Giant City State Park and the Civilian Conservation Corps : a History in Words and Pictures Kay Rippelmeyer Southern Illinois University Carbondale
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Southern Illinois University Carbondale OpenSIUC Regional Southern Illinois University Press 2010 Giant City State Park and the Civilian Conservation Corps : a history in words and pictures Kay Rippelmeyer Southern Illinois University Carbondale Follow this and additional works at: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/siupress_regional Recommended Citation Rippelmeyer, Kay, "Giant City State Park and the Civilian Conservation Corps : a history in words and pictures" (2010). Regional. 1. http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/siupress_regional/1 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Southern Illinois University Press at OpenSIUC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Regional by an authorized administrator of OpenSIUC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Rippelmeyer Illinois / American History “Giant City State Park and the Civilian Conservation Corps provides new insight into a significant part of our national history. Kay Rippelmeyer and the CivilianGiant Park City State Conservation Corps: understands the difficult conditions of the 1930s and imparts that under- standing to her readers.” —David Kenney, coauthor of Death Underground: The Centralia and West Frankfort Mine Disasters GIANT CITY STATE PARK and the “Kay Rippelmeyer’s account of the history of southern Illinois and espe- and PicturesA History in Words cially the effects of the Great Depression on the area is fascinating. This book shows how resourceful a nation can be when times get hard.” CIVILIAN —Jenny Skufca, Illinois Nature Preserves Commission CONSERVATION Many recognize Giant City State Park as one of the premier recreation spots in southern Illinois, with its unspoiled forests, glorious rock formations, and famous sandstone lodge. But few know the park’s history or are aware of the remarkable CORPS men who struggled to build it. Giant City State Park and the Civilian Conserva- tion Corps: A History in Words and Pictures provides the first in-depth portrait of the park’s creation, drawing on rarely seen photos, local and national archival A History in Words and Pictures research, and interviews to present an intriguing chapter in Illinois history. kay rippelmeyer, a southern Illinois native, is newly retired from her work as a lecturer, researcher, and academic advisor in the College of Liberal Arts at South- ern Illinois University Carbondale. A program liaison for the Illinois Humanities Council, she has researched southern Illinois history for more than thirty years and has lectured widely on the Civilian Conservation Corps and river work in the region. She is currently completing work on her next book, The Shawnee National Forest and the Civilian Conservation Corps. Shawnee Books $19.95 usd southern illinois university press isbn 0-8093-2922-0 isbn 978-0-8093-2922-9 1915 university press drive mail code 6806 carbondale, il 62901 www.siupress.com University Press Southern Illinois Cover illustration: Excavating 50 percent complete on underpass project. National Archives, CCC records, Project 47C, photo #4. Cover design by Mary Rohrer Kay Rippelmeyer Printed in the United States of America Rippel pp cvr mech 2.indd 1 3/19/10 1:03 PM Giant City State Park and the Civilian Conservation Corps 5LSSHO)URQWPDWWHUUHYLQGG $0 5LSSHO)URQWPDWWHUUHYLQGG $0 GIANT CITY STATE PARK and the CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS A History in Words and Pictures Kay Rippelmeyer Southern Illinois University Press Carbondale and Edwardsville 5LSSHO)URQWPDWWHUUHYLQGG $0 Copyright © 2010 by Kay Rippelmeyer All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 13 12 11 10 4 3 2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rippelmeyer, Kay, 1953– Giant City State Park and the Civilian Conservation Corps : a history in words and pictures / Kay Rippelmeyer-Tippy. p. cm. — (Shawnee books) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 13: 978-0-8093-2921-2 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 13: 978-0-8093-2922-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 10: 0-8093-2921-2 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 10: 0-8093-2922-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) eISBN: 978-0-8093-8563-8 eISBN: 0-8093-8563-5 1. Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S.)—Illinois—Giant City State Park—History. 2. Giant City State Park (Ill.)—History— 20th century. I. Title. F547.J2 R56 2010 977.3´994 dc—22 2009018011 Printed on recycled paper. