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  • Arroyo Seco Park - Los Angeles CA
    The Annual Report of the Board of the Los Angeles Park Commissioners stated in their 1932-1933 report that the Arroyo Seco Parkway was at the time the third largest park in Los Angeles with 276.1 acres. "A new roadway was built by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation some 1800 feet long which involved the removal of 2000 cubic yards of dirt and the installation of 2600 feet of curbing. General grading consisted of widening and straightening the river channel, placing rip-rap on both banks and using the dirt to fill in areas for lawn and buildings. A group of service buildings...
  • B. S. Pollak Hospital (former) - Jersey City NJ
    The old B.S. Pollak Hospital, part of the old Jersey City Medical Center, was constructed with federal funds during the Great Depression. The building is now privately owned. "The Pollak Hospital facility was formerly the site of a three-story building constructed in 1918 for the Jersey City School for Crippled Children. It was taken over as the Infectious Disease Hospital and in 1934 received a loan of $2,996,000 by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation for a new county tuberculosis hospital. The 250-bed facility was eventually named for Dr. B.S. Pollak and became noted for the treatment of chest diseases. When completed in...
  • Benjamin G. Humphreys Bridge (demolished) - Greenville MS to AR
    The US 82 bridge between Greenville, Mississippi and Lake Village, Arkansas was constructed to increase access between the two states to benefit economic development in the Delta. It was dismantled and replaced in 2011 due to increased river traffic, which resulted in numerous hits to the bridge over the years, and increased vehicular traffic which resulted in traffic control issues due to the narrow lanes and lack of shoulders. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation lent $2.55 million toward the cost of the original bridge. WPA funds were secured in 1938 for the remainder. The Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) was also involved with...
  • Bronx Terminal Market Freight Shed (demolished) - Bronx NY
    From 1938 to 1939 federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) laborers constructed a freight shed at the north end of the Bronx Terminal Market. Much of the funding for the project came from a $250,000 allocation from the New Deal Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). A city appropriation of $130,000 paid for the rest. Researcher Frank da Cruz has collected evidence about the freight shed's construction which make clear that, at the time, the project received widespread praise in the local press for reducing the price of food in the surrounding area, by allowing for more direct distribution of wholesale produce. Mayor LaGuardia initiated the formation...
  • Bronx-Whitestone Bridge - Bronx to Queens NY
    The Triborough Bridge is one of three major bridges, along with the Henry Hudson and the Bronx-Whitestone, built during the New Deal era to link the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx, and tie together the expanding highway system in and out of New York City.  Robert Moses was the master planner of New York from the 1920s to the 1920s, and one of Moses' seats of power was the Triborough Bridge Authority, which built this and other bridges. Moses used New Deal funds liberally to build the projects he had in mind for the city. But he did not...
  • Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel - New York to Brooklyn NY
    The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, officially known as the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, runs under the East River to connect lower Manhattan to Brooklyn. The tunnel was begun in 1940 with PWA and Reconstruction Finance Corporation Funds, though it was not completed until until 1950: "The total cost of the tunnel and the attendant roadways was $105 million. La Guardia knew the city was incapable of financing the project so he dunned the Reconstruction Finance Corporation chief Jesse Jones, a Houston millionaire and Roosevelt confidant, for the funding. La Guardia's hopes of obtaining approval for government assistance were probably based in no small...
  • Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal National Historical Park - Georgetown DC to Seneca MD
    Under the New Deal, the defunct Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Canal was acquired by the federal government and restored from Georgetown in the District of Columbia (where it enters the Potomac River) to Seneca MD, a distance of 22 miles.  This lay the basis for the future C&O Canal National Historical Park.   The C&O canal, built between 1824 and 1850, is historically significant as one of the best preserved remnants of the great canal boom of the first half of the 19th century. Today, it functions as one of the major recreational assets of the greater Washington DC area. The canal...
