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  • Quoddy Village - Eastport ME
    A small town built for the purposes of housing the "clerks, engineers, draftsmen, technicians, and laborers building the Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project, the world’s largest tidal dam. The site was originally the George Rice farm, on the Old Toll Bridge Road and Route 190."   (https://penobscotmarinemuseum.org) "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Quoddy dam project began officially on July 4, 1935. It was estimated that 5,000 workers were needed for the project, and Eastport lacked housing. A model village, named Quoddy, was built three miles from the center of Eastport. It consisted of 128 single family, two-family, and four-family houses; three large...
  • Randolph Vocational Building - Randolph MS
    The vocational building was constructed in Randolph during an expansion of the school in the 1930s. A teacher's house was also added, and is located behind the vocational building. A plaque on the vocational building shows it was constructed by the NYA in 1939. The school itself was demolished in 2009, but the vocational building remains in use as a community center and the site of annual community reunions.
  • Ranger Station (demolished) - Fountain Springs CA
    The Pixley Enterprise reported in 1938 that a Ranger Station had been built in Fountain Springs, at the head of the road to California Hot Springs. The building was made of adobe brick in old California Ranch style. It was a joint project of the Civilian Conservation Corps CCC), National Youth Administration (NYA) and state workers. We have not been able to locate this building and presume that it has disappeared.
  • Rankin Park Development - Martinez CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) and National Y0uth Administration (NYA) aided  in the development of Rankin Park, a 42 acre park in the hills to the west of Martinez.  The city purchased the land for $12,000 in 1938 and New Deal relief workers went right to work, helping city crews and Boy Scouts develop the park for public access and use. The work teams cleared brush, planted trees, built roads, laid out trails, and created picnic areas with stone picnic stoves, as well as adding a ball field, a playground and sanitary facilities. (Contra Costa Times, May 28, 1939) More information is needed...
  • Recreation Areas - Butte MT
    Montana's Big Timber Pioneer newspaper reported in early 1937 that several National Youth Administration (NYA) recreation projects had recently been completed around Butte:  "winter sports area at Robbers' Roost, four tennis courts which will be ready for use the next spring, 44 regulation horseshoe courts and three playground areas."
  • Recreation Improvements - Polson MT
    Montana's Big Timber Pioneer newspaper discussed recent accomplishments of the National Youth Administration in Montana. Among the projects discussed: "Polson also is to have a skating rink which will keep youngsters from the often dangerous ice of Flathead lake. The NYA there also has worked to improve the municipal park and during the summer installed athletic jumping pits, graded running track and repaired the grandstand."
  • Recreational Building: Naval Reserve Park - Biloxi MS
    The National Youth Administration built a recreational hall at the Naval Reserve Parkin Biloxi in 1938 as W.P. 4380. They also planted rose bushes, cedar trees, and dog wood trees and numerous flower beds along with the construction of the recreation building. The project employed 40 boys.
  • Relief Work - Lunenburg VT
    The small town (1,400 population, per 1930 census) of Lunenburg, Vermont received assistance from multiple New Deal relief agencies. 1933 “Several Federal Aid projects are at present under way in the district, including an Adult Education group, a Kinderarten group, School Nurses, and Noon Lunch projects. The real value of these will depend largely on the length of time they are maintained, and at CWA Projects. When I submitted my last report several Federal Aid projects were under way in the district. A Kindergarten school was established at Gilman. This school was maintained through the summer and is being conducted through the present...
  • Road at Losey Airfield - Juana Díaz PR
    Youth employed by the National Youth Administration carried out work for a road fronting the Losey Airfield (today's Fort Allen Airport). "One of the important defense projects in puerto Rico is the construction of a military road fronting Losey Field. NYA boys quarry the stone, cart it by wheel-barrow and truck, lay it and aid in tar finishing; they also did preliminary excavation and ditch digging. The road is now almost completed. For its construction the boys have cut away and moved half a hill of stone."
  • Road Development - Barre VT
    The City of Barre relied greatly on multiple federal relief programs for the improvement and development of its street network during the Great Depression. Such included reconstruction, grading, paving. Work also included related safety measures such as the construction of retaining walls and guard rails. The National Youth Administration (N.Y.A.) contributed by landscaping streets.
