Work Relief Programs Sites

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor conducted improvements at the former Webster School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. WPA Bulletin: In Webster Grammar School, Cambridge, WPA workmen have weather-stripped 194 windows. This work will result in a saving of fuel costs, elimination of drafts from loose windows and will help maintain an even temperature throughout the building.

This small Brooklyn playground was opened by the Department of Parks in December 1935. The press release announcing the opening explained that it, and the other 12 playgrounds opened on the same day, collectively contained: "88 small swings; 72 large swings; 36 seesaws; 14 playhouses; 15 large slides; 11 sand tables; 10 garden swings; 7 small slides; 7 small tables; 6 handball courts; 6 jungle gyms; 5 shuffleboard courts; 5 wading pools; 4 parallel bars; 3 horizontal bars; 3 horizontal ladders; 3 horseshoe pitching, etc.; 2 basketball courts, 1 shower." As researcher Frank da Cruz explains here, almost all New York...

Michael Lenson painted "Enlightenment of Man" with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. The New York Times wrote the following in 2003 in a retrospective article of New Jersey-based artist Michael Lenson: " moved to Newark and applied at the W.P.A. office on Halsey Street ... Soon, Mr. Lenson was designing and executing murals for the state W.P.A. program. He went on to become assistant state supervisor in charge of the other muralists in the agency. By the time the federal W.P.A. closed in 1943, Mr. Lenson had created six murals and supervised the execution of 15 more in New Jersey by...

Between 1936 and 1940, the WPA constructed a classroom building, an auditorium and a gymnasium at the Weleetka campus. The buildings are still standing, amidst a number of more recent constructions. The 1985 Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory described the WPA structures: "The first is the classroom building which has eight rooms and is a single-story, T-shaped (87' x 111') building constructed of cut, coursed, and rusticated native stone of buff color... The auditorium is a single-story, rectangular (94' x 56') building which is stepped on the south side... The roof is flat with parapets. The entrance has an art deco flavor... The gymnasium is...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) supported the construction of welfare housing in Houlton ME between 1933 and 1935. Excerpts from the Annual Town Reports, Houlton Maine: 1933 Partial Cost of Houses Constructed For Welfare Department 13 people involved and the Houlton Planing Mill $1,337.83 Welfare Department – Labor Expenses 41 men employed as laborers $1,525.00 paid from R.F.C. Account. ADMINISTRATION Besides the High School lot, the Chairman personally supervised the building of six small houses which were occupied when built by those unable at that time to own or rent homes. Report of Federal Activities...

The Works Progress Administration spent $1,500,000 for miscellaneous alterations, additions, renovations, grading, and landscaping of grounds at hospital and institutions to New York's Charity Hospital. In addition, a nurse's home and a power plant were constructed at the hospital in the 1930s with the assistance of the Public Works Administration (PWA). Originally named Penitentiary Hospital and located on what was then known as Blackwell's Island, the first hospital was built in 1832 to serve the prisoners housed at Blackwell's Penitentiary. After the hospital was destroyed by a fire in 1858, architect James Renwick, Jr. designed a new building to be called City Hospital, on...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) supplied labor toward the following project in Golovin, Alaska: "A road is being built to a well half a mile out of Golovin and the well is dug deeper and larger. It is hoped that this well will prove a better source of water than has even been here before." The location of this project is currently unknown to Living New Deal.

The Civilian Conservation Corps built facilities at the Wellington State Beach. The work included several structures, picnic facilities, and the landscaping of the beach. Brief history of the park, from NH State Parks: "One dollar; what will it buy today? In 1931, for one dollar and the generosity of an ecologically-minded summer visitor from New York City, the state of New Hampshire obtained the deed to Wellington Reservation. It was "to be forever kept as a public forest reservation, to be used for the development of a bird sanctuary, for public recreation, . . and for any purpose tending to the promotion...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed Festival Hall, an auditorium, at the Wells County Fairgrounds, located at the southeast corner of North Dakota Highway 15 and U.S. Highway 52. "Also constructed during the depression years was Festival Hall (1938). A WPA project, it was purportedly designed by Wells County agent and fair manager, E. W. Vancura. The main floor of the 136' x 44' building is comprised of a wooden-floored auditorium with a large stage at its north end and a very small stage midway along the building's west wall. The basement was designed to house industrial exhibits during the...

This neoclassical building was first constructed in 1903, and was redecorated by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s.

Henry Simon painted a series of murals entitled "The Founding of McKendree College, Lebanon, Illinois." The murals were intended for that institution but never installed. "The Circuit Rider," "Bishop McKendree at the Site of the College" and "Peter Aker's Prophecy" were painted in 1941 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project.  