  • Coachella Aqueduct - Coachella CA
    The Coachella Canal is a 122-mile (196 km) aqueduct that conveys Colorado River water for irrigation to the Coachella Valley in Riverside County, California.  It is effectively a branch of the All-American Canal, which was completed in the 1930s.   Both are arms of the gigantic Colorado River Storage Project, anchored by Boulder Dam, built under the Bureau of Reclamation.  The contract for both canals went to the so-called Six Companies – an alliance of big western construction firms including Kaiser, Bechtel, Utah Construction and Parsons. Contracts were signed in 1936-37 and work began in 1940 but was interrupted by the...
  • Flagstaff Mountain: Sunrise Circle Amphitheater - Boulder CO
    The Sunrise Circle amphitheater was built between September 1933 and March 1934. It was constructed in a “natural amphitheatre” at the top of Flagstaff Mountain, which had been cleared of debris during the spring of 1933 as part of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) work relief program. The CCC work features beautiful stone terrracing and a small stage. It remains a popular attraction used regularly for events. It lies within the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks.   “The amphitheater consists of a circular central arena around which a semicircular stage and two tiers of bench seating have been constructed....
  • Fort Worth Botanic Garden - Fort Worth TX
    The Fort Worth Botanic Garden had its origins in 1912 when the park board purchased a tract of land southwest of Trinity Park and named it Rock Springs Park. In his 1909 park master plan for Fort Worth, landscape architect George E. Kessler recommended that the city acquire the parcel because of its natural flowing springs and dense stand of native trees. The park remained largely unimproved until 1929 when work began on the creation of a lagoon and an arboretum under the direction of landscape architect S. Herbert Hare and Raymond C. Morrison, the city’s forester. In 1930 Hare and...
  • Griffith Park: Fire Fighting Sprinklers (demolished) - Los Angeles CA
    Starting in 1933, the R.F.C, CCC, and W.P.A. initiated efforts at constructing a sprinkler system that would cover the hillsides in the park and turn on in case of wild fires. In part, the project was as a result of the death of 29 county relief workers that perished in a fire Oct. 3rd 1933. Over time, the system has broken down and is completely non functional. According to National Archives records, the W.P.A. also built a fire break as part of its efforts in Griffith Park.
  • Griffith Park: Vermont Canyon Tennis Complex - Los Angeles
    The CWA or the RFC (which early on in the New Deal directly hired temporary day labor) constructed a 12 court tennis complex in Griffith Park. Rubble wall construction typifies work done by the ND throughout the park.
  • Hazard Park - Los Angeles
    The Annual Report from 1932-33 of the Los Angeles Board of Park Commissioners describes federal involvement in the development of Hazard Park: "Work in this park consisted mainly in improving what is known as the west addition, or that portion of the grounds lying east of the Pacific Electric Railroad right of way to Soto Street. This land while a portion of the main park, lay undeveloped for a number of years because of lack of funds for its improvement. During the past two years, however, with the help of labor from Unemployment bonds and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation relief organization...
  • Hillcrest Park Landscaping - Fullerton CA
    Hillcrest Park in Fullerton, California was originally built in 1920 and then from 1931-1940, relief funds from the Civil Works Administration (CWA), State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA), Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), and the Work Projects Administration (WPA) helped shape the landscaping of Hillcrest Park. No buildings at Hillcrest Park were created or funded by New Deal Programs.  Hillcrest Park sits on 35.6 acres and is considered the most historically significant park in Fullerton, CA. In 1920, the City of Fullerton purchased the land for $67,300. Johann George Seupelt, a horticulturist and landscape architect, was the park's first superintendent and designed the...
  • Hollenbeck Park - Los Angeles CA
    The Los Angeles Board of Park Commissioner 1932–33 Annual Report describes federal involvement in the development of Hollenbeck Park: "With Reconstruction Finance corporation and County Welfare labor it was possible to improve this park by resurfacing 4,050 square yards of old walks, as well as renovating and grading four acres of sloping hillsides. The park was further improved with the moving of six large trees, planting 28 new trees, 314 shrubs, and 1600 flowering plants. Fifteen hundred square feet of new lawn was also sown. All of this work greatly improved the appearance of Hollenbeck Park and added to its usability by...
