Date added: November 15, 2021; Modified: November 15, 2021
A Public Works Administration grant helped fund the construction of an addition to O’Keeffe Elementary School at 70th Street and South Merrill Avenue in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood. The two-story, nearly 10,000-square-foot addition was designed by Board of Education architect… read more
Date added: August 15, 2021; Modified: August 15, 2021
The mural was painted in 1934 by Raymond Breinin, an artist hired by the Public Works Art Project. Soon after its completion, the mural became the subject of a political controversy and the school board voted to cover it. The remnants… read more
Date added: October 15, 2019; Modified: October 25, 2019
The Jefferson County courthouse in Mt. Vernon IL was built with funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1939. It is a three-story concrete structure in Moderne or Art Deco style, designed by architect William R. McCoy, who was… read more
Date added: October 16, 2019; Modified: October 25, 2019
The Massac County Courthouse in Metropolis is one of six New Deal county courthouses built by the New Deal. It would have been funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA), not the WPA, as commonly thought. The design, by architect… read more
Date added: August 2, 2019; Modified: October 15, 2019
The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided the funds to build the Hamilton County Courthouse in 1938. The structure was designed in Art Deco/Moderne style by architect William McCoy, who was well-known in central Illinois at the time. Wikipedia makes the common… read more
Date added: March 15, 2015; Modified: October 14, 2019
Mt. Vernon Township high school was expanded during the 1930s with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The school’s original building B was supplemented by three new structures Buildings A, D, and E (a classroom building, an… read more
Date added: July 23, 2014; Modified: August 20, 2019
“Pere Marquette Lodge was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1933-1939, opening for business in 1940 at a cost [of] $352,912.00. The massive poles, as much as 3 feet in diameter, are douglas fir, western and pecky cypress. Limestone,… read more
Date added: May 13, 2015; Modified: August 3, 2019
Julius Moessel worked under the Federal Art Project, and the WPA Federal Project Number One. He created an astonishing eighteen murals. The 7′ x 9′ panels were created for the Chicago Field Museum’s “Plants of the World Exhibit”, specifically for… read more
Date added: January 6, 2019
The historic former main post office building in downtown Urbana, Illinois received a rear addition in 1935, courtesy Treasury Department funds. The building, locates at 202 S Broadway Ave., houses multiple tenants, and still houses a post office: Urbana’s Downtown… read more
Date added: February 1, 2017; Modified: April 25, 2018
Emmanuel Viviano created these ceramic tile lunettes with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. Located at Nancy Hill School in Aurora IL, the four ceramic tile lunettes are signed by Emmanuel Vivianno. The four lunettes are: Deer, Dear and… read more
Date added: February 26, 2018; Modified: February 26, 2018
“Galena wanted better fire protection. They also began efforts to get the federal government to build the new station. They would ultimately be successful … The WPA (Works Progress Administration) began construction on the fire station in 1940.”
Date added: February 26, 2018; Modified: February 26, 2018
“Galena wanted better fire protection. They also began efforts to get the federal government to build the new station. They would ultimately be successful, the government having already built a new public swimming pool for the community…”
Date added: March 15, 2015; Modified: December 24, 2017
Champaign’s historic City Building was constructed in part with federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The building replaced a two-story red brick building that had been on site. The New Deal structure bears a 1935 cornerstone and opened in 1937…. read more
Date added: December 24, 2017
The historic, Art Deco, Macon County Courthouse (a.k.a. Macon County Building) in Decatur, Illinois was constructed as a New Deal project with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds.
Date added: November 4, 2017
The southern face of the federal building in Peoria, Illinois, features four limestone sculptures: “Postal Service,” “Agriculture,” Industry,” and “Native Indian.” Commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, Freeman Schoolcraft completed the sculptures in 1939.