Works Progress Administration (WPA) Sites

According to an index of WPA projects in the National Archives, the WPA constructed a sewage disposal plant, sedimentation tanks, a sludge digestion tank, and dripping beds in Lorton in 1936. In 1938, the Washington Post reported that funds were allocated for the PWA to conduct further improvements. Exact location and status of project unknown, but the facility could now be the site of the Norman M. Cole, Jr. Pollution Control Plant, Virginia's largest such facility.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers constructed Leominster's original water treatment facility, which has been drastically modernized on multiple occasions in the intervening decades. WPA Bulletin: As a public health safety measure the Leominster WPA has constructed a large water filtration plant on Monoosnock River . Many skilled and unskilled workers were employed on this project.

"With several WPA projects completed work has been started at Cisco on a $30000 water treatment plant, that city's most important public works undertaking. Forty-five men are employed on the project During construction the city Is using raw water from Lake Cisco." The location of this project is presently unknown to Living New Deal.

The Water Utility Well No. 7 in Madison Wisconsin was constructed in 1939. The project proposal began in 1938 and was completed a year later by McCarthy Well Company. The construction of the project experienced several delays due to weather and other complications. Upon its completion, it began to provide the surrounding area, mainly Bluff Village with clean and sanitary water. Initiation and partial funding for the project was provided by the WPA of Madison. The original well constructed in 1939 contained a 135,000 gallon reservoir along with a well capacity of 2,100 gallons per minute. Inside the well house...

Meridian voters approved a $200,000 bond issue for improving the water works in 1939. It was projected to begin July that year and provide employment for 300 men for a year. Improvements were proposed to include “new five-million-gallon reservoir on the hills south of Meridian, Gravity flow through a new 24-inch main to the downtown section. Several new 16-inch mains to major outlying districts of the city. At least one addition to the pumping station to increase capacity. Adequate pressure to decrease fire hazards” (1939, p. 9). Although they had expected to receive a federal grant of $100,000 toward the cost,...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) financed construction of a water works plant for the town of Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Part of the plant houses the San Juan Historical Society Museum. Free water is still offered from a spigot along North 1st Street elevation.

The Works Progress Administration built a 60” pipe, water purification and supply system in Birmingham, in 1936. The exact location and current condition of this project is unknown to the Living New Deal.  

From 1937-1939, Greenville undertook improvements for the water works and sewage disposal, including building one new pumping station. Bids for pumping stating equipment were opened June 1937, and work began in late June to remodel the existing waterworks building constructed c. 1896. Water mains, storm drains and sanitary sewers were added, along with a new pumping station constructed 1938. Approximately $140,000 was approved for the improvements scheduled for 1937. The water plant was located at 806 West Union Street, and other locations are unknown. The project provided employment for 128 men, and took 12 months. A later WPA project 40,026...

Portland’s morning newspaper, The Oregonian, announced in late January 1936 that the city’s Seawall Railing was nearing completion, bringing with it a harbor line that was “beautified and protect(ed).” The ornamental, reinforced concrete railings added 3 ½ feet to the harbor wall along a stretch of the Willamette River from Jefferson Street to the Steel Bridge.  Approximately every 100 feet, heavy bases had been added to allow for ornamental light standards along the wall. Federal relief funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA) provided $60,000 for the completion, employing approximately 100 Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers. Planning for the harbor...

"This bridge is part of a street construction program undertaken to allow traffic passing through the city to bypass the congested business area. The project consisted of the construction of approximately 11,300 feet of highway connecting Roosevelt Avenue at one end with Houghton Avenue at the other, the construction of a rigid frame bridge at State Street with ramps up to State Street, and the construction of the Watershops Pond Bridge illustrated on this page. This bridge has steel girders and concrete spans with hung arches and stone facing on concrete piers and abutments resting on pile foundations. The total length...

Relief workers from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) helped carve out and construct the Waterside Theatre at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on Roanoke Island. The theater has undergone renovations and changes over the years but is still very much in operation. Waterside Theater is home of the long-running play “The Lost Colony," written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul Green, a native of North Carolina.  The story of the mysterious lost colony of Roanoke has been running consistently, though not entirely uninterrupted, since 1937.  WPA Federal Theater Project (FTP) actors took part in the original performances. As FTP historian...

The W.P.A. conducted extensive improvement and development projects at the former Watertown Arsenal. Project details: "Rehabilitate and make general improvements to buildings, utilities, facilities, and grounds" Official Project Number: 165‐2‐14‐363 Total project cost: $641,063.00 Sponsor: Commanding Officer, Watertown Arsenal, U.S. Army "Make general repairs and improvements to buildings and grounds" Official Project Number: 165‐24‐2005 Total project cost: $107,860.00 Sponsor: Commanding Officer and Board of Selection "Construct additions to buildings at Watertown Arsenal" Official Project Number: 165‐3‐14‐263 Total project cost: $67,884.00 Sponsor: War Department "Construct additions to existing buildings, rehabilitate and modernize buildings, utilities, and facilities, and improve grounds" Official Project Number: 165‐3‐14‐265 Total project cost: $111,100.00 Sponsor: Commanding Officer, Watertown Arsenal, U.S. Army "Recondition...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted defense improvement work at the Watervliet Arsenal during the 1930s.

The federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) constructed a waterworks system in Evarts, Kentucky ca. 1940.

"Nevada is a desert state. This has been the controlling fact of the state’s existence since white men arrived. Many of the New Deal programs tried to stretch the available water. No other field serves better to demonstrate the enduring impact of the Roosevelt programs on Nevada. The state has lived off New Deal water ever since. Besides the Humboldt reclamation program (reclamation is the use of irrigation to convert desert to farmland) already mentioned, there were dozens, then hundreds of drought relief projects—the drilling of wells, the development of springs, the building of dams. By Oct. 22, 1934, the Nevada...

In 1940, the Works Progress Administration reconstructed Monaca's waterworks with locally quarried stone. The project cost $50,000. A marker on the building identifies it as "W.P.A. PROJECT NO. 21284."

Watonga Middle School was originally the Watonga High School, built by the WPA in 1936-1937. From Marjorie Barton's Leaning on a Legacy (2008): "The building was constructed of light sandstone blocks, which are uniform in size, but not squared on the facing, and is beautifully maintained. The high school in Wewoka is of another type of stone and had a large addition as a WPA project. The addition has a WPA marker, but is such a perfect match, it blends with the older portion of the building." From Wayfinding.com: The High School was built in 1936-1937 as a WPA project. This can...

The 3.3-acre Watson Gleason Playground, located in the Soundview neighborhood of the Bronx, was constructed with WPA labor. New York City's Parks Department writes: "In 1938 the City of New York acquired the entire block bounded by Watson, Noble, Gleason, and Rosedale Avenues. Designed by the Parks Department and built with labor provided by the Work Projects Administration (WPA), the playground opened one-and-one-half years later. Parks Commissioner Robert Moses presided at the dedication ceremony, which featured Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Borough President James J. Lyons, Acting WPA Administrator Major Edmond H. Leary, and President Roderick Stephens of the Bronx Borough of Trade. The...

In 1933-34, Civil Works Administration (CWA) relief workers did flood mitigation work on the Watts Branch of the Anacostia River,  “lowering the stream bed in some sections, straightening out bends and clearing away debris to increase the rapidity of the run off of water.” (Work 1936) Several years later, in 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) returned to the site for additional improvements: “The District WPA has resumed work on the storm water flood elimination project at Watts Branch, near Minnesota Avenue and Hunt place northeast…" (Washington Post, May 10, 1940). Not all such channelization of the time was wise.  Work is...

The Works Progress Administration built the Wauchula Farmers' State Market in Wauchula FL, Hardee County. WPA Work Project N0. 1090.

WPA workers rebuilt the Waugh School in Petaluma in the 1930s. " was used as a school until 17 years ago, when it was sold to a private individual who is restoring it, said Scott Mahoney, the Waugh district superintendent. 'It's cool to see the plaque on the front...it still says Waugh School as you drive up to it,' Mahoney said."

The federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted drainage work along Waushakum Ave. in 1935.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers constructed a large storm sewer in Belmont, Massachusetts. From a W.P.A. Bulletin: Sixty inch pipe is being laid on the Belmont WPA Wellington Brook Sewer Project. This storm sewer will run 510 feet from Waverly Town Yard to Waverly Street.

"The building was constructed in 1940 under the New Deal program known as the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and was used for town dances, church socials, wedding receptions and speeches by political figures such as Hubert Humphrey. The original village hall burned down in the summer of 1938. The WPA received plans for a new building that December. Bids were let in May of 1939, and by Labor Day in 1940, Waverly residents celebrated their brand new hall with baseball games, dances, and a carnival."  (https://www.waymarking.com)

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

A 3000' sod airfield that operated from 1925 to 1941 next to the golf course, After 1927 supplies were regularly flown in to supply the large hotel complex. A WPA project Oct. 10, 1935 mentions construction both at Mariposa and Wawona. WPA project 79697. The amount spent was $86,554.

The WPA worked on Wawona St. between 19th Ave. and 28th Ave.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) amphitheater was built ca. 1935-36. A 1985 National Register nomination form for Creek County described the site: "This amphitheater is a two-story, rectangular (35' x 25') structure constructed of cut, coursed, and rusticated native stone of buff color. Pilaster strips on the back give the building an art deco flavor. The stage is concrete and has been painted white. The concrete seats have been removed... Construction of this amphitheater reflected the cultural interests of the WPA and gave some economic security to many destitute laborers in the area. The project infused wages of some 120,000 man-hours...

