CCC Museum roofing work in memory of alumnus
National board provides funding for project
BY KEVIN BONESKE
REPORTER/PHOTOGRAPHER
The Civilian Conservation Corps Museum at Pioneer Park in Rhinelander was the beneficiary of a bequest from a late CCC alumnus when roofing work was done there Oct. 18-19 by a crew from the McNaughton Correctional Center.
CCC Legacy president Joan Sharpe said the national board, looking for a project in the part of the country where Howard Thompson was from, decided to use a portion of the bequest the organization received in 2011 to fix the roof of the CCC Museum, which is a replica of a CCC camp building with memorabilia inside.
The CCC, which existed from 1933 to 1942 after being formed in the wake of the Great Depression, employed young men for the conservation of the country’s natural resources.
Sharpe said funding the roofing work, which involved replacing the building’s shingles, is a way of preserving the CCC’s legacy for future generations.
As noted on the signs of the CCC Museum, the building was a National Association of Civilian Conservation Corps Alumni project by the Wisconsin Chapter 23 as well as a Job Corps project constructed by Blackwell Conservation Center in the early 1980s.
Rhinelander parks director Gunder Paulsen, who got in contact with Sharpe and helped arrange the roofing work, said having the McNaughton work crew handle the project made it possible to replace the shingles at a lower cost than having to hire a roofing contractor.
Sharpe noted Thompson, who was in the CCC’s Company 638 at Camp Mineral Lake and resided in Monona, had also spearheaded an effort to have a CCC Worker Statue placed at Devils Lake State Park near Baraboo in 2004.
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