Cleveland Sites

Cleveland's Carter Road Lift Bridge, which spans the Cuyahoga River, was constructed in 1940 with federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The building is still in service.

The historic Cedar-Central public housing complex in Cleveland, Ohio was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds during the 1930s. "The Outhwaite Homes Estates, along with the Cedar Apartments and Lakeview Terrace, were the first three public housing projects to be completed in Cleveland. The three projects were also among the first in the nation to receive approval and funding from the federal government's newly-created Public Works Administration in 1935."

Now Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, what was then Cleveland Municipal Airport was dramatically developed as part of a massive federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) project.

“In the Cleveland region, the Cleveland Public Library was the largest recipient of art that was funded by Federal programs in the Depression era. The leadership of Linda Eastman, Library Director from 1918 to 1938, was crucial. She believed in the importance of the arts in supporting learning and she was encouraged by the enthusiasm of her brother, painter William Joseph Eastman. Three major murals were painted for the Main Library Building; six murals were painted for branch libraries; children’s sections were decorated with ceramics and dolls (pg 33) that served as aids during story-telling; numerous easel paintings portrayed historical and...

“Cleveland has seen its share of blunders over the years, and each one has been well publicized.  What receives little or no acknowledgement though is that Cleveland has produced its share of treasures as well. One such treasure is the artist Ora Coltman, who was born in Shelby, Ohio in 1858.  He studied at the Art Students League in New York City and the Academie Julian in Paris. Coltman was a painter, sculptor, block printer, muralist, teacher, and writer. He kept a studio in Cleveland where has was a member of the Cleveland Society of Artists and Cleveland Printmakers. Exhibitions...

“In the Cleveland region, the Cleveland Public Library was the largest recipient of art that was funded by Federal programs in the Depression era. The leadership of Linda Eastman, Library Director from 1918 to 1938, was crucial. She believed in the importance of the arts in supporting learning and she was encouraged by the enthusiasm of her brother, painter William Joseph Eastman. Three major murals were painted for the Main Library Building; six murals were painted for branch libraries; children’s sections were decorated with ceramics and dolls (pg 33) that served as aids during story-telling; numerous easel paintings portrayed historical and...

“In the Cleveland region, the Cleveland Public Library was the largest recipient of art that was funded by Federal programs in the Depression era. The leadership of Linda Eastman, Library Director from 1918 to 1938, was crucial. She believed in the importance of the arts in supporting learning and she was encouraged by the enthusiasm of her brother, painter William Joseph Eastman. Three major murals were painted for the Main Library Building; six murals were painted for branch libraries; children’s sections were decorated with ceramics and dolls (pg 33) that served as aids during story-telling; numerous easel paintings portrayed historical and...

“In Cleveland, William Milliken lobbied for a regionalist painting style. His brand, however, was slightly different from the national version. He encouraged local artists to interpret their immediate surroundings in ways that contributed toward a rapport with the public and a definition of the character and perceptions of Northeast Ohio. Milliken also worked to change early twentieth century public opinion that artists were not bohemians, but were fulfilling an integral function for society. He proclaimed that art will ‘elucidate the history and character of the community.’ Milliken’s museum policies, organization of May shows at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and...

The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: "MEMORIAL SHOREWAY (officially called Cleveland Memorial Shoreway), was the first east-west freeway in Greater Cleveland. Originally a strip of road along the lakefront from E. 9th to E. 55th, the 4-mile stretch of road was envisioned as part of a larger system of roads. Using work relief funds and labor from the WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION (WPA), buildings were razed, the lakefront extended by landfill, and the strip was paved. Ten thousand WPA workers completed enough of the preliminary road work for access to the GREAT LAKES EXPOSITION in 1936; within 2 years the road reached the...

The federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) supplied labor for the development of what is now known as the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.

BridgeHunter.com attributes the Columbus Road Bridge in Cleveland, Ohio as having been constructed with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds.

"The Gardens were developed as a joint effort between Cleveland’s ethnic communities, the City of Cleveland and the Federal Government – namely the Work Progress Administration. This is one of the aspects that sets this park aside as a historically significant place; it is a living memorial to the role WPA played in the recent US history and to the notion of multi nationalism that was surfacing at the time." "As early as 1935, the city of Cleveland began to subsidize their construction and also endorsed requests to the Works Progress Administration for garden construction. Eventually, the WPA funded much...

