Works Progress Administration (WPA) Sites

"The Artesia Improvement Company donated the land for a city park in 1906. In 1937, the corner pillars and stone walkways to the center of the park were added as a WPA project. Artesia Main Street, a local downtown revitalization organization, has plans for a complete renovation of the park. Central Park continues to be used as a popular location for many downtown events and family outings." -Artesia Walking Tour

"Artesia is home to several WPA construction projects including the Municipal Hospital, the Old City Hall, the gym on the Artesia Schools campus and the wall around Morris Field. The Hospital is in private hands. The Old City Hall is also a private office, but looks much the same as when it was built. The gym is still the gym and Morris Field is still in use, also on the school campus. Much of the construction uses beautiful local stone, which can be seen throughout Artesia, including the once private residence that is now the Artesia Historical Museum & Art...

"Originally called Artesia Memorial Hospital when built in 1939 by WPA/PWA funds, it is still in use today. Additions were made in the early 1940's and the most recent renovations and additions finalized in the mid 1960's." -Treasures on New Mexico Trails

The historic Arthur Avenue Retail Market, located in the heart of the Bronx's Little Italy, was constructed with the assistance of the federal Work Projects Administration (WPA). The market, one of eight similar projects in the city, opened October 29, 1940.

"Sarah Brock wished the Arthur Brock mansion demolished and in 1937 this work was completed under a work order from the WPA." The mansion was located in what is now known as Coleman Memorial Park; its exact location within the park is unknown to Living New Deal.

In 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed an auditorium for Central School in Baldwin Park, CA. With over 600 seats, the auditorium was used for both school and civic activities. The Moderne (Art Deco) structure is simple and unadorned, its concrete facade suggestive of early Brutalism. The auditorium served as an auxiliary meeting space after Central School was converted into Baldwin Park's first city hall in 1958, and as a storage facility after city hall was relocated in 1978. Since 2007, the renovated auditorium structure has served as Baldwin Park's Arts and Recreation Center (ARC). In addition to a dance studio, arts...

The WPA built an adobe civic center and the Kern County Free Library, as well as Community, Health and Welfare buildings in Arvin. They also built a grammar school.

WPA workers built the main sewer in Arvin.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted a project in East Hartford involving "Ash Street grading and surface drain job."

Originally the Riverview Stadium and then the Alliant Energy Field. This stadium was built by the WPA in 1935-1937. It still has its WPA plaque.

On May 31, 1938, the Department of Parks announced "that plans were being prepared for the renovation of nine public bath houses transferred to them from the jurisdiction of the Borough President of Manhattan." The improvements were to be done "with relief labor under the supervision of the Works Progress Administration and inspected by the Department of Parks." At what is now the Asser Levy Recreation Center, the renovations included the construction of two new swimming pools: "At 23rd Street and Avenue A where there is adequate vacant city-owned land available, a new outdoor swimming pool, 125 ft. long x 50 ft....

The federal Work Projects Administration 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 the 1.1-mile stretch of Astor Avenue between Wallace Ave. and Eastchester Rd.

The city Health Center, meant to serve Long Island City and Astoria, at the southwest corner of 31st Ave. and 14th St., was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). "This center and eight others are being built as WPA projects," The New York Times reported in 1936.

On July 2, 1938, the Department of Parks announced the opening of a playground on the site of what is now the Astoria Health Playground: "In Queens, at 14th Street south of 31st Avenue adjacent to the Astoria Health Center, the new playground is equipped with swings, see-saws, play houses, slide, sand pit and a portable shower. A brick comfort station with facilities for boys and girls, and permanent concrete benches are also provided. The perimeter of the entire playground is landscaped with shade trees. …The work was performed by the Works Progress Administration, but planned and inspected by the Department of...

The Astoria Heights Playground, covering most of the block between 30th Rd., 31st Ave., 45th St. and 46th St., was developed by the Parks Department and the WPA in two stages between 1937 and 1938. In September 1937, a playground for small children was opened, "as well as handball courts for older children and benches for mothers and guardians." Just over two years later, the Parks Department announced the completion of the rest of the playground: "he new 2.3 acre area supplements and includes the small recreational area opened in 1937, and rounds out the entire block, the southerly end of which...

