National Youth Administration (NYA) Sites

The St. Cloud Historical Marker in St. Cloud MN is a site that was constructed in 1937, by the NYA, a sub-unit of the WPA. The site was designed by A. R. Nichols and is a historical marker that commemorates the first commercial granite quarry in Minnesota, opened by Breen and Young in 1868, that was very important for the growth of St. Cloud. It was built from granite stones from the quarries located nearby, with rough and pointed rocks, unlike other markers and monuments with their more formal designs. It was placed on the side of highway 10 just...

This stone building on the edge of the Historic Brackenridge Golf Course in San Antonio, Texas is attributed the work of the National Youth Administration. The NYA completed many projects in the park. The registration form for the park's nomination to the National Register of Historic Places refers to the construction of a starter house, caddy house, tee boxes and drinking fountains on the golf course by the NYA. The form states that only the starter house is standing at this time.

"The theater originally was constructed in 1930 and expanded and renovated in 1937 using Texas Centennial funding. The architect for the 1930 project was Harvey P. Smith, who was joined by George Willis and Charles T. Boelhauwe to design the 1937 project. The old quarry wall forms the western (back) edge of the theater site, providing an open-air setting with natural acoustic features. The 193- design included stage and classical wings, while the 1937 expansion added dressing rooms and stage support buildings, restrooms, seating, and a concrete floor for the seating area. The 1937 project was constructed by WPA workers, while...

The Works Progress Administration's National Youth Administration (WPA/NYA) hired youths to construct the stone shop building and 2 restrooms in Sunset Park in Salina Kansas. During the 1950s, the shop building doubled as a voting station. The shop building bears an NYA plaque.  

Sycamore Park received extensive improvements with assistance from the WPA and the NYA. Pictured here is a WPA shelter and drinking fountain built in 1935-36. The structures were designed by Hare & Hare of Kanas City, Missouri. The Fort Worth Park Department's 1937-38 Annual Report details later New Deal improvements to the park: "Through an agreement with the Board of Education, an area in the southeast section of this park was set aside for an amphitheater which is now under construction by the WPA. This will not only be an addition to the park facilities but will be an additional feature to...

The superintendent's house for the Hurricane School complex was constructed 1938 by the National Youth Administration as project W. P. 5206, Application 921. The stone veneer house used stone from the NYA quarry in Pontotoc County and shingles from the NYA sawmill. Superintendent of construction was B. McGraw. The house is no longer extant.

The National Youth Administration (NYA) constructed a teacher's home in Minter City between 1937-1939 as W. P. 5857 application #1102. The construction is documented photographically in the Series 2018 NYA scrapbook. Location of the building was determined from the map in the MDAH Historic Records Inventory.

One of two teacherages constructed for the Hickory Flat school district, this building is no longer extant. It was probably demolished to allow the construction of the new gymnasium, as its former location was where the gymnasium parking lot is currently located.

This teacherage (meant to house teachers for the town school) was one of two constructed by the National Youth Administration in 1939 for the Hickory Flat school. It remains in use by the school.

The National Youth Administration completed a teacherage at the Purvis school as W. P. 4487, Application #82 Purvis Teachers Home No. 1. The house foundation was "...placed at old site on school grounds. Faulty construction and other reasons necessitated moving 50 yards across road. The use of sheathing and subfloor is unusual for this section of State" (Series 2018).

The teachers house at Clara Consolidated School was constructed 1938 by the National Youth Administration. It is extant on the school grounds, but current use is unknown.

The National Youth Administration built a combination teacher's home and dormitory for the Lincoln County Training School for African Americans as W. P. 4306 in 1937-1938. Construction was supervised by John Quincy Martin and employed 20 boys for four months. Located on the west side of Highway 51, the building was 60 feet x 26 feet and contained 5 rooms for students, 2 apartments for instructors, and a receiving room at the entrance. The building was constructed of salvaged materials and painted brown with white trim, and white throughout the interior. Professor D. E. Magee and a committee of citizens...

In 1938, the Bullitt Park municipal park was founded along with the building of a log cabin by the National Youth Administration (NYA). The building was a collaboration of the Richmond District Girl Scouts and the NYA boys, and was used for the training of NYA girls. The Girl Scout cost was $1000 and was raised by donations. The building cost was $3800. Many locally and nationally known citizens were contributors to the cabin, including VA governor, Lynwood Holton's mother, A.L. Holton, and grandmother of Mrs.Tim Kaine; author, John Fox, Jr.; Congressman C. Bascom Slemp; and outdoor drama "Trail of the...

