Works Progress Administration (WPA) Sites

"The cemetery is located at the junction of Midway Road (County #13) and Seville Road (County #694), a short distance south of the intersection of Midway Road and US Highway 53... Some WPA funding in the 1930’s and 1940’s allowed the town to add a few improvements."

Municipal reports from 1933-1942 detail PWA and WPA work on several local cemeteries. In 1933, the PWA spent nearly $5,000 on the following: Fencing Blossom Hill Cemetery. Crematory Blossom Hill Cemetery. Drainage Blossom Hill Cemetery. Grading Blossom Hill Cemetery, Maple Grove Cemetery, Pine Grove Cemetery. Water systems Maple Grove and Woodlawn Cemeteries. The report states, "This work required a vast amount of time, as the federal government is very exact in detail and text." A 1939 report stated further that: "With the assistance of the WPA, the pond at Blossom Hill Cemetery was restored after many years of disuse. To further beautify this area, azaleas and rhododendrons were...

A town report for 1938 says that the WPA helped in the reconstruction of the Curtis and Village cemeteries (located in what is now Chester, NH), in work that employed 30 men.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve the cemetery in Lakota, North Dakota in 1936.

Cemetery improvements were undertaken as a New Deal project, most likely by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

The Cape Vincent Eagle reported that the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved 11 roads in the town of Cape Vincent, New York. "All school bus, milk, and rural mail routes, the roads form an important part of the town's highway system." The project encompassed eight miles of road, and called for "grading, draining, placing base, trimming shoulders and ditches, surfacing and incidental appurtenant work." Roads improved included "Cemetery, leading from Rosiere county road easterly for 1.8 miles."

A local newspaper from 1939 explains that, "The cemetery improvement work started on August 28, 1938, with provision of rebuilding some 500 feet of rock walls and rock masonary entrance portals; laying 1000 feet of water mains; sodding and landscaping two acres of the area. Thirteen WPA workmen are currently employed, one of whom is a non-certitified foreman. Expenditures so far total $3,248 in federal funds and $355 in city funds." The WPA also built the town's swimming pool, and it is documented that the WPA demolished an old hotel building and was to use the recycled lumber to build a...

The following article was found in the January 13, 1938 issue of The Enderlin Independent. ************ WPA PROJECT TO LAY WATER MAIN TO CEMETERY ------------ Project Calls For 1856 Feet of Pipe; Work To Start Soon ------------- The city council has received notice that their request for a citywide WPA project which includes laying water main to the cemetery has been accepted and this week is advertising for bids on the necessary material. The project calls for the laying of 1856 feet of pipe. Of this material, the government will pay for 900 feet of the two inch cast iron pipe. The main will be connected at the...

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) laborers converted a dumping ground into an athletic field in Gloucester, Mass. on Centennial Ave.

Naperville's Centennial Park beach received a bathhouse during the New Deal, which is still standing today: "In 1934, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed the bathhouse, built from limestone taken from the quarry at the facility’s western edge. The completed bathhouse had stone steps leading down to the swimming area. The shallow section included a sandy area and the deep section had three anchored rafts, a 12-foot diving tower, two spring boards and one lifeguard stand." The bathhouse was recently renovated: "One of the top priorities was to preserve the historic bathhouse and much care was taken to ensure that its character remained...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the Centennial Building in Port St. Joe FL. Past Use: Auditorium/Gymnasium. Present Use: Civic Center. The 1996 National Register documentation notes that the Centennial Building has been the site of centennial celebration of the signing of Florida's first constitution, which ran from December 7th to December 10th, 1938. The building was dedicated on December 7, 1938. It was also used for other political events and civic functions. Also fund raising events, such as the Fireman's Ball and the March of Dimes President's Ball, have been held in the building. It has sometimes been used for community Fourth of July and...

