The West Shelter, now known as Shelter 3, was built in 1937 by the men of Civilian Conservation Corps Company 1252, who quarried the stone locally and cut the timbers in the CCC camp sawmill. The company was housed at Hamlin Beach from 1935 to 1941, and its sawmill at Hamlin Beach State Park produced lumber for buildings and furniture such as picnic tables, including those in the shelter. From 1933 to 1942, the Civilian Conservation Corps rescued roughly two million men from poverty and provided them with jobs doing sorely needed conservation work during the Great Depression.