Works Progress Administration (WPA) Sites

Stone courthouse constructed by the WPA in 1936.

The Carter County Courthouse was a very early project ofthe Works Progress Administration, no. 168. Completed in 1936, it includes not only the courthouse itself, but the grounds and the surrounding native rock wall. This is the only native rock courthouse in the state of Missouri.  

The first public school for African Americans in Abilene was established in 1890. Located in the 200 block of Plum Street, the one-room school was named the Abilene Colored School. Its first class consisted of 22 students and one teacher. In 1902 the school moved to a one-room structure built at N. 7th and Magnolia, and had two teachers serving 84 students. The Colored School held its first graduation in 1923 at the Macedonia Baptist Church for one student. A five-room school was constructed at 541 N. 8th Street in 1929. That year the student body consisted of 217 pupils. The building...

The Works Progress Administration completed George Washington Carver High School in 1941. The building was used by the African-American students in the Karnack school district. When schools were integrated, the building became George Washington Carver Elementary School. Karnack High School closed in 2016 due to low enrollment, and the elementary school students moved to the high school building. In 2019, the old Carver school building appeared to be unused.

"The bathhouse and original swimming pool were built in 1940 with the help of the WPA program. Under County jurisdiction the site was originally named Lapham Park. This name was used until the late 1950’s when it was changed to Carver Park."

The WPA and NYA worked to construct a large wading pool in what is now known as Carver Park, in 1936. The pool is no longer extant. Paterson, New Jersey's Evening News wrote on May 8, 1936: Thirty Negro workers of the National Youth Administration pulled the last piece of brush from a 5-lot tract at the corner of Second and Clay streets today, and began the second half of excavation for a wading pool 315 feet in circumference. The work is part of a WPA project, sponsored by the city. Workers there reported the five lots cleared and a 155-foot ditch...

"Built in 1934 on low swampy land across the street from the Bangor Water Works, which supplied city water from the Penobscot River, the park was designed by city manager James G. Wallace and funded by the Works Progress Administration . It was known for its unusual system of water features, including a twenty-foot-tall grotto with a waterfall carved into the hillside and stabilized with a battered stone wall. At the bottom of the cascade, water from a small concrete pool flowed into a narrow concrete “brook,” and then into a larger oval pool. Daytime visitors flocked to see the...

During the 1930s, with the help of Works Progress Administration funds and labor, the Seattle Park Department made significant improvements to Cascade Playground. Among these improvements was the construction of a small brick comfort station in the northeast corner of the playground. The comfort station consisted of two structures, one on either side of the diagonal path leading into the playground, and included rooms for the playground caretaker, a playground instructor, and storage, as well as men's and women's restrooms. Work on the two structures began in 1937 and was completed in 1938. A plaque on the north side of...

The push for construction of a playground in Seattle's Cascade neighborhood began during the 1920s. In 1926, using funds from a 1924 bond issue, the Seattle Park Department acquired the proposed Cascade Playground site, which covered nearly the entire block between Harrison and Thomas Streets, and Minor and Pontius Avenues. The property remained largely unimproved for the next nine years. Beginning in 1935, however, a series of Works Progress Administration projects upgraded the site into a fully developed urban playground. As part of the first project, begun in 1935, WPA workers built concrete retaining walls around the perimeter of the site,...

The Works Progress Administration built facilities in Cascades Park in Bloomington, Indiana. The original construction included drinking fountains, shelters, picnic tables of limestone slabs. Today the park spans 68 acres with original features, hiking trails, softball fields.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed retaining walls along Cascadilla Creek in Ithaca, New York during the 1930s.  The channelized creek lies between North and South Cascadilla Avenue, and the historic photograph shown here was likely taken somewhere between Cayuga and Tioga Streets. The walls are still in good shape, working to control flooding along the creek.

This WPA photo shows WPA workers "cleaning, straightening, and improving storm drain" on Casleton Ave. in Staten Island (then known as the Borough of Richmond).

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted a sewer installation / improvement project along Cass Avenue in Woonsocket.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) contributed greatly to the development of the park system in Woonsocket, R.I. Cass Park benefited as the result of multiple improvements. Woonsocket, RI: A Centennial History, states: The Woonsocket Call of September 28, 1935, reported that "work was started on the first five WPA projects in Woonsocket, giving employment to 300 men. ... Cass Park athletic fields were completed. In addition to other landscaping improvements and the construction of picnic areas and fireplaces, "a swampy area was filled in and rustic bridges built" across a brook (Allaire).

