Prairie Creek Visitor Center
The most impressive achievement of the CCC was the construction of the "concession and recreation building" which is now the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park Visitor Center. With the exception of the window lights, plumbing, and chimney flue, all the materials for the building were constructed of natural materials salvaged from an earlier cleanup of the prairie area. The building is an excellent example of the rustic "back to nature" ethic that dominated National Park Service construction in the 1920s and 1930s. In an attempt to restore the prairie to its natural state, the building was constructed to blend in with the surrounding environment. During the 1930s, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park was the home of the Civilian Conservation Corps Company 1903. The company, which consisted of between 186 and 193 young men, was housed in a temporary camp built in nearby Boyes Prairie, now known as Elk Prairie. The Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park Visitor Center and associated structures are all historically significant as examples of Civil Conservation Corps construction carried on in the state parks during the 1930s.
