- Recreational Demonstration Area
The Recreational Demonstration Area program (also known as the Recreation Demonstration Area program) was a
National Park Service program during the 1930s and early 1940s that built forty-six public parks in twenty-four states on convert|397000|acre|km2|1, chiefly near urban areas in theUnited States .cite web| url = http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/shaping/part2.pdf | title = The National Parks:Shaping the System: | accessdate = 2007-03-14 |format = PDF |date = 2005 | publisher =National Park Service ] The NPS used labor from a variety ofGreat Depression federal relief programs, chiefly theCivilian Conservation Corps andWorks Progress Administration , to build Recreational Demonstration Areas. By the end ofWorld War II , the Recreational Demonstration Areas had all either become National Park Service units or been given to their states for use as state parks.The goals of the Recreation Demonstration Area program were typically threefold: 1) to develop land as a park; 2) to provide employment; and 3) to create new parks near urban areas. For the first goal, in some cases the land developed was purchased from sub-optimal farmers, providing some of the poorest farmers with relief. In other cases, state lands (in state forests or parks) were developed. In the second case, the CCC and WPA laborers received payment, and in the CCC, room and board. Finally, the residents of nearby urban areas benefited from new nearby recreation areas.
List
The following is a list of the forty six former Recreational Demonstration Areas.
History
There are five former Recreational Demonstration Areas in
Pennsylvania , which became part of one unit of the National Park Service, and five state parks in 1945 and 1946. There are five former Recreational Demonstration Areas inVirginia , four of which are now part of the National Park Service. Two Recreational Demonstration Areas were built inMissouri and are now state parks. There are three former Recreational Demonstration Areas inTennessee , all are now state parks.References
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