Corps in Massachusetts A legacy of stewardship Department of Conservation and Recreation Massachusetts State Parks
Notas do Editor
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a project developed during the Great Depression as a relief to the environmental and economic distress. Across Massachusetts and across the nation, the CCC forever changed both the land and the people. The improvements the boys made to our forests and parks are here for generations of young people to use, and the experience they gained in the Cs has built much more than parks over the years. As we enter the 75 th anniversary of the CCC, it is clear that its legacy is all around us, and is ours to maintain. Today we will show you what the Civilian Conservation Corps was-- that it was a program in the 1930s meant to put young men to work and to help the environment. We will show you the conditions during the Great Depression that led to the creation of the CCC, as well as where the men lived and what they did for work, for fun, and for learning. Finally, we’ll show you what the boys have left behind for all of us.
The 1930s was a tumultuous time in American history. “Hard Times” they called it. Americans had recently been experiencing a bubble of prosperity, a time of low prices (click) and high wages, a time of growing technological opportunities (click), a time of man-vs-nature never looked so good (click). At the same time, however, Americans were ripping through our forests and sod (click) , and were unaware of the impending bubble-burst. When the environmental and economic crises converged, things were at their worst. The Civilian Conservation Corps was created in response to the widespread environmental destruction and the economic ruin which struck America, while the boys in the CCC became a symbol of hope for America.
In more detail, Widespread disaster befell America’s Natural Resources 2.1.4 T he result of years of constantly over-working the land was pervasive soil erosion. Soil freed from the ground was able to blow or wash away. As the soil eroded, the plant composition changed, and Water which once was slowed by, absorbed by, and otherwise used by the groundcover, was free to wreck havoc on land…and on people’s livelihoods. 2.1.5 Flooding and droughts occurred at the same time. 2.1.6 Free soil was collected by the wind and stripped from the dry, cracked fields in the west…
… and deposited in new patterns across the Midwest. Duststorms became common in the Midwest, as noted by John Steinbeck in the Grapes of Wrath. “ The wind grew stronger, whisked under stones, carried up straws and old leaves, and even little clods, marking it’s course as it sailed across the fields…The dawn came, but no day. In the grey sky a red sun appeared, a dim red circle that gave a little light, like dusk; and as that day advanced, the dusk slipped back toward darkness, and the wind cried and whimpered over the fallen corn. All [the next] day the dust sifted down from the sky, ... An even blanket covered the earth. It settled on the corn, piled up on the tops of fence posts… blanketed the weeds and trees.” As an exclamation point on a muffled statement, one storm demonstrated to the the world the beleaguered conditions Midwest In May, 1934,…
… .a dust storm collected soil from the plains of Kansas and then crossed the nation, delivering soil to the streets of Chicago, Cleveland, and Philidelphia It even left a layer of soil on the deck of an oceanliner in the North Atlantic, and required Boston’s streetlamps to be lit at noon.
2.1.10 Ultimately, people gave up on the land…
…And moved on
2.2 Economic Ruin. At the same time, the nation was recoiling from the shock of the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the resulting depression that ensued. 2.3 The Stock Market crash didn’t cause the Great Depression, but was one of the most evident symptoms of an unhealthy market system. 2.4 Banks closed, companies folded, savings were depleted or vanished, and widespread unemployment took hold in the streets of our cities and towns. 2.5 In a limited attempt at relief, various governmental agencies in the states tried to create ways to help. Men, trying to support their families found themselves either on “the dole” or…
standing in breadlines that sometimes coiled around city blocks. The culture of day, however the included a stubborn, individualist property in people which led to a resistance to the dole. People saw being on the dole as a personal failure and an inability to care for one’s family.
The federal government during the first few years of the depression relied on the idea that philanthropy would be the answer to resolving economic hardship- that those who had resources would make the choice to support their fellow citizens at the local level. But many were forced to make hard choices when the plan fell short of providing for the common man.
An example of the resistance to people felt to receiving a handout is in the apple sellers . In cities across America, many people became apple sellers, buying apples from a supplier on credit, and then by selling them to customers in the streets. The “Apple Annies” as some were called, could make a fair profit by selling all of their apples. With so many sellers on the streets, even their resourcefulness was often not rewarded.
