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Franklin Park, also known as Franklin Square, was overhauled c. 1935-36.  Work on the park was part of a larger Capital Parks improvement program in the 1930s, funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and Works Progress Administration (WPA), assisted by the Civil Work Adminstration (CWA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). "By the 1930’s Franklin Park was considered one of the city’s most rundown reservations. Its walks were greatly deteriorated, its lawns overgrown, and its trees unpruned and deteriorating. In spring 1935, planning for the complete rehabilitation of Franklin Park began with the award of a $75,000 grant from the Public...

Built between 1937 and 1940, the U.S. Courthouse was the third federal building constructed in Los Angeles, CA. At the time of its completion, it was the largest federal building in the western United States. According to the U.S. General Services Administration's registry of historic buildings, "Gilbert Stanley Underwood was selected to design the building as consulting architect to the Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department. The actual plans were prepared by the Supervising Architect's Office. Underwood was acclaimed for his public architecture. His work includes lodges in National Parks, over two dozen post offices, a number of...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built all the roads into Boulder UT, which had previously been inaccessible by modern roads of any kind.  The CCC set up camp FS-18 on Escalante Mountain in 1933 and went to work building the first access road from the town of Escalante via Hell's Backbone.  That road was completed in September 1933, but was closed in winters. According to Scenic Byway Utah 12: “Construction of Hell’s Backbone Road was completed in 1933 by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), allowing vehicle traffic between Escalante and Boulder for the first time. Hell’s Backbone Bridge, a must-stop for taking...

The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center began life as the National Naval Medical Center under the New Deal. Congress appropriated the funds in 1937 and President Franklin D. Roosevelt selected the site in Bethesda, Maryland.   Architect Paul Cret designed a magnificent Moderne building with a tower that still delights (though much obscured by subsequent additions to the complex).  Construction began in 1939.  FDR laid the cornerstone of the famous tower on Armistice Day 1940, and the center opened soon thereafter (probably some time in 1941, not 1940 as most sources say). According to the official Center website, "The President’s vision was to...

Anacostia Park is one of Washington DC's two largest parks and recreation areas, along with Rock Creek Park.  It covers over 1200 acres along the Anacostia River from South Capitol Street SE to the Maryland boundary in NE.  The New Deal improved the park in major ways, after the Capital Parks system was put under the control of the National Park Service (NPS) by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. New Deal public works agencies developed such key features of the park as Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, Langston Golf Course and Anacostia Pool (see linked pages). Besides those major elements, improvements included,...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the roads into Boulder UT, which has previously lacked any modern access.  The first road from Escalante to Boulder was along Hell's Backbone, built in 1933, and the second – and first all-weather road – was the present State Highway 12, started in 1935 and finished in 1940.  A roadside information marker on Highway 12 explains in detail: “Before the Highway 12 route was built, traveling through this region was slow, hard work. As late as 1940, Boulder (Utah) still received its mail by mule train for part of the year. The Civilian Conservation Corps...

From 1933 to 1941, New Deal relief workers added a number of new animal exhibit areas to the National Zoo, as well as improving existing enclosures.  The following are sketches of the significant work performed at a dozen areas, taken from the Zoo’s annual reports, with the relevant relief agency and years in parentheses.  Many of these exhibit improvements appear to still exist today, as shown in the photographs below.  Further verification is needed, but much of the stone and concrete work is typical of the New Deal era. Antelope and wild sheep exhibit “Replacing old and unsatisfactory frame structure by a series...

During the 1930s, Banneker Recreation Area was developed as part of a larger Capital Parks improvement program undertaken by the Public Works Administration (PWA), Civil Work Adminstration (CWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA), and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Notably, the CWA was responsible for the completion of the historic Banneker Swimming Pool and Bath House in 1933-34.  Those facilities are still in place. Other New Deal work at Banneker included: “...tennis courts built; baseball diamond, football and soccer fields graded and equipped; running track and horseshoe courts installed; landscaping around field house completed.”   (National Archives) Most of this was probably done by the WPA, which...

Formerly known as the Army War College, Fort Lesley J. McNair is a U.S. Army post located at the confluence of the Potomac and the Anacostia Rivers. The site has been an army post for more than 200 years. During the New Deal, both the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) made extensive improvements to the post. In 1933-34, the CWA did everything from sewer construction and building renovations to adding a bandstand and repairing the bowling alley. Records in the National Archives provide these details: "Building concrete coal bin & retaining walls, south of incinerator; Making necessary branch...

The Suitland Parkway is a 9-mile long, landscaped roadway running from Anacostia Park in Washington D.C. east through Prince George's County, MD.   It was conceived in 1937 and finally constructed in 1943-44 by the Public Roads Administration, a branch of the Federal Works Agency (FWA).  It can fairly be classified as a project from the tail end of the New Deal. A description from the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties explains that the Public Roads Administration, "Created the highway from scratch, via federal funding and private contractors, similar to PWA-type arrangements." The Parkway is still in use and maintained by the National...