Completion Year: 1940

From 1939 to 1940 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements and built additions to Gresham High School in Gresham, Oregon, just east of Portland. The additions included a gym, an agricultural building, the north wing of the classrooms, and an auditorium. Michael Schaefer, Gresham High School Principal, estimates that, at the time, 80% of the school was rebuilt with funding provided by the WPA. The primary architectural style of the high school is Art Deco. Teresa Carson of the local Gresham press tells us that "The building originally had hand-crafted doors created by highly-regarded WPA blacksmith Orion B. Dawson, who also created gates at WPA-built Timberline...

In 1927, the Seattle Park Department acquired the site for Madrona Playground at East Spring Street and 34th Avenue. The playground site received a few improvements during the late 1920s and early 1930s, including the grading of the playfield and the construction of a pair of concrete tennis courts, but otherwise remained mostly undeveloped until the late 1930s, when increased Works Progress Administration funding allowed the completion of several improvement projects. These improvement projects included the construction of a new brick shelter house near the north end of the playground. Begun in 1938 and completed in 1939, the shelter house...

The PWA carried out repairs and preservation work for the Steeple Building in 1933. Located on the Christiansted National Historic Site, the structure was built by the government of the Danish West Indies and Guinea Company to serve as a Lutheran Church for the Danish colonial venture on the Virgin Island.  The building was subsequently converted to various uses. "Constructed in 1753 to house the first faith community established in Christiansted, the Steeple Building was originally the Church of our Lord God of Sabaoth. Its current name comes from the steeple that served for generations as a landmark for mariners entering the...

"Residents of Laramie are probably familiar with the large concrete semi-dome that anchors the southwest corner of Washington Park. The Edgar J. Lewis bandshell has become a staple in the community as Laramie's only public outdoor stage. It is a memorial, in a way, to University of Wyoming music professor Edgar J. Lewis for whom the bandshell is named. It was renamed in the 1980s to honor the professor. The concrete structure is also a memorial to events that affected the entire nation for over a decade. The Edgar J. Lewis Bandshell was a Works Progress Administration project that was...

"The Ann Arbor Farmers Market began in 1919 in front of the old courthouse and moved to its current site (formerly a lumber yard) in 1931. Permanent sheds were designed and built by the WPA between 1938 and 1940. Today the market has nearly 100 permanent spaces under the original sheds and adjacent areas."

The Works Progress Administration and the Work Projects Administration established, maintained, and operated homestead communities at Lindbergh Bay on St. Thomas. The work was funded by a $16,800 emergency relief grant (1933-1940) to the Government of the Virgin Islands. The 1939 Annual Report of the Governor of the Virgin Islands describes the outcomes of homesteading on St. Thomas as such: “Fifty-three homesteaders occupy 80 plots on two Federal homestead projects in St. Thomas on which they have contracted to purchase 609 acres. These projects are largely of a subsistence homestead character since no agricultural cash crop other than vegetables and fruit for local consumption is...

The Works Progress Administration and the Work Projects Administration established, maintained, and operated homestead communities at Estates Colquhoun and Mount Pleasant on St. Croix. The work was funded by a $18,000 emergency relief grant (1933-1940) to the Government of the Virgin Islands. The 1939 Annual Report of the Governor of the Virgin Islands describes the outcomes of homesteading on St. Croix as such: “On the four Federal homestead projects in St. Croix there are 284 homesteads totaling 2,148 acres under contract. About 70 percent of the homesteaders are now in their fifth or sixth year. During the year 7 homesteaders died, 9 relinquished their plots...

The Works Progress Administration and the Work Projects Administration established, maintained, and operated homestead communities at Estate Saint John on St. Croix. The work was funded by a $22,000 emergency relief grant (1933-1940) to the Government of the Virgin Islands. The 1939 Annual Report of the Governor of the Virgin Islands describes the outcomes of homesteading on St. Croix as such: “On the four Federal homestead projects in St. Croix there are 284 homesteads totaling 2,148 acres under contract. About 70 percent of the homesteaders are now in their fifth or sixth year. During the year 7 homesteaders died, 9 relinquished their plots and 18...

The Works Progress Administration and the Work Projects Administration established, maintained, and operated homestead communities at Estate Mandahl on St. Thomas. The work was funded by a $20,400 emergency relief grant (1933-1940) to the Government of the Virgin Islands. The 1939 Annual Report of the Governor of the Virgin Islands describes the outcomes of homesteading on St. Thomas as such: “Fifty-three homesteaders occupy 80 plots on two Federal homestead projects in St. Thomas on which they have contracted to purchase 609 acres. These projects are largely of a subsistence homestead character since no agricultural cash crop other than vegetables and fruit for local consumption is grown...

The Works Progress Administration and the Work Projects Administration established, maintained, and operated homestead communities at Estate La Grande Princesse on St. Croix. The work was funded by a $28,000 emergency relief grant (1933-1940) to the Government of the Virgin Islands. The 1933 Annual Report of the Governor of the Virgin Islands mentions the establishment of the homestead in St. Croix: "On the 712-acre estate known as "La Grande Princesse", located in the northeastern section of the island near Christiansted, and also purchased in the fall of 1932, nearly 500 acres were found suitable forhomesteadallotment. TheacrepriceofPrincesseland,together with development and aid, is about 50...