One-story, brick, H-shaped building with tile roof. This building was originally constructed by the Works Progress Administration as the swimming pool and bathhouse for Nashville's Centennial Park. The swimming pool and bathhouse were closed during the Civil Rights movement as many Southern communities simply closed pools rather than de-segregating them. In 1972, the bathhouse was converted to the Centennial Art Center, and the pool converted to a sunken sculpture garden.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a bandshell ca. 1939 at Centennial Park in Nashville, Tennessee, "to the right of the present structure." That structure, which Living New Deal believes served between 1937 and 1963, has since been demolished and replaced.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to develop Centennial Park in Plymouth, Indiana.

The WPA improved Center St. and the intersecting Church St. in 1938. These streets run directly in front of the Santa Cruz City Hall, Civic Auditorium and Fire Station No. 1, all PWA projects.

The W.P.A. constructed sidewalks in Tucumcari, including on East Center Street in front of the municipally owned owned housing the the city hall and municipal court buildings. There are two imprint stamps, coordinates: 35.178135, -103.724251 35.178137, -103.723836

The New Deal's Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed sidewalks along Center Street in Provo in 1939.

The W.P.A. constructed a wall at the front of the then-new City Hall building (and the adjacent site of what became the present city hall) in Tucumcari, on East Center Street.

Built in 1939 as a public school in Holmdel NJ. Excerpt from the July 27th 1939 Red Bank Register: "Nearing completion at Centerville in Holmdel township is a new public school, the construction of which is being done entirely by WPA mechanics The Holmdel township board of education is supplying most of the materials and the WPA is supplying the labor, sand, gravel and concrete." Today the building is used for professional offices.

Federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor worked to improve the conditions at the Central Cemetery in Carver, Massachusetts.

Improvements were made to the Central Cemetery in Millbury, Massachusetts with Federal Emergency Relief Act funds in 1933. 282 Millbury locals were given employment in 1933 as a result of the federal E.R.A. The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a bridge at the cemetery in 1937.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook a sizable public building improvement project in Brooklyn, New York beginning in 1935.  The project involved the "Improvement of Public Buildings and Offices" at more than 30 locations, including the Central Court Building, which presently houses the Kings County Criminal Court.

Works Progress Administration (WPA) project No. 3544 started 10/05/1935 included 3 additional fire stations. WPA funding supplied $13,495.01 and the sponsor $9,513.78 for payroll, materials, and equipment. Hook & Ladder, adjacent to L & N Depot, on Main Street. The Central Fire Station construction was begun 04/20/1937 with an expected cost of about $10,000. The formal opening of the new fire station was July 1 when the old Hook and Ladder Company hall was vacated with the final departure of a parade of equipment and personnel to the new station on Main Street. The new station was 46 x 71 feet,...

The Works progress Administration built the Central Florida State Farmers' Market and Abatoir in Ocala FL.

A WPA press release from Nov. 1937 reported: "More than 150 schools have been repaired and the grounds improved and landscaped , and five brand new schools in the state were erected entirely by WPA with a small percentage of sponsored funds," among which was a new school in Kirkland, Washington. The precise location and the present status of the school building are unknown to Living New Deal. One story published in 2011 states that the WPA school constructed in Kirkland no longer exists.

Downtown Grand Forks, North Dakota's historic Central High School building received an auditorium constructed with the assistance of the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the 1930s. The building has since been expanded with further additions. Federal Writers' Project: "CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, 1st and 2nd Aves. N. between 4th and 5th Sts., has an auditorium unit constructed entirely without windows. It was the first public building in North Dakota to utilize indirect lighting throughout. It was erected in 1936-37 with WPA assistance at a cost of $275,000, and includes a pipe organ, the gift of the Grand Forks Music Association."

Central High School was built in 1931. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) added a "school room equipment." The WPA cost was $3,085.66. The WPA also did work on the football field and grounds improvements. The WPA cost was $4,750.76.

The WPA built the music hall at this high school. This hall still functions as a music classroom, as well as a storage space for textbooks.

The no-longer-extant Central Islip State Hospital "was the largest psychiatric institution ever to exist in the United States." Two WPA projects at the hospital involved the following: 1. "Painting brick walls of various buildings of institution, $23,557." 2. "Removal of old wood floors and installation of tile floors at institution, $9,755.46."

