Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) Sites

The Emergency Relief Association funded the construction of a gymnasium for the Cross Roads School and it was under construction in February 1935. The gymnasium is still extant and is used as the Family Life Center by the Cross Roads Baptist Church.

“The construction of the Haleakala Road on the island of Maui, known as Federal-aid project no. 5-B, was completed at a cost of $498,508.72.”

Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport is a Hancock county owned, public use airport located in Trenton, Maine. During the summer months activity at the airport is the busiest in the State of Maine. From 1927 until 1934 there were discussions and investigations for a suitable location by the Bar Harbor chamber of commerce of the need of an airport to service the Bar Harbor region. "The Bar Harbor special town meeting was held on February 13, 1934, at 2 p.m. Julian Emery, the Moderator, read Article 2 to the meeting and then assured the voters that "the Jordan River mentioned was the one...

The Civil Works Administration and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) funded improvements at the Happy Hollow Playground in Washington DC. A wading pool was installed. In 1934-1935, FERA, “esurfaced one tennis court; painted house.”

New Deal relief workers were instrumental in developing the old Kern River Park – now called the Hart Memorial Park.  The workers came from the State Emergency Relief Administration  (SERA) before 1935 and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) after that. (SERA was, in turn, funded by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)) Kern County  bought 338 acres of the old Baker Ranch in 1921 to create Kern River Park. After 1927, John Oliver Hart took charge of improvements to the park.  The most important developments at the park occurred under federal funding in the 1930s.  As Gilbert says: "Park projects that were...

This adobe structure in Hart Park was built in 1939 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), in concert with Kern County and the California State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA) – using funds provided by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) to hire unemployed workers.  It is also known as the "Peacock House" for all the resident peacocks. Designed by local architect W. Francis Parsons, it is somewhat unusual in that it has a 24" raised foundation and wood floor, likely to get it above a flood plain. The original construction drawings identify it as a "Service Building", although it was designed as...

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out repair and maintenance work on Hato Abajo Road in Arecibo.

Several lava rock terraces at the Hawaii Nature Center (formerly the Department of Forestry's Nursery) were built by FERA in 1934.  

The Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, or BARC, is a unit of the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. BARC is the largest agricultural research complex in the world. It was founded in 1910 and greatly expanded under the New Deal.  Several New Deal agencies were involved in this massive  project, presumably working under the direction of the USDA's Bureau of Plant Industry (which later became part of the Agricultural Research Service). To begin with, the Public Works Administration (PWA) purchased the land and paid for clearing, drainage, water lines, roads, walkways and an irrigation system.  The...

FERA carried out street repairs on High Road on St. Thomas. The work included grading, manhole repairs, and asphalting. This work was likely a continuation of a CWA project.

All 17 schoolhouses in Framingham, Massachusetts were painted, remodeled, and/or repaired with federally funded labor during the Great Depression. At the former High School (now Danforth Art Museum) the Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) conducted maintenance work in 1933. Heating facilities in the school's gymnasium were improved the following year, and further maintenance continued with New Deal labor. Most significantly, under a project begun by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.), the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) constructed a six-room addition to the school. Further improvements included the installation of a Public Address system. "Through a W.P.A. project, the necessary wires were installed from...

Oxford, Massachusetts's old high school received assistance from multiple New Deal programs during the 1930s. In 1933 the Civil Works Administration (CWA) painted  and decorated the school building, a project continued under the federal Emergency Relief Administration. The building, now known as the Norman J. LeBlanc, Sr., Memorial Building, now houses private offices.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) started and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed a high school stadium in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was likely also involved, given the timeline in the article below. Casper Star-Tribune, Nov. 1935: "The folks in Rock Springs take a lot of pride in their new athletic field, and deservingly so. Started as a CWA project (as was Casper's new stadium), the field was completed last year. It is a splendid asset to the community, and supplements the excellent high school athletic system of which Rock Springs is justly proud. Roosevelt field...

