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Date added: October 16, 2017; Modified: July 2, 2022
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… read more
Date added: November 25, 2014; Modified: July 2, 2022
Seattle’s old Ice Arena, built in 1915, gained a number of improvements from the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938. A WPA press release from January 1938 detailed the nature of the works to be carried out: “Modernizing of… read more
Date added: July 26, 2016; Modified: July 2, 2022
The Treasury Department funded the construction of the Seattle federal courthouse, which was the first single-purpose federal courthouse on the west coast. The project was originated in 1936 by the department’s Procurement Division and completed in 1940, by which time… read more
Date added: December 11, 2021; Modified: May 18, 2022
In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt allotted $2,000,000 in emergency rural rehabilitation funds to the U.S. Office of Indian Affairs (OIA). Out of this sum, OIA sent $32,000 (about $607,000 in 2020 dollars) to the Swinomish Indian Reservation for an… read more
Date added: March 23, 2015; Modified: May 17, 2022
The carving of the Swinomish Totem Pole was a WPA project on the Swinomish Indian Reservation from 1937-1938. Tribal member Charlie Edwards carved a 61’ log into a visual representation of traditional teachings and guiding spirits that had formerly been… read more
Date added: August 1, 2021; Modified: May 14, 2022
The former Mercer Playground at 2nd Avenue North and Harrison Street in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood was the site of several small WPA maintenance and improvement projects. In 1938, WPA workers painted the playground shelter house, as part of a… read more
Date added: April 29, 2022; Modified: May 14, 2022
A grant from the Works Progress Administration funded the construction of an addition to Seattle’s former Maple Leaf Grade School during the late 1930s. The school, which was part of the Maple Leaf School District at the time, was located… read more
Date added: April 26, 2022; Modified: April 26, 2022
A Public Works Administration grant of $22,500 covered one-third of the cost of a 1936 project to refurbish Seattle’s Fremont Bridge. The bridge, completed in 1917, is a double-leaf bascule drawbridge that carries Fremont Avenue across the Lake Washington Ship… read more
Date added: April 25, 2022
A Public Works Administration grant helped to fund construction of the Montlake Boulevard Pedestrian Overcrossing on the campus of the University of Washington. The bridge provided a safer pedestrian connection between the main part of the campus west of Montlake… read more
Date added: March 27, 2022; Modified: March 27, 2022
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… read more
Date added: May 25, 2021; Modified: May 25, 2021
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…. read more
Date added: April 22, 2021; Modified: April 22, 2021
Hoquiam Olympic Stadium is the largest all-wood structure of its kind in the United States, constructed from old growth fir donated by the Polson Logging Company. This stadium houses local football and baseball games, as well as larger events, such… read more
Date added: August 3, 2019; Modified: August 3, 2019
The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided funding and labor for numerous improvement projects at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo during the New Deal period. The initial projects were completed in 1933. In the following years,… read more
Date added: January 25, 2015; Modified: July 26, 2019
The historic post office in Puyallup, Washington was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which was constructed in 1935-6, is still in use today.
Date added: July 6, 2019; Modified: July 6, 2019
Lowman Beach Park, a small park property that provides access to Puget Sound in a primarily residential area of southwest Seattle, was the site of two Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects. The first project involved the construction of a cement… read more