WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
Join Payton for a hike on parts of trail 4 and a walk through the village to hear about the CCC and their role at Spring Mill. Meet at the village parking lot. 1 hour. Easy hike.
Building Indiana State Parks:
A number of Indiana State Parks were built, improved, or expanded by the CCC, which was and remains one of the most popular programs of the New Deal.
But it wasn’t all conservation work for the CCC. The men not only learned valuable trade skills, but also received a classroom education. They took classes on a variety of topics including mechanical drawing, typing, foreign languages and art. Extracurricular activities included boxing, debating and a singing quartet—even baseball teams.
Indiana had 56 CCC companies, eight of which were African-American. Even though the legislation that created the CCC didn’t allow discrimination, the program was segregated based on race because of the attitudes of the day. The 517th CCC Company, which had about 250 men, was the largest and most enduring of Indiana’s African-American companies. The 517th served at what is now O’Bannon Woods State Park. Other African-American companies were stationed in Bloomington, Mitchell, Evansville, Cromwell and several other locations throughout the state.
Many of Indiana State Parks hosted CCC companies. You will find that many of our properties where these companies worked maintain fine examples of their hard work and craftsmanship.
Below is a list of all Indiana State Parks where the CCC worked: Brown County, Clifty Falls, Fort Harrison, Indiana Dunes, Lincoln, McCormick’s Creek, O’Bannon Woods, Ouabache, Pokagon, Salamonie Lake, Shakamak, Spring Mill, Turkey Run, and Versailles.
Check out these videos about the CCC and Indiana State Parks to learn more:
- https://vimeo.com/126170277 (short version)
- https://vimeo.com/126170266 (long version)