Montpelier's 40th Annual Report details many roadwork projects undertaken in 1934 with Vermont Emergency Relief Administration (VERA) funds, including: "Hill Street entire length, rock excavation, extensive grading, stone base and graveling". Street improvement and sewer construction efforts were continued here in subsequent years by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

"Originally known as “Colonization Project Number 1,” Dyess Colony was first controlled by the Arkansas Rural Rehabilitation Corporation.  This corporation was set up by the Rural Rehabilitation Program of the Emergency Relief Administration in Arkansas.  In 1936 the Resettlement Administration took over management of the Arkansas Rural Rehabilitation Corporation.  The legal structure of the colony was revised, and Dyess Colony Corporation was organized.  When the Farm Security Administration was established in 1937, it became the third agency to administer Dyess. Dyess Colony was an experiment in permanent reestablishment of the independent farmer.  Intended as a pioneer effort, the colony was, in...

Courtesy the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.), Village Hall in Framingham was "repaired and painted, both inside and out. New plastering was installed where necessary..." In 1937 the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) replaced the electrical wiring, installed a cement concrete floor, and re-shingled the roof. In 1940: "The floor system of the upper Village Hall was reconstructed and strengthened by putting in new steel beams and columns, and a new oak floor was laid over the whole upper hall and entrances. The interior of the building was also painted," by the W.P.A.

During 1934 the F.E.R.A "thoroughly renovated and repaired" Framingham's Hollis Street fire station, in addition to constructing "a new brick fireproof fire alarm signal building" in the rear of the station. Later the W.P.A. sponsored a six-room addition to the building: A brick addition, one story in height for a two-car garage, was constructed on the rear end of the Hollis St. Fire Station. Work was begun in December   on an addition to this building to provide an office for the chief and also three additional rooms for the firemen who are on duty at this station. Work on the additions...

Haldane Douglas painted a 42' x 16' mural, titled "Education," in Hollywood High School's library. The mural was funded by the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) and—upon the termination of the PWAP—the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). It was completed in 1934. Located above the library's circulation desk, "Education" depicts "the roots of modern civilization in Greek culture and emphasizing that which gives Hollywood its unique position in the world of entertainment. It was Mr. Douglas' first mural and a piece of which WPAP officials were not particularly proud" (Wells, p. 22). Featured in the mural is the Hollywood Bowl,...

In 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (FEAPW) added two classrooms and a gym/auditorium for the Holmesville High School.

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Works Progress Administration, and the Civil Works Administration (WPA) funded improvements at the Hoover Playground in Washington DC. The work consisted of the following improvements: CWA and FERA, “Graded, fenced, 3 gates.” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia 1935) FERA, 1934-1935, “Constructed new shelter 12 by 28 feet with toilet facilities; removed old shelter.” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia 1936) WPA, 1935-1936, “grading 4,000 cubic yards.” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia 1936) WPA, 1936-1937, “Completed grading, fencing 1,400 linear feet; three gates.” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia 1937)

Town annual report: The following work has been done under projects, since April, 1934: Hosmer St., from Mass. Ave., to School St., widening, straightening and grading 3,168 feet, using sixteen men, 1 foreman, four trucks, from April 5 to October 25. Fire protection water holes along the street were also constructed with F.E.R.A. labor.

Constructed under the Federal Emergency Relief Agency/Maine Emergency Relief Agency, with with an 1800 x 75 graded runway and an 1800 x 100 graded runway as part of a state wide airport construction program. The legislative session of the Maine State Legislature of July 22, 1940 issued a report from the state Defense Commission on the pressing need of 6 military airbases out of which Houlton was one. In 1940, the National Youth Administration built a cabin and a hangar at the Houlton Airport. The structures were built as part of  the Aviation Mechanics Project, a program founded “at the Houlton...

In February 1935, "16 FERA workers complete a storm water sewer project on Hubbell Avenue in Ansonia. They will now join 18 other FERA workers doing a similar project on Dwight Street."

