Federal & Military Operations Sites

Mell Hall was constructed as the Clemson post office in 1940; as such its construction was funded by the federal Treasury Department. After postal operations relocated the building became part of the Clemson University campus, and it now serves as Clemson, University's housing office. The building is located just off the southern side of Old Greenville Highway between Riggs Field and Bowman Field.

Brooklyn, New York's Metropolitan Station post office (originally known as Station A) was constructed with Treasury Department funds in 1935-6. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988, the building is "a two-story, flat roofed brick building with a three bay wide central pavilion flanked by three bay wide wings in the Colonial Revival style."

The Art Moderne Michael J. Dillon U.S. Courthouse in Buffalo, New York was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. The building was constructed in 1936 and is still in use today.

The historic U.S. Border Inspection Station at Milltown International Bridge in Calais, Maine was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. The Neo-Classical facility was completed in January 1939. The facility was altered and later replaced in 2014.

The post office in Mineola was built in 1936 under the Public Works Administration (PWA) program and was designed by architects at the U.S. Treasury Department. It continued to be used as a post office until 1998. It is now the Mineola Historical Museum.

This building was originally the post office, but then was repurposed as the Mineola Historical Museum. The oil-on-canvas mural by Bernard Zakheim, entitled "New and Old Methods of Transportation," was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. From Art Daily, on the occasion of the announcement of its restoration: During the Great Depression, jobs were scarce and rural inhabitants were struggling to come to terms with the explosion of new industries and new forms of transportation. Mineola residents, who at the time were mostly farmers, were trying to catch up with their country, which was rapidly changing from being an agricultural...

The Mission Historical Museum was constructed as the city's post office in 1940. The building houses an example of New Deal artwork.

Phone: 415-453-5279 Access Hours: 8:30-5 M-F, Sat 10-1

From the National Register of Historic Places nomination file: "The 114.24-acre Lock and Dam No. 11 Historic District is made up of a navigation lift lock, a nonnavigable dam, and 37 associated resources. Two general contractors and numerous subcontractors, all employing the maximum number of people possible for a relief work project, built most of the main features of this district between 1934 and 1937. Eagle Point Bridge was already in place when this work began."

Mississippi utilized a number of federal work relief and infrastructure opportunities to repair, improve, and construct the levee system at various locations along the Mississippi River from Gunnison in Bolivar county south through Greenville in Washington county to Fitler in Issaquena county Agencies included Civil Works Administration, Works Progress Administration, and Army Corps of Engineers, expended a total of $227,634, employed at least 675 men, and were carried out between 1933 and 1940.

This USDA building is a U.S. Treasury project from 1936-37. According to the West Virginia Department of Commerce: “Dedicated in 1937, the USDA building symbolized increased importance of the Department of Agriculture and the Forest Service in the New Deal era. It housed offices for Civilian Conservation Corps projects and local New Deal programs designed to assist rural farmers and woodsmen. The rectangular, three-story, Neo-Classical designed building is constructed of red brick with stone trim. The original grading and landscaping around the exterior of the building was done with CCC labor. Most notable is the woodpaneled interior reception/entrance area where two...

The historic Morgan Park post office in Chicago, Illinois was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds in 1936. The building is still in service.

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

The Morrisania Station post office of the Bronx, New York (originally constructed as New York, New York's Station T post office in the Bronx) "is a historic post office building located at Morrisania in The Bronx, New York, United States. It was built in 1936, and designed by consulting architect William Dewey Foster for the Office of the Supervising Architect. The building is a two story, five bay wide brick building with a hipped roof and a one bay recessed wing in the Colonial Revival style. It features an arcade of five recessed brick round arches with limestone keystones." (Wikipedia) The...

The historic Mott Haven Station post office in the Bronx on East 139th St. was one of several post offices in the borough constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the New Deal era. The post office was initially known as New York, New York's Station 'X' until its redesignation as Mott Haven Station on June 1, 1947. This project was implemented by the Public Works Administration, and the building's cornerstone dates an initial stage of construction to 1935. The building is still in service. C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown: This postal station is in the Bronx on East 139th Street and serves a territory bounded by the Harlem...

The historic former post office in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania was built in 1935-6 with Treasury Department funds. Dedicated in Sept. 1936, the facility now operates as the East Stroudsburg Municipal Building. Unusually, a sizable clocktower has been added to the structure. An example of New Deal artwork was also created for the building.

