Work Relief Programs Sites

Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) built an addition to the West Virginia Children's Home in Elkins in 1935.

The Works Progress Administration built retaining walls for the West Virginia Industrial Home for Girls in the vicinity of Salem, Harrison County.  

The Work Projects Administration (WPA) built the office of the West Virginia Road Commission in Buckhannon. A building plaque states that the project was built by the WPA in 1940 and sponsored by the State Road commission of West Virginia. The gable stone inset bearing the 1939 date suggests that construction begun that year and was completed sometime in 1940. The parcel is listed as district 02, map 2, parcel 19, although parcels 17 and 18 located behind the site are also now state property. The portion of the 1940 building is recorded in deed book 0096, page 313 for 0.82 acres. The...

The National Youth Administration built a road for the West Virginia State University (former West Virginia State College) campus.  

Multiple school buildings in southeastern Vermont were improved with federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) funds and labor. Athens/Jamaica town report, 1933-4: At present there are four different jobs under the C. W. A. either going on or finished. At South Wardsboro the school house has been shingled and a new chimney built. At West Wardsboro one side of the school building has been shingled. At Athens running water is being piped to the school. In South Newfane the school building has been moved farther back from the road and is being completely remodeled. The labor for all these projects is provided...

The WPA partially demolished and reconstructed the West Whittier School in the 1930s. From the photo below: "The West Whittier Grammar School constructed by the WPA in California is a far cry from the little old 'red schoolhouse', of a few decades ago."

"According to a Maryland Historical Trust report, "Westbrook Elementary School (1939) is an important architectural landmark in the history of Montgomery County and its public school. It is the only Federal Public Works school in the county. A plaque in the school's main hall identifies the building as a project of the Federal Works Agency, Public Works Administration and includes the names John M. Carmody, Federal Works Agency and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States." Also, according to the school's history page (https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/westbrookes/about/westbrookhistory.aspx) Westbrook was built with the assistance of WPA labor."

The WPA allocated $149,064.73 to conduct repairs along Westchester Avenue in the Bronx during the 1930s. They conducted work specifically along the 0.6-mile stretch of the avenue between Metcalf Ave. and Grant Circle. WPA Official Project No. 65-97-442.

Westenfield Corporation initially developed Westenfield Park in 1932, and the City of Austin operated the swimming pool that year. The City of Austin acquired the park in 1937. The Austin Recreation Department worked with the National Youth Administration in the same year to build the original playground and do work on the swimming pool. The swimming pool was replaced in 2013-2014 due to cracks, leaks and plumbing problems in the 80-year old pool. The playground equipment has also been updated.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted a massive improvement and development project at what was then a municipal airport (now Westerly State Airport), in Westerly, Rhode Island. Description: "Excavate, grade, surface runways install lighting and drainage at the Westerly Airport." WPA Project No. 165‐1‐16‐135; $1,149,411. Sponsor: State of Rhode Island

In 1935-36, Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) carried out repairs to a half-mile segment of Western Avenue, from Wisconsin Avenue to Fessenden Street.   The road was paved with “temporary material consisting of broken-concrete base, broken stone, and slag. These large aggregates are choked with smaller material, and an application of asphaltic cement completes the operation. This construction forms a very good temporary roadway.”   The work is likely still extant, but invisible beneath subsequent repaving.  

"Simpkins Hall is located just west of Sherman Hall, on the campus of Western Illinois University, and opened in 1939.   The building at that time was called the “Training School” or “Lab School.”  It was here that Western student teachers, under supervision, practiced teaching in classrooms with actual students.  It served as a training school, until the school moved to Horrabin Hall in 1968.  Today Simpkins Hall houses the Department of English and Journalism. ...What is historically unique about the construction of Simpkins Hall is that it was built during the Great Depression, a time when unemployment was rampant and construction...

