Works Progress Administration (WPA) Sites

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) and/or Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) funded the labor for and materials for improvements to the since-demolished Banigan City School building in Millville, Massachusetts. Improvements included painting, for which the federal government also paid for the project's materials. While the school no longer remains, the building's foundation can still be found at what is known as the Banigan City Schoolyard, which is adjacent to the senior center on the south side of Prospect St.

Constructed in 1941, with WPA labor, the Banita Creek Bridge crosses the waterway of the same name with three spans of reinforced concrete girder. The 100’-long bridge has a 24’-wide roadway with cantilevered sidewalks on both sides. The hand railing is composed of open concrete balustrade divided into sections by stepped Art Deco-like posts. The approach railing at the end of bridge angles out, following the skew of the wingwalls below. The WPA erected the bridge as part of a larger project that widened and improved the channels of Bonita and Lanana creeks. As part of the project, work-relief crews built sidewalks...

"During the Great Depression the Works Progress Administration paid for work on the school's athletic fields, with the project completed in 1936."   (wikipedia.org)

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed sidewalks in New Orleans, including along Banks Street in Mid-City. WPA workers often marked their work with "sidewalk stamps" pressed into the fresh concrete -- a common practice by private contractors in the early 20th century.

Originally (1915) school for African American children, the Banneker Community Center - Bloomington IN was used for Works Progress Administration (WPA) after-school and recreation programs. The sidewalk and retaining wall around the building was built by the WPA in 1938.

"Banneker Playground is named in honor of Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), a noted African-American writer and mathematician... This playground is located on Marcy Avenue between Kosciusko Street and Lafayette Avenue. The site was formerly owned by the Board of Transportation, which held it as part of its property for the G subway line. After 1937, the city maintained a park on the site under a permit from the Board of Transportation. The park was originally built by the WPA (Works Progress Administration), a federal program that built 850 airports, 120,000 bridges, and 125,000 public buildings, in addition to its 8,000 parks nationwide." The...

During the 1930s, Banneker Recreation Area was developed as part of a larger Capital Parks improvement program undertaken by the Public Works Administration (PWA), Civil Work Adminstration (CWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA), and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Notably, the CWA was responsible for the completion of the historic Banneker Swimming Pool and Bath House in 1933-34.  Those facilities are still in place. Other New Deal work at Banneker included: “...tennis courts built; baseball diamond, football and soccer fields graded and equipped; running track and horseshoe courts installed; landscaping around field house completed.”   (National Archives) Most of this was probably done by the WPA, which...

"Banner School, constructed in 1935, was one of the 825 schools constructed in Oklahoma by the Works Progress Administration. Banner School is located at 1124 W. Warner in northwest Guthrie. The school was constructed in 1935 by the WPA. Unlike the red native stone buildings so prominent in the region, this school is constructed of several shades of tan brick. The brick was scored with vertical striations. This is a one-story building which was an elementary school. The windows are equipped with horizontal, exterior metal movable sun shades. The building is currently vacant and not in use... To the left of the...

Evidence of Works Progress Administration (WPA) involvement in the former Banning High School building, now Nicolet Middle School, comes from a non-copyrighted pamphlet with no clear title or page number, that was handed out at the 2005 all-class reunion of Banning High School. The following text is from the pamphlet:   “In 1933 a huge earthquake stuck Long Beach, California, and did major damage to that city. It also cause parts of Banning High School to be considered unsafe. The Auditorium was condemned and the remainder of the school was in poor condition. “In 1935 the Depression had spread across America and...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed downtown Lahaina's Banyan Tree Park.  The park surrounds an immense banyan tree (a variety of tropic ficus) that covers three-quarters of an acre.  It is the largest and best known tree in Hawai'i. There is a stone marker in the park that says the WPA built the park, which presumably means that relief workers landscaped the park, added paving and built benches. It appears that the benches have been replaced recently. A massive wildfire burned through Lahaina in August 2023 and scorched the famous Banyan Tree; it is unknown to Living New Deal whether the tree and park...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) paved 34 streets in Hartford, Connecticut, including Barbour Street, as part of a $2.5 million, two-year paving project begun in 1937. The federal government contributed $1 million.

Currently serving as the National Park Service's administrative office for the Fort Vancouver - McLoughlin House Unit, the Dr. Forbes Barclay House shares more than proximity with its better-known neighbor (the McLoughlin House). The two structures not only housed important figures of the Hudson Bay Company, who then retired to Oregon City and contributed to the development of the town, their preservation and restoration are linked in several efforts of the New Deal era as well. Built in 1849, the Barclay House is one of Oregon's oldest examples of Classical Revival architecture. As such, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) funded local...

