Public Works Funding Sites

This small linear school was constructed as a PWA project in 1937. It features two gabled ends with a carved rock symbol of a lamp of knowledge. It is very similar to other schools of similar size in Missouri and presently is a private residence.  

In 1935, Brainard was given a grant of $24,000.00 from the Public Works Administration (PWA) for the construction of a new school. The total cost of the school was estimated to be $52,000.00.

Text from the state historical marker: The town of Brazoria began in 1828 as a port and trading center in Stephen F. Austin's colony. Partially burned in 1836 during the Texas Revolution, it rebuilt and served as county seat until 1897. To escape floods and to enjoy a better life, the townspeople moved to "New Town" near the St. Louis, Brownsville, and Mexico Railway in 1912. This town became "Old Town." The first traffic bridge, built across the Brazos River in this historic region in 1912, provided a vital link between eastern and western Brazoria County. Falling victim to the elements...

The Brazoria County Courthouse had undergone much damage after the 1932 storm that hit the Houston and Galveston area, having also been used as a refugee site during the storm. After investigations about whether the courthouse should be renovated, in 1939, the Brazoria County officials and a grand jury finalized that a new courthouse would be constructed with Public Works Administration funding. The new building consisted of five stories with a county jail on the fifth floor. In addition, the project utilized $500,000 and around 100 workers. While there were countless applications sent for PWA funding, it seems that the...

After the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake, funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) allowed improvements to the original La Brea Olinda High School and bleachers. Following the earthquake, the Field Act called for stricter building codes to ensure architectural integrity of academic buildings in the case of future natural disasters. La Brea Olinda High School (former) lost some of its original architecture such as its facade and columns. The new architecture was more in the Art Deco or Greco deco style.   The original La Brea Olinda High School was demolished and the lot was sold in the...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the Bremer County Courthouse in Waverly IA in 1935.  The project received $60,750 from the PWA. 

Brentwood Elementary Science Magnet (formerly Brentwood Elementary), which opened in 1916, 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...

The Brewer Municipal Auditorium in Brewer ME was built with the support of the Federal Works Agency of the Public Works Administration in 1939. "Prior to the beginning of the 1939 municipal year all arrangements for building the auditorium had been made and ground at the site actually broken. This work was suspended during the winter months, but resumed as early in the spring as practicable and carried through to completion November 8, 1939. The building was built under the program of the Federal Works Agency of the Public Works Administration whereby financial assistance to the extent of 45 per cent of...

The Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects (officially named the Frederick Douglass Homes, and alternately named Frederick Douglass Projects, Frederick Douglass Apartments, Brewster-Douglass Homes, and Brewster-Douglass Projects) were the largest residential housing project owned by the city of Detroit. It was one of 50 slum clearance, low income housing projects financed by the Public Works Administration nationwide in 1936. The Brewster Homes were 791 living units over 28 acres, at a cost of $5,500,000. Construction began in 1935, when First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt broke ground for the 701-unit development; the first phase, consisting of low-rise apartment blocks, was completed in 1938. An expansion of the...

A bridge construction project in Syracuse, Kansas was undertaken in 1936 with Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The exact location and status of the structure is unknown to Living New Deal. P.W.A. Docket No. Kansas 1202

The Bridge Street Bridge (originally known as the Chemung River Bridge) in Corning, New York was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project. The PWA provided a $119,437 grant for the project, whose total cost was $268,681. Construction occurred between Nov. 1936 and Dec. 1937. The bridge bears a PWA plaque. PWA Docket No. NY 1290-D.

Bridge Street Elementary School, which opened in 1907, 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...

Constructed in 1936, the 558-foot, Art Deco-style viaduct on Bridge Street in Jonesboro, Arkansas was an important New Deal-era project in that city. This was part of a larger Works Progress Administration (WPA)-sponsored improvement of the region’s infrastructure. The Arkansas State Highway Commission, with funds provided by the WPA through the Bureau of Public Roads, constructed the $150,000 viaduct that passes over the BNSF Railway, St. Louis Southwestern Railway, and the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway. Fred Luttjohann, a Topeka, Kansas bridge contractor received the contract to construct the steel stringer design bridge. At first, local leaders feared there would not be...