  • Roadside Park - Gonzales TX
    The National Youth Administration (NYA) in cooperation with the Texas Highway Department created roadside picnic areas in Texas. The Gonzales park, constructed adjacent to U. S. Highway 183 near the south bank of the Guadalupe River was part of the development of roadside parks begun in 1935 in anticipation of tourists and visitors to Texas for the 1936 Texas Centennial celebration. The typically shaded areas of these roadside parks offered drivers and their passengers respite on hot summer days as cars of this era had no air conditioning. The Gonzales park is one of the few of the 674 parks...
  • Roadside Park - Arkadelphia AR
    A roadside park near Arkadelphia, was constructed fall, 1936 as NYA Proj. 2777-Y-10. The exact location and current status of the park are unknown to the Living New Deal.
  • Roadside Park - Hamilton TX
    This picnic area on U.S. 281 in Hamilton County is an early roadside park constructed by the Texas Highway Department (now Texas Department of Transportation). This roadside park was completed in 1936 to accommodate motorists attending the State's Centennial Events. This park is home to the 1936 Pink County Centennial Marker. Listed on TX DOT flyer as a surviving depression era roadside park. These early picnic area were constructed by young men of the National Youth Administration (NYA). Construction of park facilities was quite labor-intensive. NYA workers usually quarried and dressed their own stone and felled their own trees for lumber. Stone...
  • Roadside Park - La Grange TX
    The National Youth Administration (NYA) in cooperation with the Texas Highway Department created roadside picnic areas in Texas. The La Grange park, constructed adjacent to U. S. Highway 77 was part of the development of roadside parks begun in 1935 in anticipation of tourists and visitors to Texas for the 1936 Texas Centennial celebration. The typically shaded areas of these roadside parks offered drivers and their passengers respite on hot summer days as cars of this era had no air conditioning. The La Grange park is one of the few of the 674 parks constructed that remain and still has...
  • Roadside Park SH-118 - Fort Davis TX
    Picnic table and steps on the left as you head out of Fort Davis toward Fort Davis State Park. This is just one of several along this scenic route. In 1927 the legislature instructed the State Highway Department to build the Davis Mountains State Park Highway on donated right of way, now the Davis Mountains Scenic Loop (State Highways 118 and 166). The new byway construction created much-needed jobs for the region. This location is #19 on the TXDOT map of existing National Youth Administration era roadside parks. The NYA paid for the labor, while the highway department was responsible for providing...
  • Rosedale Playground - Washington DC
    The Works Progress Administration and the National Youth Administration renovated the Rosedale Playground in Washington DC in 1937.
  • Ross Collins Vocational School - Meridian MS
    The Art Moderne vocational school was constructed as part of the Meridian High School Complex. Construction was completed by the National Youth Administration, and the engineers were Gardner and Howe.
  • Rotary Island Improvements - Trenton NJ
    Rotary Island, in the middle of the Delaware River and primarily located in Trenton, New Jersey, was improved by the federal National Youth Administration (NYA) ca. 1936. Quote "The Dawn," a monthly WPA newsletter, July 1936: Forty youths are working on Rotary Island, where the Mercer County Health League camp for children is maintained. Considerable damage was done to the island by the Spring floods, and NYA workers are cleaning up the debris, in addition to grading and painting and making necessary repairs to buildings.
  • Ruddick Park - Colorado City TX
    There are multiple facilities in the park - an amphitheater with a NYA marker 1937-38, an unmarked 2 room community center dedicated in 1939 (newspaper article), two park entrance gates, retaining walls with steps, picnic tables and benches, a covered picnic area, and a bathhouse for the swimming pool. While only the amphitheater and community center have documentation, I believe the other items are also the work of the NYA.
  • Runnels County Sheriff's Office - Ballinger TX
    The National Youth Administration constructed the building that houses the Runnels County Sheriff's Office between 1941 and 1942.
