Harrisburg Sites

Harrisburg's 19th Street Armory was constructed in 1937-8 as a New Deal project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $28,752 grant for the project, whose total cost was $89,050. PWA Docket No. PA 1807.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a rail footbridge carrying lower Cameron Parkway across Spring Creek in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

This PWA building is the "large arena" just off Cameron St. in the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center. "The new arena is of sufficient size to accommodate all livestock judging, with several classes being judged at the same time. The building is 346 by 230 feet in plan and the arena is 240 by 120 feet, with semicircular ends. The permanent seating, which rises in an unbroken ring around the arena, accommodates 8,250. The arena itself, when the hall is being used for conventions, seats 4,250 in temporary seats, thus providing a maximum capacity of 12,500. When the hall...

Electrification of the Keystone Corridor "west of Paoli to Harrisburg came in the 1930s, after the PRR completed electrifying its New York-Washington, D.C. section (the present-day Northeast Corridor)." The total cost ... was financed by government-supported loans from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Public Works Administration."

Built in 1939 with PWA funds, the Northwest Office Building was originally supposed to be part of an expanded Capitol complex that never came to pass. The building is now used as headquarters for the Pennsylvania Liquor Board.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed stone ovens and a stone comfort station at what was then Paxtang Park in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Construction of the PennDOT garage / building on Herr Street in Harrisburg was undertaken as a New Deal project: the then-Department of Highways and Public Works Administration (PWA) provided the funds for the building's construction in 1939. The News-Chronicle: "STATE GARAGE JOB SCHEDULED: Building for Offices of Two Districts Planned. The site of a proposed $375,000 new highway garage in Dauphin county, to house offices of Districts 7 and 8, will be at Twenty-first and Herr streets, Harrisburg, along the U. S. Route 22 by-pass. Bids for erection of the structure are expected to be opened within six weeks, Secretary of...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed Harrisburg's Reservoir Park Bandshell, also known as the Ralph Feldser Memorial Band Shell, ca. 1939-40. "The erection of a bandshell was part of a $290,000 grant for area park improvements."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a rustic staircase from Market St. and S. 23rd St. up into Reservoir Park. The surrounding slope was strengthened with stone and planted to protect against erosion. The staircase appears to be no longer extant.

"The new Finance Department Building of the State capitol group at Harrisburg makes possible the gathering into one building of related units of the State government which were formerly widely scattered. The monumental character of the structure and the use of stone for the entire exterior was dictated by its position opposite the Education Building at the northeast end of the Capitol Plaza. It provides quarters for the departments of the auditor general, revenue, and State treasurer. It has a volume of approximately 6,800,000 cubic feet and its estimated cost is $4,736,270. It is expected to be completed toward the close of 1939."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement and development work at Wildwood Park in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Among other efforts, such as conservation work, they constructed a bridge along a bridle path over a stream. The location and status of the structure is unknown to Living New Deal. The park is bordered by highways that did not exist during the Great Depression.