Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp NP-5-C, Barracks No. 5, CCC Camp Historic District at Chapin Mesa, Cortez, Montezuma County, CO

STORED ON SITE. mchr
Significance: Mesa Verde National Park played host to three separate CCC Camps at various time between 1933 and 1942. The first camp opened in Prater Canyon in 1933 and closed in 1934. That same year, two new camps opened on Chapin Mesa. These two camps merged in 1937. The remaining camp, know by the designation NP-5-C, continued top operate until the CCC program disbanded in 1942. The buildings and landscape features remaining from NP-5-C are now designated as the CCC Camp Historic District.
The CCC Camp Historic District contains two sections, the upper (north) section, and a lower (south) section. The lower section includes the features of the CCC Camp itself. These features include the CCC Recreation Hall, Barracks No. 5, and a labyrinth of trails that once connected various buildings in the camp. This lower section still retains some semblance of its original "U" shaped configuration of buildings.
The predominate architectural style of the historic district can perhaps best be described as utilitarian. The buildings exhibit architectural characteristics typically associated with CCC camps, that is, they were constructed in a rough inexpensive manner based on the assumption that they would only be used for a temporary period. Barracks No. 5, also known as the "Jack Gray Warehouse" was constructed in 1934 as one of five original barracks buildings in the CCC camp. In classic barracks style, the building is long and narrow, with a light wood frame covered on the exterior by 8" horizontal lap siding. The roof, originally covered with only asphalt paper, has had corrugated metal sheets added at a later date. On the interior, the building has a tongue in groove wood floor, celotex walls, and an open ceiling.
Survey number: HABS CO-198-A
Building/structure dates: 1934 Initial Construction