"During 1934-35 the building was refurbished as a PWA project under the direction of Bristol architect Wallis E. Howe, a partner in the firm Howe & Church. The original Tuscan-columned portico was replaced with a "Gothic" design of clustered colonettes, a ball-frieze design used by Russell Warren on the cornice of Hey Bonnie Hall was replicated, and the courthouse was painted a Colonial Revival scheme of yellow with white trim and green shutters." The building is still standing and has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In response to the foot dragging by Portland city officials on the urgent need of affordable housing due to the influx of military related industry and basing personnel, the Federal Housing Authority of the Federal Works Agency ordered the construction of 550 units, of which 100 were built in Highland Park in South Portland. Designed by John Howard Stevens and John Calvin Stevens II, they featured Colonial Revival style, with a community center, school and playground.

The 1935 county courthouse in Townsend, Montana was built with the assistance of PWA funds.

Brockton Avenue Elementary School, which opened in 1918, 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...

The Bronx County Courthouse was built on the cusp between FDR's governorship in New York and the federal New Deal of his presidency.  It was approved in 1928 and construction begun in 1931, but the work was not completed until 1933 or 1934, when Mayor LaGuardia officially dedicated the building. As researcher Frank da Cruz explains, " FDR did not become president until 1933, before that he was the governor of New York State and had already begun the New Deal right here to provide work relief and build worthwhile projects, such as the Bronx campus of Hunter College." There was evidently an injection of...

Later known as the Bronx House of Detention for Men, the Bronx County Jail was constructed during the 1930s, a project aided by federal Public Works Administration funds (Docket No. NY 9050X). Located at East 151st St. and River Ave., the building was designed Joseph H. Freedlander and constructed at an estimated cost of $1,418,529. The building was ("substantially") finished on November 20, 1937. According to a PWA architect's survey, the eight-to-nine-story, 248-foot-long enamel-white brick structure was "of such ornate design that it is readily mistaken for an office structure." The building contained 243 cells, "of which 21 are for women." The...

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...

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...

The Brookland Education Campus at Bunker Hill, NE, encompasses the former Bunker Hill Elementary School, which was built during the New Deal era.  The new facility includes middle school. Initial plans were made in 1938 for a full, two-story building for the Bunker Hill Elementary School to replace an earlier school building, but it ended up being built in stages. A grant of $111,200 from the Public Works Administration (PWA) allowed the construction of the basement and six rooms on a single floor, which became the west wing of the school. All but some finish work was completed in 1939 and the...

The following water main was laid as part of a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project: "Brookline avenue, from Brookline-Boston boundary line to Kenmore square, approximately 4,600 linear feet 48-inch pipe."

Brooklyn College was created in the 1930s with the assistance of the New Deal.  The five original buildings, including a library and gymnasium, were built with PWA funding and the grounds were landscaped by WPA workers. The college's web page tells the story as follows: “Founded in 1930, Brooklyn College was New York City’s first public coeducational liberal arts college. The school was envisioned as a stepping stone for the sons and daughters of immigrants and working-class people toward a better life through a superb — and at the time, free — college education… Despite being in the throes of the Great Depression,...

Boylan Hall is one of the original buildings on the Brooklyn College campus, serving originally as the Administrative and Academic Building.  It was constructed as part of a massive federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project undertaken during the Great Depression.

The Heating Plant at Brooklyn College is one of the original buildings on the school's campus, constructed as part of a massive federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project undertaken during the Great Depression. Construction was completed c. 1936.

Ingersoll Hall is one of the original buildings on the Brooklyn College campus, constructed as part of a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project undertaken during the Great Depression, 1935 t0 1937.

The Brooklyn College Library is one of the original buildings on the campus, part of a massive federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project undertaken in 1935-37. Construction on the library building began in 1936. The library houses WPA murals by Olindo Mario Ricci.

