Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) Sites

The  Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) furnished the cost of labor for the construction of multiple storm sewers in Hatfield, Massachusetts. One sewer collected runoff from Main Street and poured it into the Connecticut River nearby. The 25-man project cost the Town of Hatfield supplied only the price of materials for the project. Work occurred between Oct. 13 and Nov. 15, 1934.

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out repair and maintenance work in Malezas in Mayagüez.

Now known as the Malvern Hills Pool, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) supplied labor for the construction / improvement of what was called the Horney Heights Swimming Pool, named for a development of the same name in West Asheville. The pool is operated by Asheville City Pools. Regarding CWA/ERA work in North Carolina: "Twenty-one concrete swimming pools, equipped with filtering systems (not including the pool at Asheville which was almost completed when transferred to WPA)."

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out new road construction on Mameyes Road in Luquillo.

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

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out repair and maintenance work on Mango and Rio Arriba Roads in Manati.

The Civil Works Administration and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration built the Arizona State Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Tempe, Maricopa County, in 1934. Also known as the Maricopa County Welfare Sanitarium, the facility was initially built as a 60-room sanatorium. The structure was located on the same site where today stands the Arizona State University Climatology Office, at the intersection of Curry Road and Mill Avenue. The building was designed in Moorish Revival architectural style, and it featured a dome, minarets, and arched windows. According to Jared Smith, a curator at the Tempe History Museum, the building had a large basement...

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out repair and maintenance work on Marieno Road and Pampanos Road in Vega Alta.

This New Deal airport, originally known as Mt. Bullion Airfield, was constructed as relief work paid for by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) c. 1934-35 (New York Times 1935). It was later improved by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) c 1938-39.  On August 4, 1938, the Fresno Bee reported: "Improvement of the Mt. Bullion Airport, completion of the forest service road from Acorn Inn to Darrah and work on the part of the route already existing is foreseen as a result of action taken by the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors. The work will be done with the assistance of the Works Progress...

One of many county line historical markers placed in West Virginia. Each side denotes the county that is being entered. The West Virginia historical marker program began in 1934 with the beginning research for the markers with the intention of placing markers around the state to encourage tourism. Dr. Roy Bird Cook, a Charleston druggist, a longtime commission member, and a vocational historian worked on the project. Approximately 5,000 sites were collected with 440 markers selected by the commission for placement. Most of these along 44 state and federal highways. The funds came from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Works Progress...

Montpelier's 40th Annual Report details many roadwork projects undertaken in 1934 with Vermont Emergency Relief Administration (VERA) funds, including: "Marvin Street, grading and putting in stone base". Street improvement and sewer construction efforts were continued here in subsequent years by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). In 1939 Marvin St. was "rebuilt from Hubbard to Bingham Street, with tar surfaces."

One of many county line historical markers placed in West Virginia at the Wetzel/Marshall County Line. The West Virginia historical marker program began in 1934 with the beginning research for the markers with the intention of placing markers around the state to encourage tourism. Dr. Roy Bird Cook, a Charleston druggist, a longtime commission member, and a vocational historian worked on the project. Approximately 5,000 sites were collected with 440 markers selected by the commission for placement. Most of these along 44 state and federal highways. The funds came from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Works Progress Administration. In addition to...

What is now the Palmer Alaska Historic District was founded in 1935 as the Matanuska Colony Project. It was one of 100 New Deal resettlement programs and involved major efforts by FERA and the Resettlement Administration. The town site of Palmer expanded rapidly with the relocation of 203 colonists from Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin in 1935 under the Relocation project.  Prior to that the area was composed of homesteads primarily. The Palmer Historical Society has a Colony House Museum that is a 'house' as it would have been in 1935-1945.  It is an original colony house moved into the historic...

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration operated two mattress and pillow factories in Harrison County, Mississippi, shipping finished products to areas in Mississippi without factories.

President Roosevelt toured Jamestown, North Dakota in 1936, The New York Times reporting: " saw a new $17,000 auditorium more than large enough to hold the town's population, a current WPA project. It faces a stadium that was begun as a CWA operation and completed, together with an ornamental fence on the property, as an FERA project." The facilities were in what is known now as McElroy Park. The exact location of the stadium within McElroy Park and its present status are unknown to Living New Deal, though it might be what is now known as Jack Brown Stadium.

