Work Relief Programs Sites

The Weed Patch Shelter, also commonly known as Peach Tree Shelter, was completed by CCC laborers in 1935. The style of the shelter is classified as parks rustic.

The building was originally called Vermin Shelter, today it is known as the recreational building. Originally the building was used to educate people about local animals. The shelter hosted various small predatory animals (hence the name "vermin shelter") for public viewing. The shelter also helped keep individuals away from nesting areas. The structure was completed by CCC laborers in 1934. The style of the recreational building is parks rustic.

CCC workers completed the Brown County State Park saddle barn in 1936. It is the largest saddle barn of any Indiana state park, with stalls for 25 horses. The saddle barn is classified as Parks Rustic.

The shelter house was completed by CCC laborers in 1935. The shelter functions as a store.

Strahl Shelter was renovated by CCC laborers in 1935. The style of the shelter is classified as parks rustic.

The Upper Shelter House was completed  by CCC laborers in 1935. CCC workers also constructed a drinking fountain near the shelter. The style of the shelter is classified as parks rustic.

Using a variety of native materials, the CCC built gatehouses designed to appeal to the eye and draw in visitors with hints of the delights of nature within the park. The west gatehouse is one of two at Brown County State Park. It was completed by CCC laborers in 1935. The style of the gatehouse is classified as parks rustic.

The West Lookout Tower was completed by CCC laborers in 1936. The building is a two story structure overlooking a valley. The style of the lookout is classified as parks rustic.

"In Brown Deer Park the lagoon was enlarged during the WPA program, and a pavillion of English design utilizing stone and timber was constructed in the side of a hill overlooking the lagoon. A stone-faced arch bridge was built." The WPA project also included a skating rink.

In 1888, a church and school building was erected in a central location at newly-divided Brown's Prairie, with the Reverend David Buchmueller as pastor and teacher. By 1911, a new wooden six-room school building was used each Sunday, with one teacher for six grades. In 1939, the wooden school was replaced using WPA funds, constructed by architect Travis Broesche and stone mason Carl Whitmarsh. In the 1940s, the Brown's Prairie School was referred to as Washington School, and after the 1950-51 school year, all students were transferred to Brenham after its annexation into the district.

A small rural schoolhouse was built in 1939 by the WPA for students in the rural community of Brown's Prairie, replacing a 1911 wooden one-room schoolhouse. Brown's Prairie School as described on a Texas Historical Marker located on the site of the former school: "In 1888, a church and school building was erected in a central location at newly-divided Brown's Prairie, with the Reverend David Buchmueller as pastor and teacher. By 1911, a new wooden six-room school building was used each Sunday, with one teacher for six grades. In 1939, the wooden school was replaced using WPA funds, constructed by architect Travis...

The Abilene Reporter-News discusses various New Deal projects in northern Texas, and includes the following: "In Brownwood, more than $350,000 was designated for improving the Brownwood Municipial airport as a WPA project. Later, another WPA project was added, constructing an $80,000 road from the city to the airport."

This swimming pool, with a unique design (above ground, concrete), is in New Martinsville, West Virginia. It was operational until just a few years ago. I swam there often as a child. Unfortunately, though it is still in existence, the pool needs repairs, and the town council refused to spend the money on the project, to the chagrin of constituents. It was built by the WPA. See the attached news article for a photo and history. The signage is original to the period.

A former municipal golf course in Brunswick Georgia built by Donald Ross and the WPA. It was purchased in the 1950's as a private club and has recently been rehabilitated.

The Brunswick airport was originally built in 1935 by the Maine Emergency Relief Administration, a state division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration after a survey of airports in the state by Capt. Harry M. Jones with the intention of building a chain of airports in coastal towns, inland towns, and lake resorts. It built 1 NW - SE 1800 x 50 gravel runway and 1 E - W 1800x100 graded runway. Naval Air Station Brunswick was developed and occupied in March 1943, and was first commissioned on April 15, 1943, to train and form-up Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadrons...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve many roads in San Francisco, including Brunswick St. "Consisted of excavation and disposal of 3,550 cubic yards of earth and rock, making available for use a hitherto ungraded street from Allison to Concord Street, the same as Silver Avenue."--Healy, p. 44.

Pictured is some of the remaining original paving installed by the WPA along Brush Creek as a flood control project in 1935. The project has a controversial history due to its relation to political machine boss Tom Pendergast's Concrete Company. "Other buildings built with Pendergast concrete were the Municipal Auditorium and Police Headquarters. Paving Brush Creek began November 1935 at a cost originally estimated at $1,395,000 and employing at one time 1,647 WPA workers. Concrete was laid eight to 10 inches thick and 70 feet wide." (www.kclibrary.org) The rumor is that there are bodies under the concrete, though with further improvements, no...