The Public Works Administration financed the construction of the facility with an $8,990,000 grant. Easterly Wastewater Treatment Plant is one of three wastewater and sewerage treatment facilities in the Cleveland area. According to a 2015 Pittsburg Post and Gazette article, the system services 1 million people and $3 million was spent to upgrade the facility to double treatment from 200 million to 400 million gallons a day with work completed in 2019. According to NORSD, "he oldest of our facilities, Easterly is located in Cleveland, in the same location where it has stood since 1908. The plant treats wastewater from homes and...

The Works Progress Administration worked to beautify Cleveland's Erie Street Cemetery during the Great Depression. The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: "Complaints of neglect inspired WPA action, including erecting a fence fashioned from the demolished Superior Ave. viaduct's sandstone. In 1940 the refurbished cemetery of historic graves, including that of Sauk Chief , was rededicated."

Cleveland's historic Glenville Bratenahl Station post office—then known as Station H—was constructed in 1935-6 with Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. Designed by R. Stanley-Brown, the building is still in service. "This postal station serves a rapidly growing commercial district in the northeastern part of Cleveland and also the village of Bratenahl, an exclusive residential area lying along Lake Erie. Its postal receipts approximate $133,000 annually. The lobby is 18 by 51 feet, has a terrazzo floor, a low marble wainscot, and plaster walls and ceiling. The exterior walls are light-red brick trimmed with artificial stone and the building is fire-proof except for the...

Privatized in 2011 and now called Near West Intergenerational School. "On the near west side of Cleveland, we can still see some of the still bearing fruit of Mr. Roosevelt's New Deal. The Kentucky School (Paul Dunbar temporary) is still up. Its cornerstone reads, '1939'; a product of the Public Works Administration, one of the many new government agencies that saved the US from becoming a third world country... On the other corner of the Kentucky School alongside West 38th is an allegorical female figure with flowing hair, kneeling amongst plants, holding a tablet, with a river crossing her lap, and the...

"A slum area of 22 1/2 acres in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, was cleared for the construction of the low-rent development known as Lakeview Terrace Apartments. The site was purchased at a cost of $521,593, the equivalent of 69 cents a square foot. The development consists of 2- and 3-story apartment buildings and 2- and 3-story row houses which cove about 26 percent of the site area and contain an average of 104 rooms per acre. Included in the project are 118 garages. All structures are fireproof. There are 2,311 rooms divided into 620 apartments of which 44 percent are 3-room,...

"n 1936 Lincoln Park was graded and landscaped under a WPA project ..."

The federal Works Progress Administration worked to improve the facilities of Luke Easter Park in Cleveland. "Ten baseball diamonds were later added, along with clay tennis courts, a football field, a running track, an office and service building, and landscaping. Much of this work was done in 1936 under the WPA."

Two federal New Deal agencies: the Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) and the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), contributed to the construction of the Main Avenue Bridge in Cleveland, Ohio. "In the early 1930s under the auspices of the WPA, Cleveland adopted a regional traffic plan including the construction of a six mile lakefront highway connecting Gordon Park on the east side with West Boulevard at Edgewater Park on the west side. The six-mile route was intended to relieve city streets of cross-town and through traffic. The Main Avenue Bridge, funded by the WPA, was a ten-span, continuous cantilever truss, fixed high-level bridge...

This oil on canvas mural, entitled "Post Office Interiors," was painted by Jack Greitzer in 1936 for the new main post office, which was completed in 1934. The mural still hangs in the original building, which was renamed the M.K. Ferguson building but is now known as the Tower City Center. From Covering History: Revisiting Federal Art in Cleveland, 1933-43 by Sharon Dean and Karal Marling: “In all, artwork was commissioned for 19 post offices in the Cleveland area. In 2006, only eight are still operational. In those eight, the artwork from the Depression era was still present, though almost all needed...

In 1934, it was reported that the American Locomotive Company “is building 15 freight engines for the ‘Nickel Plate’ Railroad, in its plant at Schenectady, N.Y… All of these engines are being built with a PWA loan to the Nickel Plate” (Times Union). “Nickel Plate,” or “Nickel Plate Road,” were commonly used names for the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. The railroad company “served parts of the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri” (Wikipedia). The 15 PWA-financed Nickel Plate Road engines were steam-driven Berkshire locomotives, numbered 700-714. No. 700 “made its first revenue trip between Bellevue, OH, and...

