Unknown Sites

Federal funds helped to grade and pave 1 mile of Golden State Boulevard in between Selma and Fowler and the construction of a small bridge over the Switch canal.

A Department of Parks press release from March 17, 1935 describes the extensive improvements made to Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza with New Deal support: "The Grand Army Plaza, constituting the main entrance to Prospect Park, Brooklyn, is to be completely rebuilt by the Department of Parks. The general design will remain unchanged but the promenade around the Bailey Memorial Fountain has been redesigned and the north entrances have been relocated away from the existing subway grating which is to be completely shielded by ground covering. The path around the oval is to be relocated somewhat nearer to the street to increase the...

From 1939 to 1940 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements and built additions to Gresham High School in Gresham, Oregon, just east of Portland. The additions included a gym, an agricultural building, the north wing of the classrooms, and an auditorium. Michael Schaefer, Gresham High School Principal, estimates that, at the time, 80% of the school was rebuilt with funding provided by the WPA. The primary architectural style of the high school is Art Deco. Teresa Carson of the local Gresham press tells us that "The building originally had hand-crafted doors created by highly-regarded WPA blacksmith Orion B. Dawson, who also created gates at WPA-built Timberline...

This 8.5' x 5' tempera-on-plaster fresco "Community Spirit" was completed in 1935 with New Deal funds (program unknown to the Living New Deal). The mural was painted by Bernard Zakheim with assistance from Joseph Kelly and Phyllis Wrightson.

New Deal high school addition in Corona, CA.

This oil-on-canvas mural "Scenes of Industry" by Edward Britton was painted in 1934. It was removed from the old building in 1955, put in storage, and reinstalled in 1955.

"Hinchliffe Stadium is a historic 10,000-seat municipal stadium in Paterson, built 1931–32 on a dramatic escarpment above Paterson's National Historic Landmark Great Falls ... It is one of only a handful of stadiums surviving nationally that once played host to significant Negro league baseball during America's Jim Crow era. The stadium was designated a National Historic Landmark in March 2013 and a Paterson Historic Landmark in May 2013... Many workers laid off from the mills found work under a New Deal-financed program to provide enhancements to the stadium in 1932–34." (Wikipedia) This huge stadium is in serious disrepair now, but still has...

An early New Deal Federal public works project involved the construction of "family quarters" in Ancón, Panama, at the Pacific terminus of what was then the U.S.-managed Panama Canal Zone. A photograph of the completed project (shown on this page) calls this Federal Project No. 3. The Annual Report of the Governor of Panama, 1934 likely contains reference to this project in this passage: "The principal projects of building construction completed during the year consisted of 10 two-family houses, Gorgas Hospital area, Ancon ..." However, this subsequent passage in the report could also refer to the project: "The principal projects under construction at the...

The old Wailuku Armory was constructed with New Deal funding, according to local sources. Further details and confirmation of this is needed. The Iao Intermediate School took over the building in 2003 after extensive renovations.  The three-story building now houses 11 classrooms, administrative offices, a library and dining center, all enclosed and air-conditioned. (Honolulu Advertiser)

16.5 miles of former continental U.S. Route 60, US Route 79, and US Route 99 was graded and the pavement widened between Banning and White Water under federal sponsorship totalling $150,000. All three highways were eliminated under the renumbering that occured in 1964, and the completion of Interstate 10 in California in 1974.

3.2 miles in Sierra County and 5.8 miles in Lassen County of (what is now) I-395 were graded and surfaced where today's I-395 re-enters California at Peavine and intersects with Route 70 at Hallelujah Junction. Federal funding built it along with many other state road projects that year as part of a group of projects during the Great Depression.

One mile of both J and K streets in downtown Tulare were graded and paved courtesy of $48,000 provided by the federal government.

James J. Walker Park was improved and extended circa 1935 with the help of the New Deal. The agency involved in funding and completing the work is unknown to the Living New Deal. During the 1930s Robert Moses used New Deal funding and labor, yet he  rarely credited New Deal agencies. New Deal plaques in New York parks are rare. For a detailed discussion see, Kermit Project, New Deal Assistance in NYC Parks Department Projects, 1934-43. The NYC Parks site describes the origins of the park: "Bordered by Hudson Street, Clarkson Street, St. Luke’s Place, and the Carmine Street Recreation Center,...

