Federal & Military Operations Sites

The historic Terminal Annex Federal Building in Dallas, Texas was constructed during the Great Depression with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which houses examples of New Deal artwork inside, was constructed in 1936 and is still in use today.

The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense and the largest office building in the world.  It was constructed from August 1941 to January 1943 in order to centralize the administration of the U.S. armed services during World War II.  The burgeoning War Department moved from what is now the Truman Federal Building (home of the State Department), which had just been completed in 1940.  While it may not appear to be a typical New Deal public works project, the Pentagon ought to be considered as part of the New Deal legacy.  It was built for the...

Tionesta Lake and Dam were created as part of a multi-site flood control program to protect the city of Pittsburgh and Ohio Valley. Work on project began in 1937 on Tionesta Creek near its confluence with the Allegheny River. The earth and stone dam was designed by Lieutenant James K. Herbert of the Army Corps of Engineers and constructed by S.J. Groves and Son Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The project cost approximately $7 million and was completed in 1940, with flood control operations beginning in January of 1941. The Army Corps of Engineers estimates that the lake and dam have...

This historic post office was built by the Treasury in 1936-37. It now houses the Tracy Historical Museum.

The present Harry S. Truman Federal Building consists of two monumental halves. The first was built under the New Deal for the War Department in 1940-41 (and is still commonly referred to as the War Department building).  When the War Department (now Department of Defense) moved across the Potomac to the Pentagon in 1943, the State Department moved in and has remained ever since. The State Department building was renamed the Harry S. Truman Building in 2000. Consolidating the War Department had become a priority in the lead-up to the Second World War.  A second building was envisioned, but not built until...

The State Department was originally built for the War Department in 1940-41 and has been known since 2000 as the Harry S. Truman Federal Building.  It is home to three sculptures commissioned for the original War Department building. •An eagle over the building entrance by Harry Kreis (1942) •A lime casein on plaster work entitled "Defense of the Four Freedoms" by Kindred McLeary (1941) •"War and Peace" by Earl N. Thorp (1941) Another work by Harry Kreis (1942), entitled "Soldier Groups," was originally in the lobby of the War Department but has apparently disappeared (see comment below) A fifth commissioned work, a bas-relief called "Peaceful Pursuits...

The building is 16 stories and 220 feet or 67 meters high.

Constructed in 1935-6, this historic Beaux Arts federal building "originally housed the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, and served it as Tallahassee's main post office until the early 1970s. In 1979, the courthouse was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Park Avenue Historic District. The courthouse is now occupied by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Northern District of Florida." The lobby continues to house a set of New Deal murals created for the building.

The U.S. Court and Custom House in St. Louis was constructed using U.S. Treasury Department funds between 1933 and 1935. "The building has 1/2 Egyptian Style columns in a giant order covering five floors. Eagles in an ancient Assyrian manner are on the corners. Stylized eagles are also located on the other side of the 12th and 11th Street entrances. The corners of the building are rounded, carved stone figures representing justice frame, the main entrance on Market Street." (https://stlcin.missouri.org) The statues outside the main entrance were created by Benjamin Hawkins in 1939.

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 historic federal building in Waco, Texas was constructed during the Great Depression with Treasury Department funds. The building, which houses New Deal artwork, was constructed as the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse; the facility no longer houses any postal operations.

Like other public buildings from the 1930s, the design and construction of the Austin U.S. Courthouse were part of the federal construction programs enacted to reduce unemployment during the Great Depression. Most notable among the programs was the Public Works Administration that provided thousands of jobs and funding for public service projects; one of the recipients was the Austin U.S. Courthouse. In June 1934, U.S. Congressman J. P. Buchanan requested an appropriation of $415,000 for the construction of a U.S. courthouse in Austin. Groundbreaking took place on September 16, 1935. The building was formally dedicated and opened to the public on...

Now known as the Gene Snyder U.S. Courthouse and Custom House, the historic United States Post Office, Court House and Custom House in Louisville, Kentucky was constructed in 1931-2, before the advent of the New Deal. However, in "1936, with a growing need for more offices and courtrooms, the PWA also funded the addition of the sixth floor."

