The Bureau of Public Roads provided funds to construct an overpass carrying 12th Street over the railroad in Folsom, N.J. The project was undertaken as part of a larger grade crossing elimination initiative during that era. Living New Deal believes this structure has since been replaced…. read more
In September 1935, an enormous highway and grade crossing elimination program was approved by the state Public Works Administration (PWA) officials and was forwarded to Washington for final approval. The large number of projects would amount to a financial outlay… read more
Federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds enabled the construction of the old terminal at what was then known as Houston Municipal Airport. The Art Deco building at William P. Hobby Airport now serves as the 1940 Air Terminal Museum.
Harrisburg’s 19th Street Armory was constructed in 1937-8 as a New Deal project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $28,752 grant for the project, whose total cost was $89,050. PWA Docket No. PA [W]1807.
The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the 21st Street Houses in Washington, DC in 1943. This development of 36 living units was built for African American national defense workers (Washington, DC was… read more
The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the 25th Street Houses in Washington, DC in 1944. This development of 40 living units was built for white national defense workers (Washington, DC was highly… read more
The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the 35th Street Houses in Washington, DC in 1943. This development of 75 living units was built for white national defense workers (Washington, DC was highly… read more
Constructed with Public Works Administration (PWA) funds in 1936, the 5th Avenue Bridge spanned Pigeon Creek, south of Diamond Ave, though it is no longer extant. It was a modified parker truss bridge, polygonal top chords, lacks cross diagonals in… read more
In 1934 the Federal Public Works Administration (PWA) provided funds to build a million-gallon water storage tank in Newport News, Virginia to replace the old water tank. The caption for the photo above reads “A million-gallon water-storage tank erected at… read more
The Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) provided fundings for the elimination of a grade crossing involving 79th Street along the west side of Manhattan, with the tracks then serving the New York Central railway. The funding was allocated as part of a… read more
“This P.W.A. allotment made it possible for the Quartermaster Corps of the Army to erect 12 field officers’ quarters of the type illustrated on this page. Each building provides heater, fuel, and storerooms, and a laundry in the basement; a… read more
Academic unit; shop unit, 2 gyms, auditorium to be added later. 1 new building. The October 3, 1938 edition of the Daily Pacific Builder reported that $750,000 in PWA funds had been allotted for the first unit of the construction… read more
The historic former Acadia School in Madawaska, Maine was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The building “began as a high school and after several years it was an elementary school. At one time it… read more
Ackerman High School is a 2-story Art Moderne building dating to 1941. Currently closed, the school was PWA Project Miss. 1156.
“Built in 1938-39, the Ada County Courthouse was constructed as part of the Depression-era Public Works Administration (PWA). Building the courthouse provided jobs not only for construction workers and craftsmen, but also for the artists that embellished it. The Art… read more
The Adams Avenue Overpass is a 285 foot long steel stringer bridge that takes West Adams Avenue over multiple tracks of the former Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway (now BNSF Railway) in Temple, Texas. The bridge, which replaced an… read more
Adams Elementary School was built in 1936 by local architect K.C. Schaub, contracted by the PWA.
Adams Hall was constructed as the school of business for the University of Oklahoma in 1935 by the PWA. Joseph Smay was on the architecture faculty and designed this and Richards Hall in 1935. Included in the project is a… read more
Adams St. in Boston, Mass. underwent reconstruction as part of a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project.
“The Rex Activity Center is one of twelve buildings designated to Alamosa’s Historic Registry… Designed by architect William Bowman and constructed in 1938-39 as a Public Works Administration project, Rex Gym is one of the oldest buildings on campus and… read more
Affton High School was built by the PWA in 1935-37. The school has since been sold and repurposed into an extensive senior living center (The Village at Mackenzie Place). The old high school is at the front of the complex… read more
Afton High School was constructed in late 1934 as a New Deal project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided an $18,000 loan and $7,507 grant for the project, whose total cost was $26,287. PWA Docket No. OK 1948. OKHistory: This… read more
Vocational night school. Eighteen classrooms. Near high school. ‘Bids will be opened […] for constructing Agassiz elementary unit of twelve classrooms to be located at Bartlett and Twenty-second Streets. Masten and Hurd are the architects. The estimated cost is $179,000.’–The Architect… read more
Pennsylvania State University’s Ag[ricultural] Engineering building was one of a dozen buildings constructed on the campus during the Great Depression as part of a massive construction project enabled by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA). The building is still in use… read more
From The Fur Farms of Alaska: Two Centuries of History and a Forgotten Stampede: “In 1937, the legislature responded by appropriating $20,000 to establish an experimental fur station near Petersburg on land to be selected by a committee of three—… read more
The Texas Highway Department and the Federal Works Agency Public Roads Administration built an overpass in 1941 to separate the grade of Airline Drive and the Houston Belt and Terminal Railway tracks. The overpass is currently open to traffic.
The federal Public Works Administration helped to provide funding for the construction of an airport hangar during the 1930s (PWA Federal Project No. 223). The airport, under the name Bourne Field, served as a military airfield and, during the early… read more
Alameda County courthouse is a striking example of Moderne Architecture. It consists of a large base filling a city block, a setback tower, two further stories of jail set farther back and a hipped roof with observation cupola at the… read more
This sub-station of the Municipal Power and Light System of the City of Alameda was constructed with the aid of the Public Works Administration (PWA). The exact date is unknown to us. The old power plant has been demolished and… read more
The 1,300+ mile Alaska Highway was constructed in 1942 and opened in 1943. It was built to provide an alternate supply line to Alaska during World War II, an idea the President Roosevelt had proposed to the Canadian government in… read more
Albany did not have a public high school until 1936; students traveled to Berkeley, Richmond or Oakland. The WPA and PWA contributed to the building of Albany High between, roughly, 1936-1941. According to the Albany Times from that period, five… read more
Albany Street Bridge Over Boston & Albany Railroad. “The city requested a grant from the Government for bridge alterations as follows: Altering and strengthening Boylston Street Bridge; rebuilding Berkeley Street Bridge and rebuilding Albany Street Bridge. The total cost of… read more
The bridge carrying Albee Avenue over the newly sunken Staten Island Railway was built in 1940, as one link in a large grade crossing removal project sponsored by the Public Works Administration (PWA).
The Public Works Administration funded improvement work at the Alcatraz Prison on Alcatraz Island. The cost of the project was $1,100,000. The funds for the modernization were earmarked through a PWA program in 1938. The modernization plans were temporarily suspended after the… read more
PWA approved project X1373 for a college dormitory for the HBCU Alcorn State University 9/16/1938. Construction began 12/18/1938 and was completed 8/19/1939. The Colonial Revival brick building is extant and remains in use. Architects Carl L. Olschner and Edgar Lucian… read more
“The Alcova Dam is designed for storage and diversion of the river flow into an irrigation canal which irrigates the land around Caspar, Wyoming. The dam is earth fill with a rock surface on the reservoir side. Its height above… read more
The Public Works Administration (PWA) contributed approximately $5,400 toward the construction of the Aleknagik Schoolhouse Inn in 1938. Built as a territorial school in 1933, the facility initially consisted of a log cabin. In 1938, the PWA built a two-story structure. The… read more
Alford St. in Boston, Mass. underwent reconstruction as part of a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project.
On October 14, 1938, the Daily Pacific Builder reported that a PWA contract of $63,840 had been awarded for the construction of a boys' gym at Alhambra High School. The plans had been prepared by architect John Walker Smart, and… read more