  • S Kansas Avenue Dead End Wall - Salina KS
    In 1939, a dead-end wall was constructed at the south end of Kansas Avenue in Salina, Kansas by youths who were employed by the National Youth Administration (NYA). The NYA was a division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that focused on training, employing, and educating young people between the ages of 16 and 25. Chris Cotten, Parks and Recreation Director of the City of Salina, Kansas tells us that "n April 1939 the Salina Journal reported that 35 NYA youths, working part time and using rubble masonry, were hired to construct 'ten dead-end walls' on streets that terminated at the Smoky Hill River....
  • S Penn Avenue Dead End Wall - Salina KS
    In 1939, a dead-end wall was constructed at the south end of Penn Avenue in Salina, Kansas by youths who were employed by the National Youth Administration (NYA). The NYA was a division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that focused on training, employing, and educating young people between the ages of 16 and 25. Chris Cotten, Parks and Recreation Director of the City of Salina, Kansas tells us that "n April 1939 the Salina Journal reported that 35 NYA youths, working part time and using rubble masonry, were hired to construct 'ten dead-end walls' on streets that terminated at the Smoky Hill River....
  • Salem High School (former) - Ashland MS
    The former Salem High School (not extant) was constructed by the National Youth Administration (NYA). It served African American students. It was covered in a faux-brick design shingle, pier-and-beam construction, and had two classroom wings with a central auditorium.
  • Salem High School Vocational Building (former) - Ashland MS
    The former vocational building for Salem High School for African Americans was a pier-and-beam wooden building with a pent awning over the double door entrance. It was constructed by the National Youth Administration (NYA) and contained a brick chimney, likely fitted for a wood stove vent. Historic photographs clearly indicate the NYA marker embedded in the brick chimney located next to the entrance doors. The building is no longer extant.
  • Samaritans Food Pantry - Pauls Valley OK
    This building was constructed as a community center in 1938 by the National Youth Administration (NYA) (which was a branch of the Works Progress Administration (WPA)).   It is a craftsman-style, one-story, T-shaped building constructed of native stone and wood. The front entrance has a porch and double doors. Above the door are the letters N Y A. There is an NYA cornerstone at the building's southeast corner.  It reads: National Youth Administration Community Building Erected 1938 Huston A. Wright, Dir NYA for Okla. Mason Hart, Mayor James Kelley, Eng. City Com. Hardin Ray, Dir. - Grey Garter C.B. Alexander, Co. Supt. - Lee Perkins Luther Lail, Bldg. Supt. - Lee...
  • Sayville Library Assistance and Improvements (demolished) - Sayville NY
    The Sayville Library in 1940 was having staffing problems because of the depression. The National Youth Administration came to their aid when two workers from this group assisted Haff and her secretary with cataloging, processing, repair, and shelving of books. A larger project was undertaken by this same group when twelve of their workers repainted the exterior of the Sayville Library in the summer of 1940. The Trustees were pleased with the work and the local National Youth Administration project supervisor noted that “the job of painting a surface of 9,600 square feet gave the N.Y.Y. boys assigned...
  • Scenic Overlook - Oak Park Heights MN
    The Stillwater Overlook - South was built as part of an extensive roadside development project in the Stillwater area. Work on the Stillwater-area projects apparently occurred in 1935-1939, first using federal relief labor hired under the National Recovery Work Relief (NRWR) program in 1935-1936, and then using labor from the National Youth Administration (NYA) in 1936-1939. A. R. Nichols, the MHD Roadside Development Division's Consulting Landscape Architect, designed the Stillwater-area projects. The Stillwater Overlook - South was constructed in 1936-1939 as part of a roadside development project that improved a .9-mile stretch of T.H. 212 (now T.H. 36). The overlook...
  • School - Broome MS
    National Youth Administration employed 40 boys to construct the 8-room frame building with sheet metal roof in the Broome community. The project was W. P. 5208, Application # 923.
  • School Building (former) - Alco AR
    The one-story stone school was constructed in the Plain Traditional style in 1938 by the NYA. The construction of the school was an economic and education boost to Stone County, one of the most isolated of Arkansas counties, with the lowest population in the state. In 1992, it was converted to a private residence.
  • School Gymnasium - Edwards MS
    The Edwards High School Gymnasium was designed by architect James Manly Spain in the Art Moderne style. It was constructed in 1941 by the National Youth Administration. It is currently vacant.