This historic federal building in Beckley, West Virginia was built with Treasury Department funds. The building bears a 1933 cornerstone. Now known as the U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building, it previously held Beckley's post office as well.

"Built in 1938 of limestone and granite, the three-story, 118,000-square-foot Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Peoria, Ill., was designed in the Art Moderne style, a streamlined look popular from the late 1920s through the mid 1940s. Public areas feature terrazzo floors, marble clad walls, and decoratively painted ceilings. The U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois is the major tenant. In 2012, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places." (GSA)

Now an apartment building, the old Art Modern United States Courthouse and Post Office in Kansas City housed the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri until 1998. As of 2024 the building houses a residential complex. The GSA lists significant events in the building's development: 1935: Congress appropriates $3,300,000 for the construction of the new U.S. Post Office and Courthouse building. 1938: The ceremonial cornerstone is laid and construction begins under the supervision of local architects Wight & Wight. 1939: The building opens for business.

Baltimore's third custom house was designed by the firm Hornblower and Marshall and completed 1907. The building was improved several times during the New Deal era, with notable projects including the addition of new passenger and freight elevators. The GSA notes other improvements.

This US Custom House in Portland, Maine was completed in 1872. In 1934, plumbing improvements were made by federal architect Louis A. Simon and federal engineer, George O. Von Nerta.

The historic U.S. Post Office and Courthouse in Ada, Oklahoma was constructed between 1933 and 1934 with federal Treasury Department funds. The building is still in use today.

Columbus, Georgia's grant U.S. Post Office and Courthouse was built in 1933-4 with Treasury Department funds. The building was dedicated on July 4, 1934. The building is still functioning as both a federal courthouse and post office (though today as Columbus's Downtown Station post office, as opposed to main post office), and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  

The historic U.S. Post Office & Courthouse in Enid, Oklahoma was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. The building was completed in 1941 and is still in use today.

This three-story example of Classical Revival architecture was designed by Edgar Love; Miller, Martin & Lewis. Constructed in 1935-6, the structure's cornerstone was laid on Nov. 1, 1935. While the facility no longer houses a post office, it is still in use by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.

The historic former federal building at 102 4th Ave. SE in Aberdeen, South Dakota was constructed in 1936-7 with Treasury Department funds. The building served as a post office and courthouse. The stately structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 2006. This Depression-era building is now privately owned. While postal operations have since moved out, part of the building is still rented by the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota. An example of New Deal artwork created for the facility has since been relocated.

The historic former post office and federal courthouse building in Florence, South Carolina was constructed during the early 20th century and received a rear addition and remodel undertaken in 1937-8 with Treasury Department funds. (A source, which says ca. 1935, could have been more accurate.) The building is now the Hugh and Jean Leatherman Medical Education Complex for for Francis Marion University.

The building now known as the Richard Sheppard Arnold U.S. Post Office and Courthouse (which, incidentally, no longer houses a post office) was constructed in 1931-2, before the advent of the New Deal. An addition to the north, built in 1941, did, however, come under the auspices of the New Deal. The building has been further added to tended since.

New Deal funds enabled an addition to the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse in Muskogee. "The U.S. Post Office and Courthouse is an excellent example of the Classical Revival style. Containing five floors plus a basement, the building gives the appearance of only four stories. In 1937-1938, an addition was constructed on the back of the building, and the former storage space on the fifth floor was converted to office space. The upper four floors are organized around a lightwell with corridors ringing the lightwell on the north, east, and south sides. Office space is off the corridor away from the...

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse in San Juan was built in 1914 with a New Deal-era addition constructed in 1938-1940. Now known as Jose V. Toledo Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, the building still houses judicial functions, though postal operations have long since moved out. "The U.S. Post Office and Courthouse in San Juan, Puerto Rico is a three-story, monumental, concrete office structure occupying an entire square block on the southern fringe of the Old San Juan Historic Zone. Built in 1914 ... the original structure was built above the foundations of...

