Public Works Funding Sites

The elementary school in Basalt, Colorado was originally built as the town's high school in 1937-38. The school was paid for, in part, with a $20,970 federal Public Works Administration (PWA) grant, which covered nearly half of the $46,504 total project cost.  Alterations to the building were undertaken in 2000, and the original structure is now a part of a larger elementary school complex.  

Cape Cod's Bass River Bridge was constructed as a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project. Completed in 1935, the bridge carries Route 28 (a.k.a. Main Street) from South Yarmouth to West Dennis. P.W.A. Project No. 5624.

The 141-foot Batesville Creek Bridge, which carries N. Broadview Street across Batesville Creek, south of Damascus, Arkansas, was constructed in 1940. The bridge plate (plaque) states that this project was funded by the Public Roads Administration of the Federal Works Agency.

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Bath V.A. Hospital in Bath NY. Created as the hospital for Bath V.A., replacing the 1870s facility at what had been the New York State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home. The oldest resident Civil War veteran broke the ground in 1936. The hospital was dedicated May 12, 1938 with 409 beds and two operating rooms. This is still the hospital for what is now the Bath VA Medical Center.

"This high school is planned so that when the need arises additions may be made. The present building is T-shaped in plan and two stories in height. It provides seven classrooms, teachers' rooms, a principal's office, a chemical laboratory, a library, and a combination auditorium-gymnasium with a stage and bleachers. The auditorium-gymnasium is so arranged that it may be used by the community as well as by the school. The construction is fireproof throughout. The exterior walls are red face brick with wood trim. The columns at the entrance of the auditorium are limestone. The volume of the building is 573,780 cubic...

Originally the United States Marine Hospital, what is now Richmond University Medical Center's Bayley Seton Hospital was a PWA project. It is described by the Federal Writers' Project: "United States Marine Hospital, Bay Street and Vanderbilt Avenue, a Federal hospital operated by the United States Public Health Service, is open to personnel of the Merchant Marine and Coast Guard, and to certain classes of Government employees. Constructed in 1933-6 by the PWA at a cost of two million dollars, the tawny-colored brick buildings with a silver tower cover an area of eighteen acres. Louis A. Simon was the supervising architect. This...

The PWA funded the construction of Bayshore Boulevard, along Hillsborough Bay in Tampa. At 6.5 miles, it is claimed to be the longest continuous sidewalk in the world.

Bayside High School was constructed as a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project. The P.W.A. allocated $2,067,274 for the construction of the facility: $1,480,000 as a loan and $587,274 as a grant. The building bears a 1935 cornerstone and was completed December 1936. The PWA docket number for this project was NY-2735.

The original Beach School was built in 1913 but declared an earthquake hazard and torn down in 1934.  It was replaced in two phases: the main wing in 1936 and the rear classroom wing and auditorium in 1940 (PHS 2007). The new school included 8 classrooms, a kindergarten, offices, a health room and an auditorium. There had been three previous efforts to replace schools and temporary buildings at schools in Piedmont in the 1920s, but the bond issues lost.   After the school board sought and gained funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA), a new bond issue passed in December...

Built in 1936-37, occupied for school use on September 7, 1937. In 1875, the school district built a wood frame schoolhouse near the center of town. In 1903, the board built a masonry building to replace the frame school. In 1935, a fire destroyed the school. The building was insured for $35,000, but the estimated loss was $100.000. The new school served the entire township, since Indiana officials had been encouraging public school consolidation since the 1890s. Public Works Administration awarded a grant for $57, 348 to fill the gap. Additionally, the town sold bonds to fund the school. The...

The PWA helped build Bear Lake Middle School (docket #1058-D), originally a high school. The school is still in use today.

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Bear River High School, in Tremonton, Box Elder County. Docket # 1018-R (Utah). The architect of record was J. Nelson. The condition of this structure is unknown to the Living New Deal.

This striking two story Art Deco building in Beatrice was constructed by the PWA in 1939-40. The National Register form for the building states: "Compared to other WPA/PWA Art Deco auditoriums in Nebraska..., the Beatrice auditorium is quite exuberantly decorated with Art Deco detail. In place of the more common geometric and stylized motifs such as zigzags and chevrons, the motifs for the auditorium focused on agricultural motifs of corn cobs and sheaves of wheat to more artistically represent themes important to a medium-sized farming community, and reminiscent of the agricultural motifs found throughout the Nebraska State Capitol." (NRHP)  

The old county courthouse in Beaufort, South Carolina was built in 1883, architect Robert McGrath. The building was remodeled extensively in 1936 with the support of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. This served as the county courthouse for decades until a new building was constructed; from 1994 to 2014 the building served as a U.S. Courthouse. Its current use is unknown to Living New Deal. The PWA provided a $14,760 grant in support of the $33,124 total cost of the courthouse renovation project during the 1930s. Construction occurred between February and November 1936. (PWA Docket No. SC 1146)