"Work Project No. 9373, sponsored by the City of Los Angeles is a heavy travelled major traffic artery and extends northerly from Ventura Boulevard to communities in the northern section of of the San Fernando Valley. "Prior to its improvement by the W.P.A., this street was a narrow winding road with sharp curves and poorly established grades making it totally unfit to carry the heavy traffic to which it was being subjected. "To eliminate the above conditions the W.P.A. approved, and subsequently completed a project which provided modern street improvements between Ventura Boulevard and the City of Los Angeles northerly boundary,...

Barking Sands Pacific Missile Range Facility is a U.S. Naval Installation on the Island of Kauai in Hawaii. Between 1941 and 1942 WPA funds helped enlarge the facility.

“WPA workmen improved 15 miles of gravel roads, 25 miles of dirt roads, cleared 15 miles of bayous and drainage canals, rehabilitated 43 wooden bridges which cross bayous and drainage canals on the reservation.”   (NARA)

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved a segment of Barnaby Street NW, from Utah Avenue to Arcadia Place. This was a WPA curb and gutter project: “This project was 1,200 feet long and serves the recent developments in this vicinity.”

Municipal reports from 1935 and 1936 detail WPA work in Barnard Park: 1935 "WPA workers are engaged in making the pond into a more suitable bathing place. They also intend to finish the second tennis court which was begun last year." 1936 "The Playground Commission made an inspection tour at the Playground of the proposed project by the W.P.A. early last Spring. This work was successfully carried on under the direction of Harold Phelps and A. Kenneth Hambleton. The upper end of the pond was filled in, the pond as well as the brook leading into the pond was cleaned and the sides lined...

Built by the Works Progress Administration in 1936, Barnett Field hosted the Fargo-Morehead Twins minor league baseball team until 1960. Barnett Field was demolished in 1963.

"In 1940, leading up to World War II, the federal WPA program improved the airport for possible use by our armed forces." WPA project details: "Construct and extend runways" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐14‐308 Total project cost: $563,018.00 Sponsor: Board of Selectmen "Enlarge Hyannis Airport" Official Project Number: 665‐14‐2‐1260 Total project cost: $17,047.00 Sponsor: War Department

Montpelier's 40th Annual Report details many roadwork projects undertaken in 1934 with Vermont Emergency Relief Administration (VERA) funds, including: "Barre Road, widening at Jerue turn". Efforts were continued in subsequent years by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). 1939 Montpelier annual report: "State Aid Construction has been carried on somewhat in connection with Federal Participation in the form of W.P.A. labor. Barre Street has been macadamized from Hubbard St., to Pioneer St., a distance of 4,965 ft., and an area of 14,500 sq. yds. ... Pioneer Street has been concreted and graded, a distance of 300 ft., and an area of 854 sq....

When constructed by the WPA in 1937-39, Barretts Elementary School was a two room school built of limestone. The school has been extended several times since then, but the original WPA construction is still used as the school kindergarten today.

A portion of Lynn Fausett's  Barrier Canyon mural hangs in the Prehistoric Museum at Utah State University Eastern. It is part of an enormous, 82-foot canvas painting done by Fausett in 1940 under the auspices of the Works Projects Administration (WPA) Arts Project (WPAAP). The segment of the mural on display in the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum is the smaller of two (12 x 22 ft.) and depicts approximately the left hand one-fourth of the Great Gallery. The larger section of the mural hangs in the Museum of Natural History at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.    The mural...

The largest portion of Lynn Fausett's WPA-funded Barrier Canyon mural hangs at the back of the entry hall of the University of Utah Museum of Natural History at the eastern flank of the University of Utah campus (a smaller portion hangs in the Natural History Museum in Price, Utah). The canvas mural measures 12 x 60 feet and depicts ancient native pictographs/petroglyphs that Fausett had observed at the Great Gallery in Canyonlands National Monument (now a National Park), in what is known as the "Barrier Canyon Rock Art" style.   The mural was originally painted to be hung at the Museum of Modern...

"Early in 1941, prior to American involvement in the war, $389,000 was allocated to enlarge the Daggett airport. The increase in size of the airport was to support bombing and antiaircraft operations by the USAAC... Funding came from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a program of President Roosevelt's New Deal... WPA funding was provided to San Bernardino County in an attempt to encourage local sponsorship of the project. The Army claimed that they wished to see Daggett, and other airports like it, become commercial assets to spend $200,000 to assist in the development of the airport. It is unclear if this...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) paved 34 streets in Hartford, Connecticut, including Bartholomew Street from Park Street to Hamilton Street, as part of a $2.5 million, two-year paving project begun in 1937. The federal government contributed $1 million.

The Barton Heights Cemeteries in Richmond, Virginia are "encircled by a fence erected by the Works Progress Administration in 1935."

