When was civilian conservation corps established

As Marie was the younger sister of Stephen, the collection contains items related to him. Of particular note is a photograph-filled scrapbook that he compiled documenting his CCC service at Bear Creek, Camp Preble and other sites in the s. The photographs are remarkable in their depictions of daily camp life, from work sites, construction scenes and camp buildings to recreational activities, mealtimes and high jinks among the corps members. In many ways, they bring to life and add color to the descriptions of camp structure, duty and life that Roy Clay describes in his manuscript.

Clay would serve with distinction in the European Theater as an officer with the th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, seeing action in the Battle of the Bulge and campaigns including Ardennes-Alsace, Northern France and the Rhineland. Clay retired from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel in He and his family eventually settled in Boiling Springs, PA, and Clay retired from his civilian work in By , Stephen Niznok was back home in Cleveland.

On July 2 nd , , the aircraft was shot down by a German fighter plane while on a mission to Lecce, Italy. There were no survivors. Niznok was post humously awarded numerous commendations, including a Purple Heart, which is part of the Marie McElroy collection held by the Ohio History Connection. As such, they are representative of how the CCC changed the lives of young Ohio men by providing not just much needed jobs during the Great Depression, but also giving them meaningful work, work that gave back to their fellow citizens, work that was for the betterment of their state and country, work that looked to the future, ensuring that generations to come would benefit from their labors.

The boldness and success of the various programs of the New Deal stabilized the country at its time of greatest need. In its size and scope, the New Deal arguably prepared the country for the coming war. And the Civilian Conservation Corps, in particular, served the country well in the run up to war. A much-needed shot of structure and discipline, the CCC helped to strengthen the collective will of the young men of the work camps, many of whom went on to further serve the country in the armed forces during WW2.

And men like Stephen Niznok, who after working to ensure that future generations could enjoy the state and national parks of Ohio, gave his own life in service to his country in the skies over Italy.

One wonders that in the slight chance that the Green New Deal were to be enacted, would it similarly prepare the country to meet the challenges of the coming decades, the environmental, social and economic challenges that are sure to loom ever larger in our lives? The storm left Blackwell resident Stella Simonis, an expectant mother who was hours away from delivering her child, snowed in with no way to get to the hospital, according to an Associated Press article that ran in several Wisconsin papers the next day.

Seemingly out of nowhere, about 80 men showed up with shovels, two snow plows and a tractor, and began clearing a path along the road to Laona. The plows and the tractor were unable to penetrate the drifts, however, so the men used shovels alone to clear the road. The United States was still in the grip of the Great Depression, which had begun in the fall of with a major stock market crash that crippled the global economy and caused unemployment in the United States to skyrocket to 25 percent.

Between and , roughly 3. They planted more than a billion trees; fought floods, fires and erosion; and built roads, hiking trails, bridges and more than state parks. The men who appeared that January night in Blackwell, Wis. By the time the CCC dissolved in , shortly after the U. Sulima was one of seven children, and, although his father had a job, it did not pay enough to support his entire family.

The U. The military, Sharpe explains, was the only part of the federal government that was able to mobilize so many people in such a short amount of time.

The culvert near the entrance of Arches National Park, under construction by CCC workers in the s left , is still in use today right. The Rock House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in and has served as an administration building for the park and for the Canyonlands Natural History Association.

In the th relocated to Camp Bitely near Freesoil. Three other black companies—the th, th and th—were created in The Indians were not governed by the same administrative rules as other CCC enrollees, and there was no age limit for them. Indians at Camp Marquette did a variety of jobs, including road construction, timber stand improvement and tree planting.

One worker allegedly remarked, "The white man stole our land in the first place, cut off the timber, and now they are making us plant it again. With overwhelming congressional approval, the CCC grew to over , by September During the summer of , there were camps in Michigan, and by November, enrollment had peaked at almost 17, In , with an election looming, President Roosevelt sought to reduce federal expenditures.

He called for a reduction of the CCC to , by 1 July Also subject to reelection, congressmen opposed closing camps in their districts. They approved additional funding and slowed the president's efforts to reduce the corps. Nonetheless, the CCC never again exceeded its enrollment. President Roosevelt's bid to reduce the CCC revealed the extensive popularity of the corps. Landon endorsed the CCC and promised to continue it if elected.

The Detroit News admitted that though the CCC was expensive, "the prompt and unmistakable dividends it has paid, both in valuable work accomplished in the nation's forests and in the physical and moral benefits accruing to the young men who have enlisted," made it "a real investment in the National well-being. Three years later, another poll listed the corps as the New Deal's third greatest accomplishment.

Michigan communities fought to keep their camps. In September , Iron River businessmen sent twenty-nine separate telegrams, as well as a petition, to Washington officials to protest the closing of a nearby camp.

During the winter of , the Menominee Chamber of Commerce pleaded with President Roosevelt to keep an area camp open. Moreover, camp members frequently aided communities during emergencies. Enrollees logged hundreds of man-days searching for missing persons, and the men at Camp Pori near Mass City helped local law enforcement officials apprehend a murderer.