Constructed in 1935 with Treasury Department funding (sometimes mis-attributed to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), including by a historical marker on-site!), the former Post Office in Osceola, Arkansas is typical of the type of small post offices that were built during the New Deal for rural towns. The $55,000 project probably begun during the tenure of Postmaster Arch Smith in 1935 but was finished and dedicated during that of Clement Bowen who served as Osceola’s postmaster until 1942. This split-level building has a fully usable basement, which allowed the Postal Service three floors of functioning space. The building originally had...

The stately former post office (now Municipal Building) in downtown Vidalia, Georgia was constructed with Treasury Department funds starting in 1935. Postmaster General James A. Farley dedicated the post office on April 28, 1938 (at 2:30 p.m.), as part of a tour that included multiple other new postal facilities in Georgia. An example of New Deal artwork created for the building is still on-site, albeit partially destroyed.

The historic former post office in Osceola, Arkansas received an example of New Deal artwork: "Early Settlers of Osceola," commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. Like many post offices, during the New Deal a mural was painted depicting local history. From 1934 to 1943, over 1,100 murals and art was commissioned for Federal buildings across the nation. In February 1939, Orville Carroll, a Kentucky artist who had previously painted murals for federal buildings in Louisville, KY, completed an oil on canvas mural for the Post Office entitled Early Settlers in Osceola, Arkansas. Carroll’s work was executed in the heroic...

The historic former post office building in Clanton, Alabama, now the municipal courthouse, was constructed in 1935 with Treasury Department funds. Details of the facility's early construction and dedication can be found at the historic news articles linked to below.

The Municipal Court building in Jackson, Georgia was constructed as the city's post office during the 1930s. This New Deal structure served as the post office until 1995, when operations relocated to East 2nd St. The building also housed an example of New Deal artwork, which was also relocated.

The historic post office building in Edmond, Oklahoma, now the Edmond Municipal Court and Courthouse, was constructed during the Great Depression with federal Treasury Department funds. The building was completed in 1938.

The National Archives building was substantially completed under the New Deal and the central stacks were added with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA). In 1926, Congress approved $8.7 million for a home for the National Archives. The Public Buildings Commission and Commission on Fine Arts had to approve the site and design, which led to much jostling over where it would fit within the larger plans for a "Federal Triangle" in the center of the city.  As a result, the site was moved twice before the architect, John Russell Pope, was officially appointed by Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon and...

The exterior of the National Archives is graced by sculptures, bas-reliefs and inscriptions. The building above ground was completed under the New Deal by the Treasury Department Office of Procurement, including the sculptures. Congress originally approved a new home for the National Archives in 1928, but construction did not start until late 1931. The foundation was laid and the cornerstone placed by President Herbert Hoover during his last weeks in office. Construction above ground began under President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 and the exterior was completed in late 1935; an addition with more stacks was finished in 1937. The architect of the...

A federal Treasury Department-funded construction, the old National Leprosarium Infirmary building, "built in 1933, had 68 beds in two open wards--men upstairs and women downstairs. Architects provided screened porches across the front of the building to allow patients fresh air. Notice the flat roof. Originally canopies had been installed to give patients a shady spot in the non-air-conditioned building and a place to catch a breeze." In some files the facility was called "the National Home for Lepers." The contractor for infirmary construction was Murch Brothers Construction Co. of St. Louis.

William Zorach was commissioned by the New Deal’s Treasury Section of Fine Arts to create the statue “Benjamin Franklin.” The statue was made out of marble, and Zorach was paid $8,000 for the job. This artwork was created for the headquarters of the U.S. Post Office Department—today’s Clinton Federal Building—and now resides in the National Postal Museum (and the museum itself served as the main post office—not to be confused with the headquarters building—for Washington, DC from 1914-1986). The Treasury Section of Fine Arts existed from 1934 to 1943. It was initially called the “Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture”; then...

The south wing of the Bird House at National Zoo – which had been left off the original building in 1927-28 – was constructed in 1936 with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA). It completed the the imposing, Romanesque style Bird House, adding space for more cages/exhibits and housing the Bird Resource Center. The PWA contributed around $1 million to several zoo improvement projects in the 1930s, including new elephant house, a small mammal house and an addition to the bird house.  The separate cost of the Bird House addition is undetermined.  The original building had been design by Albert Harris and the...

Charles R. Knight produced a frieze of Pre-Historic Animals inside the Large Mammal House at the National Zoo in 1937. They were cast in aluminum by the Manhattan Terrazzo Brass Strip Company. On the floor are roundels by Knight in marble and aluminum depicting various large mammals. Those were also carried out by the Manhattan Terrazzo Brass Strip Company. These artworks were commissioned and paid for by the Treasury Relief Art Project, which aimed to put unemployed artists back to work.    