The PRRA built housing across the Island, as described in the 1938 Annual Report of the Department of the Interior: “The development of that part of the urban housing program of the P. R. R. A. originally aimed for the elimination of unsafe and unsanitary housing conditions, for the provision of decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings for families of low income, and for the reduction of unemployment and the stimulation of business activity, was continued during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1938. Inasmuch as the funds originally allotted were not sufficient to accomplish the demolition and clearance of the existing slum areas,...

The Hyland Hotel, also known as the Everglenn Hotel, is a historic property, part of the Settlement and Economic Development of Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna Valley, and is nominated as a community center building within the New Deal Colony Settlement of the Matanuska-Susitna Valley in Alaska. The hotel was built on one of the main streets of Palmer, a city founded by the Federal Government for the for Matanuska Colony rural resettlement program. While the hotel was built by private individuals, the structure is associated with the New Deal because it was made possible by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration's Matanuska Colony initiative and the land it...

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out repair and maintenance work on Indieras Road in Maricao.

The Industrial and Training School in Columbia housed juvenile offenders from the early 1900s through 2008 when it was closed. Begun in March 1934, the state legislature appropriated $200,000 to supplement CWA funds for building repairs on Mississippi institutions. Work was delayed due to delay in the CWA funds. Approval was eventually received to use ERA funds. The largest expenditure was for the Industrial and Training School at Columbia, where $49,783.98 was spent on buildings and grounds improvement. Work included rebuilding the water supply system, new reservoir, repair and painting of water tank. Repairs were completed on Franklin Hall and...

The Civil Works Administration and the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out repair and maintenance work on the Insular Highway between Guayama and Ponce.

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) and/or Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) furnished the labor for the construction of two 500-foot stone-walled drains at Ironstone Street in Millville, Massachusetts.

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration built a community building in Casper, Wyoming, which Living New Deal believes to be the Isaac Walton League Lodge at Isaak Walton Park (also confirmed to be an FERA project completed in 1934). The facility was constructed "at an outlay of $11,267." Additional work was conducted at Isaak Walton Park in 1934 by relief labor.

Multiple projects were "planned, staked out and supervised" by West Hartford's Engineering Department in 1935-6 utilizing Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) and/or Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor. One such project involved storm sewer construction along Isham Road.

Workers for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) laid track for a railroad on Jackson St., in Seattle's Central District neighborhood, in 1934.

The Civil Works Administration and the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out new road construction on Jaguar Road in Gurabo.

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out new road construction on Jaguar, Barrio Real Road in Patillas.

The Civil Works Administration and the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out new road construction on Jagüeyes Road in Aguas Buenas.

"When passing through the Village of Quemado in southwestern New Mexico, don't miss the New Deal rock jail built in 1934 by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). These letters are chiseled over the entry area and the building is located at #5 First Street in the center of town."

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Civil Works Administration carried out “repairs and renewals” work at the James Madison School (renamed Edith Williams School) on St. Thomas.

Jane Addams High School, located in the southern Bronx, was constructed during the 1930s with federal Public Works Administration funds. It opened in 1937. The project was PWA Docket No. NY 1178. The school closed in 2012, and the building now houses two smaller charter schools. In 1935, the Department of Parks had also opened a new playground on the site with federal funds, most likely FERA and possibly CWA funds. It is unclear whether that playground became part of the school's recreational facilities, or whether it was demolished in order to build the school.  

"ERA BUILDS A SEWER SYSTEM by Frank Gibson The City of Lewiston has been confronted with a serious situation caused by a stagnant and disease-ridden brook which flowed through the sub-urban section of the city. Valuable land was going to waste as people did not care to build in this section on account of the oder that arose from this brook during the summer months. Money was appropriated by the city officials to put in a drainage system, but due to the fact that only small amounts could be appropriated yearly it would have taken twenty years to complete this sewer...

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration carried out light repair and maintenance work on Johnny Horn Road, on St. John.