Change came in the form of sweeping social activism…in the candidate of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
In November of 1932, Roosevelt beat Herbert Hoover in a landslide victory running on a promise of a New Deal. (wait for animation) His optimism and enthusiasm lifted the hopes of some, but many more, leery from the experience of the past administration were waiting for action.
In what has come to be known as “the first hundred days” FDR enacted hundreds of social and economic programs in an attempt to make change. FDR capitalized on the staunch individualism of Americans and coupled it with social activism. With the blessing of congress, FDR enacted dozens of programs with colorful and hopeful names like the Works Progress Administration, the Federal Emergency Recovery Administration, the Agricultural Advisement Administration, and, of course, the CCC.
In one of the first of many public addresses he called his “Fireside Chats” with Americans, he laid out his plan for a program that would put hundreds of thousands of unemployed young men to work in the forests and fields of our nation. – ( click to play clip) The CCC would serve two functions: to offer assistance to those who need it, and to improve our worsening environment. Congress supported the idea, and CCC was on a fast track to success:
3.1.12 To illustrate the speed in which the CCC took form… (highlight slide: March 4, 1933 FDR takes office as president March 9, 1933 FDR introduces CCC program to Congress March 21, 1933 Congress gave permission to pursue the program March 27, 1933 Senate Bill S. 598 introduced March 31, 1933 Congress passed the enabling legislation April 7, 1933 First enrollees signed up July 1, 1933 250,000 men in program) In less than four months, the Civilian Conservation Corps moved from an idea in a candidate’s head to a feat of industry, having successfully mobilized more than a quarter-million unemployed young men into newly created camps. It was a feat worthy of celebration.
The CCC could not have existed without inter- and intra-governmental partnerships, from the top all the way down to the field. State and local officials provided the land for the camps and for working opportunities. In Massachusetts, it was the predecessor to the DCR that made local connections. The Massachusetts Department of Conservation was formed from several natural resource agencies including State Forestry, one of the oldest state conservation organizations in MA. The Division of Parks was newly formed only a few years before The CCC. Try to imagine a national program today being established that required critical cooperation between four federal and hundreds of local/state agencies. Now imagine it coming together in less than six months through the cooperation between congress and the president. And in those six months, half a million men moved from the cities to the woods. If it could even happen today, it would probably make some changes on the land. And people might notice.
Who were all these men willing to take it to be a part of the CCC? The first enrollees to the CCC were young men aged 18-24 (later extended to 17-26 ), who were On the dole (early form of welfare) , and had dependents, to whom they would send $25 of their paycheck. Shortly, the CCC added veterans of WWI to the ranks, though mostly in their own camps. The original plan called for 500,000 men in six months . Over the life of the CCC, there were over 3 million enrollees . Enrollees could sign up for a minimum term of 6 months, and could stay for up to two years.
The operation of enrolling, clothing, and feeding what amounted to an army of men required the army’s order and discipline. However, despite their appearance, the camps and the men of the CCC were Civilians, which was something all were quick to point out.
The military order was apparent in the layout of the camps. For camps of various sizes, specific designs were intended, and that design exhibited a character that was recognized all across the land as camp after camp popped up.
And the camps popped up one after another all throughout the state. MA Dept of Conservation facilities provided land for camps, and will appear in the order in which camps arrived on them. (click to start graphic) Massachusetts had an average of 24 camps open at any given time during the period of 1933-1942. There were eight in the first 6-month enrollment period alone. Camps were meant to be temporary, so many closed soon after it opened, only to be opened again or elsewhere when work was needed to be done. There is evidence to say there may be over 100 sites where main or spike (or side) camps existed in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts was representative of the nation when it came to the camps. By 1938, four years into the program, there were thousands of camps, as shown here by each dot which represents a camp.
Roosevelt’s Tree Army had many other names to the enrollees and the communities, including Tree Troopers, Soil Soldiers, Johnny Pinecones and the College of Collossal Calluses. Whatever they were called, they were ubiquitous in the landscape.
Through work and play, enrollees learned life-lasting skills. The CCC was both a work program and a relief program, and the twin roles it played in the land was evident in the structure of the boys’ day. They worked 8-hour days, 5 days per week. They had free time in the evenings and weekends off, but still it was an efficient schedule for meeting the objectives of improving both America’s land and its youth-stock. Every morning, the men would wake to reveille or a whistle, which was their cue to make their way to roll call. There they would warm up with calisthenics before breakfast. After breakfast, their work day would begin. Partway through, they would break for lunch, and then finish their workday before heading back to camp.