  • School Improvements - Jackman ME
    The school superintendant said that in 1939: "During the past year a considerable amount of repair work has been done. In addition to the work done at Town expense, the N. Y A. has done painting and varnishing at the High School building. A summary of the more important improvements is as follows: All windows not provided with storm sash, also outside door at the High School, fitted with all metal weatherstrip, guaranteed for the life of the building; completion of inside paint and varnish job throughout High School; fence around Village school lot, and a considerable amount of grading on the...
  • School Improvements - Scott City KS
    The National Youth Administration completed improvements for the school building in Scott City, Kansas. Pictured is a postcard postmarked 1946, showing a sign in front of the building that reads "Kansas NYA Project."
  • School Rehabilitation - Guayanilla PR
    Youth employed by the National Youth Administration carried out rehabilitation work for Guayanilla's public schools. Through its student work program, the National Youth Administration provided work opportunities and helped Puerto Rican youth graduate high school and college. "By the spring of 1935 though, 20 percent of the nation’s twenty-two million youngsters remained out of school and either on relief or wandering the country looking for work. In 1937, the President stated: 'I have determined, that we shall do something for the nation’s unemployed Youth…' Beneficiaries would be all male and female youths aged 16 to 25 not regularly attending school." Excerpt from a...
  • School Rehabilitation and Landscaping - Ponce PR
    Youth employed by the National Youth Administration carried out landscaping work for Ponce’s public schools. Through its student work program, the National Youth Administration provided work opportunities and helped Puerto Rican youth graduate high school and college. "By the spring of 1935 though, 20 percent of the nation’s twenty-two million youngsters remained out of school and either on relief or wandering the country looking for work. In 1937, the President stated: 'I have determined, that we shall do something for the nation’s unemployed Youth…' Beneficiaries would be all male and female youths aged 16 to 25 not regularly attending school." Excerpt from...
  • School Repairs - Lewiston ME
    Schools were one of the many work programs that helped reduce welfare rolls in the depths of the depression in this industrial city. Out of $239,193.23 distributed by the Civil Works Administration (CWA), "Nearly all of our public schools have been painted and varnished 12 rural schools are also to be painted." The 1934 town report, under Federal Emergency Relief Project From Dec 1933 up to Feb. 1935 specifies the schools. "5. Painting and varnishing the interior of City Schools. Martel, Pettingill, Coburn, Frye, Dingley, Wallace, Jordan, and Lewiston High School. Exterior and interior painting of the twelve suburban schools, with general repairs such...
  • Semer's Park - Ely MN
    The land for Semer's Park was donated to the city of Ely by John Semer of Escanaba, Michigan in April of 1916. The stone tables, firepits and three stone buildings in Semers Park were built during a period spanning about three years from 1938 to 1941 as projects for the National Youth Administration (NYA). At that time, what we now know as Semer's Park was referred to simply as “The Tourist Camp” or “The Tourist Park”. It was heavily used and tourists could camp there overnight. In an article in the “Ely Miner” Newspaper dated 7/28/1938 it was stated that during the...
  • Shelter - Vernon IN
    The National Youth Administration built a shelter next to the former Vernon High School, now a community building. It was probably a shelter for a water pump (now removed) at the Vernon School playground.  
  • Silver Falls Park - Crosbyton TX
    Silver Falls Park is the largest and one of the finest roadside parks in Texas. Since the 1800s travelers have found Silver Falls a scenic, pleasant place to stop. In 1935 the National Youth Association, part of President Roosevelt’s Work Project Administration, build the park’s stone facilities.
  • Skating Rink - Clyde Park MT
    In discussing recreational projects constructed by National Youth Administration labor in early 1937, Montana's Big Timber Pioneer newspaper reported: "At Clyde Park the city officials sponsored a project which made it possible for the town to secure its first and only skating rink."
  • Snow Rogers Community Center - Gardendale AL
    The federal National Youth Administration (NYA) constructed the historic Snow Rogers Community Center in 1939. It is located north of Gardendale, Alabama, across from Snow Rogers Elementary School.
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