The former Queens Central Library, located at 89-14 Parsons Blvd., "opened in 1930 and was expanded with WPA funds in 1941." "The current Central Library is a product of its era. In the mid-1960s, instead of renovating the existing library at 89-14 Parsons Boulevard, officials chose to build an entirely new structure at 89-11 Merrick Boulevard, six blocks east. The older building was recycled as a courthouse. Its facade has since been incorporated into an apartment building called the Moda."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out maintenance work on the Old Central Public Library in 1935, as well as helping with clerical tasks. That library building had been funded by Andrew Carnegie in 1906.  It was replaced in 1960 and then replaced again in 2004 by the current asymetrical, cantilevered structure with its striking diagonal metal and glass grid, designed by Rem Koolhaas.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook a sizable public building improvement project in Brooklyn, New York beginning in 1935.  The project involved the "Improvement of Public Buildings and Offices" at more than 30 locations, including the Brooklyn Public Library's Central Library.

Central Maine Airport of Norridgewock is a public use airport in Somerset County, Maine, United States. It is owned by the Town of Norridgewock and has two runways. According to the newspaper the Independent Reporter, of FERA funds that were provided for 4 projects in Skowhegan in early 1935, $1,917 went to the airport which at the beginning was called the Skowhegan Airport. The crew consisted of 11 laborers and foreman Charles Stinchfield. In a earlier town hall meeting, $250 was voted by the citizens to contribute toward construction. Initial construction began in 1933 and according to a later article, over...

Also known as Mustang Hall, the Central School auditorium was built by the WPA in 1939. A 2013 report on the school's history explains: "Mustang Hall also exemplifies the architectural characteristics of the Art Deco style with Mission Revival influences executed in a WPA institutional building... The Mission Revival style characteristics displayed include: the terra cotta tile roof, the stucco wall finish, and the gable roofs. Some of the Art Deco style characteristics include the flat roofs, vertical entry porch, and the chevron patterned tiles."

NHRP Nomination Form: "The City of Alliance Central Park Fountain was constructed on the corner of 10th Street and Niobrara Avenue in Alliance, Nebraska in 1935. The Fountain, an octagonal concrete structure which features tiers of water patterns and electrically controlled colored lights, was assembled with the combined efforts of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and crews from the City of Alliance. The Fountain occupies a prominent location in Alliance's Central Park along an original county and now city, thoroughfare. From the time of its first use in 1935 to the present, the Fountain has been a source of beauty and community...

"Projects completed by the WPA included ... improving the city park (BX01-067) ..."

Central Park was originally established in the 1860s, but New Deal workers carried out massive improvements to the park from 1934 to 1938. In addition to the many specific projects listed by name, there were any number of improvements done with the help of the New Deal.  As Frank da Cruz explains,  New Deal funds, labor, and designers reconstructed the park, with thousands of men working in three shifts around the clock in all weather.   They built new walls and entrance markers; removed dead trees and pruned others; plowed, seeded, planted, and revived the landscaping; created new footpath, trails, and drainage; and...

The Works Progress Administration built restroom facilities in Central Park in Davis, in 1937. Davis Wiki: "The WPA Building houses the public restrooms on the northeast corner of Central Park. It was built in 1937 as a WPA project and was the first public restroom in Davis. It is also the only WPA building in the City of Davis, lending it additional historical significance." In 2011, the Davis City Council approved the demolition of the WPA building with the intention of building a "History Plaza" in its place. The proposal gave rise to public disagreement and many local writers and residents expressed support for the conservation of...

The Central Park Zoo was built over the course of eight months in 1934 by workers employed by the Civil Works Administration and, after that program’s demise, by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. It succeeded the old Central Park Menagerie, a once popular attraction that by the early 1930s was so severely dilapidated that Parks Department officials feared its lions and tigers would break out of the rotted wood structures that housed them. Newly-appointed Parks Commissioner Robert Moses set about replacing the menagerie, not with a full-sized zoo, but with what he called a “picture-book zoo”—a smaller-scale facility meant as...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to restore the 107th Infantry Memorial at 5th Ave. and 67th St. in Central Park during the mid-1930s.