Work Relief Programs Sites

In 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted cleanup efforts at Battery Kemble Park, the site of a Civil War-era fort in the city's western corner. Crews removed underbrush, poisonous plants, and dead trees to make the park more welcoming to the public.

In the 1937 the Works Progress Administration undertook construction on the Battery Landing Platform which was used as a landing pier for excursion boats (WPA).

The WPA allocated $612,800 in 1935 toward the renovation of the "pier building foot of Whitehall & South Sts." The building in question is most likely what was then known as the Municipal Ferry Pier (built 1906-1909), now known as the Battery Maritime Building. WPA Official Project No. 65-97-427.

The W.P.A. developed Burlington's Battery Park, including constructing sidewalks and a masonry parapet wall. WPA Project No. 65-12-344

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve the public golf course at Battle Island State Park.

In 1935, a Civilian Conservation Corps camp was located at Battle Mountain State Park to improve that state recreational property. The CCC workers built a water system with drinking fountains and a large granite fireplace as well as placing picnic tables throughout the park. The park is located on State Highway 395, nine miles north of the town of Ukiah.  

Also known as Muni on Main, this art deco building was built by the WPA in 1937-38.

The federal National Youth Administration (NYA) worked to improve the stadium for Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey in 1938. The NYA "weeded, rolled and marked the stadium track; prepared the broad jump pit; laid out the course of the javelin and discus throw; cut and raked the field; cleaned the field of weeds and debris and cleaned the stadium stands and walked." 18 workers completed the job in two and a half days. Bauerle Field is part of what is now known as Roberto Clemente Park.

"The Baxter County Courthouse in Mountain Home was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1941 and 1943. It was designed by T. Ewing Shelton of Fayetteville, and constructed by the WPA. Its minimalist design and use of local materials in its construction are features common to many depression- era public works projects... The Baxter County courthouse in Mountain Home is being nominated under criterion A with local significance because of its role as a seat of government in Baxter County and for its association with the WPA. Through its many projects in the area, the WPA had a...

"Baxter State Park is a large wilderness area permanently preserved as a state park, located in Piscataquis County in north-central Maine. The Park was established by 28 donations of land, in Trust, from Park donor Percival P. Baxter between the years of 1931 and 1962, eventually creating a Park of over 200,000 acres (809 km2) in size."   (https://www.ohranger.com) During the 1930′s, the Civilian Conservation Corps workers from Camp Millinocket, camp Foster Field, camp Baxter Park, & camp Avalanche Brook on the south end worked on access roads in the Mount Katahdin region, including a gravel road from Lake Ambejejus northward between...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve many roads in San Francisco, including the 1.8-mile stretch of Bay Street between Fillmore St. and The Embarcadero.

Landscaped embankment along Bay Street. Built small recreation building.--Healy, p. 67.

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out new road construction on Bayamon River Road in Toa Baja.

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

This building was originally the Textile High School, then the Straubenmuller Textile High School, then the Charles Evans Hughes High School, before eventually assuming its current title as the Bayard Rustin Educational Complex. It is now an NYC "vertical campus" housing several smaller schools. In addition to a pair of stained glass windows by Gerard Recke, the building contains several large WPA Federal Arts Project murals created by various New Deal artists in 1934-36. In a 1965 oral history, New Deal artist Irving Block said of the high school that "there were many rooms available to us for decoration." In the same...

Also known as Island Park, Sarasota's Bayfront Park was developed during the 1930s/40s by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA).

The caption to the Works Progress Administration photo above notes that this is "one of 2 culverts built by WPA in the city. This project is known as Bayless Ave. Culverts and employed 37 men" (WPA) More information is needed about the present status and exact location of the project.  

"In the early 20th century, commercial use of the Bayou declined, and the Carondelet Canal was filled in. A number of New Orleanians started living in houseboats on the Bayou. Complaints from people in nearby neighborhoods and sanitation concerns led to this being outlawed in the 1930s. A Works Progress Administration cleaned up and beautified the Bayou. A lock was installed near the Lake Pontchartrain end of the Bayou. In the summer of 1955 the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board temporarily drained the Bayou, to clean out debris and material that was causing foul odors. The Bayou then took on...

In November 1935 the WPA approved the provision of labor for the construction of curbs and gutters along Bayport Avenue in Bayport, NY.

This was one of many WPA projects in Tampa: "The most outstanding project was the work done on Bayshore Blvd., the first allotment for which was made on Nov. 4, 1935, amounting to $248,689.  During the next 3 years, new seawalls were constructed the entire length of the boulevard and new, much wider pavements laid.  Also, the missing link between the Platt Street Bridge and Magnolia Street was opened and completed.  Altogether, the work on Bayshore cost $1.2 million.  The costly project had been made necessary largely due to the old seawall, built for the city and county less than 10...

The federal Works Progress Administration worked to conduct repairs and alterations to several civic facilities in Queens as part of a $300,464 project begun in 1935. Facilities improved included the Bayside Pumping Station, located roughly at Northern Blvd. and the creek in Alley Pond Park that leads to Little Neck Bay. The original pumping station has been replaced and no longer stands.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to the 44-acre Bayview Park in San Francisco on Bayview Hill (or Heights).  These included a stone retaining wall along the loop road on the north side of the hill and two sets of stone steps on either side that lead to a trail over the crest of the hill.  There is another, mysterious stone path/stairway far below the loop road on the west side of the hill (we do not know if this is also WPA work). Bayview Park dates back to 1902, but is still a relatively isolated and undeveloped part of...