  • Holmby Park - Los Angeles CA
    The Annual Report from 1932-33 of the Los Angeles Board of Park Commissioners describes federal involvement in the development of Holmby Park: "Reconstruction Finance Corporation and County Welfare workmen helped install 6100 feet of curbing along the walks as well as completing 100 cubic yards of general grading work and the laying of 50 feet of new water system."
  • Hoover Dam - Boulder City NV
    Hoover Dam, originally called "Boulder Dam", is the anchor of the entire Colorado River water storage and management system.  It lies in Black Canyon (not Boulder Canyon) at the southern tip of Nevada, on the Arizona border, and creates the massive Lake Meade reservoir, the largest in the United States.  It was the first high-arch concrete dam in history, becoming the model for thousands of dams built round the world.  It was constructed under the US Bureau of Reclamation by a joint venture of 8 construction companies (called "The Six Companies"), led by Henry Kaiser and including Bechtel Corporation, Utah...
  • Huey P. Long Bridge - New Orleans LA
    This bridge across the Mississippi River was started under President Hoover's Reconstruction Finance Corporation in 1931, and completed in 1935 with PWA funds. "Opened in December 1935 to replace the Walnut Street Ferry, the bridge was named for the extremely popular and notorious governor, Huey P. Long, who had just been assassinated on September 8 of that year. The bridge was the first Mississippi River span built in Louisiana and the 29th along the length of the river. It is a few miles upriver from the city of New Orleans." (Wikipedia)
  • Infrastructure Improvements - Seabrook NH
    The New Deal provided much help in this small coastal community of 1,606 (1930 population). Between 1933 and 1939, the RFC, the WPA and the NYA undertook improvements in the town, including sewer maintenance, road work, surveying sidewalks and other improvements.
  • Keystone Corridor Electrification - Southeast PA
    Electrification of the Keystone Corridor "west of Paoli to Harrisburg came in the 1930s, after the PRR completed electrifying its New York-Washington, D.C. section (the present-day Northeast Corridor)." The total cost ... was financed by government-supported loans from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Public Works Administration."
  • Lincoln Park Gateway and Improvements - Los Angeles CA
    Improvements to Lincoln Park (Los Angeles, CA) were carried out by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) in 1932-33. According to the 1932-33 Annual Report of the Los Angeles Board of Park Commissioners, "Two hundred lineal feet of walks were built, and 5,075 feet of redwood curbing used to define the older walks. A fire break, 1,500 feet long and 30 feet wide, was built along the north end and east side of the park, protecting the grounds from fires from adjacent vacant land. Catch basins were installed to control the water from rains that wash down from the hills surrounding the...
  • Municipal Improvements - Claremont NH
    In addition to improvements water system, library and park improvements, town reports from 1933-1942 document the following New Deal support for town activities: 1933 RFC loan for the Welfare dept. $15,000 1934 The town budget notes $10,000 estimated for FERA work in 1935 1935 Blister Rust Control work: A total of 32 men were given employment for a considerable period on funds reported in the attached financial statement. 8 Claremont men were employed in the neighboring town of Plainfield. W. P. A. Federal funds expended $ 996.88 Area covered 1197 acres. Currant and gooseberry bushes destroyed 24,762. 1936 Support of Poor & W.P.A. Projects $30,000.00 WPA Payments totaled $13,284.94 to 29 companies...
  • Municipal Improvements - Fitzwilliam NH
    Annual municipal reports show that the town of Fitzwilliam received assistance from multiple New Deal programs in the 1930s, including the RFC, the CWA (which constructed fire holes and water tanks and improved the library), and the WPA.  
  • Municipal Improvements - Houlton ME
    A municipal report from 1934 describes early New Deal work in Houlton: R.F.C. work included a High School lot project: "Mr. Brown approved the High School lot project for Houlton, and an allowance of $3,000 per month to carry on the work, the work to begin May 1st, 1933... The labor for filling, grading, landscaping, tree cutting and tree surgery on the High School lot kept some 100 men in two crews per week on half time employment for nine weeks. Besides the High School lot, the Chairman personally supervised the building of six small houses which were occupied when built by those unable...
