Washington Sites

"The overpass on 6th Street was a project funded by the state and Works Progress Administration (WPA). The overpass allowed cars and trucks to go over the railroad tracks. Centralia was an important logging and coal-mining town. The bridge improved the transportation of these products while also making the tracks safer for residents."

Alki Playfield underwent a regrade, thanks to New Deal funds, in 1934.

David M. Hartz, superintendent of Arlington’s schools, requested from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a mural of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox to adorn the walls of Arlington High School as a memorial of the folkloric past of the Pacific Northwest (and Arlington’s past as a lumber town). According to the February 1940 issue of the Washington Education Journal, “His inquiry to the WPA Art Project brought a happy response: ‘Yes, artists were available, and a mural could be done for very little cost.’” The result was that Washington-based artist Richard Correll painted the nine by twelve foot mural,...

In 1937 the Seattle City Council passed an ordinance authorizing work to begin on reconstructing the bridge. The job took a year and a half and replaced the timber approaches with approaches of concrete and steel that featured ornamental lighting. The cost was $800,000, funded 45 percent by the federal Depression-era Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the remainder by Seattle's share of the state gasoline tax. The work closed the roadway for the year and a half of construction. For the duration, people crossing the ship canal were obliged to drive over the Fremont Bridge or the Aurora Bridge.

Ballard High School in Seattle opened in 1901, underwent renovations through New Deal funds in 1934. The Civil Works Administration (CWA) completed renovations between 1933 and 1934. Special Report of accomplishment by CWA workers from November 24th, 1933 to February 15th, 1934. Project KCWB 547-CWA 17-244. See 1934 progress report. *Building has been remodeled in 1998 and the work done by the CWA cannot be viewed.

Between 1938 and 1941, with funding assistance from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Seattle Park Department completed several improvement projects at Beacon Hill Playground. In the first of these projects, WPA workers re-painted the playground shelter house in 1938. This was part of a city-wide project to paint and repair park buildings that, due to budget cuts, had received little to no maintenance since the early years of the Great Depression. The following year saw the installation of new lighting fixtures to provide nighttime illumination of the playfield. Then, in 1941, WPA workers regraded part of the playfield, installed...

A WPA press release from Nov. 1937 reported: "More than 150 schools have been repaired and the grounds improved and landscaped , and five brand new schools in the state were erected entirely by WPA with a small percentage of sponsored funds," among which was a new school in Belfair, Washington. The precise location and the present status of the school building are unknown to Living New Deal.

"The Bellingham High School is one of the largest and finest structures of this type erected recently in northwest Washington. It is 3 stories in height with sufficient basement to take care of the heating system. It provides 20 standard classrooms; laboratories for chemistry, physics, biology, and agriculture; a woodworking shop; a machine shop; an automobile repair shop; rooms for music, arts and crafts, mechanical drawing, domestic science, office practice, typing, and stenography; a band and orchestra room; lunchrooms; a boys' gymnasium; a girls' gymnasium; an auditorium with a stage; a library; conference rooms; study rooms; and administrative offices....

A WPA press release from Jan. 1938 reported: "Improvement of the grade school building at Black Diamond also begins this week. WPA workers will modernize the inside and landscape and seed the grounds and add other improvements, with the aid of $7,190 in Federal funds and material funds from the sponsor, Abel said." The exact location and status of the old school is unknown to Living New Deal.

Camp Long is a 68-acre park in West Seattle. The park was constructed with WPA help starting n 1937. It was dedicated in 1941. WPA work in the park includes extensive rock work, the construction of a golf course, cabins and lodges and the first climbing wall in the world (see separate page on Schurman Rock).

"he historic Kirkland Cannery building built during the Great Depression by the Works Progress Administration, or WPA. ... The 11,000-square-foot wooden structure was built beginning in 1935 and opened as a free public cannery in 1936." Washington State operated four cooperative canneries, all funded by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA). Canneries at Kirkland and Kent served families from as far away as Everett and Tacoma. Any family with an income of less than $100 a month could bring fruit, vegetables and meat to the cannery to preserve them for the winter. The cannery kept one third of the canned...

During the 1930s, with the help of Works Progress Administration funds and labor, the Seattle Park Department made significant improvements to Cascade Playground. Among these improvements was the construction of a small brick comfort station in the northeast corner of the playground. The comfort station consisted of two structures, one on either side of the diagonal path leading into the playground, and included rooms for the playground caretaker, a playground instructor, and storage, as well as men's and women's restrooms. Work on the two structures began in 1937 and was completed in 1938. A plaque on the north side of...