This 1940 oil-on-canvas mural by George Goethke covers all 4 walls of the kindergarten room of Baywood Elementary School (formerly the George Hall School).

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a 1,345-foot-long sewer line along Beach 87th Street in Far Rockaway, New York, from a road then known as Bruce Place to Jamaica Bay. Work began in May 1939.

The federal Work Projects Administration put many men to work starting in 1935 with a Bronx street repair and maintenance project along roads throughout the borough. The streets, many of which in New York City were still unpaved, were surfaced with penetrated macadam. Roads improved included two stretches of Beach Avenue in the Soundview section of the Bronx: (a) between "Bronx River Avenue" and 'Sound View' Avenue; and (b) between 'Sound View' and Watson Avenues.

Sidewalks lining Conimicut's Beach Avenue. Parts have been replaced and removed over the years, but WPA stamps remain.

The Beach Chalet at the western end of Golden Gate Park, built in 1925, is home to a trove of New Deal artworks in the first floor lobby, or entrance hall. The centerpiece of the Beach Chalet's artworks is an enormous fresco mural by Lucien Labaudt, entitled "San Francisco Life."   This magnificent mural cycle is 9' high and covers all four walls of the lobby (about 1500 square feet in all). It was painted by Labaudt in 1936-37. The mural cycle has nine sections depicting San Francisco locales: the Embarcadero & Fisherman's Wharf on the north wall; Baker's Beach on the...

The Beach Chalet at the western end of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco contains several New Deal artworks. Lucian Labaudt painted a set of monochrome frescoes around the stairwell and in the corridor to the restrooms on the south side of the ground floor.  The stairwell is surrounded on all sides and on the ceiling by soaring gulls and sea birds. The frescoes were done in 1937 under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project (FAP). Labaudt also painted the immense mural around the entrance hall.  

The Beach Chalet contains several New Deal artworks.  Include decorative mosaics by Primo Caredio, done in 1937.  They are located in the South Staircase and over the north and east doorways of the large first-floor lobby. All the Beach Chalet artworks were done by unemployed artists hired by the Federal Art Project (FAP), a branch of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). 

Michael von Meyer created the enameled, magnolia wood carvings, called "Sea Creatures," in the balustrade of the south stairway of the Beach Chalet.  The carvings are 36" high and run all the way up to the second floor, about 25 feet in all.  It is a marvelous fantasy piece that includes an octopus, mermaid with child, merman (Neptune?), porpoise, fish with elephantine trunk, sailing ship and a deep-sea diver, among others. All the Beach Chalet artworks were done by unemployed artists hired by the Federal Art Project (FAP), a branch of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). 

The original Beach School was built in 1913 but declared an earthquake hazard and torn down in 1934.  It was replaced in two phases: the main wing in 1936 and the rear classroom wing and auditorium in 1940 (PHS 2007). The new school included 8 classrooms, a kindergarten, offices, a health room and an auditorium. There had been three previous efforts to replace schools and temporary buildings at schools in Piedmont in the 1920s, but the bond issues lost.   After the school board sought and gained funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA), a new bond issue passed in December...

A 1938 Works Progress Administration bridge on Beach Lane in Westhampton Beach was torn down and replaced in 1993. However, the old double-leaf bascule bridge's Art Deco "command center" tower at the bridge's northeast corner, and a similar secondary structure at the southwest corner, are still extant.

In 1933/4 the federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) furnished the labor toward improvements at Beach Park in West Hartford, including the clearing of floral detritus.

In 1933/4 the federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) furnished the labor for redecoration / painting full interior of the now-former Beach Park School in West Hartford, Connecticut. The building now houses the School for Young Children at the University of Saint Joseph.

Stabilization of Clatsop County's coastal dunes was the primary work project of CCC enrollees from Camp Warrenton from 1933 to about 1940. Soon after the completion of the south jetty on the Columbia River in 1913, beach erosion became a significant issue on the county's coastline as far south as Gearhart, Oregon. Soil scientists encouraged experimentation with planting Holland Dune Grass to stabilize dunes and to prevent road closures and property damage due to blowing sand. By 1936, soil scientists and local residents already noted improvements. In 1940, the success of the experiment was established. A 1940 article in The Oregonian reported: "There...

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers conducted erosion control and other improvement work along Beach Street in Manchester, Mass. WPA Bulletin: Protection from damaging tides is given by this Manchester WPA riprap wall constructed along Beach Street where commercial fishermen and other boatmen use the wall landing. The entire surrounding area was also graded and beautified by WPA.

In 1933/4 the federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) furnished the labor toward the development of Beachland Park in West Hartford—specifically the planting of trees and shrubs on the grounds. Work was continued by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.), which took to grading tennis courts on site; improving the baseball field and covering a brook; and remodeling an old creamery on the grounds.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the Beachland Park pool and bathhouse in West Hartford CT in 1936.  

Between 1938 and 1941, with funding assistance from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Seattle Park Department completed several improvement projects at Beacon Hill Playground. In the first of these projects, WPA workers re-painted the playground shelter house in 1938. This was part of a city-wide project to paint and repair park buildings that, due to budget cuts, had received little to no maintenance since the early years of the Great Depression. The following year saw the installation of new lighting fixtures to provide nighttime illumination of the playfield. Then, in 1941, WPA workers regraded part of the playfield, installed...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built "roads, trails,bridle paths, vehicle bridges, ponds for fish and waterfowl, lookouttowers, a nature observatory, shelters, picnic areas, fireplaces,campgrounds, recreational lakes, and worked on landscaping and firefighting. Today you can also find a museum devoted to the CCC in New Hampshire here."