  • Municipal Improvements - Hudson NH
    Annual reports show that the town of Hudson was helped extensively by New Deal programs. In addition to work by the RFC and FERA (which included distributing food and medicine to school children), the CWA repaired and improved schools and libraries. From 1935 on, the WPA did extensive work on the town's infrastructure, including digging fire holes, improving town roads, and moth extermination. The WPA and PWA also improved local school grounds. The NYA also employed local school children for "various tasks around the school."
  • Municipal Waterworks - Moncks Corner SC
    The Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Public Works Administration funded the construction of municipal waterworks in Moncks Corner SC. Before the waterworks construction, the townspeople of Moncks Corner relied on individual electric pumps and wells for their water supply.
  • Neshoba County Library (former) - Philadelphia MS
    The rustic log cabin was the first library built in Philadelphia, Mississippi, although the library had been established several years earlier in space in two other buildings. It was a community effort spearheaded by the Twentieth Century Club. The WPA also provided the first paid librarians. The building, relocated to a park when a new and modern library was constructed, was almost totally destroyed by a tornado in 2011. Only the flooring, chimney, and fireplace remained. It was reconstructed in 2013 in a joint effort of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and City of Philadelphia.
  • North Carolina State University: Riddick Stadium (demolished) Improvements - Raleigh NC
    In 1933, North Carolina State College developed plans for new concrete stands to seat about 16,000 spectators at the existing Riddick Stadium on campus. That same year funding from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation allowed construction of several sections of concrete stands on the east side of the stadium. In 1934, funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) allowed construction of the final section of the east stands. In 1935, additional PWA funding resulted in construction of all sections of concrete stands on the west side of stadium. The original plans called for concrete stands on the south side to connect...
  • North Grand Island Bridge - Grand Island NY
    What is now the northbound span of the North Grand Island Bridge (as well as the southbound span of the South Grand Island Bridge) was constructed as a New Deal project in 1933-5, funded by a Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) loan. "The Swartz bill, drafted by Commissioner Robert Moses, state representative of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, passed the Legislature in 1933. This measure paved the way for the $2,880,000 loan from the R. F. C. Robert Moses became an enthusiastic supporter of the bridge. Former Governor Alfred E. Smith gave his active support to the project, as did Speaker Joseph A. McGinnus....
  • Orchestra Hall (UNT; demolished) - Denton TX
    The North Texas State College's Orchestra Hall was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The building (also known as Music Hall), which was located at Chestnut St. and Ave. C, has since been demolished and replaced. The P.W.A. contributed $40,000 toward the project, which was dedicated on April 27, 1937. "PWA funds made it possible for UNT to provided better academic and residential facilities. In 1936 a new band and orchestra hall was constructed using a PWA grant and a bond issue from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. This was the first use of a dormitory funding opportunity to finance...
  • Pennsylvania Turnpike - Pittsburgh PA
    "America's First Superhighway" is a toll highway running through much of Pennsylvania, and it was created with the assistance of the WPA, the PWA and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. "When it opened in 1940, the Pennsylvania Turnpike made history as the first limited access superhighway in the nation. Constructed across and through 160 miles of rugged ridges and narrow valleys, the Turnpike was both an engineering marvel and precursor of the national interstate highway system. What is often overlooked, however, is that had New Deal programs not financed the work, the Turnpike would not have been built until many years later,...
  • Point Fermin Park - San Pedro CA
    "Point Fermin Park is located in the San Pedro district, on the bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. With the addition of the Wilder tract to this Park, we were able to use a great many R.F.C. and Country Welfare men on improvements for the benefit of residents in San Pedro as well as visitor from Los Angeles... Twenty one hundred and thirty lineal feet of new walks were built, and lined with redwood curbing. In putting in these walks we had to move 2,882 cubic yards of dirt and 984 cubic yards was moved in general grading over approximately three...
