Orr Roadside Parking Area - Orr, Minnesota - Civilian Conservation Corps on Waymarking.com

The Orr Roadside Parking Area, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), is one of many Minnesota waysides constructed by federal relief agencies during the Great Depression.  Public work programs such as the CCC were designed to lift Americans out of poverty by providing steady jobs and meaningful work.  CCC jobs were essential on the Iron Range.  In 1933, Minnesota's unemployment rate reached 29 percent, while unemployment on the Range was 70 percent.

The Orr wayside was designed by Arthur R. Nichols, one of Minnesota's most prominent landscape architects.  He served as consulting landscape architect to the MHD from 1932 to 1940 and was a leading figure in the nationwide roadside development movement.  Nichols designed this site in the National Park Service Rustic style.  Rustic style designers sought to complement nature and intrude on the landscape as little as possible.  Their designs incorporated native plants, stone, and logs and reflected America's pioneer past.

Completed in 1938, the 10-acre wayside rest included this stone wall and fishing dock, a campground, a picnic area, a beach and bathhouses.  A footpath looped along both sides of the highway and circled the state forestry station to the north. ~ text of marker on site