Work Relief Programs Sites

Construction of Rockford's Burpee Museum of Natural History was undertaken as a federal Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) project.

"Completed in 1936, the bridge consists of three skewed semicircular arches with multiplates fabricated by the Hardesty Manufacturing Company. It features rusticated stone facing and grapevined mortar joints, trademarks of WPA workmanship in southeastern Colorado. It is Colorado's only WPA bridge of skewed construction employing a multiplate liner."   (www.historycolorado.org)

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) completed improvements at theBurroughs Playground in Washington DC, between 1934 and 1935. The work consisted of the following improvements: “Resurfaced two tennis courts.” The playground is on the school grounds of the John Burroughs Elementary School and is used as a school grounds and community playground.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) built the American Legion meeting place, a log construction building with a brick fireplace.

The state historical marker at the site reads: "Burton Public Schools opened in 1874, and by 1926 nine grades were offered. In 1938, construction on Burton’s first high school began. Funded through the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA), the building was completed in 1940. Designed by architect Travis Broesche and built by local contractor Will Weeren, the school exhibits international and rustic architectural style. Features include abutting two-story rectangular blocks, a curved wall near the entrance, and a native field stone veneer."

A brick garage built by the WPA for Marysville High School: "Gives the school district space to store and repair school buses, which heretofore sat out in the weather, and repairs to buses had to be done by private shops." (from the Verso below)

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved Bush Road near the village of Mooers Forks, New York in 1936.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve many roads in San Francisco, including the stretch of Bush St. between Fillmore St. and Presidio Ave.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed sewers in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn. A 1936 photo shows construction at Bushwick Ave. & Vanderveer St.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted substantial improvement work to what was known as Butler School in Riverton Township, Michigan. The school was located on the "east side of Morton Road, between Chauvez and Kinney roads." The project was detailed in the attached article. The location and status of the school are presently unknown to Living New Deal.

The Butterfield School was constructed in 1935 as a red brick building, with no kitchen or indoor toilets. In fall of 1938, improvements were begun through a National Youth Administration Project. The project included construction of rock walls for landscaping, a rock retainer wall for the front of school grounds, two tennis courts, two underground cisterns for water storage, and graveling of sidewalks. The total cost was $1,525 and the NYA provide $1,000 in labor. The building is still extant and is currently in use as the Daybreak Community following the closing of the school in 2006.

"Butterworth Park is located at the corner of Grant St and Arthur St. The park occupies a square block near downtown. The park has includes a baseball stadium that includes permanent bleachers on one side of the field, a basketball court and a tennis court." "Bowditch, along with Butterworth and Winch Parks, were all built during the Great Depression of the 1930s as WPA projects." (Wikipedia)

"The federal government’s New Deal programs, specifically the Works Progress Administration and the Public Works Administration, also played a direct role in Rock Hill’s economic recovery. Building projects included ... Byrnes Auditorium on Winthrop’s campus." (sc.gov) "While a U.S. senator, Byrnes arranged for Works Project Administration funds to be used with matching state funds to construct three campus buildings – the auditorium, Thurmond Building, and Macfeat Nursery School, now the Macfeat House, a reception area created from the former Academic Computing Center. Byrnes exemplifies the monumental architectural style prevalent in Depression-era public buildings." (winthrop.edu)

Works Progress Administration (WPA) records in the National Archives report that in 1937 WPA workers were used to "Remodel, renovate, and paint buildings located at 460-476 C Street NW, together with other small supplementary buildings." The work included, "installation of plumbing and electrical facilities… demolishing and removing partitions, structures, equipment, etc., salvaging usable materials...". The purpose of the work was to render the buildings usable as offices and storage space by various departments of the District government. Exact location of the buildings in question was not given, but they have almost surely been demolished for subsequent federal office buildings, court houses and...

 The Cabildo has a long and notorious history. It was constructed in 1795-99 as the seat of the Spanish municipal government in New Orleans. The name of the governing body who met there was the "Illustrious Cabildo" or city council. It was site of the Louisiana Purchase Transfer in 1803.  The building later served as the home of the Louisiana Supreme Court and was where  the nationally significant Slaughterhouse and Plessey vs. Ferguson cases were heard before they went up to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Cabildo became the home of the Louisiana State Museum in 1911 and remains the flagship of that institution.