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1992. ∞ Rippel Frontmatter rev.indd 4 3/19/10 12:04 PM This book is dedicated to all the CCC men who shared their memories and photographs with me over the last thirty years, most of whom have died before seeing their words in print. I’m sorry that this work, inspired by you, took so long to reach publication, but I am forever grateful for having met each of you. You are the classiest group of men I’ve ever known. I’m grateful as well to all my teachers, mentors, and friends, some also deceased, who encouraged me to research and to write: Barbara Burr Hubbs, David V. Koch, Howard Webb, Earle Stibitz, Betty Fladeland, John Y. Simon, Richard Peterson, Wanda Oakey, Herb Meyer, Max Hutchison, and Jenny Skufca. At the SIU Press, Karl Kageff, Wayne Larsen, and Barb Martin kindly helped this first- time author improve the manuscript, as did Julie Bush, a most careful and considerate copy editor. 5LSSHO)URQWPDWWHUUHYLQGG $0 5LSSHO)URQWPDWWHUUHYLQGG $0 Contents List of Illustrations ix Timeline at Giant City State Park, 1927 to 1942 xv Introduction 1 1. The Land and Its People 10 2. The CCC Comes to Southern Illinois 25 3. CCC Companies 696 and 1657 and Their Camps, Giant City and Stone Fort 33 4. Work Projects 59 5. The Lodge Construction and Arrival of CCC Co. 692 79 6. Camp Life 114 7. The Last Years of the CCC and Its Legacies 146 Appendixes 171 Notes 187 Bibliography 195 Index 199 5LSSHO)URQWPDWWHUUHYLQGG $0 5LSSHO)URQWPDWWHUUHYLQGG $0 Illustrations Giant City State Park’s location in Illinois xviii A road in Giant City State Park 1 Giant City State Park —a playground for adults 3 An alley at Giant City 4 Devil’s Stand Table 5 A street intersection in Giant City 6 A deer herd at Giant City State Park 7 Rock wall etching of Albert S. Thompson, February 22, 1862 8 1938 aerial photograph showing Giant City CCC camp and the new lodge 8 Giant City lodge under construction 9 Southern Illinois map showing southernmost extent of glaciation 10 Makanda street scene, ca. 1880–90 12 Makanda depot, ca. 1900 13 Makanda area property ownership, plat maps 1907-8 14 SINU field trip to Fern Rocks, ca. 1900 16 Edgar Roberts’s hand-drawn map of Giant City State Park area roads 19 Unimproved bridge leading into Giant City State Park, May 1934 20 Willis Rendleman house 21 Plat maps of Makanda area, ca. 1930 23 Jefferson Barracks CCC headquarters, July 1934 28 Original CCC Company 696 (three parts) 30–31 George Oliver near Devil’s Stand Table 33 November 1933 CCC work report showing placement of two camps at Giant City State Park 34 Tents that first housed CCC Company 696 35 Mess hall for Company 696 36 Army personnel of Company 696 36 Department of the Interior staff, Company 696 37 Map showing work project at north entrance of park, December 1933 38 Drilling holes for dynamiting rock, October 1933 39 William Unger and Daniel Brewer, road construction foremen 39 Giant City Park hill at north entrance before CCC work 40 Giant City Park hill at north entrance after CCC work 40 ix 5LSSHO)URQWPDWWHUUHYLQGG $0 Roadwork during summer 1933 41 Building rock wall at park road 42 Hewing logs for bridge stringers, guardrails, and parking barriers, summer 1933 43 Bridge under construction, December 1933 43 Assembling new running rail 44 Scenic view from newly constructed road, autumn 1933 44 Sign at north entrance of Camp Giant City 45 Original tents and building material for barracks at Camp Giant City 45 Camp Giant City’s first buildings 45 Erosion control near fire lookout tower, April 1934 47 Camp Stone Fort, December 1933 48 Entire CCC Company 1657, March 31, 1934 48–49 CCC pennant and patches 49 Captain C. G. Whitney of Company 1657 in his Camp Stone Fort office, 1934 51 Camp Stone Fort on “Gobbler’s Knob” 52 A barracks at Camp Stone Fort 53 Camp Stone Fort’s mess hall, 1934 54 Camp Stone Fort’s kitchen and staff, 1934 55 CCC enrollees and their dogs 56 Boxing ring at Camp Giant City, which drew large crowds 58 View of intersection before subway project, June 1934 59 The subway (underpass) under construction, February 1934 60 Aerial view of Giant City State Park, 1938 61 Work on stone wall of subway project, June 1934 62 Excavating at subway project 62 Excavation for bridge construction, May 1934 63 Bridge 3 construction, March 1934 64 Completion of Bridge 3, March 1934 64 Archaeological site before stone removal, March 1934 66 Piling up stones removed from Stone Fort 67 Stones piled up after removal from Stone Fort, March 1934 67 Dressing up the road after hand-grading, ca. March–June 1934 68 CCC Company 1657 working on the road 69 Second unit of road near the lodge site, January 1934 69 Beginning work on garage and service building, March 1934 70 Completed garage and service building 70 Detail working on foot trail, March 1934 71 Finished portion of foot trail, February 1934 71 Breaking rock for fill along bridle trail, April 1934 72 Log-hewing department at work, March 1934 72 x illustrations 5LSSHO)URQWPDWWHUUHYLQGG $0 Carrying log for ford along bridle trail 73 Flood control work 74 Constructing picnic tables, November 1934 75 Trail shelter in course of construction, June 1934 76 Shake roof detail on trail shelter construction 76 Underpass project completed, ca.