Work Relief Programs Sites

Completed in 1936 as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, what is now known as Amsden Lake was developed as a reservoir during the Great Depression. The dam "was built at a cost of $207,000 of clay faced with stone. The Federal Government supplied $150,000, the county $45,000 and the city of Aberdeen $12,000." (NYT) South Dakota Magazine: "Amsden Dam near Andover is a pretty little lake with humble roots. The 235 acre lake sits behind a Works Progress Administration dam. The dam was started in 1934, while South Dakota was in the grip of the Dust Bowl and the nation was mired...

Anacostia Drive, which runs through Anacostia Park and alongside the Anacostia River, was almost certainly worked on during the New Deal – more than once – though the evidence is not conclusive.  According to a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project card on file in the National Archives, the WPA office approved a project to grade Anacostia Road (now Drive) in 1935. This work has not been confirmed, but since the WPA did almost $1 million worth of road work in the district in 1935-36, including roads like Good Hope SE, and also did extensive work on Anacostia Park during that time, it...

Anacostia Park is one of Washington DC's two largest parks and recreation areas, along with Rock Creek Park.  It covers over 1200 acres along the Anacostia River from South Capitol Street SE to the Maryland boundary in NE.  The New Deal improved the park in major ways, after the Capital Parks system was put under the control of the National Park Service (NPS) by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. New Deal public works agencies developed such key features of the park as Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, Langston Golf Course and Anacostia Pool (see linked pages). Besides those major elements, improvements included,...

Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens is situated on the banks of the Anacostia River at the north end of Anacostia Park.  It is a marsh area that includes several cultivated ponds preserving rare waterlilies and lotuses. Originally known as the Shaw Lily Garden, it was saved from destruction by dredging in the Anacostia River in the 1930s. The park and gardens were taken under the wing of the National Park Service (NPS) as part of Anacostia Park and the Capitol Parks system and expanded with the help of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which worked in Anacostia Park for several years...

The Langston Golf Course in Anacostia Park was opened as a 9-hole course in 1939 (and expanded to 18 holes in the 1950s). It was constructed with the help of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Project Administration (WPA). The course is named for John Mercer Langston, an African American who was the first dean of the Howard University School of Law, first president of Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute (now Virginia State University), and first African American elected to the United States Congress from Virginia.  The black golfing community formed the Royal Golf Club in 1933 to agitate for a...

"This WPA Project brought in $60,000 to the economy of Anadarko and employed 210 people, for a period of 13 months... One of the significant projects of the WPA during the years 1935-1943 was the construction of military armories. This T-shaped armory is rather unique in its design with wings extending on the north, south and west. At the center is a barrel-roofed drill area, with a stage at one end. Beneath this stage area was an underground rifle range. The armory contains 23,000 feet and was one of the largest built in Oklahoma by the WPA. This armory is constructed of...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded the reconstruction of the Anaheim High School after the Long Beach Earthquake of 1933. Damage to the school was not extensive but reconstructing the entire school was projected to be less expensive than merely repairing the buildings.  In 1935, State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA) workers deconstructed the original buildings. Then construction of the new school began in the same year. The PWA contributed $111,000 while bonds raised an additional $275,000 The new art deco style main building, library and auditorium were dedicated in 1936. Then in 1937, a gym was built and financed partially by the...

Santa Rosa Junior College's Analy Hall was constructed by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression. The building is still in use today.

"The school population from Sebastopol and outlying areas gradually increased. By 1935 a new school was built as a WPA project on the same site as the original school, serving students that were bussed from all the outlying communities, the Russian River area, and as far away as Cazadero." - Sebastopol There are also several 1941 WPA stamps impressed in the sidewalk on the west side of Vaughn Lane alongside the school, approximately at these coordinates: 38.407220,-122.827004.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted an improvement project at Andrew Johnson National Cemetery in Greeneville, Tennessee, providing work for about 35 laborers.

A Boston Public Works Department report cited Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) labor as conducting the following work: "Meridian Street Bridge ... was chipped, cleaned and painted. ... Repaving and repairs were made to the approaches of the Meridian Street Bridge ..."

A suspension bridge over Androscoggin River on Pedestrian Path in Brunswick and Topsham. Built in 1892 by John A. Roebling Sons Co. to allow mill employees in Bruswick access to housing in Topsham. The bridge was heavily damaged in the 1936 spring flood. The deck was destroyed, but the towers and the original suspension cables survived. The federal Works Progress Administration helped replace the span and resurfaced the piers that the towers stand on with concrete. The bridge was rehabilitated in 2006.

