William McCoy Sites

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided the funds to build the Hamilton County Courthouse in 1938. The structure was designed in Art Deco/Moderne style by architect William McCoy, who was well-known in central Illinois at the time. Wikipedia makes the common mistake of confounding the PWA and the WPA.

Mt. Vernon Township high school was expanded during the 1930s with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The school's original building B was supplemented by three new structures Buildings A, D, and E (a classroom building, an auditorium, and a gymnasium). Credit for the structures is sometimes mis-attributed to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) (e.g., on Wikipedia, below). In the 2010s, a new school was built 5 miles away on the SW edge of town and the old school was torn down in 2017-18, according to the Jefferson County Historical Society. Apparently, the loss of the venerable Changnon Gymnasium...