Martinez Sites

In 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) extended Berrellessa Street several blocks into the waterfront on the west end of town, which was the long-time neighborhood of Italian/Sicilian fishermen plying their trade on the Sacramento River and San Francisco Bay.   The neighborhood had housing, warehouses, a wharf and processing operations. Some of these remain, but not the wharf. There is a memorial to the Italian fisherman of Martinez over by the public marina, but not here (see below for link to local fishermen singing folk songs, 1939). The WPA project included considerable rock and soil fill over former wetlands into the...

The Works progress Administration (WPA) installed a new vault and made other  improvements to the Contra Costa County Finance Building in 1935-36, and perhaps later. According to WPA Project Cards from the National Archives, the vault was to be built of reinforced concrete and lined with steel and additional work was to be done to partition off additional space for the Treasurer's office.  The total amount allocated for the project was around $5,000. We know that improvement work was done because of reports in the Contra Costa Gazette.  One notes that additional painting was done on the county assessor and school administration...

In 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to the former Contra Costa County jail, which stands just behind the old courthouse (the present Finance Building) at 625 Court Street.  According to a WPA Project Card from the National Archives, the work involved painting the interior and exterior of the jail and the project was approved for $14,888; but because the card appears to combine painting work at the jail with painting the Hall of Records (in the present Taylor courthouse), it is unclear how much was allocated to the jail. The jail was constructed in 1901 and had its entrance...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out improvements on the county Hall of Records building in Martinez CA, constructed in 1932, which is now known as the Justice Wakefield Taylor Courthouse (California State Superior Court). There were three different projects approved for the Hall of Records, in 1935, 1936 and 1937, for a total of over $28,000, according to WPA Project Cards in the National Archives.  The work specified included partitions of work areas, wiring, fixtures, and heating in the courts and painting, wiring and a burglar alarm system in the Hall of Records. The Taylor Courthouse (originally the county Hall of...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the Mountain View elementary school near Martinez.  At the time, the school was located just outside the city of Martinez in an unincorporated area southeast of the city limits at the corner of Palm Avenue and Almond Street, a couple blocks south of Pacheco Boulevard.  The PWA funds appear to have passed through the city's hands.  Receipt of a $21,406 grant from the PWA for the school was announced at a city council meeting on August 3, 1938 (Council Minutes). Perhaps, this anticipated the subsequent incorporation of the Mountain View neighborhood. The New Deal...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) laid pavement at the base of the flag pole in front of the Martinez Veterans' Memorial Building. They may have reset the flag pole, as well, and built the curved walkways in front of the building.  There is a WPA stamp in the concrete which is undated. This may have been part of the larger WPA project to improve streets and sidewalks around the city of Martinez, but it is distinctive and visible enough to merit a separate entry.

The Martinez downtown post office was constructed by the Treasury Department Office of Procurement for the United States Post Office in 1936-37.  It is a striking one-story Moderne building built of reinforced concrete, with a central entrance and two windows on each side of the facade.   The entrance and central windows are bordered by lovely decorative bas-relief elements and there is a beautiful golden-eagle sculpture over the door. The interior of the post office is in excellent condition, with the original woodwork, metal grills and post boxes.  It also houses a New Deal mural by Hamlin and Dixon at the south...

The Martinez downtown post office contains an oil-on-canvas New Deal mural, "The Road to Eldorado" by noted California artists Edith Hamlin and Maynard Dixon. It was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts in 1939. The subject matter of the mural appears to be a selection of early settlers of Martinez, with the city and the Carquinez Strait in the background (at the edges), including a Californio (Indian?), prospector and sailor on the left and a businessman and town women on the right, with a postal rider in the middle (in buckskin).  The title seems deftly ironic, but not critical. F0r...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded an expansion of the Martinez public marina along the Carquinez Strait/Sacramento River.  The city had sought PWA support for expansion plans to what it called the Yacht Harbor since 1934 but was turned down at least twice, according to city council minutes for 1938 and 1939  (Henderson). Nevertheless, an undated PWA project card in the National Archives shows that the project was completed (see images). The marina is still there and very much in use, though various docks and walkways have undoubtedly been replaced over time.    

In 1943, the Public Works Administration (PWA) (by then part of the Federal Works Administration) funded a new ferry slip and expansion of the public wharf in Martinez.  The government grant was for $77,000, but the city accepted a bid of $72,000 from the Macco Construction company for $5,000 less than that (CC Gazette, 1943).  This project would have been one of the last funded by the PWA, which ended that year. The ferry slip consists of huge timbers sunk in the river bottom (possibly fixed in concrete). The project also expanded the width of the wharf by 12 feet. It...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) and National Y0uth Administration (NYA) aided  in the development of Rankin Park, a 42 acre park in the hills to the west of Martinez.  The city purchased the land for $12,000 in 1938 and New Deal relief workers went right to work, helping city crews and Boy Scouts develop the park for public access and use. The work teams cleared brush, planted trees, built roads, laid out trails, and created picnic areas with stone picnic stoves, as well as adding a ball field, a playground and sanitary facilities. (Contra Costa Times, May 28, 1939) More information is needed...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built sidewalks, gutters, curbs and other streets improvements throughout the city of Martinez.  There were two main projects, one starting in 1938 and the other in 1941, according to WPA project cards in the National Archives.   The total funding was around $375,000, a considerable sum for the WPA, so there must have been a large amount of street work, as well, but this was not marked and cannot be identified.  WPA sidewalk stamps can still be found here and there around the older parts of town. Many have been lost to curb cuts and sidewalk replacements...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) planted around 400 street trees in the city of Martinez in the winter of 1933-34. The plantings consisted of walnuts and sycamores.  (Henderson 2014) Susana Park had just been deeded to the city by the Masonic Lodge, which stands nearby.  Many of the trees in the park are probably planted by the CWA.  Rock work at the entrances to the park may well be CWA, but that cannot be confirmed (benches connected to the low rock walls were removed in a recent renovation of the park). A special ceremony was held at Susana Park to plant trees...

In 1938, the Public Works Administration (PWA) gave a grant to the city of Martinez to help construct a 500,000 gallon water supply reservoir.  This is the old Mountain View reservoir (which is no longer in service) at the end of Harbor View Street, according to former City Engineer Tim Tucker.  (A second storage tank, still in service, can be found farther south at the end of Shady Glen Street) The City Council minutes for August 4, 1938 indicate that this was PWA Project #1749F. On August 17, the council transferred $7,000 to the PWA project account and another $2,097 was...