CCC nearly comes to Delphos;
Camp built in Middle Point

"CCC Camp to be located in Delphos" reads headline in Delphos Herald, March 31, 1939.

Delphos is assured of a Civilian Conservation Corps Camp, according to a United Press report received from Washington.

Thirty CCC camps with a maximum enrollment of 6,000 will be operated in Ohio from April 1 to September 30. The new program in Ohio calls for opening four new camps, re-establishment of one and closing of six.

Van Wert County Engineer J. T. Mollenkopf announced that U.S. Army officials have approved the plot of ground on State Street just south of the West Side cemetery as a CCC camp site. The ground belongs to Dr. Schlink, of New Riegel. Recommendations for the ground as a site were made by officers in the army. Under the present set-up, work of the Delphos CCC will extend in Van Wert, Paulding, Putnam, Allen, Mercer, and probably Auglaize counties. The first project of the Delphos camp will be Blue Creek ditch in Van Wert and Paulding counties.

O.S. Van Meter will be in charge of the Delphos camp.

Between 180 and 400 boys will be included in the camp.

It was first intended to place the camp on the city ground near the Delphos sewage disposal plant, but the army medical officers would not approve the land as it was too close to the sewage treatment plant.

City Council votes as not being in favor of a camp in the city limits. Plans had already been made to locate it on State Street.

The Delphos Civic Club went on record as favoring the camp in Delphos. The businessmen feel that a camp here will mean added business, as each boy receives $5 per month. Also, the parents of each boy will get $25 per month, and a portion of this is sent back to the boys.

In a letter to Dr. Albert Schlink, owner of the land, the letter states that it will be impossible for the Government to lease your land.

I regret to report that at a Delphos Council meeting, council passed a resolution requesting that the CCC camp not be established in Delphos, (because of objections from some Delphos citizens). It has always been the policy of the CCC to establish camps only where they are desired by the public.

Sincerely,
Nathaniel E. Callen
Major, Infantry
Commanding

Work has been started on the establishment of a CCC camp at Middle Point, according to Major J.T. Mollenkopf, Van Wert County Engineer.

The camp will be located east of the France Stone quarry at Middle Point, on a site 400 x 900 feet. The permanent camp will comprise 5 barracks, 120x20 feet each, a recreation room 100x20 feet, triangular mess hall, educational building, two shower baths and latrines, office quarters, technical service office, workshop, blacksmith shop, medical building and three garages to house 17 Army trucks.

June 16, 1939 Delphos Herald

Construction of the CCC camp at Middle Point is nearly completed. About half of the company has already moved here.

Carpentry work, wiring and plumbing is in charge of the county skilled workman. Thirty five men are engaged and the payroll during June will be about $3,800. C.B. Davis is carpenter foreman.

The officials of the CCC camp at Middle Point are extending an invitation to Delphos citizens to visit the fine Middle Point camp on Sunday, April 7. The open house is being planned as part of the seventh anniversary of the CCC in the United States.

Enrollees will be ready to escort visitors through the camp and explain the various phases of the organization. The Middle Point camp is one of the finest in the state, and preparations have been underway for several weeks to welcome visitors.

The CCC camp was established at Middle Point in the center of the drainage project area which is being served by the camp.

Oscar Stuttler, Delphos, has been accepted as a CCC enrollee. He was transferred to Xenia for preliminary training.

R. U. Martin enrolled in CCC and has been transferred to Ft. Hayes, Columbus, for outfitting and assignment. He enrolled in Van Wert County.

Pokagan State Park near Angola, Ind. was literally built by Company 556 of the CCC, between 1934 and 1942.

The pictures of shelter house and overpass abutments do not do justice to the craftsmanship and beauty of the stonework.

Roger Woodcock learned the stone mason trade there as a young man, from 1934 to 1938. Nearly every year he returns to do minor repairs on the stonework. He is 86 years old.