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built an extensive Recreation Center on the grounds of the Utah State Hospital for the mentally handicapped.  The recreation center is popularly known as the "Provo Castle" or Castle Amphitheater. It includes an 800-seat stone amphitheater with attached interior rooms and a grass-covered play area on a 3-acre site.  The original intention was to build a much larger recreational facility for the hospital, but that plan was never realized. The Provo Castle is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is still used for public events.

The current Castro County Courthouse was constructed in large part with labor provided by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA). Text from the state historical marker reads: "This site was set aside as the Dimmitt town square in 1891, the year Castro County was formally organized. Temporary court facilities were set up in J. N. Morrison's office while the first courthouse was built. An ornate two-story structure, it burned in 1906 after being hit by lighting. A brick courthouse with a central dome, built in 1908, was dedicated at a community picnic. It served until the 1930s, but was razed to make...

The WPA worked on Castro St. between 17th and 19th and between 24th and 26th.

The Works Progress Administration remodeled the Castroville School in 1939 under project number 665-66-2-541. The workmen added a two classroom wing on the northwest side of the building and a two classroom wing on the southeast side of the building. The wings were constructed using rock masonry with wood floors. The State of Texas formed Medina County in 1848. The county erected the first permanent courthouse in Castroville in 1854. When the county seat moved to Hondo in 1892, the courthouse in Castroville was converted to a school. The building is currently the Castroville City Hall.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved a segment of Cathedral Avenue NW, from Idaho Avenue to New Mexico Avenue. The WPA graded this road, and also prepared it for paving with a foundation of salvaged material: “The old material is obtained from old roadways which have deteriorated due to the strain of heavy later-day traffic and were replaced by new standard type pavements.” Also, “There was a considerable amount of fill material placed on the north side of this roadway in order to widen it. After the fill had been completed a temporary curb and sidewalk was constructed.”

This classic one room schoolhouse received repairs courtesy of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). WPA Proj. No. 65-3-3714, December 24, 1935, $1,344 "Repair & paint Grammar school building excavate court & playground." The land was donated to the school by Andrew Cathay in 1879. Thanks to a community effort, when the school was threatened with demolition because of the expansion of the current elementary school, it was moved a mile to the town park. The building still exists and is kept in original shape. Occasionally, it is used to demonstrate older teaching methods to local students. There is an E. Clampus Vitus memorial in front...

From the National Park Service website for Catoctin Mountain Park: “President Franklin D. Roosevelt created programs to give people a chance to rebuild their lives from the Great Depression. The Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps gave this land a second opportunity and through re-growth, a new role as a recreation area (https://www.nps.gov/cato/index.htm)... Historic structures and products of the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps, along with the site of our nation's first Job Corps Center, are tangible reminders of the capability of vigorous youth programs to strengthen the nation's economic and social fabric. The totality of resources found...

The federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) undertook several road improvement projects along roads in Brooklyn, New York. One such project involved the removal of malls and other repair work along the modest stretch of Caton Avenue from McDonald Ave. to Fort Hamilton Pkwy.

W.P.A. improvements to the former Cavalry Armory building, which Living New Deal believes to be the facility at 270 Goffe St., include: Paint interior and exterior of Cavalry Armory building Official Project Number: 65‐15‐1947

WPA Bulletin, 1937: "Recently the Birch Street Playground, which was transformed by WPA from a gravel pit into an attractive athletic site, was dedicated by Mayor Burgin who turned over the "Keys of the Field" to the School Committee. North Quincy High School helped in the dedication by defeating Milton's High School in a football contest, 21 to 7. This playground is to be used exclusively for track and football."

A 2012  Nation Register of Historic Places Registration Form describes the restroom structures built by the Works Progress Administration circa 1935: "Behind the school, near the southwest and northwest corners of the property are two stone privies. Thought to have been constructed in the 1930s, possibly with funding from the Works Progress Administration, the two small buildings are identical in design. The small rectangular buildings are of rubble stone construction with a plain wood door centered in one long wall. The roof is side gable with wood shingles and exposed rafter tails." After a health department inspection, "The school’s trustees also...

The Cave Springs Public School is a K-12 school in rural Oklahoma. The main building was constructed in 1926. The WPA added this gymnasium in 1939: "This 'Y' shaped building measures 112' by 135' and is constructed from cut and rusticated, randomly laid native stone. The roof is gabled with cross gables and arched over the gym... The walls of the gym were constructed of double rock of about 18 inches in width. Concrete inlays create false arches on the front facade of the structure... The WPA's construction of the building has provided the community with an exceptional community resource... Massive double...