The push for construction of a playground in Seattle's Cascade neighborhood began during the 1920s. In 1926, using funds from a 1924 bond issue, the Seattle Park Department acquired the proposed Cascade Playground site, which covered nearly the entire block between Harrison and Thomas Streets, and Minor and Pontius Avenues. The property remained largely unimproved for the next nine years. Beginning in 1935, however, a series of Works Progress Administration projects upgraded the site into a fully developed urban playground. As part of the first project, begun in 1935, WPA workers built concrete retaining walls around the perimeter of the site,...

A WPA press release from Nov. 1937 reported: "More than 150 schools have been repaired and the grounds improved and landscaped , and five brand new schools in the state were erected entirely by WPA with a small percentage of sponsored funds," among which was a new school in Kirkland, Washington. The precise location and the present status of the school building are unknown to Living New Deal. One story published in 2011 states that the WPA school constructed in Kirkland no longer exists.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out maintenance work on the Old Central Public Library in 1935, as well as helping with clerical tasks. That library building had been funded by Andrew Carnegie in 1906.  It was replaced in 1960 and then replaced again in 2004 by the current asymetrical, cantilevered structure with its striking diagonal metal and glass grid, designed by Rem Koolhaas.

From the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies: "Bellingham's second City Hall designed by Leonard William Somerville Bindon built under Public Works Administration and Federal Works Agency programs of the New Deal in the Art Deco style. Begun in 1938, it was dedicated on January 4, 1940. two stories with ten two story windows across the front... has three entrance doors in the center front."

A WPA press release from Dec. 1937 stated: "To provide employment for needy persons on relief rolls an allotment of $6,900 has been made ... for labor in cleaning and renovating public buildings in Tacoma, such as the city hall, library, and others... The work includes cleaning walls, woodwork, furniture and washing and repairing furnishings and drapes. This project employs mostly women and the funds will curry it until about June 1, 1938. Tacoma as sponsor is supplying materials needed with $740."

The historic Snohomish City Hall, originally constructed as the community's post office, was constructed during with federal Treasury Department funds during the Great Depression.

This 1940 Section of Fine Arts oil-on-canvas mural by Lance W. Hart, "Construction of a Skid Road in the 80's," was painted for what was then the Snohomish post office. The mural remains in the original location, which is now the Snohomish city hall. “Artists like Hart were required to submit a series of sketches or designs for their murals before final approval. To see a sketch of “Construction of a Skid Road” that is housed in the National Archives, click here.” (depts.washington.edu)

Now a part of McCaw Hall, Seattle's old Municipal Auditorium was drastically improved by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA). "McCaw Hall is the latest incarnation of what was once Seattle's Civic Auditorium (1928), which was then gutted and rebuilt as the Seattle Center Opera House for the World's Fair in 1962." (historylink.org) A WPA press release from Jan. 1938 reported: "Modernizing of the Seattle Civic Auditorium and Ice Arena by WPA workers will begin January 21 with the aid of $21,539 in Federal funds, it was announced today by Don G. Abel, state Works Progress Administrator. One of the important features of...

In 1931, the Seattle Park Department acquired the property for the Cleveland Playfield at 13th Avenue South and Lucile Street, immediately west of Grover Cleveland High School. As a new park facility, the playground had seen few if any improvements prior to 1933, when a Civil Works Administration project granted $2,000 for the construction of concrete retaining walls along Lucile Street and the hillside leading up to the high school. CWA workers completed the wall the following year. Beginning in 1935, WPA laborers leveled and graded the property. A second WPA project, begun in 1938, resulted in the construction of...

The Seattle Park Department acquired the land for Colman Playground in 1910, shortly after the opening of nearby Colman School. A regrading project in the early 1910s made the site suitable for picnics and baseball, but otherwise the Park Department made few improvements to the site prior to the 1930s. When WPA funding became available, several neighborhood organizations joined together and convinced the Park Board to upgrade the playground. Major work on improving Colman Playground started in 1937, when WPA workers began constructing the two-story, reinforced concrete shelter house that stands near southwest corner of the playground. As construction of the...

During the late 1930s, with funds from the WPA, the Seattle Park Department upgraded Colman Playground. The largest component of the improvement project was the construction of a new shelter house near the southwest corner of the playground. WPA workers began constructing the shelter house in 1937. Designed by Seattle architect Arthur Wheatley, the two-story, reinforced concrete structure housed a playroom, caretaker's room, and storage room on its lower level, and a social room, office area, and restrooms on its upper level. A plaque on the north side of the building reads: "Built by Works Progress Administration, 1936-1937." Despite the...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) began improvements at Bellingham WA’s Cornwall Memorial Park in 1937. The WPA also allocated $29,000 for the construction of a state-of-the-art bowling green at the site. This was in addition to earlier improvements, which included recreation structures, playgrounds, and tennis courts as well as “the finest bowling green in the Pacific Northwest.” The work undertaken at Cornwall Memorial Park was one of a variety pursued in Washington State by New Deal agencies. The park continues to provide recreational and leisure outlets for area residents today. “Centrally located, the park offers opportunities to escape into nature with 70...

