Civilian Conservation Corp Camp at Harold Parker State Forest

From Andover Answers
Jump to navigation Jump to search

In the 1930s, two Civilian Conservation Corps Camps were established in Harold Parker State Forest, Camp S-5 (Company 110) and Camp S-76 (Company 167). The camps work included reforestation work, damming ponds, road and trail creation and building recreational facilities. Camp S-76 also provided assistance to local communities during emergencies. [1] [2] Creating stocked ponds for public fishing was a major goal of Harold Parker camp leadership, [3] Hundreds of men, many of them local, worked in and led the camps' work. [4]

...Road and Bridge over the Skug River, Harold Parker State Forest, 1933 from the University of Massachusetts Archives and Special Collections....click to enlarge


...Dam No. 2 Harold Parker State Forest, 1933, from the University of Massachusetts Archives and Special Collections.... click to enlarge

The camp crews provided recreational opportunities for themselves and the Town of Andover. [5] The Town of Andover invited CCC camp crews to take classes at Punchard High School, to borrow library books and to generally be a part of town life. The Andover Selectmen voted to allow the C.C.C. crews use of Pomp's Pond for recreation. [6] There is some evidence that camp crew used their time to become qualified for permanent employment. [7]

Massachusetts Senator, David I. Walsh, inspected the camp in 1934. [8] Four-term Boston Mayor and one-term MA governor, James Michael Curley visited the camps with his daughter Mary in February 1935. [9] Employment counselors were brought in to advise the camp crew on tips and techniques for finding stable employment. [10]


The C.C.C. Camp facilities in Harold Parker State Forest officially closed on July 28, 1941. [11] Military police batallions were in residence at Harold Parker in the early years of World War II, after the C.C.C. camps shuttered. [12]

HAROLD PARKER REVIEW CAMP NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES
The Harold Parker Review was a type-written and hand-illustrated camp newsletter begun in 1934. [13]Digitized copies of The Harold Parker Review, a type-written and hand-illustrated CCC camp newsletter are available from the Center for Research Libraries digital collections.

Civilian Conservation Corps Camp/Harold Parker photographs are held in the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Archives and Special Collections and may be viewed online on the Digital Public Library of America platform with a keyword search for "Harold Parker" and limited to the format type "images." dp.la

REFERENCES

  1. ↑ https://archive.org/details/civilianconserva00berg/mode/2up?q=harold+parker Civilian Conservation Corps : shaping the forests and parks of Massachusetts : a statewide survey of Civilian Conservation Corps resources]
  2. ↑ Annual Report of the Commissioner of Conservation and State Forester (1920-1938)
  3. ↑ Ponds in Parker forest for fish raising,The Andover Townsman, June 30, 1933.
  4. ↑ State forest to be recreational park, The Andover Townsman, June 1, 1934
  5. ↑ C.C.C. recreation program launched, The Andover Townsman, July 20, 1934.
  6. ↑ C.C.C. Camps enjoying sports, The Andover Townsman, September 7, 1934.
  7. ↑ CCC member becomes state police officer, The Andover Townsman, January 8, 1937.
  8. ↑ C.C.C. Inspected by Senator Walsh, The Andover Townsman, August 31, 1934.
  9. ↑ Governor visits camp in Andover, Lawrence Evening Sun, February 17, 1935.
  10. ↑ Employment counselor talks to C.C.C. boys, The Andover Townsman, May 25, 1934.
  11. ↑ Local C.C.C. Camp closes July 28, The Andover Townsman, July 24, 1941.
  12. ↑ New tenants at state forest, The Andover Townsman, March 19, 1942.
  13. ↑ Paper published by C.C.C. boys, The Andover Townsman, August 3, 1934.

--Stephanie (talk) 13:12, 20 March 2024 (EDT)

Retrieved from "https://answers.mhl.org/index.php?title=Civilian_Conservation_Corp_Camp_at_Harold_Parker_State_Forest&oldid=11183"