Work Relief Programs Sites

An early Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in Fremont, Nebraska involved "grading and gravelling on Bell street shoulders in Fremont from First to Fourteenth street. This project provided three weeks' employment to 14 persons."

From the James F. Justin CCC Museum website: "Belleplain was established in 1928 by the state ... Beginning in 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) transformed the Meisle family's cranberry bog into a 26.2 acre reservoir that was first named Meisle Lake and later renamed Lake Nummy (in honor of the last Lenape Sachem, or Chief, to live in the county). Three separate CCC camps operated on the property and the men who served constructed the forest's nature center (formerly the main office) and the maintenance buildings, and created much of the present day road system, bridges, and dams....

W.P.A. project description: 1938 Massachusetts Metropolitan District Commission annual report: "Blue Hills Division, in Boston; this project provided for extensive beautification work of road construction, sidewalk construction, grading of roadside slopes, drainage, etc. in Stony Brook Reservation, Bellevue Hill Section, ..."

In the late 1930s Emilio Amero completed work on the mural entitled  “Tropical and Hudson Valley Vegetation,” for the entrance lobby in the new Psychiatric Building of Bellevue Hospital. It was one of over a dozen murals painted by artists for the new building with funds provided by the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration. It so happens, that the new building for which Emilio Amero painted the mural was also a New Deal project. The building was constructed with the support of the  federal Public Works Administration (PWA). Emilio Amero was a Mexican printmaker and painter who spent much of...

In 1936 Luis Arenal and his assistant completed work on the mural entitled  "North American Tropical Vegetation," for the First Lobby Stairway of the new Psychiatric Building at Bellevue Hospital. It was one of over a dozen murals painted by artists for the new building with funds provided by the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration. It so happens, that the new building for which Luis Arenal painted the mural was also a New Deal project. The building was constructed with the support the  federal Public Works Administration (PWA). Luis Arenal was a painter and sculptor born in Mexico in...

In the late 1930s Lily Furedi painted the mural entitled "Simple Way of Life" for the women’s large occupational therapy room in the Psychiatric Building of Bellevue Hospital, It was one of over a dozen murals painted by artists for the building with funds provided by the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration. According to Wikipedia, Lily Furedi began her work as a New Deal artists with the the Public Works of Art Project. When the program ended in 1934, Furedi joined the Federal Art Project under which completed the mural for Bellevue Hospital. The Federal Art Project Photographic Division lists...

In the late 1930s, Axel Horn and an assistant, George Brodsky, who was a veteran of the Lincoln Battalion, completed work on the mural entitled “Industrial Landscape” for the first floor waiting room in the Psychiatric Building of Bellevue Hospital. Horn and Brodsky were two out of more than a dozen artists commissioned by the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration (WPA/FAP) to paint a series of murals for the Psychiatric Building at Bellevue Hospital. Susan Teller Gallery explains that "rom 1936 to 1940 Horn worked on the Federal Arts Project. He made murals for the Seaview and Bellevue...

In 1936 and 1937 William Karp painted a mural entitled "Normal Pursuits of Man" for the occupational therapy exhibition room in the Psychiatric Building of Bellevue Hospital. It was one of over a dozen murals painted by artists for the psychiatric building at Bellevue Hospital with funds provided by the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration. With funding from the W.P.A., Karp also produced the mural entitled "Armed with Learning and Reality, Looking from the Past to the Future" in 1938, for the Hebrew Orphans Asylum, NYC. We know that one of the murals at Bellevue hospital entitled "Materials for Relaxation" by...

In the early 1940s Nunzio laSpina completed work on a mural decoration for the ceiling in the lobby of the Psychiatric Building of Bellevue Hospital. LaSpina was one of over a dozen artists commissioned by the Federal Art Project (FAP) arm of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to paint murals for the new psychiatric building at Bellevue Hospital. The Living New Deal needs further information to determine the current status of this mural.

In the late 1930s Ryah Ludins painted the mural entitled “Recreational Grounds of New York City” for the men’s recreation room in the Psychiatric Building of Bellevue Hospital. It was one of over a dozen murals painted by artists for the building with funds provided by the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration. We know that one of the murals at Bellevue hospital entitled “Materials for Relaxation” by David Margolis has been restored. However, The Living New Deal needs further information to determine the current status of the other WPA murals painted for Bellevue Hospital. Ryah Ludins first became interested...

