Works Progress Administration (WPA) Sites

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook the following work north of Coulterville: "Improvement of Bone Yard Road; Retaining, widening, sloping, etc." WPA Proj. No. 65-3-2705, November 20, 1935, $3,536

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of additions and alterations to the Bonner County Courthouse in Sandpoint in 1938-39. One source suggests that the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was involved with other related work at the building or grounds. The PWA provided a $37,650 grant for the project. The total construction cost was $83,521. PWA Docket No. ID 1178. In a piece about the history of the Bonner Courthouse, Bob Gunther recounts the story of a local who worked on the construction of the jail addition: "Nellie Garrison recalls, 'It was during the depression and people needed food. My father was caught poaching deer and since they...

The Bonnyview School was expanded in the 1930s with the help of the Public Works Administration (PWA).  At the same time, the Bonnyview grounds were landscaped and   220 feet of rock retaining wall were built, along with entrance steps.  The school district furnished the materials at a cost of $980, while WPA provided the labor from the ranks of locally unemployed men (estimated at three months of work for twenty men). The school has since been demolished and the site left empty, but the elegant rock wall and entrance steps remain (though the concrete steps are deteriorating).

The original school was built in 1912, and then in 1937, the WPA built an auditorium and gym. According to a 1987 survey, "Gym was added to original school, which no longer exists. Newer school buildings added in 1940s changed position of school on lot. Brick shows signs of paint." Contributor note: "Booker T. Washington, located at 502 N. Admire, was a high school, constructed by the WPA. It was a black high school in a time before integration, and was closed in 1968. "This is a two-story red brick building, with the first floor partially below ground level. The main entrance which...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed the grounds of Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta, Georgia ca. 1936.

Text on a historical marker at the school reads: "In 1880, two years before the City of Gainesville created a public school system for all its children, Island Sparks, a young Mulatto, taught the black children of the city. In 1886, the city built a frame school building on this site for the community's black youth. Originally known as the Gainesville Colored School, the school adopted the name Booker T. Washington sometime before 1927. The original two-story facility was replaced in 1939 with a red brick, WPA project structure. Desegregation in 1965-66 resulted in the closing of Booker T. Washington as...

Constructed with funds and labor from the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Booker T. Washington State Park was established in 1938 as a segregated recreational facility for African Americans, the second such facility in the state of Tennessee (the other being T. O. Fuller State Park near Memphis). The park is situated on Lake Chickamauga, which was created with the construction of the Chickamauga Dam by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The nearby Harrison Bay State Park was built at the same time for white Tennesseans. Tennessee parks were formally desegregated in 1964 with the passage of...

The bridge carrying Booneville Lake Way over Pigeon Creek in Washburn Township, Arkansas, was constructed by the Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) in 1942.

The federal Work Projects Administration undertook a large road repair project starting in 1935 in the borough of Queens. The streets, many of which in New York City were still unpaved, were repaired; particular emphasis was placed on fixing washout-damaged stretches of road. Holes were filled in and the streets were smoothed, surfaced and reconditioned. Roads improved as part of this project (WPA Official Project No. 65-97-9) included stretches of Borden Avenue.

"Closter Borough Hall, erected in 1938, was a triumph of effort and cooperation between our local leaders of that time and the able workforce provided by the federal Works Progress Administration (the “WPA”). Its style is described as Art Deco/Moderne, or “WPA Moderne,” a label which denotes both the aesthetic elements of the architecture and its practical origins... Architect Carl G. Mettberg designed the building, and the WPA labor to construct it was provided at very little cost (25% of its actual value). A ceremonial laying of the cornerstone took place on March 12, 1938... Some stylistic details which are make this...

Dunellen, New Jersey's historic borough hall building was constructed during the Great Depression by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) ca. 1937. The building is still in use today.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the borough hall of Emerson in 1938-9. The building also houses numerous examples of New Deal artwork.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook a sizable public building improvement project in Brooklyn, New York beginning in 1935.  The project involved the "Improvement of Public Buildings and Offices" at more than 30 locations, including Brooklyn's Borough Hall.

The federal Works Progress Administration worked to "renovate and repair" several buildings in Staten Island as part of a $225,507 project begun in 1935. Buildings improved included Staten Island's Borough Hall.

"During May and June 1946, two 900-square-foot murals depicting three centuries of local history were unceremoniously removed from the cavernous two-story rotunda of Brooklyn Borough Hall less than a decade after their creation. The murals, titled "Brooklyn Past and Present," were the work of a relatively unknown artist named Alois Fabry Jr., who had been commissioned to produce them through the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration. Sprawling and detailed, interspersed with touches of whimsy and based on three months of prodigious research, they imbued the borough's central administrative office building with a sweeping monumentality." The murals are missing and...

