Completion Year: 1940

The Public Works Administration paid for the construction of the United States Bureau of Mines building on the University of Utah campus in 1939-40.  It was designed by Cannon and Mullen architects.  The building was demolished recently to make way for the new Frederick Albert Sutton building of the College of Mines & Earth Sciences – or, more specifically, the parking garage for the Sutton complex. In 1938, the land had been deeded to the U. S. Government by the University of Utah, so a federal facility could be built on the campus.  In 1981, the Bureau of Mines property was deeded back to the university, along...

When the recreation area in Seward Park first opened in 1903, it was "the first permanent, municipally built playground in the United States" (NYC Parks). The park was significantly redeveloped during the New Deal. In April 1935, relief workers completed the reconstruction of the section of the park as a setting for the Jacob H. Schiff fountain, which had formerly been located in Rutgers Park. On November 26, 1940, Parks announced the completion of a good deal of this work: "This recreation area, one of the oldest and most extensively used in Manhattan, has been redesigned, reconstructed, and landscaped to provide wider all...

In 1940, the WPA rehabilitated the "hourglass" intersection formed by Broadway, 6th Ave., 35th St. and 32nd St, the north end of which is known as Herald Square and the south end as Greeley Square. The project centered around the restoration and re-placing of a large sculptured clock originally constructed by Antoin Jean Carles in the late 1800s. The Parks press release announcing the completion of this work was especially long and enthusiastic: "The rehabilitation of the hour-glass intersection of Broadway and Sixth Avenue extending from 32nd Street to 35th Street is now completed. Elevated structures, and surface car tracks have...

Maurice Park, also known as the Frank Principe Park, was constructed by the Department of Parks and the WPA in 1940. The November 1940 press release announcing the opening of the new Park described the WPA's work in detail: "Every square foot has been well utilized in this intensively developed tract which was formerly the property of a privately owned Water Company. Acquired by the City in 1937 for unpaid taxes and assessments totaling $358,817.00, the property was placed under the jurisdiction of the Department of Water Supply. Because the pumping station was inactive the Park Department, in February 1939, succeeded...

In 1940, as the construction of the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn was nearing completion, two pedestrian overpasses were constructed leading from Shore Rd. over the Parkway to the waterfront promenade. The pedestrian bridges, located at 92nd St. and 81st St. are still in use. An August 1940 press release from the Department of Parks described the work: "The approaches consist of steps, walks and ramps. The overpass opposite 92 Street has four spans over the parkway and two spans of stepped ramps parallel to the parkway leading to the wide promenade at the water's edge... The overpass at Old Glory Overlook, approximately...

The land for Grover Cleveland Park was first established in the 1920s. It acquired its present name in 1939. In June 1940, the Department of Parks announced the completion of the WPA's reconstruction of the park: "This five-acre park has been redesigned and reconstructed to provide a wider all year round usage. Approximately three-quarters of the area is set aside for active recreation. There is now a completely equipped separate small pre-school children's playground, a wading pool which can be used for basketball, and three paddle tennis courts, a volleyball court, and three shuffleboard courts for older children. For adults, there is...

Originally known as "City Park," the oldest park in Brooklyn dates back to 1836. The park became a popular place after the WPA significantly redeveloped the park in 1939-1940. The WPA relocated old trees and constructed baseball, football, basketball and handball facilities. On June 7, 1940, the Parks Department held a ceremony to celebrate the park's official re-opening. Robert Moses, Mayor LaGuardia and the NYC Work Projects Administrator presided, and the ceremony was attended by 2,000 people. The following year, the WPA completed further work, erecting chain link fences and portable bleachers for the park's two baseball diamonds.

This park area consists of Kelly Park to the West of the BMT Brighton Beach transit line and the smaller Kelly Playground to the East of the line. Both were developed by the WPA in 1940. Kelly Park was first acquired by Parks in 1924, but expanded and improved by the WPA in 1940 to include "new baseball diamonds and tennis courts (adaptable for ice-skating after flooding and freezing), shuffleboard and volleyball courts, game tables, horseshoe pits, and children’s play structures" (NYC Parks). Kelly Playground, just east of the tracks was first acquired in 1937 and developed as part of...

Today's NYC Parks website explains that the village of Whitestone (now the neighborhood of Whitestone in Queens) acquired this land in 1892.  Parks took over the 21 acre site in 1936 in conjunction with the construction of the Whitestone Parkway.  This site says that a children's playground opened on the site in 1939. However, the official opening of the playground was announced by the Parks Department on April 25, 1940: "Here recreation facilities nave been provided for all age groups. There are three separate children's completely equipped playgrounds, handball, horseshoe pitching, shuffleboard and basketball courts, a full-sized hard ball and a...

The historic public library, now Kanab Heritage Museum, in Kanab, Utah was constructed by the federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) between 1939 and 1940. "The library is one of 226 buildings constructed in Utah under the WPA and is important in documenting the impact of New Deal programs in the state. ... Although the Kanab Library was founded in 1915, it was not at first housed in a permanent structure but was rather moved around to various temporary accommodations. In 1938, an $8,000 bond election was approved to build a permanent library, and plans drawn by the architect Carson F. Wells were...