Works Progress Administration (WPA) Sites

The Portales City Park and swimming pool were constructed as New Deal projects, most likely by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

This WPA band shell in Concordia's City Park was razed in 1991 when it was deemed unsafe.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted substantial development and improvement work at Grant City Park in Grant, Nebraska. "Among the benefits revealed by this inventory of accomplishments by WPA workers are the five-acre park constructed in Grant, the new playgrounds, five new tennis courts, new band shell, and four horseshoe courts and as well as an outdoor theatre."

Reading, Pennsylvania's historic City Park Fireman's Memorial Bandshell was constructed during the Great Depression with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. "The City Park Fireman's Memorial Bandshell was dedicated on Labor Day in 1939. The Bandshell, located at Hill Road & Constitution Blvd in Reading, is home to the Ashley for the Arts Bandshell Concert Series held annually. In 2011 the Bandshell was renovated at a cost of a about one million dollars." PWA Docket No. X2137 Prior to the bandshells construction, a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project was undertaken, to raze "the front of the old Berks jail and...

The Wikipedia entry on City Park provides a good summary of park history, including the role of the WPA in making improvements to the park: "City Park, a 1,300 acre (5.3 km²) public park in New Orleans, Louisiana, is the 6th-largest and 7th-most-visited urban public park in the United States. City Park is approximately 50% larger than Central Park in New York City, the municipal park recognized by Americans nationwide as the archetypal urban greenspace... City Park was established in the mid-19th century on land fronting Metairie Road (now City Park Avenue), along the remains of Bayou Metairie, a former distributary of the...

The WPA pool and building pictured here was voted in in 1936 and completed in 1939.  The pool was closed and filled in in the 1970's. There is now a basketball court where part of the pool was.  The pool house building is now a shelter house at City Park.

WPA Project No. 65-3-2426, App. Date 11-4-35, $780, "Construction of rock wall around Antioch City Park." WPA Project No. 65-3-2426, App. Date 2-8-36, $430, "Const. of rock wall with reinforced concrete foundations. (Additional)" From the Google street view, it looks as if the wall is still in good condition. Some attention to design seems to have been the designers goal. A seating bench is incorporated into the southwest corner, and a long alcove for a flower bed is in the north section.

This beautiful circular pool was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938.

The accompanying photo was used on p. 50 of "All Aboard! A Journey Through Historic Winter Garden 1880-1950," written by The Winter Garden Heritage Foundation. The photograph portrays the Winter Garden City Pool at 1, Surprise Drive, Winter Garden. This popular facility was one of the WPA projects made possible through the efforts of Mayor George Walker. The pool was originally filled by a natural artesian well. The pool is still in use and is now called Farnsworth Pool.

Works Progress Administration (WPA) project cards in the National Archives indicate that WPA crews did extensive work on the city water supply system in Fortuna in 1937 and 1940.  A new reservoir was proposed in 1935 and approved in 1936.  The next round, in 1939-40, included laying of new and reclaimed water mains, installing hydrants and improving water treatment. This work cannot be definitively confirmed, since water mains are undergr0und and hydrants have been replaced by modern fixtures.  The reservoir on a hill north of downtown Fortuna does appear to be of the right age to be the one built by...

"The City Section of Mt. Hope is located on the north side of Mt. Hope Avenue and also includes a portion of land south of Mt. Hope within the Mt. Hope Cemetery fence. This 30-acre site began to take form in 1834, the same year that Bangor was incorporated. Development continued during the Roosevelt Administration under the Works Progress Administration. Today, this section of Mt. Hope Cemetery consists of approximately 4000 lots and is maintained by maintenance crews that work for the Mt. Hope Cemetery Corporation."

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) demolished an abandoned cement block stable on Bayonne's Avenue F between East 29th St. and East 30th St.

The Works Progress Administration built a water intake for the city of Gadsden, circa 1937. The exact location and condition of this facility is unknown to the Living New Deal.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) did improvements to the San Luis Obispo water supply in the 1930s.  WPA photographs from the National Archives show workers laying water pipes in city streets. Exactly when and where is not known to us.