This series of murals painted by Ethel Parsons hangs in the James T. Foley Courthouse, originally the Albany Post Office, in Albany, New York. From the General Services Administration entry on the courthouse: "Marble pilasters divide the main lobby into nine bays, each articulated with a ceiling mural. Artist Ethel M. Parsons painted the oil-on-canvas murals in 1935, depicting each of the seven continents as well as the North Pole and the United States. Interspersed with the murals are plaster plaques by Italian artist Enea Biafora Portraying famous Americans, including Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington, as portrayed on...

The original Jamesport school was constructed in 1914. An addition was made to the gymnasium in 1938 with funds provided by the New Deal. The federal funding most likely came from the Public Works Administration (PWA), but school improvement were sometimes made by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

A September 1934 issue of California Highway & Public Works described federal work on Daly City's Junipero Serra Blvd: "During the past summer the work of extending Junipero Serra Boulevard southward from junction with School Street in Daly City to Edgemar Road (a distance of 0.6 mile) was completed joint Highway District. No. 10 at a cost of about $9,600, which cost included a concrete structure separating Washington Street from the boulevard. At the same time the State has been constructing the "feeder" road extension southward from Edgemar Road including a connecting link eastward to join El Camino Real (State Highway...

The Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office was built in 1937 in Kalamazoo, MI with New Deal funds. 

The school addition from 1939 has been completely surrounded by subsequent additions and the top of walls and the roof are the only parts that can be seen from the outside, immediately behind the original building with present use as Kearney Middle School.

$80,000 were spent by federal agencies for the grading, surfacing, and structure of the Kings River bridge and approaches near Centerville.

This lookout tower was built as a New Deal project, potentially by the CCC, but the agency in charge is not known definitively. The tower is accessible about halfway up to an observation platform and is about 1 mile off of Hwy 67. Views from the platform are excellent in all 4 quadrants. There are no associated outbuildings.

This stately 2 story addition to the existing high school, dating to 1921, consists predominately of the gymnasium and auditorium. The front brick façade is accentuated by crenelations at the top of the front wall and the style of the concrete surrounding the entrance. A native rock wall is adjacent to the sidewalk in front of the building, potentially a WPA project. (The Daily Journal lists it as a WPA project, but local papers have been incorrect about this information in the past.)

Volume II of a 1978 report entitled 100 Courthouses, A Report on North Carolina Judicial Facilities states the county sold bonds to build a new court house in 1939, but that the construction was "under the guidance of the Federal Works Administration." According to the report, the architects, A. Mitchell Wooten and John J. Rowland, designed a "rare and important example of the sleek modern style."

A concrete arch bridge built on former State Route 56 (today State Route 1 the Cabrillo Highway) under a federal grant of $40,000.

Long Lake Group Camp is one of two camps developed by the National Park Service during the late 1930s and early 1940s as part of the Yankee Springs Demonstration Area. The camp consists of two “villages” of eight cabins, each arranged in a semi-circle around a fire pit. They include a dining hall and kitchen and latrines. A bathing beach is nearby. As one of the many New Deal work-relief initiatives, the NPS’s Recreation Development Areas (RDAs) program constructed dozens of organized camps and park facilities on tracts of sub marginal farmlands for the dual purpose of conservation and recreation. Labor for...

Longfellow Elementary School was built in 1935, likely with New Deal funding. It is unclear if the 1935 structure(s) survived subsequent additions/remodels. The 1933 Long Beach Earthquake destroyed hundreds of schools throughout Southern California. “On August 29, 1933, Long Beach citizens approved a $4,930,000 bond measure for the rebuilding of schools. Applications for approximately thirty-five schools were filed with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Public Works Administration (PWA); federal grants up to thirty percent of labor and material costs were obtained. To minimize costs, building materials were salvaged from damaged buildings, some schools were rehabilitated, and new schools were constructed...

The New Deal Federal Public Works program contributed $20,000 to the construction of this structure over the LA Aqueduct for the San Fernando Road near the Cascades.

An August 1935 Parks Department press release lists what is now the Lt. Joseph Petrosino Park as one of seventy-three play areas developed in the preceding year with "city, state and federal relief funds." The release describes this park as having play areas designed for mothers and infants, older children, adolescents and adults. The playground opened on May 24, 1935. NYC Parks website further explains that "Distributed around its perimeter were handball courts, slides, swings, a wading pool, jungle gym, and recreation building." The park was renovated in 1993. Although neither source identifies which federal agencies were involved, researcher Frank da Cruz explains...