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the building for a restaurant at National Zoo, constructed in 1939-40.  The restaurant building still serves the public today as the Mane Cafe. In its 1939 fiscal year report, the National Zoo noted: “The Public Works Administration allotted the sum of $90,000 for the much-needed restaurant building at the Park. Work on plans for this building was commenced immediately by the Supervising Architect, Procurement Division, Treasury Department, and in a short time it is expected that bids will be let and construction begun. This will be a marked improvement in the service that the Zoo gives...

Two one-foot square cast-aluminum plates, depicting the  "Pied Piper of Hamelin," were produced by Domenico Mortellito in 1936 and installed in the Small Mammal House at the National Zoo. These pieces were commissioned and paid for by the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP), which gave work to unemployed artists in the Depression.

In 1937, Domenico Mortellito painted habitat background murals for the Bird House and the Pachyderm (Elephant) House and added murals to the zoo restaurant.  These murals were commissioned by the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP), which aimed to put unemployed artists back to work.   Mortellito used a rubber-based paint for the animal house murals and carved linoleum for the restaurant.   It appears that all have been lost over the years, though two murals at the Bird House are said to survive (this  needs to be verified). Mortellito is shown in the photos below painting the background murals in the Elephant House, including...

The W.P.A. conducted substantial development work at the former Naval Ammunition Depot in Hingham, Mass. Project details: "Improvements at Hingham Naval Ammunition Depot" Official Project Number: 165‐2‐14‐426 Total project cost: $176,352.00 Sponsor: U.S. Navy Department "Improvements at Naval Ammunition Depot" Official Project Number: 165‐2‐14‐61 Total project cost: $15,712.00 Sponsor: U.S. Navy Department "Make general improvements to buildings, facilities, and grounds" Official Project Number: 165‐2‐14‐868 Total project cost: $214,954.00 Sponsor: Commandant, 1st Naval District, U.S. Navy "Make general improvements to buildings, grounds, and facilities" Official Project Number: 165‐3‐14‐148 Total project cost: $236,585.00 Sponsor: Commandant, 1st Naval District, U.S. Navy "Improve ammunition depot" Official Project Number: 165‐3‐14‐504 Total project cost: $376,234.00 Sponsor: Commandant, 1st Naval District, U.S....

Cleveland's historic Newburg Station post office was constructed with federal funds in 1935-6. The building, which was designed by Julius Boenisch, is still in service.

The historic red-brick North Philadelphia Station post office was built in 1935. Constructed with federal Treasury Department funds, the building is still in use today. It houses a collection of New Deal artwork in the lobby.

The historic Northgate Station post office was constructed from 1936-7 with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which housed an example of New Deal artwork, is still in service.

The historic Old Chelsea Station post office on West 18th Street was constructed with Treasury Department funds in 1935-7. It was one of many such facilities built in New York City during the New Deal era. The post office was initially known as New York, New York's Station 'O' until its redesignation as Audubon Station on April 1, 1947. The building, which houses examples of New Deal artwork, is still in service.

This New Deal post office is a one-story brick Colonial Revival building, rectangular in shape, on raised basement. Limestone pilasters with Doric capitals surround windows and door in center of facade. Interior of the building is largely intact, including original brass post office boxes.

H. Louis Freund painted this 13' x 4'8" oil on canvas mural "Early Days and First Post Office in Pocahontas" in 1939. The work was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and installed at the historic former post office in Pocahontas. After years of damage, it was restored and transported to ASU in Jonesboro, Arkansas. It is now housed at the ASU Museum. "The mural depicts several early scenes of Pocahontas and the surrounding areas. In the lower right is the community of Davidsonville, where the state's first post office was established in 1817. On the left is the...

This mural "Local Industries" by Natalie Henry was completed with support from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts in 1940. It was originally in the historic former Springville Post Office, but it is now on display at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History. From the University of Central Arkansas: "Natalie Henry was commissioned to create a mural for Springdale, Arkansas as a result of an Honorable Mention in a Section of Fine Arts competition. She visited town and observed that most farms within the area had vineyards and orchards and that the houses were quite well maintained. She used her father,...

In 1941-42, a recreation building was constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers in Burbank, CA with federal and municipal funding.  The facilities at the recreation center, including an auditorium for assemblies, plays, banquets, basketball, and dancing, were meant to serve soldiers and war industry workers in the Burbank area. According to the Los Angeles Times, an agreement was signed between the City of Burbank and the Federal Security Agency, which stated that “the Burbank Parks Department must conduct a recreation and leisure-time program ‘in a manner satisfactory to the Federal Security Agency’” (February 26, 1942). The City of Burbank purchased the...