Works Progress Administration (WPA) Sites

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped to clear vacant lots in Bayonne, New Jersey. This community improvement effort also paved the way for the development of some of these properties for municipal parks (which were then constructed by the WPA). Areas cleared included: "areas along Newark Bay shore 12,500 square feet from Ninth to Eleventh street, 6,230 square feet from Fifteenth to Sixteenth street and 12,500 square feet from Nineteenth to Twenty-first street. Vacant property ... 894,916 square feet off Fifth-eight street, between Broadway and Avenue C, 45,000 square feet at Avenue C and Twenty-seventh street, and 37,500 square feet,...

The Art Moderne school was completed in 1943 as W. P. A. Project No. 7233. Work began in 1941 but was stopped due to lack of money resulting from the war. WPA workers mixed concrete on site, and carried it in wheelbarrows to construct the poured monolithic concrete two and a half story U-plan school. The auditorium was restored in 2008-2009 for use as a community center.

"In 1924 a group of prominent Los Angeles African Americans, led by actor and real estate developer Sidney P. Dones and including Norman O. Houston, Joe and Charlotta Bass, Hattie S. Baldwin among others, bought 1,000 acres in Santa Clarita Valley forty miles north of the city to build a vacation resort for African Americans. These investors, who called their proposed community Eureka Villa, envisioned a resort area of cabins located on half-acre lots, free from the prejudices and restrictions of the city. The resort featured a community house, tennis courts, baseball fields, hiking trails and a nine-hole golf course....

The State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built many buildings for Valencia High School during the New Deal era.  The school was initially founded in 1933. Then in 1935, SERA built an administration building. This was followed by a gym and pool funded by the WPA in 1937. “Today the school serves a student body of approximately 2,500 students. It is one of four high schools in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District." (Wikipedia)

The WPA worked on Valencia St. all the way from Market to Mission.

Valentine Migratory Waterfowl Refuge was established in 1935 by an Executive Order of President Franklin Roosevelt.  Some 70,000 acres of land in the Sand Hills of Cherry County, Nebraska were purchased by the Bureau of Biological Survey “as a breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife.”  The Nebraska Game Preserve and Fish Commission worked cooperatively with the Bureau of Biological Survey to bring the project to fruition. (The bureau morphed into the US Fish & Wildlife Service in 1940).  Valentine NWF is part of the Fort Niobrara/Valentine NWR complex, administered from Fort Niobrara NWR, along with the John and Louise...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a six-room elementary school building in Valle Crucis, North Carolina. A plaque on the building dates the construction to 1935 to 1937. It was one of many educational facilities constructed by the WPA in Watauga County. The school has since been enlarged.

The Bureau of Reclamation constructed the Vallecito dam and reservoir in 1938-1941, with assistance from the WPA, as well as from enrollees at the nearby CCC camp. "The Project constructed Vallecito Dam to manage the flow of the Pine River partly for local irrigation needs and partly to address Ute water claims based on the Hunt Treaty of 1868 and ratified by a Federal Court decision in 1930." (www.co.laplata.co.us)

The WPA restored and renovated the building and ground of General Vallejo's home, during 1936-1938. The parts restored included the residence, servants quarters, the brick Swiss Chalet (this became a museum to house relics of the General and CA history), fountains and grounds. A water system was installed, and garage and rest room constructed. The WPA also built the split rail fence and gothic-style fence on the property. Acquisition by the state enabled Sonoma County to retain this historical property. If left to local financing, the property may have been lost forever (Goddard).

"In the 1870's, Valley Springs had a reputation as an educational center of northwest Arkansas, known as “The Athens of the Hills” because of the fine Valley Springs and Rally Hill private academies nearby.  The New Deal brought a return to the educational luster of the now-public Valley Springs School District; 1940 saw the construction of not only a new high school building for the community, but also a new Smith-Hughes agricultural building.  The Harrison Daily Times reported that these additions to the campus "will make Valley Springs again the possessor of one of the finest school plants in north...

The Valley View Golf Course is a municipal course located in Utica's extensive Roscoe Conkling city park.  The course was originally built in the mid-1920s, then redesigned by famed golf architect Robert Trent Jones, Sr. with financial aid (and probably workers) from the Works Progress Administration (WPA).  The works appears to have been done in 1939 and the course reopened in 1940.   A 1936 article in Golf Digest notes that: "Utica, N.Y.—Muny course to have WPA $40,000 in improvements and alterations. Robert Trent Jones, Jr., golf architect."  The WPA's role is forgotten on the course's official site, which states that, "The...

