El Paso Sites

Among the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects identified as completed in an El Paso Times article from June 7, 1936 was the "paving of Alabama Street and Wilson road, 7.36 miles, cost $31,588.94," as well as "Alabama Street spillway flood control project. $6408.23."

Among the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects identified as completed in an El Paso Times article from June 7, 1936 was "Hard-surfacing of Carolina Drive and Buford Way, Lower Valley, distance of 6.6 miles, $22,512.92. Living New Deal is unclear as to which road is Buford Way.

Among the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects identified as completed in an El Paso Times article from June 7, 1936 was "Exposition Building site, $25,903.67"—Exposition Building being another term for what is now the County Coliseum, which was completed in 1942.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the El Paso International Airport in El Paso TX. The antecedent to the El Paso International Airport, built by the WPA, was the Municipal Airport, established by Standard Airlines. This original airport was established close to the east side of the Franklin Mountains. More than 1000 men worked on landscaping, groundwork, as well as airplane and airport improvements. This original site then became a cement batching plant, and later on it became a US Army training base during WWII. It is important to consider the precedent of the original airport because it gives important historical...

The federal Works Progress Administration worked to develop Fort Bliss. El Paso Herald-Post: "Another $50,000 in WPA funds, ... will be used to hire labor to paint and repair Ft. Bliss buildings, to build roads, and other improvements on the reservation."

The federal Works Progress Administration played a crucial role in the early development of Fort Bliss National Cemetery. NPS.gov: "Labor hired for the cemetery and through the WPA constructed the national cemetery.  The New Deal labor program, begun in 1935, primarily completed small-scale new construction, rehabilitation, and/or landscape improvement projects that could be completed in a year or less.  In addition to the initial cemetery appropriations in excess of  $44,000, the cemetery received a  second $25,000 WPA project,  of which approximately $22,000 paid for labor and $3,000 for  supplies. ... By October 1939, the request for appropriations resulted in another $75,000...

Among the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects identified as completed in an El Paso Times article from June 7, 1936 was "Manufacture of Liberty Hall seat covers. $1528." "The El Paso County Courthouse and its accompanying Liberty Hall was a monumental Classical Revival structure built in 1915" and located at 500 East San Antonio Avenue. The building was demolished in 1988.

Among the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects identified as completed in an El Paso Times article from June 7, 1936 was "Memorial Park grading and landscaping, $21,609."

Among the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects identified as completed in an El Paso Times article from June 7, 1936 was "Montana Street widening and storm ditch improvement, $5376."

Among the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects identified as completed in an El Paso Times article from June 7, 1936 was a "Municipal Golf Course Clubhouse, $14,945.72." The golf course in question and the status of the facility are presently unknown to Living New Deal.

Among the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects identified as completed in an El Paso Times article from June 7, 1936 was the "grading of Portland Avenue, $14,225.79."

Among the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects identified as completed in an El Paso Times article from June 7, 1936 was "Completion of addition to Chemistry Building at College of Mines"—now known as Quinn Hall at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Multiple New Deal agencies financed or conducted development or improvement work at what was then known as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy at El Paso (or "School of Mines"), now the University of Texas at El Paso. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided funding for the construction of two dorms on campus, while the Works Progress Administration constructed an addition to the chemistry building, graded "drives on campus," and built an "extension of the power plant at the College of Mines."

The Tornillo-Guadalupe International Bridge, known locally as the Fabens-Caseta Bridge, encouraged trade and commerce between the United States and Mexico for seventy-eight years (1938-2016), providing a symbolic and physical connection between the American and Mexican cultures. It was constructed a half mile southwest of this location in 1938 as part of the Rio Grande rectification project of the International Boundary Commission. It was demolished in 2016. This bridge, along with its sister bridge linking Fort Hancock, Texas, with El Porvenir, Chihuahua, were cornerstones of the rectification project stretching from El Paso, Texas, to Little Box Canyon south of Fort Quitman,...

Artist Tom Lea was commissioned in 1938 to paint the "Pass of the North" mural for the Federal Courthouse in El Paso. The Treasury Section of Fine Arts funded the project. Artist Milford Zornes spoke about Tom Lea's art at the El Paso Courthouse: “Both are very fine and an inspiration to me. The Tom Lea especially pleased me. It was in beautiful color harmony with the room. So beautiful and skillfully painted. To me the idea of going through a country, feeling its characteristic personality, then being able to see in the vicinity the work of a painter who has interpreted...

The PWA built two dormitories in 1936 for what was then called the Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy. The two dorms are Benedict and Worrell Halls, both of which are still standing. The school's newspaper, The Prospector, reported in April 1936 that "Construction started April 15, 1936 on the two PWA allocated dormitories for 102 men and women students," and that school officials believed the new dormitories would help attract more and stronger students to the school.