The efforts of the National Park Service are largely responsible for the reforestation of Blue Knob State Park. Blue Knob National Recreation Demonstration Area was opened by the park service in 1935. The park was built by the men of the Works Projects Administration and the young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps with the cooperation of Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot. The WPA and CCC were established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression to provide work for the unemployed. Ownership of the park was transferred to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on September 26, 1945 and Blue Knob State Park was officially opened.