Description of a New Deal project in a 1937 annual report: "During construction of a roadway along the southerly side of the Neponset River in Milton, 8 feet of earth fill was placed over the High-level Sewer near the corner of Brush Hill Road and Brook Road. This is a W.P.A. project, under the supervision of the Massachusetts Department of Public Works, and no permission was given by this department for making this fill. No damage to the Metropolitan Sewer has resulted from this construction."

The WPA made extensive improvements to Brush School, Santa Rosa, California, under Official Project Number 65-3-364. The work to the one-room school house included building stone retaining walls, a playground and a presumed tennis court (Goddard, 1976: 72-74). Though now under private ownership, the stone walls and tennis court are visible from the public right-of-way. (Goddard does not identify the specific year of construction but it can be inferred from the WPA project number).

The Works Progress Administration built a three-span bridge over Brushy Creek in the vicinity of Atmore. This bridge was part of a county-wide bridge construction project in Escambia County. The approximate cost of the entire program was $377,500.00.  

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted work at what was then known as Brushy Mountain Prison in Petros, Tennessee.

Just east of the Bryan Bridge across the Niobrara, the Veterans Conservation Corps completed a little park on 1.46 acres of ground purchased by the state for park purposes. A driveway was built at the east and south corner of the bridge. In the canyons and timber at the river’s edge, a footbridge was built, tables constructed, an oven built of concrete, and underbrush cleared away. Nearby residents considered the park one of the outstanding beauty spots of the state, taking advantage of the natural resources of the site for a marvelous park.

Bryant Park was redesigned and rebuilt between 1933 and 1935 with the help of New Deal funding and Civil Works Administration labor. The project was supervised by the Parks Department, led at the time by Robert Moses. The central role of the New Deal in the reconstruction of the park has received little recognition, with most of the credit going to Moses' Parks Department. Yet, New Deal support was substantial. Moses himself stated for the NewYork Times that " the projects of 1934, with the exception of the parkways, were done almost entirely with relief labor," mentioning the reconstruction of Bryant...

The Works Progress Administration set up an outdoor library in Bryant Park. The "Reading Room" began in 1935 and closed in 1944. Today the park still serves as the site of an outdoor library, opened in 2003.

"This bronze sculpture depicts William Earl Dodge (1805–1883), one of the founders of Phelps, Dodge, a leading mining company. Dodge helped organize the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in the United States and served as the president of the National Temperance Society from 1865 to 1883. John Quincy Adams Ward (1830–1910) sculpted the piece, which was donated by a committee of Dodge’s friends and acquaintances and dedicated October 22, 1885. Dodge is represented leaning on a podium while delivering a speech. The piece originally stood in Herald Square on a pedestal designed by Richard Morris Hunt (who designed the pedestal for...

The NYC Parks Department website explains that: "Architect Charles A. Platt (1861–1933) designed this elegant black granite ornamental fountain to commemorate social worker and reformer Josephine Shaw Lowell (1843–1905). Shaw, who is said to be the first woman to be honored by a major monument in New York City, was the first female member of the New York State Board of Charities, serving from 1876 to 1889. The Memorial Committee that worked to build the fountain originally wanted it placed in Corlear’s Hook Park on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, near where Shaw focused her energies. Instead, the fountain, with its 32-foot-wide...

"The Garfield County Airport Hangar is significant as an unusual example of a log hangar. The hangar was built of local ponderosa pine by the Works Progress Administration in 1936. The hangar's gabled roof is supported sawn wood trusses spanning 83 feet (25 m). The trusses are expressed on the outside and infilled with half-rounds of log, giving a half timbered effect. The hangar and airport were built by Garfield County and the WPA with the aim of attracting tourism to Bryce Canyon National Park, which had been designated in 1928. The timber used in the hangar shows the marks of the...

Bryce Canyon was originally designated as a national monument by President Warren G. Harding in 1923 and became a national park through an act of Congress in 1928. The park covers 35,835 acres in south-central Utah. The New Deal greatly improved Bryce Canyon National Park.  Along with the National Park Service, the Public Works Administration (PWA) provided special funds, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked continuously in the park, and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was also active. The National Park Service recognizes the CCC's contribution on its website for Bryce Canyon NP, but not that of the PWA or WPA:  “During the 1930s...