Excavate below first floor of Building #21, underpin walls and piers of Building #21, and carry to solid bearing. Install complete drying room with lines, fans and louvres. Provide adequate room for ten-chair barber shop installation. Cut exterior doors, build stairs, walks and hand rails to provide access to laundry trays, showers and drying rooms from first and second floors of Barracks Building #21.--Mooser, p. 94.

Remove present sanitary and water lines and replace with new material. Replace plumbing fixtures, install hollow tile walls, partitions, tiling, electrical wiring and fixtures, ornamental iron, and necessary carpentry, concrete, lath, and plaster work. Remove old window frames and doors and replace with new.--Mooser, p. 92-93.

Remove approximately one mile of existing old telephone line and replace with new poles and wire. Cut fire trails under existing telephone line and transmission line from Quarantine Station to a point on the North East of the Island. Resurface 2,000 lineal feet of road from quarters No. 4 to Military Road--Mooser, p. 85.

Razed water tanks; removed underground water pipes, landscaped grounds, built bulkhead and walks.--Healy, p. 73. Razing water tanks and removal of underground water pipes. Landscaping of Immigration Grounds; ditching around buildings, construction of incinerator; leveling of European Recreation Grounds; construction of cement bulkhead and walks. Tearing out shower bath in hospital.--Mooser, p. 79.

Construction of two 500,000 gallon square reservoir concrete slab bottom and sides with corrugated iron roofs, also 1,000 feet of 6 galvanized iron pipe to connect with existing water distribution lines. All necessary excavation, backfill and drainage installation.--Mooser, p. 94.

From April 1939 until May 1942, 277 men worked for the WPA at the Angel Mounds Site near Evansville, Indiana under the direction of Glenn A. Black, archaeologist for the Indiana Historical Society. During the project over 2 million artifacts were recovered from the site. The artifacts that were recovered from the WPA excavations as well as the documentary archives and photographs are currently located on Indiana University’s Bloomington campus in the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees from Camp New Benson Park improved the Columbia River Gorge hike to Angel's Rest in 1934-1935, This involved building bridges over streams as well as grooming the trail. Angel's Rest is one of the most popular hikes in the Columbia River Gorge Scenic area, considered by many a "must" for local hikers. In 1934, a reporter for Portland's Oregon Journal stated: " Perhaps the most beautiful hike out of Benson Park is the trail to Angel's Rest, where at an elevation of 1600 feet one may see up and down the Columbia River Gorge for 50 miles." The...

"When Franklin D.Roosevelt was elected in 1933, his Works Progress administration (WPA) put Pasadenans to work on park, flood control,and utility projects.They improved Brookside Park for the Chicago White Sox,who set up spring training there.The most momentous WPA project was the Arroyo Seco Parkway, started in the late1930’s to link Pasadena with Los Angeles.Another noted road was the Angeles Crest Highway, which snaked into the San Gabriel Mountains and reached Chilao (beyond Mt.Wilson) by 1939."   (www.pasadena.edu)

The Angeles National Forest Headquarters in Arcadia, CA, was the former site of a Department of Agriculture warehouse constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Built with $4,834 in federal funds and $1,973 in sponsor contributions, the seven-month project employed an average of 29 men per month. It is unclear if the warehouse is extant.

Refurbishing of Reading, Pennsylvania's former Angelica Dam was made possible by the WPA. The dam was damaged in 2001 and is no longer extant.

The sidewalk along Angell Street connecting Wayland Square to the Brown University campus through the Historic Wayland Square neighborhood is WPA-built.   Angell runs adjacent to the Brown athletic facilities and the Wheeler School, and is heavily trafficked by joggers and runners from the local community, university, and area schools. This plaque is located on the north side of Angell St. halfway between Governor St. and Ives St.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed several miles of sidewalk in Lordsburg during the Great Depression. By 1936, they were building on average 4,000’ of sidewalk per month, with the goal of completing 40 blocks. Adhering to WPA rules, only property owners who paid for materials and incidentals benefited from the program. The work was declared by the Lordsburg Liberal on August 16, 1936 “as something that will be of a lasting benefit to the community.” Animas Street sidewalk work was conducted in 1936 and 1938.