Western Kentucky University received money from the PWA for the construction of the Kentucky Building and of Cherry Hall in the late 1930s. WPA and PWA assistance also helped build a new music building. Henry Hardin Cherry Hall, named in honor of the then-recently deceased president of Western Kentucky State Teachers College (now Western Kentucky University), was project number KY 1043-R of the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works. The building was dedicated in September 1937, the month after Dr. Cherry's death and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The architect was Brinton B. Davis. The contractor...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built a grandstand at the Uintah County fairgrounds, now known as the Uintah County Western Park.  We do not know the year of construction. A report on historic sites in and around Vernal, Utah, says that there were several New Deal projects, including street work and sewers in Vernal, work at the dinosaur quarry at Dinosaur National Monument,  41 reservoirs, 150 miles of roads and 20 bridges.  These were done by various New Deal agencies, which are not specified here in that report (Lufkin 2004, p 6).  The county fair grandstand would have been built by the...

The Western Promenade is an historic promenade, 18.5 acres (7.5 ha) public park and recreation area in Portland, Maine's West End neighborhood. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and includes a number of historic properties, including the Adam P. Leighton House. The WPA was involved in constructing retaining walls.

Westfall Station was a former Sierra National Forest station that housed "Type III wildland fire engines that are typically staffed with five to seven firefighters. Our specialized engines carry equipment to spray water and foam and are equipped to respond to a variety of incidents." (USDA Forest Service) Constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), it consists of "a collection of 12 buildings located 12 miles north of Oakhurst, CA in high-canopy forest at 4,580 feet in elevation. Eight of the structures were constructed between 1933 and 1938, as were stone walls and steps around the site." (The Sierra Historic Restoration...

W.P.A. Bulletin, 1937: "ew projects will build two huge dikes in Springfield and its sister community, West Springfield, at a cost to the government of $304,000. At its peak, next spring, the projects will employ about 500. ... The West Springfield project will begin near the Eastern States Exposition grounds (inundated during the '36 flood) and extend in a southeast direction to the Agawam bridge embankment. It will include 6000 tons of rip-rap."

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor worked to develop what is now Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport, then Westfield Air Base. Project details: "Make improvements at airport" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐14‐237 Total project cost: $1,178,513.00 Sponsor: Mayor, City of Westfield "Improve field by clearing, grubbing, and landscaping" Official Project Number: 265‐3‐14‐78 Total project cost: $1,140,506.00 Sponsor: War Department, Corps of Engineers, District Engineer, Providence

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) paved 34 streets in Hartford, Connecticut, including Westland Street, as part of a $2.5 million, two-year paving project begun in 1937. The federal government contributed $1 million.

The Works Progress Administration completed street improvements on Westminster Street in Bellows Falls.

In 1935, the City of Portland Bureau of Planning approved the development of a city park to serve the Westmoreland neighborhood, which had rapidly developed during the previous twenty years without the benefit of any park or playground facilities. The City acquired forty-two acres for the park’s development from the Oregon Iron & Steel Co. (a business owned by Ladd Estate Company, the developer of Westmoreland) in January 1936. Since Crystal Springs Creek ran through the flat rather marshy site, water features were incorporated into the park’s design by Francis B. Jacobberger, a principal in the architectural firm Jacobberger &...

CATESBEIANA: "Westmoreland State Park is one of the six original state parks formed in Virginia. It opened its doors to the public in 1936. Many of the trails and other features of the park were constructed by the CCC in the early 1930’s."

"President Roosevelt signed a $750,000 Works Progress Administration (WPA) project bill for the air base's construction in November 1939. Fourteen hundred WPA and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers cleared the land, and actual construction was started in February 1940." W.P.A. project information: "Construct and improve facilities and grounds" Official Project Number: 165‐3‐14‐23 Total project cost: $4,197,055.00 Sponsor: War Department, District Engineer, Corps of Engineers "Construct telephone system" Official Project Number: 165‐3‐14‐340 Total project cost: $98,526.00 Sponsor: Commanding General, 1st Corps Area, U.S. Army "Construct and improve facilities and grounds" Official Project Number: 65‐3‐14‐715 Total project cost: $1,497,384.00 Sponsor: Commanding Officer, Northeast Air Base, Constructing Quartermaster, Westover Field, U.S. Army

The Works Progress Administration built the Westport School in Westport MN. The structure has a simple, Moderne exterior. Most windows have since been bricked up. Minnesota Historical Society has a photo from initial construction from the Works Progress Administration Collection. That collection "provides numerous views of WPA projects around the state of Minnesota" along with very old photographs (clearly not the case for the relevant imafge here). The town peaked in population in 1940 (104) and since declined to half that amount by 2010, with its post office shutting down in 1966.