Camp Higgins Lake enrollees fought two fires, saving area farm buildings and homes. After one of the worst snow storms of the winter, black enrollees at Camp Walkerville "worked hand in hand" with area residents opening roads and hauling foodstuffs and medical supplies to the needy. The benefits of the CCC extended well beyond the camps' immediate localities. Moreover, as one mother explained to CCC Director Fechner, the corps was praiseworthy because "the boys are safe there.

They are young and inexperienced and need someone reliable to teach them and I think the discipline and strictness are what they need now in their teenage period. Because enrollees learned basic work skills, industrial safety, good work attitudes and physical conditioning, businessmen also supported the corps.

Appearing before a U. Senate subcommittee in June , C. Don McKin, executive vice-president of the National Standard Parts Association in Detroit, declared, "We have come to feel that the Corps is one of the finest agencies that has come out of the Administration. It has a purpose and refreshingly, from a businessman's standpoint, it has been managed on a business basis and has the fundamentals which inspire the confidence of the businessmen.

Surprisingly, the corps was not popular among some Michigan congressmen. In , President Roosevelt sought both to renew the CCC for two more years and to make it a permanent agency.

Congress opposed the notion of CCC permanency, primarily because the administration failed to adequately address the problems of a long-term budget and improved organization. One of the more vocal opponents of even extending the corps was Michigan Congressman Fred Crawford. On 11 May, Crawford charged that the CCC took young men out of the rural communities and surrounding areas and transported them "to some camp in the woods to participate in a face-lifting operation on Mother Earth, not necessarily essential at this time when toilers are needed to help produce wheat and staples for the food basket of the Nation.

He concluded, "I would rather have a boy of mine I believe the proper place is on American farms and in American industries under private control. Michner of Adrian agreed, observing that it was "practically impossible for farmers to find a former CCC enrollee to work on a farm.

The House voted to renew the CCC by a margin of to 7. In Michigan, 46 camps operated with approximately 7, enrollees. Nationally, corps enrollment stood at , enrollees and 1, camps. By the end of , the death of Director Fechner, a decline in morale among CCC supporting agencies, uncertainty due to the outbreak of war in Europe and proposed budget cuts foreshadowed trouble for the CCC. Enrollee desertion had increased, and as the economy improved, better quality candidates were no longer available or interested in the CCC.

In response to the worsening international situation, noncombative military training was made a mandatory part of CCC education in At the beginning of , the CCC had , enrollees. Ten months later it had only , In Michigan the 46 camps and 9, enrollees of shrank to 14 camps and 2, enrollees by mid In May , the Detroit Free Press reported that 51 percent of the public favored the abolition of the corps.

National polls yielded similar results. Angel led the forces favoring abolition. Declaring that the CCC had done "a great deal of good," in spite of "a great deal of waste and extravagance," the Muskegon Republican proclaimed that the corps was no longer necessary. Congressman Clare Hoffman of Allegan, a vocal New Deal opponent, added, "We did not have the power to send aid, not even food and medicinal supplies to the men in Bataan. The Civilian Conservation Corps was dead.

The accomplishments of the Civilian Conservation Corps are astounding. In the nation's first massive effort to restore its natural resources, the corps employed over three million men. These men planted 2. Michigan's , CCC participants—eighth highest among all states—occupied an average of fifty-seven camps annually. Only five states had a higher average.

More impressively, Michigan enrollees planted million trees-more than twice as many as any other state. They spent , man-days fighting forest fires, planted million fish and constructed 7, miles of truck trails, bridges and buildings. The nation's defense potential was also aided by the corps.

By many young CCC men had learned how to take orders, the rudiments of sanitation, first aid and personal cleanliness, and other skills that were directly transferable in time of war. Described by John Salmond as a "conserver of human beings," the Civilian Conservation Corps improved the morale, health and education of millions of young men.

Former enrollees offer many positive memoirs. William T. Lawson of Traverse City met his wife while stationed at Camp Kalkaska; Oliver Edwards came "face-to-face" with his first black bear while at Camp Kentucky; and Grand Rapids enrollee Sigmund Palaseic, who joined the CCC because he was "starving," ate his first meals in disbelief that "there was that much food in the world.

Michigan's CCC camps have disappeared, but the legacy of the corps—the forests, parks and conservation efforts—remains. As President Roosevelt told the enrollees in an April radio address, "The promptness with which you seized the opportunity to engage in honest work, the willingness with which you have performed your daily tasks and the fine spirit you have shown in winning the respect of the communities in which your camps have been located, merits the admiration of the entire country.

Roosevelt, edited by Samuel 1. Photographs from the Archives of Michigan; color patches and pillow cover from the Michigan History Museum. It is now out-of-print.

Browsers that can not handle javascript will not be able to access some features of this site. Some functions of this site are disabled for browsers blocking jQuery. Close Search Box. Official Website of Michigan. Rosentreter Our greatest task is to put people to work.

Patch: Camp Custer District. Pillow cover: Souvenir of U. Civilian Conservation Corps. Camp Newberry and Camp Au Sable. Camp Raco mess hall and Camp Germfask dispensary. Camp Manistee River barracks. Work projects near the Pere Marquette and Platte rivers.

Moving dirt near Camp Au Sable. Fighting fires in the Huron National Forest.