Several cabins for Bryce Canyon National Park employees were built by New Deal agencies over the course of the 1930s.  They appear  in the residential area of the Park near the lodge. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built a 3-room employee cabin in 1937; the Public Works Administration (PWA) built two employee cabins in 1934; and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) build a rangers' dormitory in 1939 and remodeled a mess hall as a residence in 1938. It is not certain which of the present cabins are from the New Deal and which were built later; some park rangers believe that all of the cabins...

Rainbow Point was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) in 1939, and it has three different components.  First is the overlook area.  This has been refurbished in recent years, but the original stone and metal railings can be seen outside of the newer stone and log rails. Second is the "museum" at Rainbow Point.  The museum is not a building but an open structure with display cases featuring natural habitat, geology, etc.  The structure is relatively large (20 x 10 feet).  This is the most noted CCC project in Bryce Canyon National Park Third is the Bristlecone Trail at Rainbow Point.  This is a short, 1 mile...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) performed road work in Bryce Canyon National Park from 1934-1941.  The CCC made grading improvements on the Rim Road (the 20 mile-long road through the park) and built service roads.  The exact locations of such work cannot be ascertained today, but the roads are still there. The CCC also built parking lots at the Bryce Canyon Lodge and the headquarters building in 1936 and 1939. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) did some road work as well, in 1938-1941.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) laid out the first campground in Bryce Canyon National Park in 1934.  Several campsites are leveled using tell-tale CCC stone-work.  Water and sewer lines were laid.  The original tables no longer exist but metal fireplaces appear original. Also at the South Campground is the amphitheater, build by the CCC in 1934.  Originally called the "lecture circle," it has a simple wooden stage (which can be opened like a giant closet door) and rows of benches.  The old wooden benches have been replaced by plastic ones.

From 1934 to 1940, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built or improved major trails in Bryce Canyon National Park, greatly expanding the park's trail system.  The most impressive is the Under-The-Rim trail, running from Bryce Point to Rainbow Point (18.8 miles).  The second longest is the Rim trail from the administration area to Bryce Point.  The CCC also made improvements to the Fairyland Trail and trails from the South Campground to the rim. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) also did some unidentified trail work at Bryce Canyon National Park from 1938-1941.

The historic Buck Mountain fire lookout tower was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). NRHP Nomination Form: "Located on the Long Valley Ranger District, this 30 ft high CT-2 wooden x-brace tower has a 14 ft by 14 ft L-4 wood cab on top. It was built in 1933, probably by a CCC crew. The steps were slightly altered in 1953. The timbers were treated for preservation in 1957 and the roof was reshingled in 1983. These modifications have not had a negative impact on the property. This represents the best example of a surviving CT-2 type tower in the...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed sidewalks along, and otherwise improved, Buckeye Road in Phoenix, Arizona during the 1930s.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked to clear the land for / develop the then-new Buckhorn Island State Park.

The structure at Buckland Spring, between Colebrook and Mt. Gretna, Pennsylvania along Rt. 117, was constructed as a federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in 1938. ""From the back wall of this structure, there were two separate pipes from which flowed cold, pure spring water. People from a wide area would come to this site in large numbers with their glass gallon jugs and other containers to collect and take home this spring water," said Bowman of Mt. Gretna." (ldnews.com)

'(36 Acres) Work done consisted of rocking 1,500 lineal feet of paths 8 feet wide, surfacing 132,960 square feet of foot paths, resurfacing 22,300 square feet of drives, laying 15, 455 lineal feet of rock gutters, building 6,000 square feet of log retaining walls, 72 rock steps and coping, rubble masonry wall, surfacing 21,600 square feet of tennis courts, erecting 13,590 square feet of standard chain link fence, installing 2,800 lineal feet of pipe irrigation system, grading two small playgrounds, constructing 18,900 square feet of artificial stone sidewalk, spreading 1,000 cubic yards loam, planting shrubs furnished by the Park Commission...

Buescher State Park is connected to Bastrop State Park via a scenic 11-mile drive. This CCC project opened to the public in 1940. Mr. Emil and Mrs. Elizabeth Buescher donated the original land to the state between 1933 and 1936. Buescher was spared from the September 2011 fire that swept through Bastrop County. The park has a beautiful lake with fishing, camping, and hiking trails. A plaque in front of the Recreation Hall states: CCC Companies 1805 and 1811 worked on Buescher between 1933 and 1939. Recruits enrolled for a six month period and received base pay of $30 month. Between...