Federal & Military Operations Sites

The Washington Marina was originally called Yacht Basin No. 1 and was part of a multi-million dollar improvement program for the Washington Channel and Southwest Waterfront, funded by both the Army Corps of Engineers and the District Commission (DC government).  In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared by Executive Order that the nation’s capital needed a first class marina to meet the needs of recreational boaters (FDR was a great yachtsman). Roosevelt commissioned Charles Chaney, the Philadelphia Harbor engineer, to design and supervise the construction of what was then called Yacht Basin One.  The eastern half of the basin was built by the...

Naperville's historic Washington Street Station post office was constructed as the city's main post office in 1939-40. The post office now occupies space in the south side of the building, believed to be a later addition; a bank occupies the primary portion of the historic post office structure.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.) combined efforts to construct the Waterbury Dam in Waterbury, Vermont during the Great Depression. On November 3 and 4, 1927, torrential rains created a disastrous flood that paralyzed Vermont. Little River’s rising waters drove the valley residents to their roofs and isolated the hillside farmers. Fifty-five people in the Winooski Valley lost their lives, and property damage was estimated at $13,500,000. A second flood occurred in 1934. These events spurred a plan by the US Army Corps of Engineers to built a set of four dams in central Vermont from...

A number of buildings were constructed at the Vicksburg Waterways Experiment Station following its initial construction in 1930. Buildings constructed under the expansion of the US Army Corps of Engineers from 1933-1941 included Soils Laboratory Bldg. 1077 (1934), Tools and Equipment House Bldg. 7071 (1934), Booster Pump Station Bldg. 3065 (1935), Hydraulics Office Bldg. 3067 (1935), Warehouse Stockroom Bldg., 2059 (1935), EPD offices-Soils Division Bldg. 2099 (1937), Equipment Storage Building # 1 2053 (1939 and # 2 Bldg. 2055 (1939), and Paint Shop/Storage Bldg. 2021 (1941). "The work of the Waterways Experiment Station at Vicksburg, Mississippi, where Army engineers build model...

"Watts Bar Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River ... one of nine dams on the main Tennessee River channel operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the early 1940s to provide flood control and electricity and to help create a continuous navigable channel along the entire length of the river. The dam is the technical boundary between the ... Watts Bar Lake— which it impounds— and Chickamauga Lake ..." (Wikipedia)

"The three-story Italian Renaissance Revival style building was constructed as a post office in 1918. James A. Wetmore served as the supervisory architect. The walls are of Indiana limestone, and the tall first floor windows are set in rounded arches. A 1940 addition, funded by the PWA, extends from the rear of the building. In 1972, Congress renamed the building in honor of Wayne N. Aspinall who had a distinguished career as a U.S. Representative from Colorado from 1949 to 1973."   (www.historycolorado.org)

This post office was constructed with New Deal funds in 1939.

This US Treasury building replaced the old building in 1938. Both buildings are now part of the Wenatchee Valley Museum. "As a Depression era public works project, the proposal for replacing the old Federal building drew considerable attention from the local press. In 1933, after three years and in the middle of a series of more than 30 first and second page news articles on the subject, headlines reported 'Hope glimmers for post office building here.' "Plans for the new building were not finalized until late in 1936. Congressman Sam B. Hill secured an appropriation of $305,000 which was estimated as the...

The historic West Farms Station post office in the Bronx, New York was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds in 1936. The building is still in use today.

Originally known as the West Point Bullion Depository, this facility was completed in 1937 with Treasury Department funds. "Prior to its remodel in 2005 that added a second-story, the mint was a 170-by-256-foot one-story reinforced concrete structure with a flat roof. The walls are mostly featureless with some recessed-arches at the entryways. There are four turrets at the corners actively used in the building's security. It is on a four-acre  parcel of land near the northern facilities of the United States Military Academy, with parking lots on either side. The interior contains minting presses and bullion compartments." (Wikipedia)

The historic West Scranton Branch post office building of Scranton, Pennsylvania was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which possesses a New Deal mural in the lobby, is still in use today.

New Haven's historic Westville Station post office was constructed during the Great Depression with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which houses a New Deal mural inside, is still in use today.

What is now known as the William H. Natcher U.S. Courthouse in Bowling Green, Kentucky was constructed as the United States Post Office and Courthouse in 1940-1. Construction was funded by the Treasury Department. The building also houses New Deal artwork.

The Treasury Department funded the construction of the Seattle federal courthouse, which was the first single-purpose federal courthouse on the west coast.  The project was originated in 1936 by the department's Procurement Division and completed in 1940, by which time responsibility for federal facilities had been transferred to the Federal Works Administration, where the old Procurement Division had morphed into the Public Buildings Administration. The design of the courthouse is Moderne, a stripped-down and flattened version of Neoclassical, that was common for public buildings at the time.  The Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department was Louis Simon and Consulting Architect was...

Pensacola, Florida's historic federal building, originally constructed as Pensacola's main post office and courthouse and since renamed the Winston E. Arnow U.S. Courthouse, was constructed with Treasury Department funds and completed in 1939.

The historic Woodhaven Station post office in Jamaica, New York was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds between 1939 and 1940. The building, which contains a New Deal Ben Shahn mural in the lobby, is still in use today.

“Location.— Wrangell Narrows lies to the west of Mitkof Island, connects Sumner Strait with Frederick Sound, and forms a part of the inside water route from Puget Sound to southeastern Alaska. (See U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Charts Nos. 8170 and 8200.) Existing project.— This provides for a channel 200 feet wide on the bottom and 21 feet deep at mean lower low water, with increased depth in rock, and 27 feet deep at shoal no. 2; 24 feet deep and 275 feet wide at shoal no. 1, the easing of curves at shoals nos. 5, 6, 7, and 12,...

Yacht Basin No. 2 was part of a large-scale New Deal redevelopment of the Washington Channel and Southwest Waterfront area.  The Diamond Construction Company started building the basin in 1938, supervised by the Army Corps of Engineers. The basin was completed t in 1941 and leased to the Yacht Club in 1942.  The location of the new Yacht Basin #2 was described as “downstream of the fish wharf, at the foot of Tenth and H Streets SW” (Evening Star, May 26 1938). Further, it was said to have “570 feet of street frontage,” slips for about 100 vessels, and included the area of...

The Yamhill County Clerk building in McMinnville, Oregon was originally constructed as the town's post office with funds from the Treasury Department during the New Deal. The building was completed in late 1935. The cornerstone has been altered to remove all trace of the building's origins, just leaving the date. This is not something one usually sees when the U.S. Postal Service sells off old post offices. Some of the interior appears to be intact, but we visited too late in the day to gain entry.