Sparta was the Sixth District Headquarters for the Civilian Conservation Corps. The CCCs employed hundreds of young men from the Coulee Region during the Great Depression.
Historian Bruce Thayer will present “What was the CCC? The History and Legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, at the Monroe County Local History Room, 200 Main St., Sparta.
A federal work program, the Civilian Conservation Corps employed hundreds of young men from the Coulee Region during the Great Depression. The Monroe County Local History Room will ask for a $1 admission donation per person.
In 1940, 17-year-old Sparta resident Warren Cole followed in the footsteps of his three older brothers and joined the Civilian Conservation Corps. Established in 1933, the CCC employed more than two million men from 18–25 years old during the Great Depression. Wisconsin had dozens of camps that housed CCC workers who labored on trails, bridges, buildings, and other public facilities and conservation projects. Sparta served as CCC Sixth Corps Area District Headquarters, overseeing the activities of 40-plus CCC camps in Wisconsin.
The program officially ended on July 30, 1942, by which time most of its participants, like Warren Cole, had enlisted to fight in World War II or had found other wartime employment.
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