The 56-acre park dates from the early 20th century, but "major improvements in Astoria Park were undertaken by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses and the Works Progress Administration during a hot summer in 1936. The stunning pool complex opened on July 4 of that year and hosted the swimming and diving trials for the U.S. Olympic Teams in 1936 and 1964" (NYC Parks). "Besides the swimming pool, various playgrounds and comfort stations were added or renovated during the course of the New Deal using relief labor" (kermitproject.org). This included "an adult play area with handball, basketball, horseshoe and shuffleboard courts, horizontal...

Astoria Park  pool opened on July 2, 1936. It was the largest of the eleven WPA pools built throughout the city that year. It was the site of the Olympic swimming and diving trials for the 1936 Olympics, just as Randall's Island Stadium was for track and field. "Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, an avid swimmer himself, recognized the importance of aquatic recreation and launched a campaign to open eleven new pools throughout the city during the summer of 1936. The labor and construction came from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), whose administrator Harry Hopkins described the pool in Queens as, 'The finest in the world.'...

In 1937, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out improvements on Atascadero Lake Park.  WPA project cards indicate the following work: "Improve the recreational area at Atascadero Lake near Atascadero, San Luis Obispo Co., by improving earthen dam, and performing other incidental work, to provide additional parking spaces." We cannot ascertain what was done to the dam and the parking lots have been greatly enlarged since the 1930s.  Nevertheless, there are stone rings around trees, stone benches along the lake shore and stone drinking fountains that are characteristic of the rustic style used by WPA relief workers.  Further confirmation is needed. WPA Proj....

The Works Progress Administration built the Decatur County lake in Decatur County KS, as part of Kansas' Water Conservation Program.  

Courtesy the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.), Athenaeum Hall in Framingham was "repaired and painted, both inside and out. New plastering was installed where necessary..." The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) installed a new heating system, water pipes, and electrical wiring in 1937, re-shingling the roof as well.

Kearney State Teachers College was granted almost $10,000.00 in a WPA grant to improve its athletic facilities. The project was planned to be very “inclusive.” It included improving the current football and athletic field at the college, and leveling and grading the area to the north of the gridiron and practice field, formerly part of the “college farm.” Preliminary surveys called for the moving of much earth, and additional parking space would be among the improvements. Tennis courts and other recreational facilities would also be provided. If costs proved reasonable, the track and bleachers were possible additions to the project. In...

The WPA participated in the building of this athletic field in American Falls. It is unclear where the site pictured is located, but if it is still extant Stebbins Park next to American Falls High School seems to be the likeliest candidate.

The Works Progress Administration accomplished work on the athletic field and recreational center for the former High School and Grammar school, now the Antioch Middle School and Fremont Elementary School. WPA Project No. 165-3-3518, App. Date 10-6-36, $6,970, Total Funds $17,088, Average employed 45, "Construct athletic fields and recreational facilities on the Antioch High and Grammar School grounds in Antioch, Contra Costa County. Antioch Live Oak School District owned property." WPA Project No. 165-3-5518, App. Date 5-13-37, $2,401, Total Funds $4,218, Average Employed 14, Federal Man-hours 4,161, "Construct athletic fields and recreational facilities on the Antioch High and Grammar School grounds in...

The Works Progress Administration built an athletic field in Gorman TX. A rock masonry fence with concrete coping encloses the athletic field. The fence is 8'-4" tall and 12" wide. The rock entrance and ticket booths with the plaque are dated 1938-1940. There is stadium seating on both sides of the field (unmarked, but appear to match). Official Project No. 65-1-66-2823.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor constructed an athletic field in Hudson. WPA Bulletin: The town of Hudson recently dedicated its new WPA Athletic Field during ceremonies featured by a night football game between the Hudson and Methuen High School teams. Hudson, rated the underdog, showed its appreciation of the new athletic plant by trouncing its opponent 14 to and the gathering of several thousand spectators who filled the WPA-built stands were most enthusiastic. Carl Rogers, Executive Assistant to Administrator McDonough, and Harry V. Madden, Chairman of the Hudson Board of Selectmen, were speakers during the exercises. Flagpoles at the eastern and...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a "flood-light athletic field" in Lyman, Nebraska. The location and status of the structure are presently unknown to Living New Deal.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed an athletic field in Westport, New York. The exact location of the park within the town is unknown to Living New Deal.

