Much of the campground was built between 1936 and 1942 by crews of the Civilian Conservation Corps; this section is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The first master plan for the park, published in 1927, included a call for campgrounds, but funding did not become available until the jobs programs of the 1930s.

In 1935 the site of Seawall Campground was chosen, and construction began in 1936 by Civilian Conservation Corps crews funded by the Works Progress Administration.

Work continued on Loop C and the checkin/ranger station, but progress on these was delayed by US entry into World War II, and they were not finished until 1942.

Loop D, which consists of walk-in tent campsites, and the amphitheater were built in the 1950s as part of a "Mission 66" program by the park service to expand facilities ahead of its fiftieth anniversary in 1966.