Works Progress Administration (WPA) Sites

"One public service site that the public rarely sees because of its very private purpose is in the Catoctin Mountain Park recreational area, sixty miles north of Washington, D.C. This site was developed by the New Deal's Works Progress Administration and the CCC and was used first as a camp for crippled children, followed by a few other purposes, until FDR visited it in 1942 and claimed it, naming it his 'Shangri-La.' The cooler mountain climate provided the president and his family a chance to get some relief from the humidity and heat of the capital in those days before...

The Works Progress Administration completed upgrades to the drainage systems at Camp Dawson in Kingwood WV. Guard. Camp Dawson was established in 1909 when almost 200 acres were acquired along the Cheat River, just south of Kingwood in Preston County. Fell into disuse ca. WWI to ca 1928. In 1928 when it was revived as a training site for the West Virginia State Militia.  

"Between 1935 and 1940, Massachusetts and the federal government, primarily using Works Project Administration funds, constructed 63 buildings (all but Buildings 102 and the old Williams Hospital have since been demolished) and two, 500-foot (150 m) wide turf runways at Otis Field. The project was the largest WPA project in state history, employing over 600 workmen. In 1938, Governor Charles F. Hurley dedicated Camp Edwards, named after the former commander of the 26th Infantry Division, Major General Clarence Edwards." (Wikipedia) WPA Bulletin: The Bourne WPA Notional Guard Camp Project is the largest undertaking of this kind in the country. It is twenty-three square...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) funded the construction of Camp Fairchance in Low Gap, Boone County. The buildings were constructed by FERA and later occupied by the WPA. The camp hired unemployed teachers through the WPA, and housed underprivileged children and children without legal guardians.

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted the following work at the former Camp Hartell: "Construct training facilities and improve grounds". Official Project Number: 265‐3‐15‐70 Total project cost: $54,689.00 Sponsor: U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, North Atlantic Division

This WPA "Camp" is essentially a building sitting off Highway 16 just North of Rumsfeld. It is still used.

Originally known as Camp Berkeley, what is now Camp Herms contains a WPA swimming pool with dressing and shower rooms. The style was influenced by Mayan architecture. "The year 1938 marked the inauguration of a program of extensive improvements at Camp Herms... The City of El Cerrito sponsored the project and the City Engineer was to act as liaison between the W.P.A. and the council... The W. H. Gibson Foundation gave the council $2,500 for the construction of a pool and the Scout Executive accepted the responsibility of raising approximately $125,000 in cash and materials for the project. This included the swimming pool,...

Situated near Greenwood Lake in upper West Milford, NJ, Camp Hope was initially developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 1201 as Camp S-68 to house workers working at the Newark Waterworks. Following the closure of the worker’s barracks, the cabins sat abandoned for roughly two years. Freedmen Ernest T. Scheidemenn pushed for the County of Passaic to grant them access to the cabins at Smith Mills (now West Milford) instead of demolishing them to turn them into a children’s summer recreation camp “for the undernourished and underprivileged children of Passaic County.” (Paterson News, February 7, 1938, 1) After being...

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) developed the national guard camp at Camp Keyes in Augusta, Maine. Project information: “Develop National Guard Camp” Official Project Number: 165‐1‐11‐54 Total project cost: $16,383.00 Sponsor: War Department

The Work Projects Administration (WPA) undertook development work at an unidentified location in or near New Brunswick, New Jersey. As two projects were sponsored by the War Department, Living New Deal believes these projects to be involved with the development of Camp Kilmer, an installation that straddled Piscataway and Edison, within two miles of New Brunswick. Rutgers University's Livingston Campus resides on part of the old Camp Kilmer site. WPA Official Project Numbers: 713‐2‐128 ("Improve and rehabilitate buildings, systems, and facilities"), and 13‐2‐22‐92 ("Repair and rehabilitation of building)

Construction on Camp Lassen's Chico main lodge was begun in September 1935 with funds from the State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA) and completed the following spring. The Chico Meadows site was cleared from forest lands originally leased from the Diamond Match Association by the Mount Lassen Area Council (now the Golden Empire Council) of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). The building contains a complete kitchen and dining hall, a stage for performances, administrative offices, and living quarters for the camp director and camp caretaker. While the space was originally built for the use of BSA troops, the camp was...

The facilities of Camp Lee Canyon were constructed in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration.

Camp Long is a 68-acre park in West Seattle. The park was constructed with WPA help starting n 1937. It was dedicated in 1941. WPA work in the park includes extensive rock work, the construction of a golf course, cabins and lodges and the first climbing wall in the world (see separate page on Schurman Rock).