"Materials of Relaxation," by David Margolis was one of over a dozen murals that the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration commissioned for the Psychiatric Building at Bellevue Hospital in the mid and late 1930s. "Materials of Relaxation" is a nine-panel mural located inside the 1st Avenue entrance of the old Bellevue Hospital building. Margolis painted the mural between 1937 and 1941. The New Deal Art Registry lists Richard Lillis and Vincient LaGambino as assistants for the mural project. However, Terenchin Gallery in Hudson, New York lists artist Morris Shulman as a fresco assistant for the project. The panels...

In 1937 Walter Quirt completed work on the mural entitled The Growth of Medicine from Primitive Times for the doctor’s lounge room of the Psychiatric Building of Bellevue Hospital. Quirt was one of over a dozen artists commissioned by the Federal Art Project (FAP) arm of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to paint murals for the new psychiatric building at Bellevue Hospital. John Dorfman of the online journal "Art and Antiques" pronounces Quirt's mural for Bellevue hospital to be his "...greatest achievement for the WPA..."  Dorfman explains that it "...was a panoramic mural...which combined Surrealism and history painting on a grand scale." Quirt painted...

In 1936 Phil Reisman was one of over twelve artists commissioned by the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration to paint a series of murals for the Psychiatric Building at Bellevue Hospital. With funding provided by the Federal Art Project, Reisman completed work on the mural entitled "Interdependence of Industry and Agriculture" for the men's therapy room in the Psychiatric Building at Bellevue Hospital in the late 1930s. In an article about Reisman's prints for the Charles Marvin Fairchild Memorial Gallery, George D. Bianco writes that "he mural , painted in egg tempera, depicted various American industrial scenes...

In the late 1930s, Louis Ross completed work on the mural entitled "Cyclorama of Handicrafts" for the classroom in the Psychiatric Building of Bellevue Hospital. Ross was one of over a dozen artists commissioned by the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration (WPA/FAP) to paint a series of murals for the Psychiatric Building at Bellevue Hospital. The Living New Deal needs further information to determine the current status of the "Cyclorama of Handicrafts" mural that Louis Ross painted for Bellevue Hospital.

In the mid 1930s, Agnes Tait completed work on the mural entitled "Summer Holiday" for the women’s recreation room in the Psychiatric Building of Bellevue Hospital. Tait was one of over a dozen artists commissioned by the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration (WPA/FAP) to paint a series of murals for the Psychiatric Building at Bellevue Hospital. We learn from the brief survey of Tait's career on her webpage that she "...produced some of her best-known works during the Depression era including the frequently reproduced painting Skating in Central Park, a set of murals for Belleview Hospital in New York,...

In 1940, the Washington Post reported allocation of funding to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for improvements to naval facilities in the city's southeast quadrant: "A group of 685 men working on an additional ammunition depot and buildings for the United States Naval Research Laboratory at Bellevue, a naval torpedo station in Alexandria, Va., and storage facilities at the Navy Yard proper for ordnance and improvement of all utility facilities. Cost, $400,000." In 1942, the Washington Post reported on cuts to WPA funding that were affecting military projects, but noted roadway improvements and new building construction at the Bellevue Magazine naval facility...

The W.P.A. conducted the following work at what is now just Bellevue Pond: 1937 MDC annual report: "Bellevue Ponds, Medford; work was started in the late fall of 1937 on a project for improvement and development, as a recreational area, of the Upper and Lower Bellevue Pond and surrounding land on South Border Road near the Roosevelt Circle. The ponds will be dredged and cleaned, gravel placed on banks, rubble masonry spillways constructed, the surrounding woodland thinned and improved and gravel walks will be built." 1938 report: "South Border Road, Middlesex Fells Reservation, Medford; the development and beautification of Upper and Lower Bellevue Ponds on South Border Road was...