The Great Falls Post Office and Courthouse was built in 1912. It was designed by James Knox Taylor and reflects Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals architecture and Second Renaissance Revival architecture. A New Deal extension was completed in 1938 with James Knox Taylor as the supervising architect. The building has historically served -- and still does -- as a courthouse and as a post office. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Designed by Henry O. Whitfield in 1915, the U.S. Post Office and Office Building underwent a large expansion during the New Deal era. The building bears a 1936 cornerstone. "In 1936 the Treasury Department designed two 3-story wing additions for the main (south) side of the building. These were constructed in 1937-38 forming a "U"-shaped peristyle court. These wings have three floors used for office space and contain open circulation balconies on the first and third floors. The exterior walls facing the court contain 2-story columns with doric capitals which support a lanai above. All the roofs are tiled, with ornamental...

Two major improvements were made to the U.S. Treasury Department building in 1933-34, using funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and under the supervision of the newly created Procurement Division of the Treasury Department.  The first major improvement was the remodeling of the fourth floor, originally attic space, “into good office space, and air conditioned so as to be a liveable place to work in hot weather of the Summer” (Evening Star, 1933).  The exact cost of this project is unknown, but it was between $140,000 and $200,000 of the PWA funds. The second major improvement to the Treasury building...

The Department of the Interior was the first federal building in Washington, D.C. fully authorized, designed, and built under the Franklin Roosevelt Administration. It was the brainchild of Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, probably the most powerful member of FDR's cabinet, and later renamed for former Secretary of Interior, Stewart Lee Udall, in 2010. The Department had outgrown the old Interior Building (now the General Services Administration Building) and its agencies were scattered at 15 different sites in the District of Columbia. Funds were allotted by the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1934, construction began in April 1935 and was...

The historic former U.S. Border Inspection Station at since-demolished Union Bridge in Calais, Maine was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. The facility, located by the river on Todd Street, was completed in January 1939. The facility, since altered, was sold in 1962. Living New Deal is unsure of the building's present status, though satellite imagery suggests that the building still stands, heavily altered.

This large office building in the Suitland Federal Center –also known as Federal Office Buildings #3 – was constructed by the Public Building Administration (a branch of the Federal Works Agency) in 1941-1942 to be the headquarters of the U.S. Census Bureau, which remained in the building until 2007. Unfortunately, due to deterioration, the building was demolished a few years after that. 

The United States Post Office in Sheridan, Indiana was constructed in 1939 with federal Treasury Department funds.

Anchoring downtown Zeeland, the new one-story 60-by-70 foot post office was built for $68,000. Construction was completed in just seven months, tapping into a pool of unemployed workers available during the New Deal Era. Although the population of Zeeland at that time did not justify such a large post office, Zeeland was then home to 60 hatcheries, shipping up to 13 million live chicks and turkey poults to farmers per year, by rail and through the postal service. The post office opened on December 2, 1935.

Cleveland's historic University Center Station post office was constructed with federal funds in 1935-6. Designed by R. Stanley-Brown, the building houses examples of New Deal artwork.

St. Louis's historic University Station post office was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the Great Depression. The building was completed in 1938 and is still in use today. A New Deal mural, "The Louisiana Purchase Exposition," hangs inside.

Seattle's historic University Station post office was constructed ca. 1937 with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which houses New Deal murals, is still in use today.

The historic Uptown Station post office in Chicago, Illinois was constructed in 1939 with federal Treasury Department funds. The building is still in service and houses an example of New Deal artwork.

The US Coast Guard Station Humboldt Bay at the end of the Samoa Peninsula across from Eureka, Calif0rnia was built in 1936-37 as a federal military project, with the aid of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and its relief workforce. (HABS, p. 17) The structure replaced a considerably smaller station built in 1878, known as the Humboldt Bay Life-Saving Station. This was part of a nationwide effort to upgrade Coast Guard facilities during the administration of Franklin Roosevelt (as ardent sailor and Undersecretary of the Navy in the early 1920s). (The Life-Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service had been merged to...