This park is located on the site of a former tenement and adjacent to what was the first free public bathhouse when it opened in 1901. This and other early bathhouses were built for the sake of public sanitation after Dr. Simon Baruch lobbied hard for new health laws. In 1939, Dr. Baruch's son donated the land for this park to the city at a time when it was still surrounded by tenements, and in order to provide both a local playground and to improve the bathhouse structure itself. The Department of Parks press release from the park's opening on May...

In 1936 the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a baseball diamond and a covered grandstand for the Greene Town Team in a park that is still referred to today as Ball Flats. Ball flats is a public recreation area "located next to the Chenango River within the Village of Greene...." (Greene Parks & Recreation). An article by the town historian notes that "In the 1930s there were so many strong left-handed batters (Harry Blakeslee, Bill Henninge, Charlie Gillette, Slim Barrows, Sanky Gibson among them) hitting the balls up to North Chenango Street, that they changed the layout of the field to what it...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built bleachers for a baseball field in Sonora, California.  This field is part of a larger group of athletic fields behind the building know as "The Dome", a former elementary school building, long abandoned, that sits prominently on a hill in Sonora.   The WPA bleachers include a stone retaining wall with stairs and a long, stone drinking fountain.  We do not know the exact date of this work, which is unmarked. The playing field are used by several schools in the area and the bleachers and ballfield sit directly behind and below a building occupied by...

The Rock Valley Baseball Park was built in 1937, and the Works Progress Administration built the grandstand several years later. 

"Concrete bleachers have a concrete shed roof structure supported on steel beams. Brick walls with a concrete cap surround the ball field on the north, east and west, with an entrance at the NE corner. A chain link fence encloses the south side of the ball field. The brick wall surrounding stadium is divided into bays by pilasters on the interior and exterior. On the field side, the wall has with advertising signs painted within each bay...The concession stand and toilet building appear to post-date the original construction. Current bleachers and roof structure are also recent modifications. An appropriation of...

Although the hatchery was in place at least by 1930, a 1940 publication by a WPA administrator lists the WPA as having worked on the site during the 1930s. The hatchery does not seem to be in use any longer. It is not known whether any of the buildings still exist.

This beautiful park is nestled in the "Lost Pines" area of Texas. The park was built as a CCC project and opened to the public in 1937. In September 2011 96% of the park was burned by a devastating wildfire; some of the burn damage is still visible, but the park is regenerating. The fire spared the refectory and the cabins built by the CCC. A CCC pavilion at the overlook suffered damage to the wood roof, but today has been rebuilt. "The architect of Bastrop State Park, Arthur Fehr, followed National Park Service design principles that suggested harmony with the...

Hailed as the first major Works Progress Administration (WPA) project completed in Texas, what was then a bridge spanning the Colorado River along the primary link connecting Bastrop and Elgin, located on a farm-to-market road, opened in January 1936. Given as Texas State Route 95—the most direct connection between the cities today—was not yet constructed at the time, Living New Deal believes this to be the former bridge spanning the Colorado River along Farm-to-Market Road 969 (since replaced).

Bath Beach Park, named for the surrounding neighborhood, was acquired by the City in 1937. In 1941-1942, the WPA completed extensive work on the park. A press release announcing the opening explained: "Located on a knoll on the center line of 17 Avenue extended is a semi-circular overlook sitting area commanding an unobstructed view over Gravesend Bay and the Lower New York Bay. A concrete ramp skirts the brick surfaced retaining wall which supports the overlook and connects with a 30 foot wide tree and bench lined mall... The smaller western section which is subdivided into six use areas by fencing, benches...

This charming stone bathhouse, built by the WPA in 1939, is still in use, with some slight alterations. A 1985 Oklahoma Landmarks Survey of WPA projects in the state describes the structure in detail: "This bathhouse was originally a single-story structure, but now has two levels. It is a rectangular (55' x 25') building constructed of uncut native stone of auburn and buff colors in masonry of random rubble. The roof is gabled. Shutters were installed on the first floor windows. The entrance to the bathhouse is arched. The entrance to the pool is square. The tent-like structure attached o one...

In 1937 the Wichita Falls Times described a Works Progress Administration (WPA) in a photo caption: "a bath house ... as an addition to city park facilities in Vernon." The status and location of the project are unknown to Living New Deal.

The Electra city pool "was built in 1935-36 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the facility includes a stone building with native stone from the area."

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) developed a bathing pool at "Reed Park" in Rockland, Mass., in 1937. WPA Bulletin: "Under construction is a wading pool with a sandy bottom. Shrubbery is being planted. The pond shore has been cleared and sanded, steps and platforms have been built and the adjacent land beautified." The exact location of this project is not presently known to Living New Deal.

Improvements to this 11-acre site was completed in 1936, with funds and labor provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).