Civilian Conservation Corps statute to be dedicated at Fox River Park

A statue to honor the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps will be dedicated at a 5 p.m. ceremony on Wednesday, Sept. 30 at the entrance to Fox River Park, 30255 93rd St.

The public, former CCC workers and family members of former CCC workers are invited to the dedication ceremony, Kenosha County Executive Jim Kreuser said.

“This statue honors all those who served in the Civilian Conservation Corp but pays special tribute to those who built Fox River Park,” Kreuser said.

The Civilian Conservation Corp ran from 1933 to 1942. It was established as part of President Roosevelt’s “New Deal” to employ young men, aged 17 to 28 years old, in manual unskilled labor to remove them from the relief rolls.

In its nine years of operation, three million men were employed by the CCC planting trees, upgrading and building parks, constructing flood control, building wildlife habitat, making stream improvements, building forest fire towers and many other miscellaneous projects.

Fox River Park was Project SP-8 and home to 300 men in CCC Companies 2625 and 2655. The project ran from 1934 through 1937. The men built pavilions, roads, parking lots, streambank revetments, installed drainage, built stone walls and planted over 130,000 trees and shrubs.

In October of 1937, the Department of the Interior terminated the project at Fox River Park. The camp buildings were dismantled and the men moved out.

The statue purchased through the CCC Legacy Foundation which represents the alumni was made possible by a donation from the John and Ruth L. Kloss Charitable Trust.

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