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The Civil Works Administration (CWA) built the curving bridge over the Creosote Wash on North Main Street in Cottonwood AZ in the winter of 1933-34. The bridge is built of reinforced concrete with river stone cladding. The upstream side features a handsome arch, while the downstream side reveals the underlying concrete substructure. Creosote Wash is an episodic creek that is dry much of the year.  It used to be called Blowout Wash (and is still marked as such on some online maps).

Several structures along Lincoln Log Loop in the Tusuyan Ranger Station complex were originally constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  "The Tusayan Ranger Station is one of the most historically-intact Forest Service administration complexes in Arizona. Six buildings were constructed by Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees from the Grand Canyon camp, NP2A, between 1939 and 1942. They include a residence and associated shed, office, barn and corral, garage, and seed shed. Designed in the National Park Service Rustic architecture style, the buildings are sheathed in a masonry veneer of red sandstone cut from a nearby quarry. The site represents the expanded...

The historic former public library building at 206 W 6th Street in Stillwater, Oklahoma was built by a Public Works Administration (PWA) grant funds in 1938. A two-story brick, hipped roof building, the library was built in colonial revival style. Most of the interior has changed over the years, but the outer construction is still unaltered. At the time of the visit, the now-privately-owned building was for sale and listed on multiple realtor websites. The cornerstone shows it was built by Federal Emergency Administration of Public Work Project No. Okla. 1095 DS R.W. Shaw Architect Dennehy Const Co. Builders. Agencies: PWA The library website has...

The New Deal helped construct the 9-mile road from Fort Valley Road (Highway 180) to the Arizona Snow Bowl ski area on Mt. Agassiz in the San Francisco Peaks, northwest of Flagstaff AZ. In the winter of 1938, the 20-30 Club, a Flagstaff service group, held a "snow carnival" on the southwest slope of Mt. Agassiz. It was so successful that the group ran a contest to choose a name for the area, and "Arizona Snow Bowl" was selected. The Coconino National Forest managers saw the opportunity to help advance the ski resort and offered to build a better access road up...

In 1934, Coconino county used federal funds to help widen, surface and oil three miles of dirt road from the north end of Beaver Street in Flagstaff to the city's reservoirs.  This was the first county road to be paved.  It fostered bigger ideas from Flagstaff's city fathers, who had long wanted a more direct route to the Grand Canyon around the west side of the San Francisco Peaks. In 1936, county engineer Clyde Etter proposed improving the old forest road through Fort Valley and extending it 50 miles to the Williams-Grand Canyon road (today's Highway 64).  The Works Progress Administration (WPA) agreed to...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) built Fire Station No. 9 in Birmingham AL. There is little information about the history of this station. From Google Street View, it appears to have a mid century style of architecture indicating that it might have been rebuilt. The station was designated as Class “A”—"Those needing general minor repairs, having sufficient sound value left in them to justify a thorough repairing, on which buildings was included painting inside and outside where needed, general carpentry repairs, including doors, windows and repairs to floors, or new floors; general repairs to masonry work and plaster or stucco, repairs...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) gave the Arizona State Teachers College a grant of $105,000 and a loan of $313,000 to build housing on the campus – today's Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.  These were North Hall, expansion of Taylor Hall and Cottage City. North Hall was constructed in 1935 as a women's dormitory at what was then the Arizona State Teachers' College.  It completed the "Women's Quadragle" at the north end of the college, at a time when most students at the college were women seeking careers as school teachers. The architecture of North Hall is brick Neoclassical, or Georgian, which...

The New Deal provided the funds to build a large group of cottages for student housing – known as "Cottage City" – at what was then Arizona Teachers' College.   The Public Works Administration (PWA) made a grant of $57,900 and the state of Arizona added $20,000 to build 50 2-room cottages.  Construction was done in 1939 by 60 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees (no doubt from the Mt. Elden camp).  The units were small at 25x14 feet, built with rock walls and cement floors, plus running water.  There were three additional buildings for laundry and showers. More cottages were added...

When the school for African American students burned in 1935, Belton sought a federal grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA) to replace the school and repair and renovate three other schools. PWA project 1431 for a grant of $13,590 was awarded 9/25/1935. Newspaper items used the terms PWA and WPA in referencing the new T. B. Harris School and repairs to the other city schools, but total amounts equal the cited costs and dates in the Texas region PWA records and it seems evident that the funds were provided by the Public Works Administration. Funds were secured in the...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was active in Jerome, a copper mining town hit hard by the Great Depression.  The WPA hired out-of-work miners for several projects in Jerome and nearby towns, c. 1937-38.  One of those projects is "Upper Park" on the hillside between upper Main Street and Clark Street. The parks consist of two parts.  Along Main Street a spacious, curving bank of stone risers is flanked by stairways and stone walls, with a short pair of central stairs and a metal drinking fountain.  The stairways lead up to a small area with grass and trees, backed by a...