In 1936 the Bureau of Biological Survey (BBS) determined that Bosque del Apache site was suitable for a migratory bird refuge. Condemnation of the land was initiated through the 1931 Migratory Bird Conservation Act and concluded in December 1936. The landowner  was paid around $12/acre for about 57,000 acres. The refuge was formally established by executive order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939. Between 1939 and 1942 the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Work Progress Administration (WPA) sent in teams of relief workers to restore the refuge land under the guidance of the BBS, which became the US Fish &...

The Bosque River Bridge was constructed under a Works Progress Administration work-relief contract between 1940 and 1941. The bridge was as part of a larger project that created a new alignment of Texas State Highway 22 though Bosque County. The W.E. Worrell Company of Austin constructed the bridge and approaches, with work performed by WPA labor. Work began on the bridge in May of 1940 and finished the following December for the final cost of $98.002.88. This 566 long, steel I-beam bridge crosses the Bosque River west of Meridian, Texas. The bridge consists of a 265’ long four-span continuous span unit...

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted drastic improvement work at the South Boston Army Base in Boston, Massachusetts. WPA Bulletin: At the Army Base, South Boston, WPA employed more than 1000 men repairing and altering buildings, warehouses, wharves, roads, grounds and water and electric systems. The site of the old army base is now part of Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park. Per the DoD Heritage Assessment cited below: W.P.A. project information: "Boston Army Base" "Improve U.S. Maritime Commission buildings" Official Project Number: 165‐2‐14‐155 Total project cost: $163,750.00 Sponsor: War Department "Improve and rehabilitate buildings and utilities" Official Project Number: 165‐2‐14‐177 Total project cost: $96,755.00 Sponsor: Commanding Officer, Boston Army Base, U.S....

The W.P.A. conducted substantial improvement and development work at the then-Boston Navy Yard, which was located southeast of Chelsea Street in Charlestown. The details—including description, Official Project Numbers, total costs, and sponsors—of more than two dozen W.P.A. projects undertaken at the Navy Yard can be found in the DoD Heritage Assessment cited below. Projects included buildings, the grounds, roads, and utilities at the installation.

"The New Mexico State Park system was founded in order to tap funding and labor from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. Bottomless Lakes State Park was the under this new system . "The CCC began work at Bottomless in 1935 and completed all projects by 1938. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), another government relief effort labor force, was also significant in this effort. Roads, trails and recreational structures were the fruits of their labor. "The primary result of the CCC effort at Bottomless Lakes State Park was a large bathhouse and pavilion at the southern-most lake at this...

Constructed by the WPA, the "building known today as the Boulder Community Center was constructed in 1939 as the third Boulder school. An addition built around 1950 gave the school its present appearance and added two additional classrooms and indoor plumbing. The school was used for sixteen more years, after which time the School Board decided that local children would be bused to Pinedale schools instead. The Boulder School was closed in 1966."

Montana's Big Timber Pioneer newspaper reported: Emery C. Jones, WPA foreman, and a crew ranging from eight to thirteen men, have completed work on about four miles of Boulder road, in Natural Bridge hill vicinity. The work was principally cutting out rocky points and straightening curves.

The Boundary County Courthouse is the site of three friezes, all created by Fletcher Martin in 1940 for the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project (WPA-FAP) and viewable on the front of the courthouse. They are officially untitled but are known by what they depict; "Floating Logs,"  "Harvest," and "Mining." Mining, farming, and the timber industry were all "staple industries of the area." (waymarking.com)

Text from the state historical marker reads: "Aurelius Delphus Bourland (1840-1904), a North Carolina native and a veteran of the Civil War, bought land here in 1873. A farmer and Primitive Baptist preacher, he first used this site as a family cemetery. The earliest marked grave is that of his grandson A. Delphus White, who died in 1886. In 1899 Bourland sold 2.5 acres, including the grave sites, to the residents of Keller (1.5 mi SW) for use as a public burial ground. Additional land was given by the families of Bourland in 1947 and A.B. Harmonson (1891-1967) in 1977. The...

Under the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), "a large drainage system was built along Bourne Avenue" in East Providence.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to complete Birmingham's historic Municipal Auditorium, now known as Boutwell Memorial Auditorium.

The WPA helped build Bowden Golf Course in 1940. From the Bowden Golf Course website: "The 18-hole Bowden Golf Course in Macon, Georgia is a public golf course that opened in 1940. Designed by W.P.A., Bowden Golf Course measures 6570 yards from the longest tees and has a slope rating of 119 and a 69.7 USGA rating. The course features 3 sets of tees for different skill levels." According to Georgia Public Broadcasting, only the benches and pump house are original to the WPA construction. The course was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.  

