WPA and CCC Golf Courses

[Mike Hoak]

One day I intend to complete a doctoral dissertation on the Civilian Conservation Corps (never accept full-time employment while writing a dissertation, they mix about as well as oil and water).  While conducting research at the National Archives, I have run into several documents alluding to golf course construction work undertaken by the CCC and/or the Works Progress Administration (WPA).  The most obvious examples are Bethpage and I believe Prarie Dunes (which baffles me--being a private course).  Does anyone know offhand of other WPA or CCC golf projects?  I assume that most were tied to public or state parks.

[Pete Lavallee]

Balboa park in San Diego, had the help of the WPA to install its' first irrigation system in 1939. Built in 1918 it was dirt fairways and oiled sand greens up to that point.

[George Pazin]

I don't know for certain, but I believe both of the Allegheny Parks courses in Pittsburgh - North Park and South Park - are WPA projects. North Park is the course I consider my home course, and it's a wonderful walk, very lay of the land, but nothing especially noteworthy architecturally.

[Gary Daughters]

College Park City Course.. 9-holer just outside Atlanta.  Has a neat WPA vintage clubhouse.  Some of the green complexes and bunkers are reminiscent of a Raynor-like style.
Not a great muni.

[Phil McDade]

Mike:

The Keweenaw Mountain Lodge golf course -- 9 holes -- on the far northern tip of Michigan's UP is a WPA project. Just google Keweenaw Mountain Lodge and golf and you'll find some interesting stuff -- the entire project was done during the depression, and at one time I heard that Langford/Moreau may have been involved in the golf project, although I've never seen that confirmed. That's the one I know if in these parts; I'll see if I can find out about any more Wisconsin WPA projects.

[Mike_Cirba]

Mike,

Virtually all of the NYC munis were built or renovated as public works projects during this time period.  John Van Kleek was assigned by Robert Moses (I believe) to do much of this work from an architectural standpoint.

In Philadelphia, at least one muni (what is now known as FDR Golf Course, formerly League Island) was built by public works, completed in 1940.

I also believe that the Bobby Jones muni in Atlanta was designed and built by Van Kleek during the depression with federal funds.

[Jim Sweeney]

Deveau Park GC in Covington, KY.

[Brad Tufts]

I believe what is now Larry Gannon golf course in Lynn, MA was a WPA project, and the clubhouse at George Wright in Hyde Park may be one also.

[BCrosby]

North Fulton in Atlanta.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Re: FDR in Philadelphia

Here is the course history:

http://www.golfphilly.com/fdrhistory.html



F.D.R. Golf Club

F.D.R. Golf Club officially opened on July 13, 1940. The course is part of the Fairmount Park Commission's Franklin D. Roosevelt Park, formally known as League Island Park, and is located adjacent to the grounds where Philadelphia's Sesquicentennial Exposition, an international fair in honor of the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was held in 1926.

Much of the recreational grounds of F.D.R. Golf Club were created with fill. To fill in the areas that the Fairmount park Commission acquired for the golf course, which were referred to in the newspaper accounts as "desolate swamps," materials and debris from the torn-down Exposition structures and broken concrete that were once part of Oregon and Passyunk Avenues were used.
Drawings for the construction of the golf course date from 1930.

Arrangements to acquire the required acreage for the course began in the 1920's. The golf course was built in large part by Works Progress Administration funds and labor. Although by the end of 1935 50% of the preliminary clearing, grading and drainage work for the golf course was finished and a planting plan prepared, the course was not completed for another five years.

During much of the 1930's while the Depression continued, Fairmount Park worked at times under rules that required the work week be limited to 18 hours, and when funds ran out work stopped completely until more funding became available.

Although early plans for the course show that it was originally designed as 27 holes, F.D. R. Golf Club has been an 18 hole course for as long as anyone can remember.

[RJ_Daley]

Milwaukee County park system under George Hansen, park director, built Brown Deer Park course in a WPA project, now used for GMO.  I think other county courses were also built or added to during tha time.

If I'm not mistaken, RTJ Sr had a body of WPA work.  Also, I think some of the GCA's substituted their golf course design work for designs of city parks and greenspaces during that time.

[Gary Daughters]

Having seen Bob Crosby's reference to North Fulton in Atlanta I dug through some papers and saw something I hadn't noticed before.  I can't vouch for this, but the list I am looking at names H. Chandler Egan as architect of North Fulton.

[Mike_Cirba]

Re: FDR in Philadelphia

Here is the course history:

http://www.golfphilly.com/fdrhistory.html



F.D.R. Golf Club

F.D.R. Golf Club officially opened on July 13, 1940. The course is part of the Fairmount Park Commission's Franklin D. Roosevelt Park, formally known as League Island Park, and is located adjacent to the grounds where Philadelphia's Sesquicentennial Exposition, an international fair in honor of the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was held in 1926.

