Virginia Kendall Park photographs

Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (the CCC) in the 1930s, historic Virginia Kendall Park was originally a part of the Akron Metropolitan Park District. These seven photographs show the park in its early stages. The first is of the construction of the combination shelter house and caretaker's dwelling. The second is the lake, pier, and bathhouse at the waterfront. The next four show the completed combination shelter house in June of 1936. The final image is of the stone steps along a foot trail in the winter of 1937-1938. The 1,574 acres of Virginia Kendall came under the management of the National Park Service, as a part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, on New Year's Day in 1978. The first two photographs measure approximately 5.75 by 3.75 inches (14.61 by 9.53 cm). The next four measure approximately 4.5 by 3.5 inches (11.43 by 8.89 cm), and the seventh measures approximately 3.25 by 5 inches (8.26 by 12.70 cm). The United States Congress established the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933 as a part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program. For unemployed young men, the CCC supplied work and administered vocational training through the development and preservation of America's natural resources. By 1935, at the height of the program, there were over 500,000 members and more than 2,600 camps across every state in the nation, including 110 in Ohio. As a result of World War II and the need for more resources to go toward national defense projects, Congress terminated the CCC in 1942 against President Roosevelt's wishes