Public Works Administration (PWA) Sites

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded additions to three existing schools in Nashville 1938-1940. Supervising architects for the projects were Hart, Freeland, and Roberts of Nashville, although the design architects for projects varied. The Nashville firm of Dougherty, Clemmons and Seale designed the elementary wing and gymnasium addition to Bailey. Original cost was planned at $72,000, but at completion was $82,000. A two-story elementary wing accommodating 300 children, and a basement were added to the southeast corner of the building. A gymnasium at the rear of the original building (partially destroyed by the 1933 tornado) was also constructed next to...

Originally Bailey Junior High School, this historic building is "two stories and a basement in height and, due to sloping site, part of the basement is entirely above grade. The basement contains locker and shower rooms, a cafeteria, kitchen, club rooms, assembly room, industrial-arts rooms, shops, workrooms, and laboratories. On the first floor are the gymnasium, band room; domestic-science department including an apartment, a sewing room, and a cooking room; also 12 classrooms, rooms for the fine arts and natural sciences, the auditorium with its stage, a clinic, and administrative offices. The second floor contains the bleachers for the gymnasium, 10 classrooms,...

The PWA funded this addition to the Bain School in Cranston.

The PWA allocated $778,000 toward the construction of two reservoirs in Meagher County: the Bair Reservoir on the North Fork of the Musselshell River and the Martinsdale Reservoir on the river's South Fork. 45% of the money for the project was a PWA grant. The reservoirs were built to store 23,000 acre-feet of water toward the irrigation of at least 20,000 acres.

This fire station was constructed by the PWA in 1939 and remains in use today.

In 1934, the Public Works Administration (PWA) loaned the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad $900,000 for 16 streamlined cars, one diesel-electric locomotive , and enough "... to rebuild a steam engine to develop exceptionally high speed” (The Bangor Daily News, 1934). The Lady Baltimore and a similar locomotive, the Lord Baltimore, were favorites of the train-watchers; then, "... there came a day in August 1935, when the watchers between New York and Washington saw a new and strange sight as the Royal Blue sped past their bewildered eyes. Instead of the sharp staccato blasts of the Lord Baltimore’s exhaust, they heard...

In 1934, the Public Works Administration (PWA) lent $900,000 to the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad, which used it to buy 16 streamlined, lightweight train cars and a new diesel locomotive (see our project page, “Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Locomotive No. 50 – St. Louis MO”), with, “The remainder... set aside to rebuild a steam engine to develop an exceptionally high speed… covered with a streamlined jacket to cut down wind resistance” (The Bangor Daily News, 1934). The rebuilt locomotive was the Lady Baltimore, which played a prominent role in the B&O’s experiments during the 1930s to determine whether the company’s...

In 1934, Daniel Willard, president of the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) railroad, “negotiated a $900,000 Public Works Administration loan which would be used to make B & O’s New York-Washington line an industry-wide proving ground for various types of lightweight train construction and high-speed steam and diesel power” (Harwood, 1990). Among the equipment constructed with this loan was the Royal Blue, a streamline train set consisting of eight cars made out of aluminum and lightweight steel. The Royal Blue was a reincarnation of a popular B&O train service from the turn of the century plus “a quarter of a century of...

Construction of the historic Bama Theatre in Tuscaloosa, Alabama was enabled by the provision of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds during the 1930s. The building was constructed as a combination "theatre/municipal auditorium" and "city hall, all under one roof." Municipal functions have since relocated. Further details about the architecture and details of the building can be found at the Bama Theatre's official website, linked below.

This large elementary school is in the Nob Hill section of Albuquerque, NM, just south of the University of New Mexico and has one of the highest ratings in the city. It was built by the PWA in 1939. The interior includes the typical glazed brick wainscoting in hallways. The exterior style includes modern deco elements mixed with a short visible clay tile roof and dentilwork below the fascia. Brick is the predominant exterior building material. The building is still in use.

Bandini Street Elementary School, which opened in 1923, was renovated 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 Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Bankhead Lock and Dam (Lock 17) on the Black Warrior River in the vicinity of Birmingham. “Dam no. 17 on the Warrior River has improved the navigability of the river. This dam is being constructed by PWA.”

Mobile, Alabama's Bankhead Tunnel carries Government Street under the Mobile River. "Named for John Hollis Bankhead, construction of the Bankhead Tunnel began in 1938. Financed by the Public Works Administration, the tubes for the tunnel were made by workers at the Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company with construction overseen by the firm of Wilberding and Palmer. The tunnel travels more than 3,000 feet under the Mobile River and is still heavily used."

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided an $82,500 loan and $67,500 grant for construction of a school in Monroe Township, New Jersey. Total cost of the project was $152,000. Completed in 1936, Living New Deal believes this is the Barclay Brook Elementary School. PWA Docket No. NJ 6920

A Public Works Administration (PWA) $27,000 grant contributed to the funding of the $60,000 Barclay Grade School in Oregon City. The PWA also provided a $33,000 loan that was repaid with approval of a local bond initiative. This simple Colonial Revival style, wooden structure was designed by noted Portland architect Carl Wallwork.  The Salem firm Odum Construction built the structure during 1936 and it opened for fall classes that year. Noted for his work in wood, Wallwork's design included a hexagonal belfry with iron weathervane, a pedimented porch entry with square columns and pilasters, arched lights in the transome over the...

Bardo Gymnasium, now a part of the Pennsylvania College of Technology, was originally built as part of Williamsport High School. Sometimes mis-attributed to the WPA, the gym was constructed in 1936-7 with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. PWA Docket No.  PA 1080.

Barnes Hall on the campus of Central Michigan University was constructed during the Great Depression with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $119,250 grant. Construction occurred between October 1938 and 1939. "Barnes Hall started life as the dormitory wing of the new Student Union, known then as Keeler Union, which is now Powers Hall. Grounbreaking for the new student union occurred on October 31, 1938 when President Warriner turned the first shovel of earth. The building was funded through a Public Works Administration Grant, one of the programs of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. The...

This school was built as an elementary school with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1938.  It later became a junior high school and was named for William Pitt Bartlett, a Porterville benefactor. The building is single-story and the design by W.D. Coates is Moderne (Art Deco). The main building front still looked unchanged as of 2009, except for probable window replacement. There are new aluminum windows on the small building on the south, and new aluminum doors on the back side. There have been at least 2 additions for new classrooms since it was built.

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 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.

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 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 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.