Between 1937 and 1938, the National Youth Administration (NYA) built a stone structure on the east side of Santa Anna, Texas for a Texas Ranger memorial museum and reunion hall. Funded by the citizens of Santa Anna, the complex was dedicated at a Texas Ranger reunion in August 1939. Texas Rangers operated in the Santa Anna area as early as the 1870s, with many of the Rangers settling in the area after their term of service ended. Former Rangers founded the Texas Ex-Rangers Association and held annual reunions around the state. Santa Anna hosted a reunion in 1935 and became a permanent...

Multiple New Deal agencies, including the Public Works Administration (P.W.A.), Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), and National Youth Administration (N.Y.A.), were involved in dramatically developing and transforming what was then the Texas State College for Women (now Texas Woman's University) in Denton. Federal assistance was responsible for several new buildings on campus in addition to other facilities such as a recently closed outdoor swimming pool. In all New Deal programs helped the institution effectively double its infrastructure.

In 1937, youths employed by the National Youth Administration (NYA), a division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), constructed a building of native stone that became knows as the "KIVA" in Thomas Park. For many years the Kiva served as the headquarters for the Girl Scouts. Today, the Salina Parks and Recreation Office offers reservations of the Kiva for special events. The Kiva bears an NYA plaque.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the National Youth Administration (NYA) were involved in the construction of the Tonkawa Park in Crawford TX. According to the  Waco Tribune-Herald, "278 NYA youth contributed to building the park." Excerpt from Waco History: "During the Great Depression, the Texas Civil Works Administration funded the construction of Tonkawa Park, in an attempt to create jobs for locals. (The Civil Works Administration was a forerunner of the Works Progress Administration.) Crawford, given the choice of a city park or a city sewage system, chose the park. The close proximity of the beautiful Tonkawa Falls made their choice...

The Annual Town Report for 1939 notes Works Progress Administration  & National Youth Administration activity in the town. Welfare Department 22. WPA allotments $1697.46 "Highway Agent When the special WPA appropriation was exhausted, this department purchased all tools, shovels, striking hammers and picks needed to carry on this work. It has paid the blacksmith bills for sharpenings and repairs and furnished a truck for one crew. The department has purchased 550 pounds of dynamite and necessary exploders to clear boulders and banks along the highways, which were a hazard to safety and will be a big help in snow removal. Planning Board The outcome of this...

"Greenhills, Ohio is one of only three 'Greenbelt Towns' built in the United States. The other two are Greenbelt, Maryland and Greendale, Wisconsin. The three towns had their start during the Depression Era. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created a program to build new suburban communities as part of his New Deal plans for the country. The overseeing department was the Resettlement Administration which later became a part of the Farms Security Administration. The building of these towns provided much needed jobs for those in the trades (brick layers, plumbers, carpenters, electricians, etc.), as well as people not in the trades...

Twenty boys of the federal National Youth Administration (NYA) worked on the athletic field and in a machine shop at Trenton Central High School.

Ten boys of the federal National Youth Administration worked at the old Trenton Marine Terminal. The facility is now a mixed-use development.

This small stone obelisk marks the point where Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri meet. It was erected by the National Youth Administration in 1938. It is located at the coordinates marked here, south of the Route 166 round-about at the entrance to an Oklahoma Casino, just south of the main entrance on a dirt road.

Roadside park with two picnic tables and barbecue pits. In addition to the original rock barbecue pits, there are new metals pits near the picnic tables. Text from onsite plaque: The picnic area on SH-19 in Hopkins County is an early roadside park developed by the Texas Highway Department - now Texas Department of Transportation. It was built from 1939-1940 using labor from the National Youth Administration. A federal works relief program. The park retains several of its original stone picnic fixtures. The Texas Highway Department launched its roadside park program in 1933 to provide safe places for motorists to relax and eat...

Improvements were made to the Millbury, Massachusetts's old Union School (high school) building and grounds with the assistance of federal New Deal funds. The old high school is now the Mary Elizabeth McGrath Educational Center. The Civil Works Administration provided labor for a grounds grading project begun in 1933. At the same time Federal Emergency Relief Act funds enabled a retaining wall repair project and other building improvements, including the painting of the "outside woodwork." The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) redecorated the interior of the building in 1937 and continued retaining wall reconstruction. The National Youth Administration conducted miscellaneous improvements...