"On the far east side of the East Central University campus is a football stadium constructed by the WPA during the period 1936-1941. The stadium is rectangular, 199 ft by 56 ft. and constructed of poured concrete, with an exterior of rusticated and coursed white native stone. "The stadium rises 20 tiers and has a stepped cornice on the back wall. Arched windows are boarded up on the back side. Large arched entrances have been reduced in size with opaque glass, wood and concrete block. "A 254 ft. native stone wall runs from the stadium north. Documentation of WPA status is from the...

"WPA-built brick arch entryway to athletic fields, concrete details."

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers worked to develop an athletic field in Brookfield, Massachusetts. From a W.P.A. Bulletin: Swish of tennis tackets, the bite of spiked running shoes, and the smart crack of ash wood meeting hoorsehide will soon sound from this Community Athletic Field, Brookfield. A WPA project now in progress involves repair and enlargement of the field, and construction of additional courts. The location and status of the facility is unknown to Living New Deal.

Among a set of 26 WPA projects approved for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in Sept. 1935 was "grading and landscaping athletic field" in Mount Lebanon. The Federal government allocated $11,970 for the project and local sponsors contributed $2,336. The exact location of the field is unknown to Living New Deal.

The WPA provided labor for the construction of athletic fields in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The exact location of these recreation areas is not known to Living New Deal.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) co0nstructed a stately stone observation tower in Newburyport, Mass. WPA Bulletin: In the center of Atkinson Park, Newburyport, WPA workmen have constructed a fifty-foot, field-stone, observation tower. Surrounding grounds have been landscaped with grass, trees and shrubs.

"The steel structure of the hangar rises from a concrete foundation. Corrugated metal siding clads the walls and very shallow gambrel roof. Large telescopic sliding doors, that extend beyond the original building, dominate the north and south ends. Windows and doors pierce the side (e & w) walls...The hangar originally had a segmental arch roof. Shed roof additions running the length of the side walls created the current roof form. The large end wall doors are also a significant alteration. Property owner Tommy Atkinson deeded airport land to the City of Pittsburg for $1, and solicited CWA funds for the project....

The Atlanta Miller Grade School was a Works Progress Administration project taking 120 days to complete. Hardy Brothers of Texarkana began construction of the one-story, six-room building in 1936. Text from the state historical marker at the site reads: Atlanta-Miller Grade School. Public education in Atlanta dates to 1874. Prior to the civil rights era of the mid-20th century, separate schools served Anglo and African American students. The school at this site, known initially as Atlanta Grade School, was built for white students in 1936 with federal funding through the Works Progress Administration. Due to high enrollment, building additions were completed over...

This community park in East Los Angeles was constructed by the WPA. The park and its central building are still in use and features a more recently constructed swimming pool and playground.

The condition of Atlantic City's primary thoroughfare Atlantic Avenue was so poor that it was occasionally referred to as "no man's land" prior to the federal Works Progress Administration's resurfacing of the road in 1936.

Atlantic City International Airport was "established in 1942 as a Naval Air Station on 4,312 acres leased from Atlantic City." (www.sjta.com) "In 1941, in its attempt to stimulate the local economy, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) had begun clearing a wooded area in Egg Harbor Township for the construction of a municipal airport to service the Atlantic City area. The Works Progress Administration approved $1.5 million for construction (Atlantic City Press/Evening Union 3/28/41). The Project was to employ 1,187 men to cut and clear land for three, one-mile long concrete runways (Atlantic City Press/Evening Union 11/41). Recognizing the airport project as a...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed the Atlantic City Reservoir in Absecon, New Jersey. At one point 1,200 WPA employees were working on the project.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) constructed farm-to-market roads, including Atlantic Street, in Gloucester, Mass.