This auditorium/gymnasium, also called "Steiwig Hall," was constructed by the Federal Works Progress Administration between 1936 and 1937. To this day, it provides recreation and entertainment for the Valliant community.

In 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed sewers at Van Buren Street and Georgia Avenue in the district's northwest quadrant. This work was part of a massive New Deal era program for Washington of sewer construction, separation of sanitary and storm sewers, and sewage treatment at the new Blue Plains facility in order to clean up the badly polluted Anacostia and Potomac Rivers.

Researcher Frank da Cruz explains: "Van Cortlandt Golf Course occupies the center of Van Cortlandt Park. When it opened in 1895, it was the nation's first municipal golf course, and the first one open to the public. Worked on and ultimately heavily modified by the Parks Department using New Deal funding and relief labor, 1936-1941." The golf course was improved with funds from the CWA, TERA, and WPA.

The New Deal Network's website explains that in the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration's (WPA) National Youth Administration (NYA) constructed a foot path in Van Cortlandt Park that divided two picnic areas within the park. The website tells us that the foot path consisted of "...over 13,000 feet of paved path all completed by NYA." The work included pouring "...4 inches of cinder concrete and then, 2 inches of colprovia for the finished surface. Gutters built adjacent to the paths for drainage."

The New Deal Network Website explains that the retaining wall pictured here was constructed in the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration's (WPA) National Youth Administration (NYA) in Van Cortlandt Park. The photo's caption notes that "The bridle path is cindered; the complete length, which was constructed entirely by the boys, is 8,000 linear feet." This was one of three retaining walls in the park. The retaining wall shown in the photo encircled the entire area (NDN).

The Van Cortlandt Park Parade Ground is a 43-acre field on the southwest edge of Van Cortlandt Park. Researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that it "was built in 1901 as a training area for the New York National Guard. In the 1930s, Robert Moses, New York City's first citywide parks commissioner, redesigned the Parade Ground as athletic fields. Today it is a large flat area where every conceivable kind of game is played, from Irish football to bocce ball to cricket, not to mention (American) football and soccer (fútbol)." Three baseball fields were opened on the Parade Grounds in May,...

Van Cortlandt Park's Southwest Playground opened in 1939 as part of Van Cortlandt Stadium, a New Deal Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. A Department of Parks press release shows that the WPA (the agency involved in almost all Parks work at the time) had also already constructed six handball courts in this corner of the Park by December 1936.

The NY Parks Department website explains: "Constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Van Cortlandt Stadium opened on September 22, 1939. New York City, under the direction of Moses and Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia (1882-1947), was able to secure a great deal of WPA funding. Park construction was one of the many projects undertaken by the WPA, an unprecedented federal program initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) as a component of the New Deal. Mayor La Guardia and Parks Commissioner Moses conducted the opening ceremonies with an exhibition football game between Manhattan College and Fordham University." The 1939 press release...

The Works Progress Administration built facilities at Van Doren Park in Bird City, Kansas. The park buildings were constructed with stone from Beaver Creek and the Kuhrt Ranch quarry.      

The federal Work Projects Administration put many men to work starting in 1935 with a Staten Island 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 bituminous macadam. Roads paved included the stretch of Van Name Avenue between Forest Ave. and Walker St.

The WPA worked on Van Ness Ave. between Market and Beach Streets.

In 1936-37, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved a segment of Van Ness Street NW., from Forty-second to Forty-sixth Streets. The WPA improved this road with recycled material and the “laying of a thin blanket of bituminous material.” It was described as “a major project involving approximately 10,000 square yards.”

Researcher Frank da Cruz explains why this playground almost certainly benefited from New Deal programs. As the New York City Department of Parks website states, “In August of 1913, the City of New York acquired the parcel of land, bounded by White Plains Road, Unionport Road, and Mead Street, on which now sits. In April of 1922 the land was placed under Parks jurisdiction. By 1934, the triangular area around the monument contained Norway maple trees and a flagpole, all of which have subsequently been removed. In addition to the monument in honor of fallen soldiers, the park also...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed bleachers at Van Nuys High School.

