• Jefferson County Courthouse - Mt. Vernon IL
    The Jefferson County courthouse in Mt. Vernon IL was built with funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1939.  It is a three-story concrete structure in Moderne or Art Deco style, designed by architect William R. McCoy, who was quite active in central Illinois at the time.  It is one of six New Deal county courthouses in Illinois (Weiser 2009).  Unfortunately, Weiser, Wikipedia and other sources make the common mistake of confusing the PWA with the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The courthouse is an elegant building, with a protruding south portico with  three vertical sections divided by bas-relief pillars.   Above...
  • Mt. Vernon Township High School Expansion - Mt. Vernon IL
    Mt. Vernon Township high school was expanded during the 1930s with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The school's original building B was supplemented by three new structures Buildings A, D, and E (a classroom building, an auditorium, and a gymnasium). Credit for the structures is sometimes mis-attributed to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) (e.g., on Wikipedia, below). In the 2010s, a new school was built 5 miles away on the SW edge of town and the old school was torn down in 2017-18, according to the Jefferson County Historical Society. Apparently, the loss of the venerable Changnon Gymnasium...