The State of Texas erected a historical marker in 2009 to commemorate this New Deal resettlement community. The text reads: "Named for its location between Beaumont and Port Arthur, Beauxart Gardens was developed during the Great Depression by the U.S. Government as a federal subsistence homestead colony under the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. The act encouraged urban and rural workers to supplement their incomes through agriculture. Residents worked part-time at area refineries and kept gardens and livestock. One of five such colonies in Texas, Beauxart Gardens was located on fertile rice land and provided a total of 50 families...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided funding for a new high school for Beaverhead County schools in Dillon, Montana, constructed in 1939. The PWA had become a part of the new Federal Works Agency that year.. The design of the two-story school is a very striking Moderne, painted in a desert beige with white bas-relief columns. The entrance portions for the classrooms and the auditorium project outward slightly, while the doorways are recessed. There are glass-block windows over the auditorium entrance. The school is still in use.

On October 31, 1935, the City of Austin accepted a grant from the Public Works Administration not to exceed $286,363 to cover 45% of the costs of building new schools, and making additions and repairs to existing schools. The voters of Austin also passed a $350,000 bond package to cover the city’s share of the costs. Becker Elementary School was one of the new schools built. The student population increased rapidly to the point that there was a need for Becker Elementary School to be expanded. In 1939, the city approved an addition to the school, using part of an additional...

NYC Subway Station on the IND Concourse Line. Part of the IND Subway Line construction in the 1930s, built with the aid of PWA funds along with other IND stations of the time.

Beeson Hall was one of multiple buildings constructed on the GCSU campus with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. It was completed in 1937.

The Belair Road railway station was rebuilt as a concrete structure during the mid-1930s as part of a massive grade separation project along what was then the South Beach Branch of the Staten Island Railway. The station "at Vermont Avenue, between Belair Road & St. Johns Avenue." Long since abandoned (as the line was discontinued in 1953), the structure has since been demolished. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $1.46 million grant for the $6 million grade crossing elimination project, which included work elsewhere in Staten Island and even in Manhattan. PWA Docket No. NY 4926.

Bell High School, which opened in 1926, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure that every member of the board agrees with me...

The Bureau of Public Roads provided funds for the grade separation of Belleville Turnpike and the Erie Railroad. New Jersey Board of Public Utility Commissioners: "A "Works Program-State Highway Department" project involving two separate grade crossings on which the Board initiated proceedings and on December 12, 1935, issued an order to eliminate the grade crossings. Contract for construction was let by the State Highway Department October 6, 1936, and construction was completed in October, 1937." Given extensive development of highways in the area, it is possible that any overpass structures related to this project are no longer extant.

The approximately $5 million Bellevue Hospital was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds during the 1930s. The present status of the New Deal structures within hospital complex, which has been extensively renovated, is unknown to Living New Deal.

"The Bellingham High School is one of the largest and finest structures of this type erected recently in northwest Washington. It is 3 stories in height with sufficient basement to take care of the heating system. It provides 20 standard classrooms; laboratories for chemistry, physics, biology, and agriculture; a woodworking shop; a machine shop; an automobile repair shop; rooms for music, arts and crafts, mechanical drawing, domestic science, office practice, typing, and stenography; a band and orchestra room; lunchrooms; a boys' gymnasium; a girls' gymnasium; an auditorium with a stage; a library; conference rooms; study rooms; and administrative offices....

Originally called the "Circumferential Parkway, "this roughly 25 mile stretch of highways forms a "belt-like circle around the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens." What is now known officially as the "Belt Parkway" is comprised of three other parkways: the Shore Parkway, the Southern Parkway and the Cross Island Parkway (formerly the Laurelton Parkway). (wikipedia) Plans for the parkway were originally raised by Robert Moses in 1930, but construction did not begin in 1934. It was completed in 1941. In addition to $16,000,000 in city appropriations, the PWA provided another $12,000,000 in federal funds for the construction of the parkway.

Belvin Hall was the first student residence constructed on the campus of Sam Houston State University, then called Sam Houston State Teachers College. With an occupancy of 92, the building has remained a women-only residence since it opened. The Public Works Administration financed the four-story red brick building with a $150,000 grant and loan package. The college built on an addition called Buchanan Hall in 1945 to support the increasing population of the school. Now known as Belvin-Buchanan Hall, the combined structure houses 209 girls.

In conjunction with what was known as the Ridge Avenue Connector, "the high speed electric rail transit line which connects the Ridge Avenue—Eighth Street—Locust Street Subway in Philadelphia with a terminal near the Broadway Station of the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines in Camden, is the largest of the completed Public Works Administration projects in Pennsylvania," as of 1937. Work involved development of a rail line across what is now the Ben Franklin Bridge.