The first WPA project in Sonoma County, California made improvements to a large reclamation project which is mostly forgotten today. Historically, drainage of swampland and naturally poorly drained areas of the United States opened up millions of acres to farming, especially in the Corn Belt of the Midwest, where vast tracts of “wet” prairie were drained for settlement. Government surveys indicated that nearly a fourth of the nation’s potential agricultural land, approximately 216 million acres, was too poorly drained for productive farming. At first, privately financed companies organized to reclaim these swamplands. Created in 1784, the Dismal Swamp Canal Company had the dual...

In 1929 the Linden Irrigation District was incorporated and established plans to divert  water from the Calaveras River at Bellota, a community about five miles east of Linden,  and create a series of percolation dams to restore the depleted ground water table in the area.  There had been an early dam in the same vicinity, built in 1905, but it washed out within a year.  A Civil Works Administration (CWA) project was authorized late in 1933 to construct the Bellota Dam and clean out the channel of the Calaveras River.  Local opposition to the plan resulted in an injunction against the project, which...

Construction on Belmont's central fire station was begun in 1935 by SERA and completed under the direction of the WPA using local labor. The station hired its first two employees in 1938. Presently, the building houses Belmont's Center for Independence of the Disabled (https://www.cidbelmont.org).

WPA laborers worked to grade slopes and construct a bypass road near the carpenter shop in Belmont Lake State Park in Babylon.

Parks first constructed a playground at the intersection of 182nd St. and Belmont Ave. in 1937. A press release from July of that year announced the opening of "five playgrounds, constructed by the Department of Parks with relief labor and funds," noting that "These playgrounds are five of the twenty-four sites in neglected areas selected by the Commissioner of Parks and acquired by condemnation after authorization by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment on July 15, 1936." One of these five playgrounds was located on part of what is now Belmont Playground. Today's Parks website explains that at its opening in...

Works Progress Administration (WPA) laborers worked to improve Belmont Road in Babylon. The project was completed Aug. 1938.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) reconstructed Belmont Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. WPA Bulletin: WPA in Worcester removed electric car rails on Belmont Street from Shrewsbury Street to Lake Bridge and is installing safety islands in the center of the highway.  

In 1940, as the construction of the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn was nearing completion, two pedestrian overpasses were constructed leading from Shore Rd. over the Parkway to the waterfront promenade. The pedestrian bridges, located at 92nd St. and 81st St. are still in use. An August 1940 press release from the Department of Parks described the work: "The approaches consist of steps, walks and ramps. The overpass opposite 92 Street has four spans over the parkway and two spans of stepped ramps parallel to the parkway leading to the wide promenade at the water's edge... The overpass at Old Glory Overlook, approximately...

In 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the Clear River Camp (also known as the Norris Camp), which served as the headquarters for the Beltrami Island Project.   The Project was part of a “pioneering experiment in relocation and land-use planning” undertaken nationally, through the Land Utilization Project (est. 1937). Under the Project, “farmers on cutover lands were relocated and the land was reclaimed by the CCC, whose enrollees went to work ‘developing and managing forestry, wildlife and recreational resources.’”   The Clear River Camp is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1941, the Works Progress Administration  (WPA) conducted improvement work on a grass airstrip at Beltsville MD. The Washington Post reported in April that “clearing, grubbing, grading, draining, construction of runways, seeding and installation of lighting facilities" had begun.   Two hangars were slated to be constructed, as well, but probably were never built – since they were still not present at the site in 1945, according to Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields website. In 1980, the airfield was decommissioned and bulldozed. The site is now part of the giant Henry Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Station and occupied by USDA Animal and Plant Health...

In 1942, the Works Projects Administration (WPA) constructed 60-acre Soledad Park in East Los Angeles, CA. "From the 1940s to the 1960s," the L.A. Conservancy notes, "Belvedere Park (renamed in 1949) was known for hosting the games of the local Mexican American baseball leagues in the northern field, 'El Porvenir.' The park helped to foster a sense of community that led to the baseball players' involvement in local political and labor organizations, and the teams helped sustain the players' traditional language and culture." The construction of the Pomona Freeway in the 1960s divided the park in half: 31-acre Belvedere Park to the...