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded improvements at the McMillan Playground in Washington DC. Completed between 1935 and 1938, the work consisted of “Fencing (2,400 feet, 8-foot); completed installation of drainage system.” The WPA completed the following work: 1935-1936, “new recreation building, begun under Civil Works Administration, carried forward to 70% completion; 4 tennis courts subgraded; grading 500 cubic yards.” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia  1936) Federal Art Project, 1935-1936, “A fine set of murals depicting games of the eighteenth century has been carved in wood and painted for the McMillan playground house…” . (Report of...

"A dirt road through eighteen miles of wilderness between and Oquossoc had been visualized by business men of the section for many years, and the need and feasibility of the road had been presented to the Highway Commission as early as 1930 and their favorable reaction received. With the start of the CWA program in November, 1933, the municipal officers of Rumford, Mexico, Roxbury and Byron presented to the CWA Administrator the idea of building this road as a joint CWA project of these towns. The project received the approval of the administrator primarily because it presented an opportunity to...

The historic former Ephraim High School Mechanical Arts Building was constructed as a New Deal project. Work began under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and was completed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). he exact location and status of the building is presently unknown to Living New Deal.

The historic Moroni High School Mechanical Arts Building was constructed as a New Deal project. Work began under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and was completed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The building is now privately owned. National Register of Historic Places nomination: "This is one of three high school shop buildings constructed in Sanpete County that use the same basic design. The other two are in Ephraim and Mt. Pleasant, both of which are still standing and are eligible for nomination. All three of these buildings are large, two-story box-like structures with rectangular plans and centrally placed two-story entrance...

The historic Mt. Pleasant High School Mechanical Arts Building was constructed as a New Deal project. Work began under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and was completed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The building is now privately owned. National Register of Historic Places nomination: "This building is one of three high school shop buildings constructed in Sanpete County using the same basic design. The other two are in Ephraim and Moroni, both of which are still standing and eligible for nomination. All three of these buildings are large, two-story box-like structures with rectangular plans and centrally placed two-story entrance porticos....

Multiple New Deal agencies: the C.W.A., F.E.R.A, and W.P.A. funded labor for the improvement of Framingham's Memorial Building. The C.W.A. painted the offices and corridors of the Memorial Building in 1933. "The improvement in the looks of the building is marked," town officials wrote that year. Painting and varnishing continued in 1934. The W.P.A. relaid the floors at the banquet hall in Nevens Hall in 1938, while constructing new exits to conform with safety standards. (Additional painting took place this year as well.) The W.P.A. even constructed a wartime airplane-spotting Observation Post atop the building in 1942!

The development of Memorial Park in Mansfield, Massachusetts during the 1930s was made possible by the "Federal Relief Administration" and the Works Progress Administration. The park was dedicated November 11, 1936 and is still in use today.

All 17 schoolhouses in Framingham, Massachusetts were painted, remodeled, and/or repaired with federally funded labor during the Great Depression. In 1935 the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) and/or Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted brickwork, installed new copper flashing, finished ceilings, and painted many parts of the school. Work continued under the W.P.A. in 1936, and two years later new boilers, and toilets, and sidewalks were installed at the school by agency laborers. New fences were constructed in 1940.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) supplied labor for the widening of Merrimon Avenue in Asheville, North Carolina. The cost of the project was $17,297.14, which was mostly borne by the federal government. "In Asheville, Biltmore Street, Merrimon Avenue, and Broadway were widened by taking off fronts of all stores, setting them back, and rebuilding, work requiring expert skill."

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) furnished labor to widen Milan Avenue in Amherst, Ohio "at both sides of the ... bridge." Milan Avenue curves around its underpass with a railroad, and the work was necessary to soften the curves and improve safety. The Amherst News-Times reported: "Other corners that were rounded are those in the immediate vicinity of the bridge near the depot. The corners of Mill and Tenney; Mill and West; Mill and Spring; and west and Maple were all widened considerably."

W.P.A. Bulletin, 1937: "At the north end of the former swamp, WPA raised the level a half dozen feet and built William A. Miller Athletic Field in honor of one of Winthrop's sons killed in action in France during the world war. Clay from Winthrop Highlands and sand from Point Shirley formed a firm basis for Miller Field in the days of CWA and ERA when Howard Shattuck, superintendent of the Winthrop water department, doubled in brass, so to speak, and directed work relief activities without pay in addition to his regular job as water department superintendent."