Forty miles southeast of Bend, Oregon, the Cabin Lake Guard Station served as a district ranger station and headquarters for the Fort Rock Ranger District of the Deschutes National Forest from 1921 through 1945. Members of a Civilian Conservation Corps camp, located adjacent to the ranger station from 1934 to 1938, contributed to the area’s development for recreational use as well as improved its function for the Forest Service. The CCC camp members built seven buildings for the ranger station, including the existing guard station building.  Six of these structures (ranger residences, a warehouse, maintenance shop, and a gas station) remain...

In 1542 Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo became the first European explorer to see the coast of California. This statue of the explorer "Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo" was made in cast concrete by Henry Lion in 1936. It was a Federal Art Project. It stands on the shore near the San Pedro Breakwater.

The WPA improved the recreation area at the Cabrillo School.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a field house (recreation hall) and athletic courts at the Cabrillo Playground in San Francisco, CA.   The exact date of this work is unknown to us. "Constructed field house for district recreation headquarters; basketball and 2 tennis courts, 1 volleyball etc. This improvement provided facilities for intensive supervised play." (Healy, p. 63). The "Hansel & Gretel" style field house, with restrooms, is still there, as are basketball and tennis courts which have been greatly modernized in recent years.

According to the West Virginia Department of Commerce: “Cacapon Resort State Park was the first CCC state park to be completed. Camp Morgan was established October 4, 1934 in what is now the main picnic area in the park. The land was devastated by clear-cutting of the timber and by poor agricultural practices of small subsistence farmers during the Great Depression. The men were responsible for the construction of 27 miles of roads and trails within the park, bath house, lake, dam and beach, picnic areas and shelters, stables, supply house, staff residences and rental cabins. The 12-room Old Inn was...

According to the Caddo Lake State Park History website, the cabins, pavilion, and trails were begun by Company 889 (June-November, 1933) and completed by Company 857 (October 1934-March 1937). Some of the original picnic benches remain, as do remnants of the original trails. The pavilion is no longer in use, though other buildings remain in use.

Text from the state historical marker reads: "To create jobs and bring county services nearer to residents of this area, Newton County officials provided materials and the U.S. Work Projects Administration (WPA) the funds to pay laborers to construct this building in 1940-41. Named for Harriet Trotti Cade who donated land for the project, it served as a sub-courthouse and Town Hall. The Cade building and rock wall were built with hand-shaped native sandstone and lumber milled in nearby Wiergate. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1993"

"The bowling greens at Cadwalader Park are kept in playing condition by the personnel." The WPA conducted major work at the park as well.

The National Youth Administration constructed the rock cafeteria for the Hickory Flat school in 1939. The original building featured a double-door entrance in the center and single door entrance/exits on either side of the center doors. The doors were wooden, with 9-pane lights in the upper half of the door. Windows and doors have been altered. The building remains in use by the Hickory Flat school system.

"The City of Roswell acquired the Haynes property in the 1930s and turned it into a municipal park. It was named Cahoon Park in 1936 after pioneer banker E.A. Cahoon. Now, the North Spring River is an intermittent waterway about 5 miles in length coursing through Roswells western suburbs with its banks largely lined with masonry wall or riprap. Numerous improvements to the park were undertaken as Works Progress Administration projects in the 1930s. One notable improvement along the river was construction of the masonry channel lining or riprap. Riprap lining was first added to the rivers channel through Cahoon...

"Besides constructing the amphitheater, workers from the Great Depression-era Works Progress Administration (WPA) also helped drain the ravine which Cain Park is situated in, covering up and culverting the creek that ran through its center. Attractive landscaping, tennis courts, ball fields, and walking paths completed the transformation of the former "wild" land into a public park."

Workers from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the amphitheater at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights, Ohio during the 1930s. "CAIN PARK THEATER was the first municipally owned and operated outdoor theater in the U.S. ... A permanent 3,000-seat open-air auditorium and 80' stagehouse were built by Italian stonemasons working under the WPA and dedicated on 10 Aug. 1938."

