Iowa author visits library, talks history of the CCC

GRUNDY CENTER – For over a decade, Iowa-native and history buff Linda McCann has been researching and writing books about Iowa history.
Much of her work covers the bygone days of counties around the Cedar Valley area, including her book “Lost Franklin and Grundy Counties,” but, McCann has also expanded her work to cover everything from the history of swing music in Iowa to the Prohibition in Iowa, and most recently, the work of the CCC in Iowa.
Last Thursday, McCann visited Kling Memorial Library in Grundy Center to discuss her newest book – The Civilian Conservation Corps in Northeast Iowa – and how the work of the CCC has shaped our region today.
“First off, I want to start with this: I am hooked on Iowa history,” McCann said. “In particular, I’m just enthralled with the CCC program. It was a fantastic program, and people don’t even realize all of the amazing things this program did for our state.”
The CCC, or, Civilian Conservation Corps, was a government program that operated from 1933 to 1942, as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. This program provided work for young men during the Great Depression, while enhancing lands owned by the local, state and federal government.
 “Almost everyone who knows the CCC knows how much work they did with the parks,” McCann said.
In Iowa, the CCC is responsible for many state parks, including nearby Pine Lake State Park in Eldora. There, program enrollees built the lodge and the historic cabins, they dug and filled the lake, built the spillways, and planted over 300,000 trees.
For the full story, see this week's Grundy Register.