Civil Works Administration (CWA) Sites

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 federal Civil Works Administration constructed the old entrance, Huntington's Gate, to Brookgreen Gardens outside Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. Living New Deal believes that the old gate is no longer extant. "Huntington's Gate, Route #49, CWA Project #99. Archer and Anna Huntington built Atalaya, a Moorish-style home between 1931-33. At that same time, they were building Brookgreen Gardens, which was intended to preserve the native flora and fauna and display objects of art within that natural setting. Brookgreen Gardens continues to operate as a National Historic Landmark and a display garden for figurative sculpture." (Georgetown County Digital Library) A photo of the...

The New Deal supported various improvements to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden during the Great Depression, among which was the Osborne Garden. "Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor was used to build the 1938 Herb Garden, a Caparn design taken from a 1577 Elizabethan knot garden. The Italian-style Osborne Garden was also constructed with labor from the Civil Works Administration and the WPA in 1939." Other New Deal-funded efforts, such as bronze busts of noted naturalists that reside in the Laboratory Building rotunda, also grace the Botanic Garden.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) "constructed a new entrance to Brookside Drive" in Amherst, Ohio.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) laborers improved Brown County State Park from 1933 - 1934. The CWA laborers built shelters and worked on establishing trails during their brief stay at Brown County State Park. In 1933 two Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps were established. The two camps were comprised of World War I veterans. The CCC laborers built gatehouses, shelters, trails, an exhibit shelter, saddle barns, amphitheater, and more. The CCC camps were disbanded in 1941.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted work at what was then known as Brushy Mountain Prison in Petros, Tennessee.

Bryant Park was redesigned and rebuilt between 1933 and 1935 with the help of New Deal funding and Civil Works Administration labor. The project was supervised by the Parks Department, led at the time by Robert Moses. The central role of the New Deal in the reconstruction of the park has received little recognition, with most of the credit going to Moses' Parks Department. Yet, New Deal support was substantial. Moses himself stated for the NewYork Times that " the projects of 1934, with the exception of the parkways, were done almost entirely with relief labor," mentioning the reconstruction of Bryant...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked to clear the land for / develop the then-new Buckhorn Island State Park.

According to the Clovis Independent, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) provided funds to Fresno County in 1934, from which the "City of Clovis will have Sixth Street graded from Fulton to Polasky to drain Fulton Street, enlargement and raising of levee on drainage ditch on Ninth Street with a new culvert installed on the same ditch. These projects will cost about $800."  CWA funding was used almost entirely to hire unemployed workers in the winter of 1933-34. The name of 6th St has been changed to Bullard Avenue. This investigator didn't see any sign of the ditch. 

"The Lee Bunch Post #22 was formed in Clarksville in February 1919 when fifteen veterans applied to form a Johnson County post. It was named for Bunch, a resident of Batson who was the first Johnson Countian to die in World War I. The group initially met in local homes, churches and clubs, but in February 1932 the Civic Club sold the post for one dollar an island between the main stream and west fork of Spadra Creek near downtown Clarksville. In 1934, the Civil Works Administration, which helped build Legion huts across the state, approved Project No. 36- 34 T...

In 1933-34, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) carried out pavement repair and other unspecified improvements to a lengthy segment of Bunker Hill Road NE, from Twentieth Street to the District of Columbia line.   The road was paved with “temporary material consisting of broken-concrete base, broken stone, and slag. These large aggregates are choked with smaller material, and an application of asphaltic cement completes the operation. This construction forms a very good temporary roadway.”   The roadway has been repaved several times since and this work is undoubtedly invisible today.

A local newspaper reported that, “Sixty Morristown and ten Morris Township men went to work this morning on placing a rock bottom in Burnham Park swimming pool. This was one of two federal-aid projects approved for immediate start here in order to give unemployed work….Forty of the men are at Brookside Reservoir racking up the rock with which the bottom of the pool will be rip-rapped and 30 at Burnham Pool preparing it for the fill. It was at first hoped to be able to construct a concrete bottom but as this would involve too much material and not enough...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) built the American Legion meeting place, a log construction building with a brick fireplace.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted substantial improvement work to what was known as Butler School in Riverton Township, Michigan. The school was located on the "east side of Morton Road, between Chauvez and Kinney roads." The project was detailed in the attached article. The location and status of the school are presently unknown to Living New Deal.

Illinois's old Camp Butler was improved as part of Federal Project F-87 by the federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) ca. 1933-4. "The general scope of the project covered improvements to buildings and grounds, landscaping, drainage and minor construction."