"Anita Dam and Reservoir, features of the Huntley Project, are located 6 miles southeast of Ballantine, Montana near Billings. This offstream storage dam was completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1937. Water is released from Anita Reservoir into the Reservoir Canal which flows across Fly Creek to the vicinity of Pompeys Pillar . As the first representative of the United States in the Upper Missouri Valley, Captain Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition scratched his name and the date of July 25, 1806 on Pompeys Pillar, a large rock landmark overlooking the Yellowstone River. The Crow Indian Reservation...

"The short - lived CWA program ... assisted the development of the Anna Becker Park in Belen."

"The Anna Miller Museum, a place where you can walk back in time and relive the old west. Built in the 1930's, the museum was originally a WPA project for Company A, 115th Cavalry, Wyoming National Guard. Many long, hard hours were spent constructing the building out of 18 inch hand-hewn sandstone blocks, quarried from nearby Salt Creek. The museum was named for Anna C. ( McMoran) Miller, the daughter of a pioneer family, and widow of Sheriff Billy Miller who was killed in what is known as the last Indian battle in this area. In cooperation with School District #1 and...

In 1935-6 the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) constructed clay tennis courts at Framingham's Anna Murphy Playground; removed the remnants of a stone wall; and installed a wire mesh fence.

The WPA reconstructed and earthquake-proofed the school in 1935.

The CWA completed land improvements at Anna’s Hope, including the improvement of roads, grounds, installing drainage, and terracing the grounds.

The CWA made land improvements at Anna’s Hope on St. Croix. The work included improvement of roads, grounds, installing drainage, and terracing the grounds.

The Works Progress Administration completed improvements work on Annaly Road in Frederiksted.

From the National Park Service: “One of the 14 national cemeteries that date from the Civil War, the Annapolis National Cemetery is the final resting place for many Union soldiers who died in the nearby ‘parole camps’ and hospitals of the Maryland capital” (see source note below). Maintenance ledgers (see image below for an example) show that the WPA did extensive work at the cemetery, such as installing utilities, realigning headstones, removing dead trees, and constructing a utility building. A superintendent’s lodge was built in 1871 and then replaced between 1936 and 1941 with the current lodge. It appears that WPA laborers...

The WPA graded and widened a portion of this mountainous road along the canyon of the Gualala River. They also constructed a major bridge at Clarks Crossing, improved a recreational and farm-to-market road in nearby valley and coastal districts. Employed men mostly from Kashia Indian Reservation.

"Enjoy trails and roads laid out by the CCC in the Great Depression. There are also a few ponds and marshes to check out. These trails connect to a local inn's cross-country ski trail network."

In August 1940, two Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) companies started work on the Army’s Annette Island airfield in Alaska. The Army Corps of Engineers, under the command of Major George J. Nold continued the work on the airfield through the winter of 1941-1942. In a piece on the connections between the CCC and the military in Alaska, W. Conner Soresen describes the development of the airfield: “The project apparently was conceived in response to a suggestion... that the Alaska CCC undertake a specific defense-related project. The armed forces in Alaska wanted to improve air service between the states and Alaska. In order...

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) laborers worked at Anniversary Park in Holyoke, Mass. Work included the construction of a recreation center and winter sports facilities.

As part of a massive $12-million project to improve New Orleans’s City Park, the WPA built nine concrete vehicular bridges between 1936 and 1939 throughout the expanded grounds. Spanning Bayou Metairie near the southwest corner, the Anseman Avenue Bridge replaced one of the oldest bridges in the park. Constructed in 1938, it crosses the bayou by a 114’-long, single-span, reinforced concrete, closed-spandrel arch. In elevation, its low elliptical arch is highlighted by the recessed extrados and the heavy, angular cutwater abutments. The bridge carries two lanes of traffic over a 28”-wide concrete roadway; 5’ sidewalks are provided on both sides. Approach spans, flanked...

This high school gymnasium was constructed in Antelope, Texas during the Great Depression with the assistance of the Works Progress Administration. In addition to the native stone structure, the construction project included a septic tank, disposal field, and improved school facilities and employed approximately 20 laborers. $13, 622 of the total cost of $21,393 was provided by WPA while the local school district provided the remainder.

CCC work in the area includes a picnic area, gazebo, and historic rock fireplaces as well as a guard station now used as a lodge.