Delaware utilized substantial federal resources in developing and improving its road network during the Great Depression. Among the dozens of projects undertaken by the federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) during 1934 was construction along Welsh Tract Road in Newark. An average of 1,410 were put to work each week during 1934 as a result of the CWA’s road, sidewalk, bridge, and other related infrastructure efforts in Delaware.  

According to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, “Some of the park development and most of the road systems are attributed to Civilian Conservation Corps activities in the 1930s.”

"Financed by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, work started May 24, 1935, on a project of grading Prospect Park, removing mud and silt from the Wepawaug River, and building riprap walls on the river bank. This work, completed October 31, 1935, stood the severe test imposed by the flood waters that rushed down the little river during the excessive rainfall which preceded the hurricane of September 21, 1938."

The Works Progress Administration extended and built additional facilities for the Wertz Airport in Charleston. The additions included an administration building. The airport serves today under the name Yeager Airport. In 1930 Wertz field was developed in Institute. Operated by West Virginia Airways, Inc the field was named after Charleston Mayor W.W. Wertz. Commercial flight began with American Airlines in 1933 from the same field. The field was a popular site for air shows. The WPA added improvements to the airport with “grading, ditch-digging and other work” by late 1936. Just after this West Virginia State College began the Civilian Pilot Training Program in...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve Wesleyan Drive outside Macon in Bibb County, Georgia ca. 1936.

The WPA provided assistance in repairing and otherwise improving the Ninth Regiment / West 14th Street Armory in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. The building is no longer extant. "The (22nd) Twenty-Second Regiment / 14th Street Armory (1863) building was replaced with the (9th) Ninth Regiment / West 14th Street Armory (1894-1896) building, which was later replaced by (42nd) Forty-Second Division / West 14th Street Armory (1971) building, which in turn was replaced by a mix use structure, all on the same site." (Wikipedia)

The federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) 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 street and sidewalk repairs on West 231st Street from Corlear Avenue to Riverdale Avenue.

Delaware utilized substantial federal resources in developing and improving its road network during the Great Depression. Among the dozens of projects undertaken by the federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) during 1934 was construction along West Avenue in Holloway Terrace, northeast of New Castle. According to Delaware's Annual Report of the Chief Engineer State Highway Department, 1934: The work was carried on throughout the State, and consisted largely of clearing and grubbing, ditching, grading, sodding, construction of sidewalks, building of masonry culverts and bridges and the re­ pairing of dikes along the banks of the Delaware and Christian Rivers. An average of 1,410...

The West Bethel School was one of several schools that were improved with Civil Works Administration (CWA) funds in Bethel. The work consisted of painting the interior and exterior of the building, and the labor was paid for the most part with CWA funds. The CWA expenditure was $1236.00. The West Bethel school building was moved a few feet. Today the school building serves as the West Bethel Children's Center. Excerpt from the Annual Reports of the Officers of the Town of Bethel: "1933 Superintendent of Schools Through the funds furnished by the Civil Works Administration milk has been provided each school day to meet...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) impounded West Cache Creek with multiple dams above Lost Lake, in Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge. This created a series of lakes, or "fish pools," downstream of French Lake. The project is discussed in Lawton News-Review: The next project listed for this camp will provide one of the most desireable improvements, aside from the construction of the larger lakes. It embodies the construction of seven fish culture pool dams on West Cache creek, extending over a distance of three miles from Lost Lake to Forest Headquarters. These pools will serve to keep live water running...

Fort Lee, New Jersey received a modern sewer system during the Great Depression with the assistance of federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor. Fort Lee's Palisadian newspaper wrote: For many years has been without the benefit of a sewer system. Often the overflowing of cesspools has created a condition that was not only very unpleasant but to health. The officials have been cognizant of the bad condition for a number of years but because of Fort Lee's sorry financial plight were unable to provide a remedy. A majority of the property owners effected were in no position to shoulder an...

The West End Fire Station, West End Fire Company #3, was built in 1937 with Works Progress Administration (WPA) funding. The building is currently used as a fire station museum.

The caption of the National Archives and Records Administration WPA photo shown here states that this West Falls library was constructed to "provide for the recreational and educational needs of the Village of West Falls." The building is still in use as a library today.

Fort Lee, New Jersey's old West Fort Lee schoolhouse during the Great Depression with the assistance of federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor. Fort Lee's Sentinel newspaper wrote: "Parents and property owners of West Fort Lee were greatly cheered ... by news that the Federal Government has approved a WPA grant for the repair of the West Fort Lee schoolhouse. ... t is hoped will result in the prompt modernization of "a building that is in dire need of such treatment." The exact location of the old school is unknown to Living New Deal.

