Completion Year: 1941

During the years from 1939 through 1941, members of the Civilian Conservation Corps - Indian Division (CCC-ID) worked to improve the Old Chief Joseph Gravesite and Cemetery near Joseph, Oregon. The CCC-ID workers came from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, travelling over a hundred miles to this cemetery that honored the Nez Perce leader Old Chief Joseph (abt. 1783-abt. 1871). While nationally the majority of CCC-ID projects improved reservation land, this was an instance when the significance of the site elevated it as one of several projects chosen by Umatilla Reservation leaders for development through the New Deal...

The Works Progress Administration built the Municipal Swimming Pool in Colby KS in 1941. The swimming pool with bathhouse built in Moderne style with Art Deco elements. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, but it was demolished in 2010.

In 1941, the Works Projects Administration (WPA) built a new auditorium at Newhall Elementary School in Santa Clarita, CA. The auditorium seated 460 people, and had an orchestra pit and projection room with a film vault. The school auditorium served as a gathering space for the community to watch movies, plays, and similar events. It is unknown if the New Deal-era auditorium is still extant.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp Nestucca is recognized as one of five permanent CCC camps located in the Siuslaw National Forest, Oregon during the Depression. CCC Camp Nestucca's enrollees participated in many forestry projects during a period known for frequent and extensive forest fires in the region. Records mention both 1934 and 1935 as the camp's date of establishment. The other permanent camps in the Siuslaw National Forest included CCC Camps Cape Creek, Hebo, Mapleton and Angell. In addition to fire fighting, CCC enrollees from Camp Nestucca built roads and trails for forest management, strung telephone lines to improve communication,...

Ramona Gardens was the first housing project in Los Angeles, CA completed under the city’s New Deal–era public housing program. In 1941-43, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) constructed 10 public housing developments for $16 million, funded 10% by city bonds and 90% by federal loans from the United States Housing Authority (USHA). Located in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, Ramona Gardens was completed in 1941.  Having cleared 32 acres of the Beaudry Street “slums," a predominantly impoverished Mexican neighborhood, HACLA began construction of Ramona Gardens in March 1940 and made speedy progress. The first tenants were able to...

In 1935, Benton County authorities submitted a proposal for siting a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp on Mary's Peak, the highest peak in the Coast range. They received approval that year to develop CCC Camp Mary's Peak with the goal of constructing a road to its summit for summer and winter recreational purposes. Because of its altitude (4100 ft), the camp would not operate year around and, consequently, was a spur camp of CCC Camp Nestucca. Despite its approval in 1935, it appears that road construction did not begin until 1938. The road construction project included four miles of entirely new...

The historic post office in Forest, Mississippi houses an example of New Deal artwork: a Treasury of Fine Arts-commissioned mural entitled "Forest Loggers," by Julien Binford. The work was completed and installed in 1941.

Peter Dalton created this carved wood bas relief, entitled "Lumbermen Rolling a Log," in 1941 with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It is viewable in the lobby of the New Deal-era Carthage, Mississippi post office.

The historic post office in Sauk Centre, Minnesota was built in 1940-1 with Treasury Department funds. The gorgeous building, which houses an example of New Deal artwork, is still in service.

The historic Geneva, Nebraska post office is one of a dozen Depression-era post offices that house examples of New Deal artwork. Here, the oil-on-canvas mural: "Building a Sod House" was painted by Edward Chavez in 1941. The work was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. "As an artist worked through the assignment, from choice of subject to finished mural, pressure was exerted from many sources. Local groups might suggest a particular theme from the area's history or from local industry, while Section personnel would favor realism over abstraction. Townspeople often expressed their opinions on the details fo the mural...