Completion Year: 1943

The Work Projects Administration (WPA) built the George J. Perry Memorial Armory in St. Marys KS between 1941 and 1943. In the early 1940s, plans for a new armory in St. Mary estimated costs at $55,000, most of which would be covered by the WPA. Ground was broken in April 1941, and that first summer construction employed 65 men. With the advent of World War II, however, work slowed and costs rose. By the time work was actually completed in 1943, the WPA had disbanded and there were only nine "silver-and gray-haired men" left on the project. Dedication ceremonies were held...

In October 1936 -- two years after the First Lady visited Puerto Rico to assess social and economic conditions -- it was announced that the New Deal’s Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) was taking bids for the construction of the Eleanor Roosevelt housing development.  We don’t know which firm won the bid, but by 1939 about 472 homes were completed and about 1,500 more were planned.  The Eleanor Roosevelt neighborhood still exists today – it is a subbarrio of Hato Rey Norte, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico had been plagued by hurricanes, poverty, sub-standard housing, and a lack of...

In 1943, Bartolo Mako sculpted a set of bas reliefs for City Hall in Burbank, CA. Two are located on the building's east and west wings, with another at the Third Street entrance. The project likely received funding from the Works Projects Administration (WPA) Art Project prior to its termination. The untitled panels on the east and west wings represent the body of peace, an eagle, soldiers, and mechanics at work on an airplane. The panel at the Third Street entrance, titled "A Tribute to Craftsmen," features workers in construction, metal working, and the aviation industry. Mako's other FAP works in the...

Potomac State College (PSC) in Keyser, West Virginia, received a great deal of aid from the New Deal’s National Youth Administration (NYA). As early as October 1935, 45 PSC students were in the NYA program (34 men and 11 women), with their financial assistance ranging from "thirty dollars, the lowest amount allotted any individual a term, to one hundred dollars" (The Pasquino, 10-9-1935). A year later, with NYA enrollment growing to over 50 students, Ernest E. Church, the president of PSC, summarized the arrangement: "The whole N.Y.A. program is to assist worthy students to secure a college education by providing necessary...

The Auditorium and Gymnasium is an addition to Baldwin High School built by the Works Progress Administration. Construction on the $72,000 project stopped in 1942 when WPA workers were pulled away to work on a site in Lawrence. The gymnasium at Baker University was destroyed by fire in January 1943, leaving Baldwin City without a court for either its high school or college basketball teams. The community rallied and finished the high school gymnasium themselves in a couple of weeks. The site was sold to a private party in 2014.

In 1942, the United States Housing Authority (USHA) built the Aliso Village low-income housing project in South Central Los Angeles.  The project included over 1500 garden-style (low-rise) apartments designed by eminent L.A. architects.  Like many public housing projects around the country, Aliso Village was successful for a time as affordable working class home but was later allowed to deteriorate as it became occupied solely by the poorest of the poor.  It was demolished at the end of the 20th century and replaced by a new project, Pueblo Del Sol.  The original project as proposed was described at the time: "LOS ANGELES HOUSING...

The United States Travel Bureau existed from 1937 to 1943 as an office within the Interior Department, and its mission was to promote travel in the western hemisphere and especially within the United States. The U.S. Travel Bureau had offices in Washington, DC, New York, and San Francisco. In DC, its office was located at 1702 F Street NW (at the corner of F and 17th), across from today’s Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The building that the Travel Bureau was located in is probably no longer extant. In their WPA Guide to Washington, DC, federal writers described the Travel Bureau’s office: “Its...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of a community building for the Parkside Dwellings and surrounding area, ca. 1941-1943. It is unknown to the Living New Deal if this building still exists. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced unsafe alley dwellings in Washington, DC with more modern and affordable houses and apartments. The ADA existed from 1934-1943 as a federally controlled special authority. It then slowly evolved into today’s DC Housing Authority, an independent agency of the DC Government. The Parkside Dwellings Community Building was part of the...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of a community building for the Nichols Avenue Houses and surrounding area, ca. 1943. It is unknown to the Living New Deal if this building still exists. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced unsafe alley dwellings in Washington, DC with more modern and affordable houses and apartments. The ADA existed from 1934-1943 as a federally controlled special authority. It then slowly evolved into today’s DC Housing Authority, an independent agency of the DC Government. The Nichols Avenue Houses Community Building was part...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of an administration and community building for the Barry Farm Dwellings and surrounding community, ca. 1941-1943. It is unknown to the Living New Deal if this building still exists. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced unsafe alley dwellings in Washington, DC with more modern and affordable houses and apartments. The ADA existed from 1934-1943 as a federally controlled special authority. It then slowly evolved into today’s DC Housing Authority, an independent agency of the DC Government. The Barry Farm Dwellings Administration and...