Camp Mabry, named after Brigadier General Woodford H. Mabry, the Adjutant General of Texas from January 23, 1891 to May 4, 1898, is the headquarters of the Texas Military Forces. The original 90 acres was donated to the State of Texas in 1892. The first construction at the camp included a mess shed and a parade grandstand. By 1911, Camp Mabry had expanded to more than 385 acres. During World War I the United States Army used the camp as a training site and built several barracks and administration buildings. Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects under the sponsorship of the Adjutant...

The WPA was involved in constructing facilities and improving the grounds at Camp McQuaide after it moved south from its former Capitola location. "In 1926, the 63rd coastal artillery regiment moved from Santa Cruz, California, to an area just east of the town of Capitola. Its camp was named for Major Joseph P. McQuaide, who was born in 1867 and graduated from Santa Clara University. He served as Chaplain of the California National Guard in the Spanish American War and World War I, and died March 29, 1924. By 1938, noise from target practice annoyed Capitola residents, so a more remote...

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted the following work at buildings at the facility later known as Camp Rell and now Camp Niantic: "Paint, shingle roof, and repair windows". Official Project Number: 165‐15‐2095 Total project cost: $4,984.00 Sponsor: Quartermaster General's Department

The Little Rock Girl Scout Council was chartered in 1928. With the leadership of Sue Worthen Ogden, a national GS Inc. board member, "After months of looking at prospective sites in the Ouachita National Forest, Ogden contacted Forest Supervisor A. W. Hartman in April 1935 to express her interest in a site along Narrow Creek at a location called “the Narrows,” where a dam could be built to create a small lake. Sue Ogden then coordinated with three federal agencies—the Forest Service, CCC, and WPA—and recruited Perry County to serve as the “official” sponsor of the WPA project (because only...

Seeley Lake is one link in a chain of five lakes nestled between the lofty Swan and Mission mountain ranges in western Montana. Two hundred acres of ancient larch trees surround the area, which has drawn visitors since the early 1900s. In 1924, the USDA Forest Service granted a permit to the Western Montana Council of Boy Scouts to construct a summer camp. The facility was originally a tent camp but by the late 1930s there was need for a more permanent facility. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), New Deal programs vital to the...

The City of Columbus was awarded $8,821 for WPA project 41048 for improvements to Camp Pratt recreation center. The summer camp facility constructed a swimming pool, keeper's house, and remodeled camp houses, using 27 workers for 6 months. The city of Columbus supplied the materials. The 70-acre site was sold in 2018 with the agreement the city could continue to use it for summer camp.

Camp Preston Hunt is a Boy Scout Camp originally built on 200 acres of donated land in Texarkana, Arkansas. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) cleared the land and built cabins, a dining hall and a picnic shelter. The WPA employed over 1000 workers who were paid fifty cents a day. A plaque on the grounds identifies the camp as WPA Project 2355.

"One of the most significant WPA projects in Rapid City was Camp Rapid. Construction of permanent buildings began on June 25, 1934 and one year later, Executive Order 7034 allowed the WPA to begin hiring men to take part in the construction of the headquarters building. James C. Ewing, an architect from Rapid City, designed the brick and reinforced concrete Administration Building and Project 956 began in 1936 and was completed by the end of the year. The original buildings main floor consisted of a reception area with a vault and was surrounded by four offices, one of which was...

Two different WPA projects involved improvements at Camp San Luis Obispo, a National Guard Training camp, formerly Camp Merriam, originally constructed in 1928. WPA Proj. No. 165-3-2634, September 17, 1936, Total sponsor and Federal funds $4,494, Months to Complete 5, Average Employed 29, "National Guard Training Camp. Move and reset frame structure, construct new footing at National Guard Training camp near San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County. State owned property." WPA Proj. No. 165-3-3528, October 5, 1936, Total sponsor and federal funds $19,892, Months to complete 22, Average Employed 90, "Construct an open air theater including excavation and do other work...

The former Camp Simms in the city's southeastern quadrant housed the DC National Guard rifle range prior to World War II.  In 1936, Work: A Journal of Progress reported extensive Works Progress Administration (WPA) improvements to Camp Simms: "Transformation of the National Guard Rifle Range at Camp Sims, from an ill-equipped, obsolete military adjunct into a model rifle range, is one of the many accomplishments of relief labor under the Works Progress Administration in the District of Columbia. One of the first tasks undertaken by WPA labor at Camp Sims was that of raising the level of practically the whole site. Coincident...

The WPA and FERA built the "Hostess House" at the recently opened Camp Williams National Guard training site in 1935. From the National Register of Historic Places: "This public works-sponsored building is an example of the Period Revival/ English Tudor style. It is a 1-story building with a broad steeply pitched gable roof. The plan is basically rectangular and there are two projecting gables placed off-center on the principal elevation. Marking the location of the main entrance, these gables are slightly off-set and serve to emphasize the asymmetry of the English Tudor design. Half-timbering, another trademark of the English Tudor style,...