Illinois's old Camp Grant was improved as part of Federal Project F-88 by the federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) ca. 1933-4. The work involved "the rehabilitation of the target range, repairs to the road leading to the target range and general repairs, painting and plumbing, to the buildings on the 3200-acre military reservation known as Camp Grant, near Rockford. This project carried a quota of 66 workmen."

Multiple New Deal agencies worked to construct a municipal pool for Canonsburg, Pennsylvania in 1934—1936. The prospect of a pool had been discussed for years, though no progress was made until assistance from New Deal work relief programs was made available. The pool facility was constructed in stages on what had then been a ravine, in the municipal park. Initial construction, which involved the Civil Works Administration (CWA), would be limited to leveling the site, installing storm sewers to "enclose" the ravine, and constructing the 100-foot-by-200-foot pool and filtration plant—not the bathhouse or sidewalks. Work was to be done "by hand...

The Civil Works Administration carried out repair and maintenance work on the Cape San Juan Lighthouse Road in Fajardo.

The Civil Works Administration and the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out grounds landscaping work at the Capitol Building in San Juan.

In early 1934,  the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) sponsored ten local artists to decorate the Utah State Capitol, led by Lee Greene Richards. The others included Ranch Kimball, Henri Moser, Gordon Cope, Florence Ware, J.T. Harwood, Walter Midgley and Millard Mallin. Two large half-circle murals grace the ends of the huge central hall of the capitol building. The cupola of the rotunda has a circular mural, about six feet high, and there are four large murals at each corner atop the pillars.  They all depict romanticized scenes from Utah's past: trappers, native people, pioneers, covered wagons, the transcontinental railroad, and so forth. Millard...

"The road leading up and around Capulin Volcano National Monument in Union County was constructed by the Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) by twenty-five local men between December 1933 and April 1934 thanks to the leadership of Homer Farr, who was a local power figure and the first director of this site. They also created campgrounds. He communicated with the Roosevelt Administration tirelessly in order to provide employment for the local men and to get the road done."

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) "highly landscaped and beautified" Carey Park in Hutchinson, Kansas.

Delaware utilized substantial federal resources in developing and improving its road network during the Great Depression. Among the dozens of projects undertaken by the federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) during 1934 was construction along Carr Road to the Washington Street Extension in Wilmington. An average of 1,410 were put to work each week during 1934 as a result of the CWA's road, sidewalk, bridge, and other related infrastructure efforts in Delaware.  

"Built in 1934 on low swampy land across the street from the Bangor Water Works, which supplied city water from the Penobscot River, the park was designed by city manager James G. Wallace and funded by the Works Progress Administration . It was known for its unusual system of water features, including a twenty-foot-tall grotto with a waterfall carved into the hillside and stabilized with a battered stone wall. At the bottom of the cascade, water from a small concrete pool flowed into a narrow concrete “brook,” and then into a larger oval pool. Daytime visitors flocked to see the...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) each helped to construct Casper Mountain Road. "In addition the constructed new and improved existing roads, including not just the conspicuous road snaking up the north slope of the mountain (that was started as a CWA project, although that too may have been an improvement of an existing pathway) but also roads on the top of the mountain."

There is a three page history of the pool in the Castine Historical Society newsletter by Lynn Parsons (winter 2011) detailing the role of the New Deal in bringing about this fine example of public recreation. According to a Selectman's report from March 2, 1934, the town voted $1,000 for a CWA project on land donated by Warren Hooper and William Bevan. It opened July 4, 1935 under the supervision of the Public Grounds Department, receiving considerable public support and was very popular with children. In 1937 the Public Grounds Dept. suggested the construction of a bath house. $1,967.55 was...

In 1933-4 federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) "workers in Pittsburgh had helped move the forty-two-story Cathedral of Learning at the heart of the University of Pittsburgh closer to completion." Excerpt from Alberts, Robert C. Pitt, (1986): "December 23, 1933. The federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) announced it was giving a $300,000 labor grant for work on the Cathedral. Pitt contributed $520,000 in materials. Until the program ended on April 30,1934 a force of 1,259 previously unemployed stonemasons, iron workers, plumbers, engineers, and carpenters worked at the site twenty-four hours a week. There were unforeseen complications when it was discovered that the...