The University of Houston's old Industrial Building, now known as the Technology Annex, was constructed with the assistance of the Work Projects Administration, a New Deal agency. Houston, a history and guide: "Most of the heavily wooded campus was made available through donations of the Settegast and Ben Taub estates, of 75 acres and 35 acres respectively. The school board purchased a small tract. On the grounds are 101 varieties of trees and shrubs. This campus in 1941 was being improved by a large-scale landscaping program designed by Hare and Hare of Kansas City, Missouri, in cooperation with the Work Projects...

  The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Zimmerman Library at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. The Zimmerman Library website describes the history of the New Deal structure: "Library collections continued to grow and in 1936 UNM James Fulton Zimmerman secured Public Works Administration funding for campus construction that included $370,000 for a new library building. The impressive facility was designed in the Pueblo Revival Style by John Gaw Meem. Miss Shelton turned the first shovelful of earth at the building site on December 2, 1936 and the new library was opened on April 1, 1938. As before, students, faculty, and...

The National Youth Administration (NYA) renovated and remodeled the south wing of Converse Hall at the University of Vermont. The newly remodeled wing served as cooperative living quarters for male students. Pictured with the NYA sign is Lee Arthur, the supervisor of the project.

The New Deal Network's website explains that in the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration's (WPA) National Youth Administration (NYA) constructed a foot path in Van Cortlandt Park that divided two picnic areas within the park. The website tells us that the foot path consisted of "...over 13,000 feet of paved path all completed by NYA." The work included pouring "...4 inches of cinder concrete and then, 2 inches of colprovia for the finished surface. Gutters built adjacent to the paths for drainage."

The New Deal Network Website explains that the retaining wall pictured here was constructed in the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration's (WPA) National Youth Administration (NYA) in Van Cortlandt Park. The photo's caption notes that "The bridle path is cindered; the complete length, which was constructed entirely by the boys, is 8,000 linear feet." This was one of three retaining walls in the park. The retaining wall shown in the photo encircled the entire area (NDN).

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a new baseball field, with grandstand and dugouts, for the people of Hamilton, Montana.  We are not certain of the year, but it was probably in 1935 or 1936. The National Youth Administration (NYA) added a quarter-mile running track and a skating rink to the recreation area, but we did not find those in a visit in 2023. The baseball field is still in active use as "Vester Wilson Athletic Field", home of the Bitterroot Red Sox, often regional and state baseball champions, as painted proudly on the back of the old grandstand.

Original Use: "The building, one of the finest in the state for any village of this size, was made possible by the public spiritedness. of the residents of the community and the whole­hearted co-operation of the National Youth Administration that furnished all of the labor on the building with the exception of skilled craftsmen. "The main building is 78 by 40 feet with an "V for the public library that is 20x20 In the main building, which has a large entrance hall, is the auditorium that will comfortably seat more than 300 for events on the 19x26 foot stage where all types...

One of more than 40 new vocational units added to Mississippi schools following an increase in federal funds in 1937, the white wood frame Vocational Agriculture and Home Economics building was constructed by the National Youth Administration.

"The Ecru High School FFA/FHA Building was built in 1938 by the National Youth Administration (NYA), a New Deal agency. The NYA was created by executive order in 1935 to provide vocational training to young people while also furnishing a stipend allowing participants to remain in school. One NYA project involved building and renovating school buildings. There were a number of NYA built school buildings in Mississippi, primarily used for vocational education. However, that number is declining. The Ecru building, clad in 'native stone,' retains its exterior features, including pent awnings over the doors and 9/9 double hung sash windows....

The National Youth Administration constructed a vocational building for the Heidelberg vicinity school complex in 1941.

The Lauderdale Consolidated School Vocational Building was constructed in 1937 by the National Youth Administration. The rock veneer building is a Mississippi Landmark and still extant, although not in use.

The National Youth Administration built the Beulah-Hubbard Consolidated School's vocational/home economics building in 1938. Although some buildings and ruins remain of the complex, it is unknown if the vocational building is one of them.

The National Youth Administration constructed the 1938 1-story vocational building at the Union High School. Superintendent of construction was Simon Brown. The building remains in use by the school system.

Home Consolidate School constructed a vocational building in 1938 as Work Project 5209 Application #924, National Youth Administration. The project employed 25 boys, and the concrete blocks were made at the project.

The National Youth Administration built the vocational building for the Pearl River County Training School in 1941. The building was one part of a complex of buildings constructed for African American students between 1900 and 1951.

The Vardaman High School vocational building was completed in 1941 by the National Youth Administration of Mississippi. It remains part of the Vardaman School Complex. An addition was added to the building at some point.