Located in College Point, this green space on the East River is built on the grounds of an old mansion. It was originally known as Chisolm Park: "In 1930 the City of New York acquired the mansion and its grounds for a public park. The Parks Department improved the property with a new playground, football field, roller skating rink, baseball diamond, and picnic grounds. Popular with picnickers, the waterfront property was known alternatively as Chisholm Park (a variant spelling of the Chisolm family’s name) and College Point Shore Front Park. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia made the Chisolm mansion his summer City Hall...

A December 1935 article in Bangor Daily News reported that "The Department of Agriculture announced today presidential approval of five Maine grade crossing elimination projects involving $396,922 of the state's $1,425,861 quota for that purpose. The projects were submitted by the state highway commission. ON CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAYS Oxford county, at Oxford on Federal-aid highway route 23, Relocate highway. Federal funds $98,684." At some point, Federal Highway 23 was changed to State Route 26. The track is former Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad/Grand Trunk Railway which was acquired by Canadian National in 1920 after bankruptcy. The right of way is currently leased by St....

In 1934, federal financing under the Hayden-Cartwright bill allowed for the grading and paving of 5.2 miles of Manchester Avenue from Buena Park to Anaheim in Orange County. Only small portions of the original road remain in Anaheim when Interstate 5 was built over most of the route in the '50s.

The New Deal federal government dedicated to $35,000 to grading and paving Marengo Street 1 mile from Mission Road to Soto Street in Los Angeles.

$110,000 from the Federal Governement helped to construct an elegant concrete Art Deco bridge over the Pacific Electric tracks to replace an obsolete narrow wooden bridge. It was replaced in 1972 by the current utilitarian structure.

An August 1935 Parks Department press release lists Mariners Harbor Playground as one of seventy-three play areas developed in the preceding year with "city, state and federal relief funds." The release describes this park as having play areas designed for mothers and infants and older children. NYC Parks reports that the playground opened on "December 10, 1934 with a basketball/volleyball court, a playground, and a spray shower. The site name was changed several times over the years, to Mariner’s Playground in 1996 and to Harbor Playground in 1997, before its original name was recently reinstated." Although neither source identifies which federal agencies...

Olathe's municipal website identifies a pool located at the site of the present Mill Creek Pool as a New Deal project: "A swimming pool was built under the Works Progress Administration in 1934. It was located in the City Park at Poplar and Woodland." However, as the WPA didn't come into being until 1935, it is probable that the New Deal organization in question was in fact a precursor agency: the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). More research into this question is needed. Furthermore, it is unclear to Living New Deal whether the original structure has been replaced.

Minetta Triangle was built circa 1935 with the help of the New Deal. The agency involved in funding or completing the work is unknown to the Living New Deal. During the 1930s, Robert Moses used New Deal funding and labor to build public park facilities, yet rarely credited the New Deal agencies that supported the projects. Because he prohibited the placement of New Deal plaques and corner stones, we have few sources that tie pubic parks in New York to New Deal agencies. However, several of Moses’ statements reveal the large scale of federal funding for parks  For a detailed discussion...

During the Great Depression federal funds helped to grade and pave 1.2 miles of Mission Boulevard from the junction of San Jose Blvd. to the Colma city line.

Big Timber's Pioneer newspaper reported in 1936 that the "improvement of Mountain View cemetery" southwest of town was one of several completed projects in the community that was attributable to the New Deal.

Pleasantville, Pennsylvania's historic stone Municipal Building was constructed as a federal public works project during the Great Depression. The building, which opened in 1935, is still in service. Credit is alternatively given to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) or Public Works Administration (PWA), depending on one's sources, though it is possible the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) assisted with the building's construction.

An article in the Illustrated Daily News noted that as part of a group of 8 federally funded projects in the early period of the New Deal was "No. 3 - Construction of a municipal fish market in San Pedro. $205,000 will employ 130 to 170 men for 10 months." The Mission Revival style building exists today and provides fish wholesale to businesses and to the public early Saturday mornings from 3:30 to 7:30am.  

"The Community of Elko got a new swimming pool and dressing rooms" was a result of New Deal construction in northern Nevada. Further information about this project is needed.