The municipal airport southwest of Carlsbad, New Mexico, now known as Cavern City Air Terminal, was constructed during the Depression era with Work Projects Administration (WPA) funds and labor. The WPA conducted two large-scale projects at the site: "Construct municipal airport," Project No. 165‐1‐85‐188, a $229,025 project sponsored by the City of Carlsbad. "Develop and improve municipal airport", Project No. 165‐1‐85‐113, a $48,232 project sponsored by the War Department.

Situated on the east side of Ocean Boulevard, in a little valley is the town of Cayucos’s only cemetery. The front of the cemetery is defined by a low masonry wall constructed by the WPA in 1940. It is made of light gray to iron-colored uncut stone laid in random courses. A few stones are arranged in odd patterns to provide visual interest. Approximately 335’ long, it is divided into three sections. Masonry posts topped with concrete balls are placed at intervals along its path. The cemetery improvement project began in the winter of 1940, but stalled for a time because of muddy...

The Cayuga Medical Center is home to eight sculptures, completed by six Works Progress Administration (WPA) artists in the late 1930s. The sculptures are between two and three feet tall and depict animals. They were originally installed at the children's playground at the Herman M. Biggs Memorial Hospital, north of the current Cayuga Medical Center. The sculptures were recently cleaned and restored under conservator Kasia Maroney.    

Cazenovia Park and the nearby South Park in Buffalo were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the late 19th century. Improvements to the park continued throughout the early 1900s. In 1935, the WPA built a pedestrian suspension bridge across a creek in the Cazenovia Park golf course. The WPA photo pictured here also shows a swimming pool listed as being "South Park Swimming Pool - Cazenovia Park." This may well be the swimming pool in Cazenovia Park, which was also constructed in 1935.

In August 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) gave Cedar County a grant for the improvement of the county fairgrounds at Hartington. The grant amounted to $8,040.00.

The bridge carrying Arkansas State Highway 45 over Cedar Creek north of Bonanza, Arkansas, was constructed by the Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) in 1942.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement work at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Bessemer, Alabama.

The New York City Department of Parks announced the opening of Cedar Playground, along with twelve other playgrounds, in December 1935. Although the release does not explicitly mention federal funding, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here why "it is safe to say that every single project completed by the NYC Park Department during the 1930s was federally funded to some degree." After April 1935, the WPA was especially involved in the development of the New York park system.

The creation of the Cedars of Lebanon State Park in Tennessee was a multifaceted joint project of the Resettlement Administration, the CCC, the forestry division, NPS and the WPA: "Project development began in the fall of 1935, with forestry personnel, along with RA and CCC workers, planting new seedlings of juniper cedar, black walnut, black locust, ash, yellow poplar, and mulberry trees. The crews introduced erosion controls and built roads and trails... The WPA constructed recreational facilities, including picnic areas, overlook shelters on the Jackson Cave Trail, and the original park lodge. Lebanon Cedar Forest was officially opened in September 1937...

This large, adobe-built gymnasium is attached to the rear of a 1920s, four-room brick school house in the nearly non-existent community of Cedarvale, New Mexico. The gym was erected by the WPA between 1935-36, under WPA Official Project #s 65-85-402 and 165-85-2081. Both buildings are on private property.

The 1935 Town report mentions: Public Service Enterprises Fence Construction Centre Cemetery ERA Project ----- $563.69 employing 13 people WPA Highway Project $260.34 WPA Sewing Project $60.21 employing 2 people

Works Progress Administration (WPA) built an expansion to the Evanston Cemetery in Wyoming'. Regarding the City Cemetery, Evanston, Wyoming's website states: "The largest expansion of the cemetery took place in the mid 1930s, when the “New Section” was constructed as a WPA project." "The Works Progress Administration helped develop this section of the cemeterybeginning in 1938. WPA workers preparedthe ground, laid the irrigation system, andinstalled the landscaping. This was the firstsection of the cemetery to require flat grave markers to make it easier for cemetery custodians to maintain the lawns."

The Brigham City Cemetery grounds were improved by the WPA. "Major Cemetery improvements started after World War I when the existing roads were mapped out sprinkler systems installed, grave markers lined up and landscaping improved. Much of this work was accomplished by the Works Progress Administration, a federal assistance program established during the Great Depression. Since that time the Cemetery has been under perpetual care maintenance by the City."

The C.W.A., F.E.R.A, and W.P.A. conducted development and improvement work at Chestnut Hill Cemetery in Burlington, Mass. Work included construction of new roads and grading a new addition of land.