"The Cowen Park Bridge is a reinforced concrete arch bridge that spans a ravine in Seattle's Cowen Park. The structure is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and it is a designated city landmark. The bridge has been praised for the 12-foot (3.7 m) Art Deco light standards along its sides. It was built in 1936 under the authority of the Works Progress Administration. The bridge engineer was Clark Eldridge."

One of a many PWA and WPA projects in Washington state: "At a cost of $978,122 the allocated funds went to the renovation, new construction and extension of roads. The project also added drainage, guard rails, and money to paint bridges."

The Works Progress Administration built the elementary school in Custer WA.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) constructed this dam in 1934.

The Seattle Park Department utilized funds and labor from the Civil Works Administration and the Works Progress Administration, as well as the state-based Washington Emergency Relief Administration, to complete a series of maintenance and improvement projects at David Rodgers Park. The 8.5-acre park occupies a steep and heavily wooded hillside in Seattle's North Queen Anne neighborhood. The city was gifted the northern half of the park in 1883 and purchased the southern half of the park in 1909. In 1910, the city constructed a couple of paths through the park, followed by the installation of a small wood-frame comfort station...

"In 1929, the state legislature authorized the construction of a bridge across the narrow scenic but dangerous waterway between Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands, but there were no funds to proceed. In 1934, the Public Works Administration authorized a grant and manpower from the Civilian Conservation Corps. The two bridge spans were built in a year at a cost of $482,000."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built recreational structures, rock walls along roads, and other features at Rosario Beach at Deception Pass State Park on Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands in WA. The structures are classic stone and timber CCC picnic structures and rock walls along roads.

"The Dockton King County Park was created during the Great Depression as a project of the Works Progress Administration. Theo Berry was the local storekeeper and WPA administrator. The original structures, which included a bathhouse, a kitchen building, a bandstand, toilet facilities and a lifeguard residence, have since been replaced."

"This light and fog-signal tower is typical of many of the smaller structures which have been erected on the coast line and rivers of the United States. The tower and housing for the equipment operating the fog horn is of reinforced concrete, approximately 15 by 15 feet at the base, and 35 feet high. It is surmounted by a lantern. This project was completed in March 1935 and the P.W.A allotment with which it was built included the electrification of other light towers and amounted to $13,500."

A WPA press release from Jan. 1938 reported: "Improvement of Dry Falls State Park, two miles from Coulee City will keep more than 50 men busy for eight months, Abel said, with the aid of $29,601.75 in WPA funds. This allotment continues a project which is already 25 per cent completed, and includes the construction of water systems, roads and other needed improvements. The State Park Committee is sponsoring the work which a project supervisor estimated would benefit more than 100,000 persons."

The federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds provided funding for the construction of numerous facilities as Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington.

"Improvement of the Eatonville cut-off is now under way with the ditches being deepened and widened to provide proper drainage and the road graded and re-surfaced, which was provided for by a WPA grant of $1,667. Labor for these project is taken from WPA rolls."

Everett, Washington's main library was constructed between 1933 and 1934 with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA provided a grant of $23,600; the final cost of the project was $108,112.

"The project began in October of 1938 and ran 6.5 miles of sewer pipes through Everett. At a cost of $110,839 the project improved the sewer system throughout Everett at no cost to residents." (https://depts.washington.edu)

"Everett's domestic water storage reservoir improvement project on the Sultan River watershed was assured today with the announcement from WPA State Administrator Don G. Abel of approval of the City's application for federal aid. In creating this new project, with operations expected to get under way November 1, the WPA granted an allotment of $92,448 to meet the $25,745.05 pledged by the city of Everett for preparing the ground surface so as to increase the water storage and to build a driveway around the reservoir. Present operations on the water system is expected to be finished by March 31, 1938,...

A WPA press release from Nov. 1937 reported: "More than 150 schools have been repaired and the grounds improved and landscaped , and five brand new schools in the state were erected entirely by WPA with a small percentage of sponsored funds," among which was a new school in Ewan, Washington. The precise location and the present status of the school building are unknown to Living New Deal.