This Works Progress Administration (WPA) amphitheater was built ca. 1935-36. A 1985 National Register nomination form for Creek County described the site: "This amphitheater is a two-story, rectangular (35' x 25') structure constructed of cut, coursed, and rusticated native stone of buff color. Pilaster strips on the back give the building an art deco flavor. The stage is concrete and has been painted white. The concrete seats have been removed... Construction of this amphitheater reflected the cultural interests of the WPA and gave some economic security to many destitute laborers in the area. The project infused wages of some 120,000 man-hours...

The county seat of Wayne county moved to this location when the construction of the Lake Wappapello Dam forced the movement of the entire town of Greenville, previously located along the St. Francis River. The building cost about $98,000.  Construction by the Works Progress Administration started in 1941 and was completed in 1943.      

The historic Wayne County Courthouse in Loa, Utah was constructed as a New Deal project with Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor. The building is still in service. Prior to its construction, "county officials originally met in private homes and rented quarters and later converted a store into office space." (UCM)

The WPA allocated $409,637 to conduct repairs along Webster Avenue in the Bronx during the 1930s. WPA Official Project No. 65-97-439(?).

This is the third courthouse built in Webster County and is constructed of Carthage Marble with art deco elements on the walls and a top floor jail. "The Works Progressive Administration (WPA) was instrumental in the construction of Webster County’s Courthouse. Between 1939 and 1941, Marshfield saw WPA workers aiding in the construction of the new courthouse, as well as helping work on Marshfield’s sewer system; at one point, more than 124 workers were assigned to the project, which consisted of digging and laying 13 miles of pipe throughout town. The new courthouse was complete by 1942 and is still in use...

"This is a one-story tan brick building, constructed by the WPA in 1937. The original building is rectangular, but has additions built later, on the northeast and south. "Above the main entrance which faces west, is a large concrete frieze with the word WEBSTER in tall, Art Deco styled letters. On the north side over the entrance, the date '1937' is also engraved in tall modern numbering. The brick is curved as it goes from the front wall to the recessed entrance door. "The roof is flat, and the windows are grouped in openings with nine panes. The top three in...

"The Webster Rock School is an historic rock Works Progress Administration school located on NC 116 in Webster, North Carolina, USA. In 1990, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It once served as Webster High School and Webster Elementary School. ... The old Webster Rock School is being used as the Southwestern Child Development Center, and by the Family Resources Center for Jackson County. The old Gym/Auditorium is sometimes used for community events."

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor conducted improvements at the former Webster School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. WPA Bulletin: In Webster Grammar School, Cambridge, WPA workmen have weather-stripped 194 windows. This work will result in a saving of fuel costs, elimination of drafts from loose windows and will help maintain an even temperature throughout the building.

This small Brooklyn playground was opened by the Department of Parks in December 1935. The press release announcing the opening explained that it, and the other 12 playgrounds opened on the same day, collectively contained: "88 small swings; 72 large swings; 36 seesaws; 14 playhouses; 15 large slides; 11 sand tables; 10 garden swings; 7 small slides; 7 small tables; 6 handball courts; 6 jungle gyms; 5 shuffleboard courts; 5 wading pools; 4 parallel bars; 3 horizontal bars; 3 horizontal ladders; 3 horseshoe pitching, etc.; 2 basketball courts, 1 shower." As researcher Frank da Cruz explains here, almost all New York...

Michael Lenson painted "Enlightenment of Man" with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. The New York Times wrote the following in 2003 in a retrospective article of New Jersey-based artist Michael Lenson: " moved to Newark and applied at the W.P.A. office on Halsey Street ... Soon, Mr. Lenson was designing and executing murals for the state W.P.A. program. He went on to become assistant state supervisor in charge of the other muralists in the agency. By the time the federal W.P.A. closed in 1943, Mr. Lenson had created six murals and supervised the execution of 15 more in New Jersey by...

Between 1936 and 1940, the WPA constructed a classroom building, an auditorium and a gymnasium at the Weleetka campus. The buildings are still standing, amidst a number of more recent constructions. The 1985 Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory described the WPA structures: "The first is the classroom building which has eight rooms and is a single-story, T-shaped (87' x 111') building constructed of cut, coursed, and rusticated native stone of buff color... The auditorium is a single-story, rectangular (94' x 56') building which is stepped on the south side... The roof is flat with parapets. The entrance has an art deco flavor... The gymnasium is...

The Works Progress Administration spent $1,500,000 for miscellaneous alterations, additions, renovations, grading, and landscaping of grounds at hospital and institutions to New York's Charity Hospital. In addition, a nurse's home and a power plant were constructed at the hospital in the 1930s with the assistance of the Public Works Administration (PWA). Originally named Penitentiary Hospital and located on what was then known as Blackwell's Island, the first hospital was built in 1832 to serve the prisoners housed at Blackwell's Penitentiary. After the hospital was destroyed by a fire in 1858, architect James Renwick, Jr. designed a new building to be called City Hospital, on...