Nobleboro-Damariscotta Bridge and Belvedere Rd. were improved with WPA aid in the mid 1930s. The following information is from a 1937 municipal report: W. P. A. PROJECTS No Appropriations Expenditures: Nobleboro-Damariscotta Bridge Miscellaneous $14.00 Materials $236.04 Truck $17.22 Superintendence $92.80 Total. $360.06 Belvedere Road Miscellaneous $7.00 Materials $230.46 Trucks $292.32 Superintendence $82.00 Total Expenditures by Town $971.84 Receipts: Town of Nobleboro, A cost construction of Bridge ~ $180.03 "Note:—The bridge above referred to was totally unfit for travel, and with the co-operation of the Selectmen of Nobleboro and the Federal W. P. A. the project was completed. In the opinion of the Selectmen, the Belvedere road was one of the third class roads...

WPA Bulletin, 1937: "A 12-acre pond is included on the land. WPA workmen have completed construction of a dike to hold in this water and in the winter the spot can be used for winter sport purposes."

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted development work at Ben Ficklin Park in San Angelo, Texas. Work included $3,095 on a garden.

The Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the former Ben Franklin School in Shawnee, Oklahoma during the late 1930s. The Living New Deal suspects that, like Washington School, another New Deal construction Project in Shawnee, the New Deal building replaced the older Ben Franklin School building which had been constructed in 1904. The description on the Waymarking webpage for this site reads as follows: "This is a two-story brick school with a flat roof and concrete coping. The entrance is slightly recessed with a concrete block surround. All windows have continuous brick sills. On the first level, north of the entrance are...

Sponsor: County of Mariposa WPA Proj. No. 165-3-1093, December 21, 1936, $7,997. "Widen, drain, and surface road; repair bridge and do other work incidental thereto on Ben Hur Road, Mariposa County, near Mariposa. Not in the Federal Aid Highway System. In addition to projects specifically approved. County owned property." Average Employed 26, months to complete 6, Total Federal and sponsor funds $12,181.

While less famous than its contemporary, Timberline Lodge, this New Deal sponsored mountain resort also is significant as an Oregon example of WPA log architecture. The Skyliner Lodge is located in the Deschutes National Forest, west of Bend. It was completed by WPA workers in 1936 for the Skyliners Club, a group founded in 1927 to promote winter recreation in the central Oregon Cascades as well as provide search and rescue services.  Thus, the facility became an important headquarter for a group associated with developing the region’s winter recreation industry and environmental education mission. As described in the National Register of...

"The Legend of El Diablo" "...is an oil painting on masonite done by Clarkson Dye (FAP/WPA Project #7754). It measures 42-1/4" x 52-1/2" and hangs in the second floor legislative meeting room. Originally this painting was installed at Mt. Diablo State Park, but was moved to the old State Capital Building after restoration."

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Civil Works Administration carried out “repairs and renewals” work at the Benjamin Franklin School (renamed Guy Benjamin School) on St. John.

The US 82 bridge between Greenville, Mississippi and Lake Village, Arkansas was constructed to increase access between the two states to benefit economic development in the Delta. It was dismantled and replaced in 2011 due to increased river traffic, which resulted in numerous hits to the bridge over the years, and increased vehicular traffic which resulted in traffic control issues due to the narrow lanes and lack of shoulders. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation lent $2.55 million toward the cost of the original bridge. WPA funds were secured in 1938 for the remainder. The Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) was also involved with...

The Bennett School contains this WPA mural "History of Books" by Gustaf Dahlstrom, a 4'6" x 70' oil on canvas frieze in 15 sections. The frieze was restored in 2000.

The Bennett School contains a mural "Children's Subjects" by Grace Spongberg, depicting four subjects: 1) Art, 2) History, 3) Science, 4) Music Medium: oil on canvas Size: 4 panels, each 11' x 6' Restoration Info: Restored 2001

"Bennett Spring State Park is located in Bennett Springs, Missouri, approximately 12 miles (19 km) west of Lebanon on Highway 64. The park was established in 1923. It is centered around the spring that flows into the Niangua River and gives the park its name... In the 1930’s the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made various improvements to the park. The CCC built the dining lodge, cabins, trails, roads, shelters, gauge station, and the arched stone bridge across the spring branch. The bridge has 3 distinctive sideways “C’s” to memorize the men of the CCC who built it. The CCC also channelized the...