Sometimes referred to as the Union Avenue Athletic Field, "Bowditch Field is the town's main athletic facility. It is located on Union Avenue midway between Downtown and Framingham Center and was the main athletic facility for the town. It houses a large multi-purpose football stadium that included permanent bleachers on both sides of the field. There is still a baseball field, tennis courts, a track and field practice area, and the headquarters of the town Parks Department. Bowditch, along with Butterworth and Winch Parks, were all built during the Great Depression of the 1930s as WPA projects. It underwent a...

Contributor note: "Bowers School is located about six miles west of Wilburton off Highway 270. This is a two-room school about 28 x 68 ft. constructed of cut and coursed native sandstone, which is now painted a sand color. It is currently used as a community center, and used by the West End Fire Department, who have an additional metal vehicle building nearby. The school faces west and has a two-door entrance recessed beneath a porch gable roof, supported by four beams. The school roof is gabled and now covered with metal siding. Windows on the front are boarded, but the...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided resources for the construction of what was then known as the Bowery Bay Pumping Station. The facility, which bears a 1940 cornerstone, has since been expanded. "Under the auspices of the New York Department of Sanitation, between 1937 and 1944, three new wastewater treatment plants were constructed — Wards Island in Manhattan, and Bowery Bay and Tallman Island in Queens. These facilities were designed to reduce pollutants in the Harlem River and in the East River, whose dark and murky waters had some of the lowest dissolved oxygen concentrations in the harbor. During the summer...

In 1939 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) commissioned a set of four cast reliefs for inclusion on the facade of the then-new Bowery Bay Pumping Station in Queens, New York. The works, which depict men at work engaging in sewage management jobs, were created by Cesare Stea and still grace the front of the building along Berrian Blvd.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA), in conjunction with the War Department, developed a "municipal airport" in Agawam, Massachusetts. Living New Deal believes that the airport in question is most likely Bowles-Agawam Airport, a facility with a fascinating history that involved multiple openings, layouts, and closures. WPA project details: "Improve municipal airport" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐14‐539 Total project cost: $427,950.00 Sponsor: War Department

"Bowman Gray Memorial Stadium was built as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project aided by private funds from the Bowman Gray family."

Parks acquired this property by condemnation in the mid 1920s. In December, 1935, the Department of Parks announced the opening of a new playground on the site. The press release announcing the opening explained that it, and the other 12 playgrounds opened on the same day, collectively contained: “88 small swings; 72 large swings; 36 seesaws; 14 playhouses; 15 large slides; 11 sand tables; 10 garden swings; 7 small slides; 7 small tables; 6 handball courts; 6 jungle gyms; 5 shuffleboard courts; 5 wading pools; 4 parallel bars; 3 horizontal bars; 3 horizontal ladders; 3 horseshoe pitching, etc.; 2 basketball...

"Projects completed by the WPA included ... improving the Box Butte County Fairgrounds (BX04-026) ..."

On the northwest corner of 6th and Leach, this Boy Scout Hut is located in a park area. This is a one-story native stone building, with an entrance facing east and located in a slight projected portion of the building. A sign shows that it is occupied as a hut for Cub Scout Pack 183. It was constructed in 1935 with an appropriation of $9,806. The roof is hipped and covered with composition shingles. The entrance projection has a reversed gable. The windows are currently large one-over-one double hung, with a couple of them covered with metal siding. An historical photo...

The WPA constructed a city pool and pavilion for La Grange's city park in 1935. It was closed in 2007. The whole park is now undergoing extensive renovations. The pool is no longer there, but the original pavilion is being rehabilitated. The project is expected to be completed in late 2015.

A large allocation of WPA funds for school construction and improvement projects for the state of Montana was issued in late 1938. Among the construction provided for was a new school building in Boyes, Montana. The location and status of this structure is unknown to Living New Deal. The allocation for the building appears on Montana WPA Roll 25 under project number 665-91-2-62.

Built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), this Mission Revival-style fire station was built in 1936. The building has been substantially altered since its original construction.

The history of Boyle Stadium, which is located behind Stamford High School, is detailed on the school's website: "Beginning in 1935, federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds helped support the construction behind Stamford High of the high school stadium in Connecticut. The stadium was completed over several years and, like today, was the site of athletic competitions and graduation ceremonies. It was named the Michael A. Boyle Stadium in 1942, after SHS' famous athletic director and football coach. In the 1940s, Boyle Stadium was the training field for students preparing for military service in World War II." "The first baseball game...