An 8' x 6' black granite sculpture of "St. Francis on Horseback" by Beniamino Bufano located in the central courtyard of the project. It was made in 1935 but not placed here until 1945.

Constructed by federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor in 1936, the "Westville School is made of gray limestone with an attractive red brick, sheltered, entrance way. The building serves as the high school and is a large, rectangular building. Visible on the porch are two stained glass windows with a large W in the center of each."

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve what was known as the "Merchantville borough park" in Merchantville, New Jersey ca. 1936. The park in question is most likely what is known as Westwood Park.

Also known as State Road Commission District 6 garage, the structure was built by the Works Progress Administration and sponsored by the Department of Highways. Across West Virginia, the Department of Highways sponsored district headquarters and garages constructed by the Works Progress Administration. All utilized a similar airfoil design, a variation on the Quonset hut design. The structures were built of stone. Although the Wetzel County Garage is not marked with a metal plaque, and there is a gable date is covered by the DOH signing, it is believed this is part of the same design used at other locations ca. 1939-1941. Other garage...

"The high school in Wewoka is of another type of stone and had a large addition as a WPA project. The addition has a WPA marker, but is such a perfect match, it blends with the older portion of the building." --Leaning on a Legacy

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) undertook a project "painting the building on Delaware street wharf"—a city-owned facility—in New Castle, Delaware, starting Jan. 1934. The facility appears to be no longer extant.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor constructed a water main along Wharf Rd. in Rockport, Mass.

Between World War I and World War II, the economy of New Bedford changed dramatically. The city’s whaling industry disappeared and textile manufacturing plummeted. In 1937, the city’s unemployment rate was a staggering 32.5 percent. New Bedford was down and out, with many families struggling to survive. The WPA's intervention in New Bedford was intended to boost the city's fishing industry. In 1925, New Bedford fishermen still had to sell their catches at Fulton Fish Market in New York because New Bedford did not have its own fish auction house. Eventually buyers began to come to New Bedford to buy...

"The road improvement project in Whatcom County calls for an investment of $9,955 by the WPA, $7,963 by the Whatcom County Commissioners and will put the roads in the vicinity of Ferndale in the best of condition. Fifteen WPA workers are slated to start clearing, grubbing, grading and surfacing the road the day following Armistice Day anQd will complete the pork in about two months."

The Works Progress Administration built a bridge and walls in Whatcom Falls Park, in the vicinity of Bellingham. The bridge is in good condition and is located 100 yards from the park entrance.

The federal Works Progress Administration constructed a fieldhouse at what is now Wheeler Athletic Complex, in (West) Duluth, Minnesota.

The federal Work Projects Administration worked to improve the Wheeler Avenue School in Valley Stream, NY during the 1930s. One modest project in 1938 involved painting the interior and exterior of the building. WPA Official Project No. 685-21-2-21.

The Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge (WNWR) covers 35,000 acres  along the Tennessee River near Decatur, Alabama.  The Wheeler Migratory Bird Refuge was established by Executive Order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938 to provide habitat for wintering and migrating birds in the eastern  United States (the name was changed to the present NWR in 1940). The refuge was made possible by the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) construction of Wheeler dam (1933-1936) and the creation of Wheeler Lake.  It became the first National Wildlife Refuge associated with a multi-purpose reservoir, which provides for navigation over the Muscle Shoals area, flood control, electricity production, and...

WPA crews built the Wheeler Street fire hall in Tonawanda in 1938 for Niagara Hose Company #3.

The Works Progress Administration built walls around Wheeling Stadium in Wheeling, Ohio County. The WPA-built structure replaced the old wall damaged by the 1936 spring flood.

In 1935, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) created Wheelwright Park trails in Cohasset, Massachusetts. The area was already a public park but the WPA greatly improved the accessibility. The trails that were cleared are about 4,000 feet or .7 miles long and traverse an area of 232 acres of land known as Wheelwright Park. The trails were constructed of gravel but have since become covered in leaves and pine needles. The park has trails that have natural rock formations in the midst of them as well as beside them. At parts there are natural rocks carved to be stairs in...