Historical marker at Ohio’s Shawnee State Park honors WWI veterans who shaped the park

Portsmouth, Ohio — The Ohio DNR (ODNR) unveiled a new historical marker at Shawnee State Park to honor Company 1545, a crew of black World War I veterans whose work helped shape the park during the Great Depression.

In a ceremony at Roosevelt Lake, ODNR highlighted the contributions of Company 1545, which began work in 1934 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

At the time, Shawnee State Park was known as the Theodore Roosevelt Game Preserve, and Company 1545 played a critical role in damming Turkey Creek and Mackletree Run to create Roosevelt Lake. The men also built trails, graded roads, erected bridges, and constructed shelters that made the rugged landscape more accessible for visitors.

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The ODNR historical marker also tells the broader story of the Civilian Conservation Corps, a program that provided meaningful work to more than three million Americans between 1933 and 1942. In 1933, President Roosevelt opened the CCC to 25,000 World War I veterans. Recruited through the Veterans Administration, they were exempt from age and marital restrictions and lived and worked in dedicated camps.