"Uncle Sam's fighting men, stationed at the Army barracks at Vancouver, Wash., will have special cause for celebration next Fourth of July , for the day before is expected to see completion of WPA repairing and general improvement work scheduled to start November 4 , with the aid of $37,631 in WPA funds and labor, it was announced today at the office of Don G. Abel, state Works Progress Administrator. A WPA crew will be busy for eight months replacing foundations, roofs, chimneys, porches, gutters and downspcots, painting, calcimining, plastering and performing incidental work in all parts of the fort, says...

"Fans still fill the wooden benches of Vargas Stadium to watch baseball games on the community athletic field. The clubhouse and the stadium were constructed in 1937 and funded by the WPA."

The Works Progress Administration built a storm sewer on Vaughn Avenue in Parkersburg, Wood County.

The Veedersburg Scout Cabin is a community building constructed by the Works Progress Administration in Veedersburg IN in 1935. Further confirmation of the construction date needed. 

"George Veenker Memorial Golf Course is located just two blocks north of the Iowa State campus. The 18-hole course was constructed in 1938 from the design of world renowned golf course architect, Perry Maxwell (re-designer of the seventh and 10th holes at Augusta National Golf Club in 1937. ). The golf course was built with WPA and Athletic Council funds, and cost $122,373."   (wikipedia.org)

Before November 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed sewer lines along Venable Avenue, between 15th and 20th Streets, in the Kanawha City area of Charleston. It appears that work crews left behind such muddy conditions that Chamberlain Junior High (now Elementary) principal complained in a letter to WPA officials. At the time, the streets were known as 15th (now 44th Street) and 20th (now 49th Street). 20th Street was also known as Main Street.  

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed six sets of pergolas—known as "pagodas"—along Ocean Front Walk on Venice Beach (Los Angeles, CA). The pagodas were restored/reconstructed in 2000. The City of Los Angeles' Venice Beach Ocean Front Walk Refurbishment Plan noted that they would "be restored in either wood or recycled wood plastic materials suitable to retain historic character and appearance of the pagodas could also allow for durability and easy, long-term maintenance . The five sets of pagodas that do exist will be fully restored. In reviewing the historic photos for Venice Beach, it is clear that the original design of...

Grace Rivet Clements and Helen Lundeberg painted two 18' by 33' frescoes for Venice High School (Los Angeles, CA) in 1941: “History of Southern California” and “History of Early California.”  The frescoes were funded by the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP) and the artists were assisted by Aurel J. Leitner, Edwin T. Emery, Miriam Farrington, and Serena Swanson.  The two murals are located in the school library. Sylvia Moore writes that the frescoes "narrate the history of California in unrelated vignettes that seem to float across the walls of the library. On the east wall is the History of Early California,...

Bartholume Mako created two artworks for the auditorium foyer of Ventura High School in Ventura CA. One is a 12-foot high plaster sculpture titled "Roman Goddess" and the other is a 15 x 6-foot plaster frieze called "Roman Scene." They were paid for by the Federal Art Project of the Works Project Administration (WPA).

Multiple projects were "planned, staked out and supervised" by West Hartford's Engineering Department in 1935-6 utilizing Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) and/or Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor. One such project involved storm sewer construction along Vera and Jessamine Streets.

"Located in the foothills at the north end of the San Fernando Valley, Verdugo Hills High School opened its doors in September 1939. The Administration and Classroom Building pictured here was constructed in 1948, and continue the Spanish Colonial Revival theme of the buildings erected a decade earlier." - https://www.laschools.org/employee/design/fs-studies-and-reports/download/LAUSD_Presentation_March_2002.pdf?version_id=1895945 "Much of the construction on campus was done by men working for the Works Progress Administration, a federal effort to train and employ men during the Great Depression. By 1939, there were 78 WPA workers building things on campus, including the football field, and going to adult school at Verdugo at night....

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Vernon Gym in Vernon IN. Originally K-12 school with a gymnasium. Now a community building offering classroom and studio space and the gymnasium.  

In Newport, Rhode Island "the WPA built sidewalks and most of the stone walls, grandstands, concession buildings and other facilities in Newport’s public parks. Vernon Park, Freebody Park and Cardines Field are the most visible examples." At Vernon Park the WPA built an astounding stone "playground slide, complete with firehouse and chimney," at the park's northeast corner (on Vernon Ave.). It possibly also built the stone walls around the park's tennis courts.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) supplied a grant toward the improvement and renovation of Philadelphia's historic Wister House.