The CCC program was considered President Roosevelt's pet project, and before the end of his first day in office as president, he had put his idea into action. Five days later he called six men to the White House – the secretaries of war, interior, and agriculture, the director of the budget, the solicitor of the Department of the Interior and the judge advocate. These agencies would work together at different levels to create the corps.

In his acceptance speech, the President said, "There are ten millions of acres east of the Mississippi alone, in abandoned farms, in cutover land now growing up in brush. It is clear that economic foresight and immediate employment go hand in hand in the call for reforestation of these vast areas. In so doing, employment can be given to a million men."

The New Deal measure known as "an act for the relief of unemployment through the performance of useful public work," was passed by Congress and signed by the president before the end of the inaugural month.

By Executive Order of April 5, 1933, Roosevelt appointed a director of Emergency Conservation Work, and transferred $10 million for his use. Chattanooga born Robert Techner was the man chosen to administer the CCC at an annual salary of $12,000. In some circles, he was considered a respected labor leader, a boy who had worked his way from selling candy and newspapers on the Georgia trains to vice-president of the AF of L.

Before Mr. Techner had been in Washington 24 hours he and his council were invited to the White House. The president wanted to know when the first CCC camp would be established. "A month," responded Mr. Techner. "Too long," said the president. "Two weeks?" "Good." And it was.

The first CCC man selected was enrolled by the War Department on April 7, 1933. Ten days later the first work camp was set up in George Washington National Forest near Luray, Virginia, and was named Camp Roosevelt.

Eligibility for selection as junior enrollees, as the men were called, was restricted to unemployed and unmarried young men between the ages of 18 to 23 who were citizens of the United States, and who agreed to allot a substantial portion of their basic $30-monthly cash allowance for the assistance of their needy and dependent families. In addition to the enrollment of 250,000 men who met these conditions, the president approved the selection of approximately 25,000 local experienced men. He wanted to stimulate local businesses and get the entire community involved with the corps. The .government also approved the selection of 25,000 war veteran enrollees, and enrollees from Indian reservations and from the territories.

By early, July, 300,000 junior enrollees, war veterans, and local experienced men were settled in approximately 1,500 forest and park camps of about 200 men each. It was one of the most rapid large-scale mobilization of men the country had ever accomplished. There was a new spirit in America. Hard times were going, a New Deal was coming.

The beginning of the end of the CCC

The ablest of the young men could now (in 1940) get jobs and had no need of the CCC.

The corps took a further step in the attempt to shrug off its relief connections and adopt its new role as a reservoir for defense needs. Economic status was no longer to be considered the compelling factor in enrollments. The CCC was now open to college boys. By 1940, the CCC's identification with relief was too strong to permit change in public attitudes. New "college boys" were enticed to enter its ranks. Nevertheless, the corps still received many public plaudits.

There was questioning about the need to continue the corps in light of the realities of swiftly rising employment rates and the single-minded concern of Americans with defense.

Considerations of expediency and survival, not moral pressure, induced the CCC, near the end of its life, to provide some measure of equality in selection opportunity for Negro enrollees.

Toward the end of 1941, youths were leaving at the rate of 6,000 monthly, to take jobs in industry as war conditions closed the employment gap. Then was no chance of replacing these men.

After much testimony and hearings, rather than proceed with formal hearings abolishing the Corps, it was simpler for Congress to not vote any more money for CCC work. In return for the Senate agreeing to this action, the House agreed to provide $8 million for the liquidation of the CCC. As of June 30, 1942, the Civilian Conservation Corps was dead.

From "The Civilian Conservation Corps" by John A.. Salmond and "The Soil Soldiers" by Leslie A. Lacy.
(For many more details between the beginning and the end of the CCC, read the above books.)

A note from the author: In last month's artic1e about Sears houses, I failed to give full credit to Rosemary Thornton for most of the information which came from her excellent book, "The Houses That Sears Built." My apologies. Check her book for much more information.

Compiled by Robert Holdgreve
Delphos Historical Society

August 23, 2003 Delphos Herald Newspaper