Cleveland's historic Newburg Station post office was constructed with federal funds in 1935-6. The building, which was designed by Julius Boenisch, is still in service.

The historic Outhwaite Homes public housing complex in Cleveland, Ohio was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. "The Outhwaite Homes Estates, along with the Cedar Apartments and Lakeview Terrace, were the first three public housing projects to be completed in Cleveland. The three projects were also among the first in the nation to receive approval and funding from the federal government's newly-created Public Works Administration in 1935. Outhwaite's brick Art Deco buildings, grouped around grassy courtyards, originally contained 557 units."

The Pearlbrook Station post office in Cleveland was constructed in 1935-6 with funds provided by the Treasury Department. The building, which houses an example of New Deal artwork, was designed by Julius Boenisch.

Cleveland's historic Pearlbrook Station post office houses one of many examples of New Deal artwork commissioned for northeast Ohio post offices by the federal Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The mural, "Ore Docks and Steel Mills," was completed by Richard Zoellner in 1938.

600 Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers undertook a $300,000 reconditioning project for the Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio, in advance of the 1936 Republican National Convention. The WPA was concerned with "permanent improvements" to the facility.

“In the Cleveland region, the Cleveland Public Library was the largest recipient of art that was funded by Federal programs in the Depression era. The leadership of Linda Eastman, Library Director from 1918 to 1938, was crucial. She believed in the importance of the arts in supporting learning and she was encouraged by the enthusiasm of her brother, painter William Joseph Eastman. Three major murals were painted for the Main Library Building; six murals were painted for branch libraries; children’s sections were decorated with ceramics and dolls (pg 33) that served as aids during story-telling; numerous easel paintings portrayed historical and...

“In the Cleveland region, the Cleveland Public Library was the largest recipient of art that was funded by Federal programs in the Depression era. The leadership of Linda Eastman, Library Director from 1918 to 1938, was crucial. She believed in the importance of the arts in supporting learning and she was encouraged by the enthusiasm of her brother, painter William Joseph Eastman. Three major murals were painted for the Main Library Building; six murals were painted for branch libraries; children’s sections were decorated with ceramics and dolls (pg 33) that served as aids during story-telling; numerous easel paintings portrayed historical and...

“In the Cleveland region, the Cleveland Public Library was the largest recipient of art that was funded by Federal programs in the Depression era. The leadership of Linda Eastman, Library Director from 1918 to 1938, was crucial. She believed in the importance of the arts in supporting learning and she was encouraged by the enthusiasm of her brother, painter William Joseph Eastman. Three major murals were painted for the Main Library Building; six murals were painted for branch libraries; children’s sections were decorated with ceramics and dolls (pg 33) that served as aids during story-telling; numerous easel paintings portrayed historical and...

“In the Cleveland region, the Cleveland Public Library was the largest recipient of art that was funded by Federal programs in the Depression era. The leadership of Linda Eastman, Library Director from 1918 to 1938, was crucial. She believed in the importance of the arts in supporting learning and she was encouraged by the enthusiasm of her brother, painter William Joseph Eastman. Three major murals were painted for the Main Library Building; six murals were painted for branch libraries; children’s sections were decorated with ceramics and dolls (pg 33) that served as aids during story-telling; numerous easel paintings portrayed historical and...

"The Federal government contributed heavily to the construction of both the Gardens and Rockefeller Park."

Cleveland's historic Station A post office was constructed with federal funds in 1935-6. The building, which features Deco details, was designed by Julius Boenisch.

Cleveland's historic University Center Station post office was constructed with federal funds in 1935-6. Designed by R. Stanley-Brown, the building houses examples of New Deal artwork.

Cleveland's historic University Center Station post office houses one of many examples of New Deal artwork commissioned for northeast Ohio post offices. Commissioned by the federal Treasury Relief Art Project, this multi-panel mural was created by John Csosz and completed in 1937.

The federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted restoration / improvement work at Washington Reservation / Washington Park during the 1930s.

BridgeHunter.com attributes the 3rd Street Bridge in Cleveland, Ohio as having been constructed with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds.

"In May 1935 planning for the Willow Freeway began and WPA funds were committed to the project; construction commenced in 1938, with the building of the first "cloverleaf" interchange in the state. The cloverleaf, completed 21 Oct. 1940 at a cost of $1.175 million, brought the new highway (Rt. 21) over Brookpark/Schaaf/Granger roads (Rt. 17) ..."