The stadium was originally constructed by the WPA as part of the Campbell Union High School. The high school ceased operations in the 1970s, but the campus remains largely intact. The stadium and other facilities are now part of the Campbell Community Center, run by the City of Campbell. The stadium and its track are still heavily used. Two WPA plaques remain at the site, one on the north wall and the other on the south wall of the bleachers (pictured below).

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) paved 34 streets in Hartford, Connecticut, including the 1.1-mile stretch of Campfield Avenue from Maple Avenue to Victoria Road, as part of a $2.5 million, two-year paving project begun in 1937. The federal government contributed $1 million.

Works Progress Administration Project 41,187 was approved for improvements to campus streets and the athletic field at Pearl River Junior College. The allotment was $31,335 and the sponsor’s fund was $14,582. The Coast Engineering Co., prepared plans for the project, which included paving all driveways, building curbs for sidewalks, grounds beautification, grading, seeding, sodding, tree and shrub planting. The athletic field was enlarged and concrete bleachers were erected.

The Works Progress Administration completed improvements on Canaan-Rosendal Road on St. Thomas. The work included blasting away rock outcroppings to smooth the road surface.

The National Youth Administration (NYA) conducted the following project in Loup City, Nebraska: "Asa a part of the NYA improvement project on the state park here new headgates are being installed on tho supply canal which takes water from the Loup river." The location and status of this project are unknown to Living New Deal.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved a segment of Canal Road, from Chain Bridge Road to Reservoir Road. This was a WPA “roadside beautification” project that likely included the planting of shrubs; and “This project necessitated major side drainage in back of the curbing, the sloping of the banks and the construction of two walls, all within the limits of public space.”

An exceptional mural, "History of Printing," was painted by Edward Schoenberger for the Canal Street Branch Library in New Orleans.  The library building was a pre-existing structure from the early 1900s, in a quirky Caribbean style of uncertain origins. The mural occupies the entire back wall of the main room on the second floor and is approximately 30 feet long by 10 feet high. The branch library has been closed, probably after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the building sold to private owners.  The mural was covered and damaged after the building was repurposed, but has been restored to its full glory...

In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a dike to mitigate flood hazards on New York State Barge Canal in Whitehall. What was then referred to as "Barge Canal" is known today as New York State Canal System. Whitehall is located at the junction of Champlain Canal and Lake Champlain (New York Canals).    

These archive photos show a park area along Canandaigua Lake under development by the WPA in 1937. Exact location of the WPA work is unknown to the Living New Deal. It may be Kershaw Park on the north shore.

In 1941 The New York Times stated: "At present WPA workers are engaged in building Canarsie Beach Park on the Belt Parkway, a shorefront play area which will eventually offer bathing, fishing and boating."

According to an article in the Youngstown Vindicator, the Works Progress Administration expanded the grandstand at the Canfield Fairgrounds in 1936. A historical marker on the fairgrounds credits the "Works Progress Alliance" (presumably a typographical error) with the construction of the grandstand, as well as offices and roads on the site, and "WPA 1936" is etched above the main entrance to the grandstand. The fairgrounds and grandstand are still in use.

"The Canfield WPA Memorial Building was constructed by the Works Progress Administration, a federal government program instituted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as an effort to aid the United States in its recovery from the Great Depression of the late 1920s and 1930s. Local merchant Arron Weisner donated lands on the west side of Broad Street for the proposed project. A six member committee, comprised of two persons each representing the Argus Masonic Lodge, the American Legion, and the Village of Canfield, determined that the building be "a community building built around community projects." Through local subscription and $60,000 in...

"he historic Kirkland Cannery building built during the Great Depression by the Works Progress Administration, or WPA. ... The 11,000-square-foot wooden structure was built beginning in 1935 and opened as a free public cannery in 1936." Washington State operated four cooperative canneries, all funded by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA). Canneries at Kirkland and Kent served families from as far away as Everett and Tacoma. Any family with an income of less than $100 a month could bring fruit, vegetables and meat to the cannery to preserve them for the winter. The cannery kept one third of the canned...

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...

"Canyon Lake Park was developed around the 1890s by the Upper Rapid City Company, who planted the Lombardy poplar trees that still line the roads of the park. Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy was a partner in the company that planned to develop Rapid Creek and Canyon Lake as a resort with a hotel and a railroad from the downtown area. The lake flooded out in 1907, and thirty years later the WPA rebuilt the lake and dam, adding the rock landscaping. Working in conjunction with the WPA, enrollees at the Custer State CCC camp spent two years in a side camp located...

Originally Van Buren Elementary School, this school was constructed by the WPA. It was completed in 1941.