Built in 1939, this Works Progress Administration project was the Auditorium and Dining Hall for West Georgia College.

The Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) constructed at least four small bridges in 1940 along West Harmony Road, southwest of Hartford, Arkansas, to carry the thoroughfare across several unnamed ditches.

An inventory of WPA project photographs compiled by Becky Jordan at Iowa State University includes reference to numerous public works projects undertaken by the agency in Iowa between 1935 and 1940. The collection of 1,271 photographs documents the variety and extent of New Deal related efforts undertaken in the Hawkeye State. Included among the many WPA projects described in the collection is the West High School stadium (Project 1055) in Waterloo, Blackhawk County.

The rock wall along the south and east sides of the West Lawn Cemetery in Henryetta, Oklahoma were constructed by the WPA in 1939. The wall is approximately 40 inches high with large square rock pillars about every 12 feet. The wall is 3/10 of a mile long. The cemetery is located in the western part of Henryetta.  

The Works Progress Administration built the West Limestone County High School in Athens, circa 1936-1938. The exact location and condition of the structure is unknown to the Living New Deal.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted multiple street improvement projects in Jefferson City, Missouri, including: West Main Street to Forest Drive was paved in 1935 but not before a cut and fill excavation, knocking down slopes and filling valleys in the roadway. When that was completed concrete gutters and curbs were installed and the street was paved.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed an eight-inch water main along "upper West Main street" in Middletown, New York.

Improvements were made to the Millbury, Massachusetts's old West Millbury School building and grounds with the assistance of federal New Deal funds. The old school, which also went by the name of Grass Hill School, has since been restored by the local historical society. The Civil Works Administration provided labor for a roof shingling project begun and completed in 1933. At the same time Federal Emergency Relief Act funds enabled other improvements at the school, such as the installation of concrete steps. The National Youth Administration conducted miscellaneous improvements at the school.

One of architect Clarence “Cap” Wigington’s distinctive St. Paul structures, the West Minnehaha Recreation Center was built between 1937 and 1938 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Wigington was the first black municipal architect in the country, and many of his designs were brought to completion by New Deal funding and local laborers. See the Harriet Island Pavilion (now Clarence W. Wigington Pavilion) and Hamline Playground Building for other examples of his WPA-era work in St. Paul. The West Minnehaha Recreation Center, known as “West Minne” by locals, was built of Platteville limestone and has received many additions and renovations since...

Scottsbluff's historic former Carnegie Library—now the West Nebraska Arts Center—received an addition constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1936. "The 62-foot addition, built in 1936 by the W.P.A., was designed by architect O. J. Hehnke of Scottsbluff. The addition maintains the original material, parapet, cornice, basement, and window lines." The addition projected from the east end of the building.

In 1936, 550 Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers helped lay 25,000 feet of water pipe around 34th and Adeline Streets in West Oakland, under the auspices of the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD).  In 1937-38, 400 WPA workers helped the EBMUD lay 15,000 feet of 36" and 30" water main "between 22d and Adeline Streets and Fourth Avenue and East 11th Street", according to a report in the Oakland Tribune.  Since those are both intersections, the implication is that the lines ran from West Oakland across downtown to inner East Oakland; but that needs to be verified. In any case, the newspaper...

"The Old West Palm Beach National Guard Armory (also known as the Palm Beach County Armory) is a historic site in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States. It is located at 1703 South Lake Avenue. On June 11, 1992, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The Armory building was constructed in 1939 in Art Deco style by architect William Manley King with Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds. It was occupied by the National Guard Armory from 1939-1982."

The W.P.A. was responsible for construction of the band shell at West Park in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The historic West Peak fire lookout tower in Coronado National Forest was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933. NRHP Nomination Form: "Located on the Safford Ranger District, this 45 ft high Aermotor HC-40 steel lookout tower has a 7 ft by 7 ft steel cab and was erected in 1933 by a CCC crew. The original log cabin associated with this lookout was removed in 1959 and replaced by a modern structure which is not eligible for the National Register. Study of historic photographs reveals that no major structural changes have occurred to the tower, This tower is...

"The first West Portal Branch Library was built on a parcel of land which had been transferred from the Board of Education to the San Francisco Public Library in February of 1936. The Branch was opened to the public on May 2, 1936. Just three years later, on May 8, 1939, the Branch was re-opened in a new building designed by architect Frederick H. Meyer and constructed by the Works Progress Administration for a cost of $109,090. West Portal Branch was designed in a Mediterranean style with colorful red, ceramic roof tiles. Inside, delicate paintings grace the ceiling beams." (sfpl.org)