The old Nashville City Market was constructed in 1936-1937 with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA).  The chief contractor for the project was Foster & Creighton Construction Company. Project cost was "almost a half a million dollars" (Van West, 2000, p. 81). The building's design by Henry Hibbs is "Adamesque Revival Style" with a classical temple entrance and a dome just behind.  The walls are brick over reinforced concrete. The window frames and sashes are steel and the roof is copper.  The original interior had five-foot wainscoting of glazed tile and terrazzo flooring.  It included stalls, restaurants, and rest rooms.  The market's construction...

Benjamin Allen Hall is named after an early 20th Century Lincoln University president and was built as a dormitory by the PWA in 1936.  It served as housing for black legislators who could not find rooms at hotels in Jefferson City during legislative sessions.  A professor of sociology, Oliver Cromwell Cox, was unable to find suitable housing when he arrived to teach in 1948 and resided in the dormitory for the next 20 years.

The former Benjamin Franklin High School—which opened in 1916 at the site of today's Monte Vista Street Elementary School—was renovated with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. Benjamin Franklin High School moved to its current location in the 1960s, after the original campus suffered structural damage from earthquakes and was demolished. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed...

Originally constructed as a high school, what is now Norwalk's Benjamin Franklin Middle School was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The P.W.A. contributed a $407,676 grant for the project, whose total cost was $909,689. Primary construction occurred between Dec. 1935 and Nov. 1937. The building also houses examples of New Deal artwork installed soon after the building's completion. P.W.A. Docket No. CT 1128 This school has closed and it is now the Crystal Theatre. Arrangements to see the murals can be made by calling the Crystal Theatre at 203-847-4850.

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...

This large 3 story brick building overlooks the east side of the Lincoln University campus and was “named in honor of Private Logan Bennett of the 65th U.S. Colored Infantry, who contributed money for Lincoln’s founding.” It was built in 1938 by the PWA as a women’s dormitory.

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the Benning Road Houses in Washington, DC in 1943. This development of 138 living units was built for white national defense workers (Washington, DC was highly segregated at the time). It is unknown to the Living New Deal if any of the structures still exist, but it is not likely since these homes were classified as “demountable,” i.e., intended to be taken down and salvaged sometime after the war. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) paid for pavement repair and other unspecified improvements to a long segment of Benning Road NE, from Minnesota Avenue to Central Avenue, between 1933 and 1934.  The labor was very likely provided by Civil Works Administration (CWA) or other relief workers.   This was one of a group of road projects funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1933: "Among projects approved here are paving of Sixteenth street, Constitution Avenue, Michigan Avenue, Columbia Road, Foxhall Road, Good Hope Road, New Hampshire Avenue, Benning Road and Conduit Road, widening of E Street back of the White House...

What is now Benson Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas was constructed in 1937-8 with the assistance of Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $37,933 grant for the project, whose total cost was $84,817. Construction began in Dec. 1937 and was largely completed in October 1938. The school is now part of an expanded school and administrative campus known as the Benson Educational Complex. The original building is in the shape of an 'L' along Mueller and Dean Streets, and still features original floors, ceilings, and pull-up classroom closet doors, as well as its old auditorium stage. A Federal...

The WPA constructed Benton High School in 1937. It was used as a high school until 1957, and then as an elementary school until 1970, after which it was put to community uses before being closed. It is a long, wide, linear school with hips at both ends and a gabled entrance in the center and at both ends.  The concrete above the central entrance clearly shows the school name. Quoins are present at all exterior corners.  The school is in good condition with windows intact - they may have been restored by the Benton Community Betterment Corp. (see second...

The Berkeley Community Theater, part of Berkeley High School, was started with funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1941.  The foundation was laid and the street framework erected when World War II interrupted further work in 1942.  It stood like that until it could be finished and dedicated in 1950. The Community Theater is a Moderne/Art Deco-style building constructed of reinforced concrete and finished in stucco.  The design has striking curves and masses, and it is decorated with cast stone bas-reliefs by prominent local artists (see linked pages). The building has three parts: the 3,500 seat Berkeley Community Theater,...

The G and H buildings were New Deal added to Berkeley High School in the 1930s, almost surely funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA).  The origin and amount of funds need to be confirmed, as do the years of construction (they were probably completed in 1940). When they were built, the G and H buildings were known as the Industrial Arts and Sciences buildings, a name still inscribed along the exterior on the west side, Both buildings front on Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, with the H building to the north on the corner of Allston Way.  The H building has...

Berkeley 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 this work is approximately $265,000 ..." P.W.A. Docket No. Mass. 1584-F.