"Millinocket Municipal Airport is operated by the Town of Millinocket. Located on Medway Road, the airport has been in existence since the 1930's when it was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the W.P.A. The airport has two runways, a main terminal, 3 municipally owned hangers, 3 privately owned hangers and 13 tie-downs." Under MERA it received a 2400 x 110 graded cinder runway and a 2000 x 100 graded cinder runway. The town selectman report in 1937 remarked that ninety men were employed and work was progressing satisfactorily. $ 29,066.08 had been spent by 1937 on the construction."   (https://www.millinocket.org) W.P.A. project...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) relocated and reconstructed the former United States Mint Building in Charlotte, North Carolina: now the Mint Museum. The project was completed at a cost of $46,724.75. "Between 1932 and 1935 communities throughout North Carolina, including Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, benefited from a broad array of public works funded primarily by Washington.  These included the reconstruction in Eastover of the former United States Mint Building ..." Furthermore, the FERA improved and graded the grounds at the site.

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

In 1935 "considerable work was done with V.E.R.A. labor in cutting brush and cleaning up around the pond ." The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted work at Montpelier's Community House in 1936. The WPA and CCC conducted hurricane relief work in the city in 1938.

Multiple New Deal work relief agencies conducted work at the Mississippi State Capitol during the Great Depression. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) approached the Mississippi state government to put painters to work during the Great Depression. Taking color cues from mosaic tiles in the Senate chamber, the WPA painted, among other areas, details of the main rotunda dome. After a more recent renovation, Spartanburg, S.C.'s Herald-Journal reported that "Both chambers wear the duplicated colors of a gaudy 1935 Works Progress Administration paint job." The Federal Emergency Relief Administration supplied $200,000 toward a $400,000 improvement and repairs program for state buildings. In addition...

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration funded the construction and improvement of Mokapu Road, providing “another scenic, military and commercial highway that borders the Pacific Ocean for much of its extensive stretch, winding away from the main around the island highway, around one of Oahu's picturesque points and then back to the main belt road.”

The Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and the Works Progress Administration funded improvements at the Monroe Playground in Washington DC in 1934-1935. The work consisted of the following improvements: “Graded, moved and remodeled shelter-house, relocated equipment.” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia 1935) FERA, 1934-1935, “Retaining wall 72 feet long.” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia 1936) WPA, 1937-1938, “Additional fencing; reconstruction of toilets.” (Report of the Government of the District of Columbia 1938)

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) supplied labor for the painting of Seattle's historic Montlake Bridge in 1934.

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration funded improvements at the Montrose Park Playground in Washington DC between, 1934-1935. The work consisted of “egraded basketball and volley ball courts.”  

By 1935, FERA had done significant work at Moore Park, including installing a sprinkler system, 11 tennis courts and a fence. Moore Park remains a popular tennis spot.

The Morcom Amphitheater of Roses – originally known as the Municipal Rose Garden – is one of the grandest city rose gardens in the country.  It began as a project of the Oakland Businessmen's Garden Club in 1930 and the main force behind it (and the later Berkeley Rose Garden) was Dr. Charles Vernon Covell, a dentist and member of the Garden Club. The New Deal played a vital role in building the rose garden, but it was not the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that did the work, as commonly thought. Instead, help came from the State Employment Relief Administration (SERA),...

The community Moth Inspector for the town of Oxford, Massachusetts received aid from multiple New Deal agencies beginning in 1933. The Civil Works Administration (CWA), Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and Works Progress Administration (WPA) each provided funding for the endeavor during the 1930s.

On the Marshall County Courthouse grounds the two sided marker lists one theme per side. The West Virginia historical marker program began in 1934 with the beginning research for the markers with the intention of placing markers around the state to encourage tourism. Dr. Roy Bird Cook, a Charleston druggist, a longtime commission member, and a vocational historian worked on the project. Approximately 5,000 sites were collected with 440 markers selected by the commission for placement. Most of these along 44 state and federal highways. The funds came from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Works Progress Administration. In addition to the...

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration was associated with the construction of Centerville, South Dakota's municipal building. The building, whose exact location and status is presently unknown to Living New Deal, "housed the city hall, fire station, and jail in a small one-story, concrete and brick building."