The Civilian Conservation Corps emerged during the Great Depression to address widespread unemployment among young men and severe environmental damage across America, and at Moundville its work was immense. Beginning in 1933 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, the corps helped archaeologists excavate more than 45,000 square feet of the site and uncover more than 1,000 whole ceramic vessels. It also cleaned, cleared, and restored badly deteriorated mounds, brought erosion under control by contouring the landscape, and built dams to check the runoff of water and soil. Its most visible accomplishment at Moundville was the Jones Archaeological Museum, a hand-cast reinforced concrete building that required more than 6,000 man-days of labor and more than two years to complete. Construction began in February 1937, and the museum was dedicated on May 16, 1939. Walter B. Jones later praised the work, saying there was no better concrete job anywhere.