Created in 1935 on the grounds of the Auburn Union Grammar School, the Cooper Amphitheater grew from an overgrown area into an open-air theater through civic pride, community leadership, state assistance, and local labor during the Great Depression. In 1934, Herbert M. Cooper, president of both the Auburn Union Elementary School Board of Trustees and the Auburn Chamber of Commerce, proposed the project in response to the State Emergency Relief Administration’s call for public works that would serve community needs while providing employment. Auburn became the headquarters for this effort across a 15-county region of the Foothills and Central Valley, and the amphitheater was chosen as one of the first projects. Built with locally quarried stone, its initial portion, including the stage and bridge backdrop over North Rich Ravine, was completed on July 18, 1935, while preserving a large oak tree in the middle of the stage floor. The amphitheater was part of a broader group of more than 60 outdoor amphitheaters created under WPA, SERA, and related public works programs, many of which have since been lost. When the School Park Preserve site and the amphitheater’s stone walls later faced destruction in the late 1980s, a 19-year effort began to restore and protect the amphitheater and its heritage oaks as a public park. In September 2006, the California Cultural and Historical Endowment awarded funds to the City of Auburn, matched by local contributions, to restore the theater and its surrounding landscape as an important part of 20th-century heritage. The surrounding School Park Preserve also became a gateway to the Auburn State Recreation Area along the North and Middle Forks of the American River, a landscape shaped by Maidu Nisenan Indians, Spanish settlers, and Gold Rush miners, and in 2001 six community partners joined together to preserve the oak grove and restore the amphitheater and North Rich Ravine.