Much of the recreational grounds of F.D.R. Golf Club were created with fill. To fill in the areas that the Fairmount park Commission acquired for the golf course, which were referred to in the newspaper accounts as "desolate swamps," materials and debris from the torn-down Exposition structures and broken concrete that were once part of Oregon and Passyunk Avenues were used.
Drawings for the construction of the golf course date from 1930.

Arrangements to acquire the required acreage for the course began in the 1920's. The golf course was built in large part by Works Progress Administration funds and labor. Although by the end of 1935 50% of the preliminary clearing, grading and drainage work for the golf course was finished and a planting plan prepared, the course was not completed for another five years.

During much of the 1930's while the Depression continued, Fairmount Park worked at times under rules that required the work week be limited to 18 hours, and when funds ran out work stopped completely until more funding became available.

Although early plans for the course show that it was originally designed as 27 holes, F.D. R. Golf Club has been an 18 hole course for as long as anyone can remember.

Steve,

FDR opened in 1940 and I have the newspaper accounts that detail the holes.

Unfortunately, it never discloses who actually did the original 1930 drawings or how closely those drawings were followed during the construction effort.

The Project Construction Supervisor was a local fellow and superb local golfer named Ed Clarey, while the Project Engineer was a man by the name of Alan Corson.   I strongly suspect they had much more to do with what is on the ground at FDR than anyone else.   It sounds from an Engineering perspective, their work would have been much more challenging than, say what Burbeck might have faced at Bethpage Black.

It's interesting to note that attribution of Philly's public courses remains somewhat a mystery.  For instance, the "sister" course at Cobb's Creek, Karakung, has no architectural attribution, and I've read news accounts of the day it opened and still can find nothing.

In the case of Juniata, the name I see bandied about is Ed Ault, but that's preposterous since the course was built in 1930 or so.   I strongly suspect it was Alex Findlay, with Ault probably reconfiguring the course in the early 60s due to loss of land.

Other than that, we know Cobbs was Wilson and A. Haseltine Smith in 1916, John Byrne was Alex Findlay (formerly Holmesburg CC) around 1930, and Walnut Lane was Findlay again in 1935.  

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Mike

Have you ever searched the actual archives of the Fairmount Park Commission for the drawings/plans for the 6 courses?

Juniata was my home course in high school. I was in the neighborhood last year and stopped by the "clubhouse" hoping to buy a hat with the Indian logo but they're not sold anymore. Political correctness strikes again. Seeing the 1st and 10th holes brought back fond memories.

Steve

[Mike_Cirba]

Mike

Have you ever searched the actual archives of the Fairmount Park Commission for the drawings/plans for the 6 courses?

Steve

Steve,

No, at the time I was researching I didn't have much to go on but old Newspaper accounts.   Are you aware of where the FPC archives are housed?

UPDATE - Steve, I just looked it up and see where the Fairmount Park Commission has their stuff.   It certainly looks promising, although I'm trying to recall if Cobbs (and Karakung) were built under the auspices of the FPC or whether they were aquired later.  

That could make a huge difference in what might be available.

[Mike Hoak]

Thanks for all the great replies.  Steve, as to the breadth of my current research, it's focused almost solely on the CCC and its role in the building of the national park system.  I also spend a great deal of time talking about race relations within the program.  The bulk of my research has centered on camps in Virginia, Maine, and Georgia, so I am not familiar at all with state-based archives in New York, although I have made a trip to the FDR archives at Hyde Park.

I asked the question because I came across several mentions of golf courses in the CCC correspondence files at the National Archives.  It was usually someone writing asking for assistance and referring to an ongoing WPA project.  The CCC's work projects tended to be more conservation-oriented than the WPA.  The CCC was also structured very differently.  

It's also interesting in that there seems to be a void in discussions of golf architecture in the 1930's through the second World War.  That's obviously fueled by the lack of resources for new projects.  So much attention is lavished on courses that went bankrupt and disappeared (Lido) and little on what actually got built in those years.

The comment about golf architects moving into park planning and landscape architecture during the Depression is intriguing.  Can anyone cite an example?  

The relatively large number of NY projects makes sense.  I'm guessing that Moses was the primary driver there.  Robert Caro touches on some of that in his biography.    

[Sean_Tully]

For some West coast info...

There is a reference to some WPA work that was done at Sharp Park in and around 1934. From my research the course was already done and had opened in 1932. It appears to me that the WPA worked on beautifing the clubhouse. One can still see some of the work there.

Also, while doing research on Meadow Club, I found out that the CCC was used to haul sand up to the club to add some sand to the bunkers. If my memory is right on this all they paid for was the gas the rest was covered by the CCC.

Tully

[Chris_Clouser]

Perry Maxwell was also involved with two other WPA projects.  The original layout at Iowa State, now known as Veenker Memorial.  Also, Southern Hills in Tulsa received some WPA funding somehow.  I was not able to uncover how SH and Prairie Dunes were able to receive the funds for the construction.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Here's a few more:
http://www.pasturegolf.com/archive/wpa_courses.htm

including this list:
http://www.wpamurals.com/wpapools.htm
(scroll up the page a bit to see the courses)