CCC Office

New recruits at a CCC Camp.

There were many agencies involved in getting the CCC men here: the Department of Labor recruited and enrolled the men, the Department of Interior (under which the National Park Service is administered) and Department of Agriculture provided the work projects and the War Department/Army ran the camps. Despite the many agencies involved, the CCC was up and running with incredible speed. From Roosevelt's initial meeting with his Cabinet regarding the CCC on March 9, 1933 to the CCC boys arrival here at Shenandoah on May 15, 1933, only 68 days elapsed. (The very first CCC Camp, Camp Roosevelt in nearby Luray, Va, was established even earlier on April 17th.) It was one of the largest, and fastest, peacetime deployments ever in United States history.
By the summer of 1933, over 250,000 men had been enrolled across the country in the CCC. Ultimately, there were camps in every state of the U.S plus the territories of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
In addition to the CCC boys, there were LEMs (locally employed/experienced men), older men from the local communities who came in with the trade skills necessary, e.g., masonry and carpentry, to help guide the projects.