The superintendents in Massachusetts managed the camp’s work operations under the direction of the forest service or national park service. Each day, the men would pile into their trucks and drive to the work locations established by camp leaders.
There were 8 kinds of work done in Massachusetts (read from slide: Camp Construction Road Building Forestry Fire Hazard Reduction Pest Control Wildlife Management Recreational Development Emergency Assistance )
Camp construction in the early days meant preparing the ground the land setting up the tent city.
Later, as camps were built with semi-permanent structures, enrollees prepared the land, and then assisted carpenters, electricians, and plumbers from the community who were hired to do the work.
The CCC built fire holes to store water in case of emergency, and fire breaks to prevent the spread of fire
Gypsy Moths were the #1 pest in MA in the 1930s, and crews of men would comb the hillsides looking for nests to eradicate. When they found them, they painted them with creosote from a can hanging on their belts. Other pests included White Pine Blister Rusts, White pine weevil, and the Chestnut blight.
Wildlife management meant improving that habitat for particular species of fish, waterfoul, and other game. Ponds were built, hatcheries were established, streams were rebuilt, and meadows were cleared.
The 1930s saw an increased demand in outdoor recreation in parks due to the increasing availability of automobiles, and the new found free-time many unemployed families had. Much of the work done by the CCC for recreation is still evident, if not in use, today.
Emergency work included things like cleaning up after the floods of 1936, and…
Salvaging timber after the hurricane of 1938. The inset photo is a from the butt end of a log stored in a Pond at Wendell SF. Many of them were found recently, and they were used to build a pavilion there.
Recreation was an important part of the camp experience.
The boys participated in sports
Played music
Played in the rec room
And just played around when they could
Part of the CCC was to provide young men with basic needs The average enrollee gained 12 pounds during their first 6 months in camp. Remember, for many of these young men, the Cs may have offered them be the first regular meals they had in quite some time.
Food was basic, but there was plenty of it.
Another part of the relief function of the Cs was to provide enrollees with skills and knowledge that would better prepare them to find jobs. Each camp had an educational director, often an unemployed teacher, who organized the learning opportunities.
Vocational classes were offered, including… (read slides)
And there were academic classes. Many of the men left school early to work, to help their families. What they missed out on in school was made up for in CCC classes.
And there were academic classes. Many of the men left school early to work, to help their families. What they missed out on in school was made up for in CCC classes.
At the end of the day, Enrollees were guaranteed work, a chance to learn, meals, and a safe place to call home.. .
The Civilian Conservation Corps, after 9 years of service to the land and people of the United States, closed its final camp with an unceremonious non-renewal of legislation. At the end of its life, despite opening enrollment to a broader age range, it was having trouble filling the camps. The economy was improving and young men were finding jobs, which was one of the original purposes of the CCC. At the same time, America was ramping up for war in Europe and the Pacific, so the funding and materials that supported the CCC was required elsewhere. When all was said and done the impacts the CCC had was remarkable on the land and people of Massachusetts and the nation. (Quickly highlight a few accomplishments from the next info slides)
In Massachusetts…
More Massachusetts…
Across the nation…
In our forests and parks
And on the people. The effect in the community was equally as great as on the land.
And today those impacts are carried forward by the alumni and all of those whom they have touched.
As we enter the 75 th anniversary of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the lingering effects of the boys’ work is clear. Before the final shovel fell in 1942, the record of the CCC was entered, and the legacy of the Cs was set: across Massachusetts and across the nation, both the land and the people would be forever changed. Now, 75 years later, the CCC boys have passed both the land and their skills and values on to us—their children and grandchildren—and it is our responsibility to carry it onward. We think “We can take it!” too.
Instructions: If you use this presentation, please let me know for tracking purposes: tim.rayworth@state.ma.us Add local content where the slide “CCC in your Neighborhood” is located. In the slideshow view, use the logo to jump to the table of contents, and from there to other parts of the presentation. New in this version: Added table of Contents Updated links, corrected typos, Added placeholder slide for local content Added this notice
1. Introduction 1.1. Theme: Borne of the marriage between rugged individualism and social activism, and in response to the converging crises of widespread environmental destruction and the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps was a beacon of hope for America whose legacy can be seen in Forests and Parks across Massachusetts.