Roosevelt Hall is one of the five original buildings on the Brooklyn College campus, then serving as the school's gymnasium.  It was built as part of a massive federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project undertaken during the Great Depression, 1935-37. Construction took place ca. 1936. Unfortunately Brooklyn College intends to demolish Roosevelt Hall. "A recent feasibility study determined that Roosevelt Hall and Roosevelt Hall Extension cannot be transformed into the science facilities envisioned by the 1995 Master Plan Amendment. This project will demolish the Roosevelt Hall buildings and construct a 180,000-square-foot science facility with high-tech instructional laboratories, general-purpose classrooms and support spaces."

In 1934, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that Brooklyn and Queens received their largest allotment of funds to-date, "in the government's drive to spread employment and aid industry." Improvements to drydock 2 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, were part of the Public Works Administration's (PWA) metropolitan-wide program which added "1,079,328 man-months of direct employment," as well as indirect employment, much of it in the construction trades (Brooklyn Daily Eagle). Forty percent of the $250,000,000 that the PWA allocated to the New York metropolitan area went to Brooklyn and Queens. A significant portion of these funds were used to improve and extend the city's transportation system,...

The Light Cruiser USS Brooklyn CL40 was built in the New York Navy Yard (commonly known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard) between 1933 and 1936. It started out as a PWA project, but at the last minute, its funding was redirected toward the construction of another ship at a Massachusetts shipyard. Nevertheless, USS Brooklyn is a member of a new class of cruisers that the PWA funding introduced. Furthermore, since the Brooklyn Navy Yard was heavily staffed by WPA workers, the Brooklyn was likely constructed with New Deal labor. The Brooklyn Navy Yard operated as a Navy facility from 1801 until 1966. It built...

The USS Erie was built in the New York Navy Yard (Brooklyn Navy Yard) between 1934 and 1936. It was funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The Brooklyn Navy Yard operated as a Navy facility from 1801 until 1966. It built two warships, USS Brooklyn and USS Erie under the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA). NIRA gave president Franklin D. Roosevelt the authority to build ships and an agency, the PWA, to pay for them.

Formerly known as Public School 142, what is now the Brooklyn New School building received a five-story addition in 1938-9 as a New Deal project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $191,250 grant for the school, whose total construction cost was $339,052. PWA Docket No. NY 1450

A WPA photo of students of the Brooklyn Technical High School says that the school itself was constructed by the PWA. The school's website says that ground was broken on the site in 1930 and the school was ready for partial occupancy in 1933, so most likely construction began before the New Deal but was completed by the PWA.

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...

First Rural Electrification Administration (REA) program in Kansas is remembered today with a state highway marker in Horton, KS. "First REA Project in Kansas At this site the first power pole for the Brown-Atchison Electric Cooperative was dedicated in special ceremony on November 10, 1937. Brown-Atchison was the first rural electric project to energize in Kansas financed by loans from the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). On April 1, 1938, central-station electricity generated at the Horton Power Plant was sent into the first section of lines to farms in Brown and Atchison counties, signaling an end to darkness and drudgery for rural people....

Brownville Bridge, which carries U.S. 136 over the Missouri River between Nebraska and Missouri, was constructed as a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project. Constructed in 1938-1939, the now-free bridge originally featured tolls.

Constructed in 1935. A new High School was built in 1995 due to overcrowding. Demolished in 2009. The Harriet Beecher Stowe elementary school was built on the same location in 2011 and incorporates an art deco bas relief and a light from the front entrance of the old high school.

The William Lowe Bryan Administration Building at Indiana University was originally completed in 1936 with PWA funding. At the time it was simply named the Administration Building. It was renamed in 1957 after William Lowe Bryan. It is located at 107 S. Indiana Avenue, and is largely used for administrative offices, including the President of the University. It was designed by the firm of Granger & Bollenbacher.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded construction of the Buena Vista Elementary School (now Bryant Elementary) in the 1930s.  We believe that the New Deal building is still in place. A record card for the project in the National Archives states that it included, "18 classrooms. A 'health' school. 'Various ailments' 'Special type of design suitable for the status of children's houses.' Near Sunshine School and General Hospital." (NARA) More information is needed on this site. The exact cost is unknown because this was one of a group of school projects in San Francisco for which the PWA laid out almost $3 million.