In a letter dated July 20, 1933 to the weekly newspaper the Independent Reporter, F. L. Hutchins praises the New Deal for work on the Cathedral Pines campground. The next year, the paper ran a longer story on the campground: "C.W.A. Work At The Famous "Cathedral Pines," Eustis-Stratton, Maine Jan. 19, 1934 Recently I visited with Supt. A. A. Berry of Megantic Preserve at "Cathedral Pines" to look over the work being done there by CWA workers. As Skowhegan people remember A. A. Berry was at one time a resident of that town. For quite a good many years Supt. Berry has been manager...

“An additional 75 men will be put to work in Morristown tomorrow, making about 375 who have been given employment under the CWA and other relief projects, it was announced this morning by Town Clerk Nelson S. Butera, Deputy Director of Relief. The men will be put to work at Cauldwell Memorial Playground, fixing up tennis courts, the wading pool and handball court."

Located on the western edge of the Ochocho National Forest, approximately twenty miles from Prineville, Oregon, Camp Mill Creek served as a major Civilian Conservation Corps worksite from 1933 to 1942. The entrance to the camp's location is marked in honor of the hundreds of young men who worked on projects in this national forest. As described on the roadside plaque: "The young men of Camp Mill Creek did reforestation work, fought forest fires and constructed and maintained roads, trails, telephone lines and campgrounds." CCC workers, under the supervision of the US Forest Service, are credited with constructing several buildings located...

Delaware utilized substantial federal resources in developing and improving its road network during the Great Depression. Among the dozens of projects undertaken by the federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) during 1934 was construction along a thoroughfare connecting Lincoln (south of Milford) and Shawnee (SW of Milford). An average of 1,410 were put to work each week during 1934 as a result of the CWA's road, sidewalk, bridge, and other related infrastructure efforts in Delaware.  

The C.W.A., F.E.R.A, and W.P.A. conducted development and improvement work at Chestnut Hill Cemetery in Burlington, Mass. Work included construction of new roads and grading a new addition of land.

The Civil Works Administration conducted improvement work at Cardiff Cemetery north of Cardiff, Alabama. CWA Project No. 37-C-162: completed. Work began Nov. 23, 1933.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted a project which, according to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Dec. 1933, "at present is making possible a much needed road around the cemetery." Living New Deal believes this to be a reference to Cordova Cemetery.

A municipal report of 1934 describes CWA work on a local cemetery: Cemetery Project US.Govt.Funds on C.W.A. Project Paid for labor $1,556.50 Stone furnished $57.00 Total $1,613.50 The town constructed a wrought iron fence, the CWA's share was the granite foundations for the fence posts and granite pillars for the entranceways.

Per the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) supplied labor toward "the cutting of the brush and erection of a relief cabin at the cemetery" in Nenana, Alaska in 1934. It is unclear to which cemetery in Nenana the article was referring.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted work at what Living New Deal believes is Riverside Cemetery (a.k.a. Cody Cemetery) in Cody, Wyoming. Cassity: "At Pine Bluffs, the water main was extended about a half mile so that it would reach the cemetery; to do so, the CWA workers dug a five-foot trench and laid three inch cast iron pipe, refilled the trench, and then placed four hydrants in the cemetery"

According to Town Reports, works was performed at the CMS by the New Deal. 1933 The following is a list of the various projects which have been carried on during the past three months through the use of C.W.A. Funds. No.1 Rebuilding of 2,500 feet of road from State Highway to Central Maine Sanatorium; work includes rock base with gravel top, also culverts and guard rail fence. No. 13 Excavating under the cellars of three buildings at Central Maine Sanatorium. 1934 Report of Relief Work During the past year, through the use of C.W.A. And E.R.A. Funds, the following projects have been carried on: 9. Excavating under three...

Central Park was originally established in the 1860s, but New Deal workers carried out massive improvements to the park from 1934 to 1938. In addition to the many specific projects listed by name, there were any number of improvements done with the help of the New Deal.  As Frank da Cruz explains,  New Deal funds, labor, and designers reconstructed the park, with thousands of men working in three shifts around the clock in all weather.   They built new walls and entrance markers; removed dead trees and pruned others; plowed, seeded, planted, and revived the landscaping; created new footpath, trails, and drainage; and...

The Central Park Zoo was built over the course of eight months in 1934 by workers employed by the Civil Works Administration and, after that program’s demise, by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. It succeeded the old Central Park Menagerie, a once popular attraction that by the early 1930s was so severely dilapidated that Parks Department officials feared its lions and tigers would break out of the rotted wood structures that housed them. Newly-appointed Parks Commissioner Robert Moses set about replacing the menagerie, not with a full-sized zoo, but with what he called a “picture-book zoo”—a smaller-scale facility meant as...