Idaho Falls Sites

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built or improved a power dam in the city of Idaho Falls, Idaho.  Judging from the photograph on the WPA record card in the National Archives, the dam is the one across the Snake River just above the Idaho Falls, which diverts part of the river into the hydroelectric power station run by Idaho Power Company. (The card gives the location as Briggs, Bonneville County, but there is no such place) The diversion from the falls to the power plant is obscured by a highway bridge and park in the middle of the river below the...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the original Idaho Falls airport in 1935-37. We do not know which, if any, of the historic structures remain. "In 1935, the City of Idaho Falls partnered with the Works Project Administration (WPA) to produce the plans and funding needed to build a true airport in Idaho Falls. The hangar and administrator's cabin were built in 1936 of hand-hewn, peeled, native white pine. The hangar provided for maintenance, repair and shelter for aircraft, as well as support for the pilots. Its interior space was divided between the airplane storage and maintenance area and the small...

The beautiful Pinecrest Municipal Golf Course in Idaho Falls, Idaho was constructed as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in 1936-37. The clubhouse at Pinecrest, completed in 1937, is intact. It was built in a classic park rustic style much in favor in the first half of the 20th century, with stone pillars, log walls and wooden interior. There is a WPA plaque on the exterior wall of the clubhouse by the entrance.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped develop Tautphaus Park and Zoo in Idaho Falls, Idaho around 1935-36. A 2015 Idaho Falls city press release states: "In 1934, the city of Idaho Falls purchased land in Tautphaus Park, then called 'City Park,' and in 1935 the first zoo animals were brought to the park. Log buildings were erected throughout the park and financed as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project.  Some of these buildings can still be seen on zoo grounds and now serve as an education center and a storage barn." The rustic style buildings are still in the park, though the...