  • Potomac State College: Stayman Field Improvements – Keyser WV
    Work on Stayman Field began in December 1932 (before the New Deal) with funding from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). The initial construction was completed in November 1933. The stadium was named after Joseph W. Stayman, the president of Potomac State College from 1921 to 1936. In December 1933, it was reported that a crew of workers from the New Deal’s Civil Works Administration (CWA) had begun work on the expansion of Stayman Field, from its original “450 feet, by 270, to a long rectangle of 700 feet” (The Pasquino, 12-12-1933). The expansion facilitated better maintenance for the football field, and...
  • Red Banks Drainage District -Marshall and DeSoto Counties MS
    The Reconstruction Finance Corporation provided 22 loans to drainage districts in Mississippi in 1934, totaling $2,726,150. The Red Banks district received $26,000. From the Coldwater River, Byhalia Creek, Red Banks Creek, and a canal 11 miles long ran through the counties of Marshall and Desoto, and into the Pigeon Roost Creek and Pigeon Roost Drainage Canal.
  • Reseda Park - Reseda CA
    The Annual Report from 1932-33 of the Los Angeles Board of Park Commissioners describes the role of federal funding in developing Reseda Park, which still serves the community today: "Reseda Park is one of the city parks located in San Fernando Valley at Reseda and Etiwanda Avenues, Kittridge Street, and Victory Boulevard. Being forty acres in area it provides a delightful recreational spot for the residents of San Fernando Valley. A great deal of improvement was accomplished during 1932-1933 with the help of the R.F.C. and County Welfare workmen. Fifteen hundred lineal feet of walks were built, involving the grading of 600...
  • San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge - San Francisco CA and Oakland CA
    The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, one of the most famous bridges in the world and the key transportation link in the Bay Area, was built under the New Deal with funding from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). The 8-mile long bridge (43,500 feet) consists of two parts, both anchored to Yerba Buena Island in the middle of San Francisco Bay.  The western half is an elegant suspension bridge (whose beauty has always suffered by comparison with the Golden Gate Bridge, but gained a delightful electronic light show in the 2010s). The longer  eastern half was a classic cantilever bridge, ungainly but...
  • Saratoga Spa Complex - Saratoga Springs NY
    Saratoga Springs has been famous for its mineral waters, for bathing and drinking, for four centuries, and was known to native people long before that.  The town has a rich history of tourism, horse-racing and gambling, and its many springs have been developed commercially and heavily exploited by bottling companies.  In order to protect the springs from over-pumping, the area was declared a New York State Reservation in 1909. Dr. Simon Baruch, a leading exponent of hydrotherapy, guided the Spa's development in its early years.  In 1928, New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt established a commission to rehabilitate the springs, chaired by Bernard Baruch,...
  • School District Playground - Waterville KS
    In 1935 the county commissioners of Marshall County, KS approved the construction of a school playground at Waterville, financed with $4492.80 in Kansas Emergency Relief Committee (KERC) grant in aid and $968.50 from the KERC material fund. It is unclear whether this funding was for the one grade school in Waterville, or if this funded playgrounds at various one-room schools in the area. The KERC was an arm of the Reconstruction Finance Corp.
  • South Grand Island Bridge - Grand Island NY
    What is now the southbound span of the South Grand Island Bridge (as well as the northbound span of the North Grand Island Bridge) was constructed as a New Deal project in 1933-5, funded by a Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) loan. "The Swartz bill, drafted by Commissioner Robert Moses, state representative of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, passed the Legislature in 1933. This measure paved the way for the $2,880,000 loan from the R. F. C. Robert Moses became an enthusiastic supporter of the bridge. Former Governor Alfred E. Smith gave his active support to the project, as did Speaker Joseph A. McGinnus....
  • Sycamore Grove Park - Los Angeles CA
    An Annual Report from 1932-33 of the Los Angeles Board of Park Commissioners described early New Deal work in the park: "This is one of the most important parks in Los Angeles to picnickers. Practically all State Societies and other large groups hold their picnics here as there are ample facilities in the way of accommodating crowds, speaker platforms, and a public address system. In the Arroyo, east of the park, 15,840 lineal feet of new roads were constructed, with the help of Reconstruction Finance corporation and County Welfare workmen, which caused the removal of 73,500 cubic yards of dirt. Rip-rap...
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