In 1937, the California Department of Natural Resources sponsored the Works Progress Administration to "Construct warehouse, garage, barracks, and residence; install refrigeration plant, water mains, and sewer facilities; landscape and improve grounds; and perform other appurtenant and incidental work, at and in the City of San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County. All work under this project is in connection with the construction and development of buildings and facilities to be used solely in the prosecution of the normal functions of the State Forestry Division, Department of Natural Resources. In addition to projects specifically approved. State owned property." WPA...

Constructed by the CCC

A sign on the community building in Caldwell, Kansas identifies it as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project.

Calf Pasture Beach is a Norwalk city park. Multiple New Deal agencies worked to improve the park during the 1930s. "Some additional buildings and sidewalks were constructed at Calf Pasture in 1935 with funding provided by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. Many of the buildings and sidewalks at Calf Pasture were washed away during the hurricane of September 1938. They were then replaced by Works Progress Administration workers."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built an administration and residence building for the fire-fighting arm of the California Division of Forestry in Humboldt County in 1941.  This is now a unit of Cal-Fire, the statewide forest and wildfire agency. The four or five building complex appears to have been constructed all at the same time and in the same style.  It is not clear if the WPA work went beyond a single building or the Division of Forestry added the rest of the structures.

The Works Progress Administration built this courthouse in Grantsville between 1941 and 1942. The building is stone construction with an entrance marked by a portico and a taller central portion. The massing of the rear facade is minimized by a gable roof and the facade is built of similar stone work. Of an interesting side note, Grantsville is named for General and President US Grant who is a distant cousin of FDR with the common ancestor of Philip Delano of 17th century Massachusetts.

By building abutments and retaining walls, access was made possible to properties hereto inaccessible due to precipitous slopes of the hill. this work was of a precarious nature and required skill and courage. The photographs show the little homes on the edge of the slope. Ordinarily this work would be done by a contractor specializing in underpinning and foundation work.--Healy, p. 49.

"The Future Homemakers of America Home Economics building at the Calico Rock School had been on the drawing boards for over two years before the National Youth Administration notified the local school district that construction could actually begin in December, 1940.  The Home Economics Building was built of native stone to the east of the school's main building and the gymnasium."   (https://www.arkansaspreservation.com) The Plain Traditional stone building was begun in 1940. Stone was quarried by "hand, hammer and chisel" approximately 1/4 of a mile from the building site. The NYA youth who quarried stone and built the building were between 15-18...

Repaired roof and made ground repairs.--Healy, p. 70. WPA workmen also worked on the African wildlife exhibit.

Under project number 5517, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) graded and improved a national guard airfield on the site of Griffith Park where the zoo and Autry Museum are currently. $28,491 was spent by the federal government with $7,489 by the local sponsor. Total was $35,980. It employed 40 men on average for 8 months. Built in the mid 20's as the Griffith Park Aerodrome, the National Guard Air Service's 40th Air Corps Division (115th Observation Squadron) established a base & laid 2 runways: 3,600' northwest/southeast & 2,975' oil & gravel north/south strips. Training missions were flown from Griffith Park until...

A historic marker attributes the construction of the California National Guard Armory in San Jose to the Works Progress Administration (WPA). However, given as the WPA was not established until 1935, it is possible that this project was constructed by the Civil Works Administration (CWA). Plaque: "Built in 1933, the California National Guard Armory was funded by the U.S. Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Depression. This structure reflects a Spanish architectural style and is one of the few known WPA structures remaining in downtown San Jose. Originally constructed to consolidate National Guard Units from the South Bay Area, the Armory is...

These two wood carvings by Sargent Johnson were moved from the school's former site in Berkeley. "Jungle Scenes," hanging over the reception desk, consists of two 8' x 4' lunettes made of mahogany with gold leaf. "Louis Braille" is 4' x 2.5' and hangs in the library.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve many roads in San Francisco, including the stretch of California St. from Fillmore to Presidio Ave. "Consisted of narrowing the sidewalks ten feet from Fillmore to Presidio Avenue with all work incidental thereto, such as reconstructing catch basins, moving fire hydrants, street signs, recurbing and repairing. This improvement created a wide artery providing for additional traffic to the Richmond District from downtown."--Healy, p. 43.