March 11, 2015

by Tom Emery

Few federal government programs today are viewed as efficient and popular, with long-lasting results. The Civilian Conservation Corps, the enormously successful Depression-era program of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, was all that and more.

The CCC put unemployed, impoverished young men to work in forestry, soil conservation, drainage, and public parkland. Known for its quality of work, the imprint of the CCC remains in parks, forests, and farmlands today.

Decatur was home to three CCC camps, with a fourth near Macon. Other area communities with CCC camps include Shelbyville, Charleston, and Tuscola.

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