Westport Sites

The former post office in Westport, Connecticut, located at 154 Post Road, was built in 1935 with federal Treasury Department funds.  "It was designed by Lansing Holden, a World War I flying ace, who won the Distinguished Service Cross.  Returning home from the war, he took up his father’s profession as an architect.  Holden continued to fly, and in 1938 he died in a crash trying to land in bad weather." In 2011 the post office was sold to a private real estate company. The building then housed a high-end restaurant, though it has changed hands again.

The original component of what is now Saugatuck Elementary School was originally constructed as an second building for what was then Staples High School. The project was undertaken with federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) sponsorship. The P.W.A. supplied a $51,750 grant for the project, whose total cost was $113,925. Construction occurred between Dec. 1935 and Apr. 1937. The facility has since been expanded. P.W.A. Docket No. CT 1038

"The shoreline parks: Hammonassett Beach, Sherwood Island and Rocky Neck were all completed during this time period as WPA projects."

A 1937 Hartford Courant article reported that the WPA contributed "to the improvement and enlargement of the barracks at Westport and Ridgefield." The location and status of this former barracks is presently unknown to Living New Deal.