Works Progress Administration Sites

Text from the National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: "The Atoka Armory is a single story, rectangular (1981 x 120') structure constructed of rusticated and coursed native sandstone of auburn and buff colors. The walls are eighteen inches thick. The stragetic placement of the darker colors raises the masonry to the level of art. The high ceiling central portion of the building has an arched roof, while that on either side is flat. Parapets are on all sections. Pilasters at doorways and vertical friezes above each casement window provide decoration. Garage entrances are through segmental arches. Roof extensions and vertical...

A city sponsored Works Progress Administration (WPA) project (14752) dismantled a hazardous steel truss bridge crossing a drainage ditch in Clarendon. The WPA then excavated and widened the channel and built a new reinforced concrete slab over masonry substructure bridge. The construction of the bridge employed a number of skilled masons and cost a total of $12,050 to erect. The four span slab rests on stone piers, abutments and wing walls composed of rubble laid in irregular courses bonded with thick mortar joints. The bridge is in use and in good condition.

Text from the state historical marker reads: "The community's first school was housed in a multi-purpose building erected here in 1870. The Bristol School district was established in 1877. Youth from throughout the area attended Bristol schoolhouse built in 1886 and 1913. A new brick school containing five classrooms and an impressive auditorium and stage was completed here by the U.S. Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1940. 130 pupils attended the 9-grade, 6-teacher school in 1940-41. The school served the area until 1955. In 1957 its facilities and grounds were deeded to the Bristol Cemetery Association."

Built in 1912, the two-story, native stone Clairette School building survives as a community center and polling place. In 1939, Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a separate gymnasium building and a star shaped fountain in front of the 1912 building. The rock work on the flagpole, the water tank, and the retaining wall appear to be the same vintage as the fountain, but there is no reference to them being WPA projects.

In 1940, Coryell County voters passed an issue for $30,000 in bonds bearing interest at the rate of not more than three percent to build a county hospital. Those bonds were issued on July 8, 1940. Designed by architects Brooks Pierson of Waco and L. S. Secrest of Gatesville, a 34-bed hospital built primarily with Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor was constructed and equipped between 1942 and 1943 at a cost of around $60,000. The county renovated the building in 2013 for a mental health unit, and currently the building is the Gatesville Center for Central County Services, which provides treatment for...

Starting in 1938, the Work Projects Administration (WPA) demolished the 1900 Delta County Courthouse in Cooper and built a new $110,450 four-story courthouse that was finished in 1940. The architect of record was Hoke Smith (1896-1943).

This section of Farm to Market Road (FM) 45 is a 4.6 mile two-lane paved road running in an east-west direction below the south corporate city limits of Brownwood. The Works Progress Administration constructed the road in 1941 as a new access road to Camp Bowie. The military reservation had been established a year earlier in September of 1940 as a training center for the Thirty-sixth Infantry Division, Texas National Guard. The camp expanded rapidly during the early years of World War II, increasing form its original 2,000 acres to 120,000 by October of 1942. As part of the expansion,...

The Works Progress Administration built a gymnasium in Luling, Texas in 1937.

Between 1938 and 1939 the Works Progress Administration built a combination auditorium and gymnasium in Millersview, Texas under official project number 665-66-2-352. The building had a concrete foundation and buttresses with stone walls and brick trim.

The Works Progress Administration and the Llano Women's Culture Club teamed together to build a library on the southwest corner of the courthouse square in Llano, Texas in 1939. The WPA provided 70% of the resources for the one-story native flagstone veneered building, and the literary club provided the other 30%. The building is currently used as the Llano County Clerk's office.

The Works Progress Administration built the Mitchell Street Bridge over the San Antonio River between 1935 and 1937. The steel stringer style two-lane bridge is still in use for vehicular traffic.

The Works Progress Administration built the municipal swimming pool in Navasota, Texas between 1935 and 1936. The complex includes the main swimming pool, a wading pool and a bath house. The bath house was originally built as a single story structure. A second story was added in the 1960s.

In March, 1939 the federal government approved $65,000 for a new football stadium in Sweetwater, Texas. Texas Senator Tom Connally and U.S. Representative from Texas Clyde L. Garrett received credit for getting the project signed off. The Works Project Administration built the stadium in 1939. The Mustang Bowl seats 7,500 in the bleachers and 9,500 in the tiered concrete embankments around the end zones. The bleachers were originally wood sitting on grass, but were changed to metal on concrete in 1972. Other improvements over the years include new restrooms and press box in 1959 and new concession stand, restrooms and railings...

The Works Progress Administration built the original section of Round Top-Carmine High School in 1939 (Project No. 12646.). It was called the Carmine Independent School at the time of construction. An addition was built on the northwest side of the building in 1995 and another structure was added on the southeast side in 2018.

The City of Orchard Town Center was originally constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as the Orchard School between 1940 and 1941 under the official project number 65-1-66-2586. Designed by architect Ernest L. Schult, the building had thirteen rooms and a combination auditorium and gymnasium. The WPA employed an average of 78 workers and spent $37,705.08. The Orchard Independent School District provided $64,566.79. As part of the same project, the WPA demolished the two-story 1924 Orchard High School and reused some of the materials in the new school.