Squirrel Hollow County Park is located along the

North Raccoon River The Raccoon River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 26, 2011 tributary of the Des Moines River in central Iowa in the United States. As measured using the longes ...

southeast of

Jefferson, Iowa Jefferson is a city in, and the county seat of Greene County, Iowa, United States, along the Raccoon River, North Raccoon River. The population was 4,182 at the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is the home of the Mahanay Me ...

, United States. It was established in 1934, and it is the second oldest

county park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

in the state of

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. The park is bordered on two sides by a wildlife management area. Both are managed by the Greene County Conservation Board. They are open from April 1 to November 1 and feature facilities for camping, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, hiking, picnicking, and equestrian camping and trails. The park was listed as a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1991.

Historic district

Ten park structures are included in the historic district, of which three are

contributing buildings In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

and seven are

contributing structures In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

. with They were designed by the Central Design Office at Iowa State College, now

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

, and built by the

Civil Works Administration The Civil Works Administration (CWA) was a short-lived job creation program established by the New Deal during the Great Depression in the United States to rapidly create mostly manual-labor jobs for millions of unemployed workers. The jobs were ...

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

, and the

Public Works Administration The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recove ...

between 1934 and 1936. The three buildings are a shelter house and two latrines. The shelter house features old mill stones in the center of the concrete floor. The structures include two fireplaces located east of the shelter house, the stone retaining wall on the east bank of the Raccoon River, two entrance portals along the county access road, a ball diamond, and the gravel road system.

References

{{NRHP in Greene County, Iowa Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa County parks in Iowa Protected areas of Greene County, Iowa Public Works Administration in Iowa Works Progress Administration in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Greene County, Iowa Historic districts in Greene County, Iowa 1934 establishments in Iowa Protected areas established in 1934 Civil Works Administration