WPA Bulletin, 1937: "Pittsfield's employees in the Sealers of Weights and Measures office will be thankful to WPA on completion of a concrete and steel building to house weighing equipment and instruments at the City Yards, Housatonic Street. Previously testing of equipment had been done outside, no matter the weather, and the process was often uncomfortable and unsatisfactory. Thirteen men are finishing up the job which is expected to be ready by November 1."

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers constructed storage building at New Bedford's City Yard in 1936. WPA Bulletin: The New Bedford WPA City Yard Storage Building Project is designed to store machinery and other city equipment which has been deteriorating from being placed in an open yard. The building is solidly built with concrete piers extending through fill and peat to hard-pan. The exact location and status of this facility is unknown to Living New Deal.

New Deal federal works programs completed widespread infrastructure improvement projects throughout Oakland, Maine. Michael J. Denis's report "Some Tidbits of Oakland History" details the following: "Clyde G Blake, the new road commissioner, noted in 1934 that most roads were widened, 825 feet of stone base road was laid on Ten Lots Road, 3350 feet of state aid road was constructed on Fairfield Street, and 4000 feet of Rice's Ripps Road, 900 feet of Summer Street, and 800 feet of Fairfield Street were resurfaced. Hosea Ireland was back as commissioner in 1935. He noted 2950 feet of improved road on Fairfield Street, 900...

Now a part of McCaw Hall, Seattle's old Municipal Auditorium was drastically improved by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA). "McCaw Hall is the latest incarnation of what was once Seattle's Civic Auditorium (1928), which was then gutted and rebuilt as the Seattle Center Opera House for the World's Fair in 1962." (historylink.org) A WPA press release from Jan. 1938 reported: "Modernizing of the Seattle Civic Auditorium and Ice Arena by WPA workers will begin January 21 with the aid of $21,539 in Federal funds, it was announced today by Don G. Abel, state Works Progress Administrator. One of the important features of...

The W.P.A. constructed a Civic Center in Billings, Montana, ca. 1935-8. The exact location and status of this facility is unknown to Living New Deal. Official Project Number 65‐91‐6550

Clean lines, formal monumental openings, and restrained revival details mark the 1939 Great Falls Civic Center as a municipal Art Deco style building. The Works Projects Administration provided most of the funding for the building. The Depression-era federal jobs program employed people doing everything from local history research to public works projects. Since WPA funds could not be used to purchase land, the city situated the Civic Center on parkland, angering residents who wanted to preserve Great Falls’ beloved Gibson Circle at the end of Central Avenue. A lawsuit that went all the way to the state supreme court failed...

Originally constructed as the Neosho Auditorium and City Hall, this is now known as "The Civic." It was built by the WPA in 1938. Like the nearby Newton County Courthouse, the civic center was constructed out of Carthage Stone in an Art Deco style. It was extensively renovated in 2008, but the Art Deco elements were preserved.

The W.P.A. constructed an armory in Lewistown, Montana in 1936. "The history of the Civic Center starts with its construction in 1936, just prior to World War II. It was built under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) with the understanding that it would serve Lewistown as their new armory. It had a rifle range in the basement and a built-in vault (room) to be a safe storage for arms, ammunition, and other sensitive items belonging to the Lewistown National Guard. Being a civic center, it was not solely for the exclusive use of the National Guard. The large room, upstairs, with a...

The $100,000 civic center and armory in Livingston, MT was constructed by the WPA. The facility is still open for public recreational use today. W.P.A. Official Project Number: 65‐91‐6554

"Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects employed thousands of local workers on municipal projects that would improve the lives of city residents. The construction workers shown here in 1936 were widening Vintage Avenue (later renamed Civic Center Boulevard) in West Philadelphia. Because Vintage Avenue was elevated, the construction seen here was for a retaining wall to support the road addition."

This Fair Barn/Civic Center in Horton, Kansas was constructed by the WPA in 1937-39. W.O. "Tutes" Thomas was the designer and head of construction. The building is still in use for municipal functions and celebrations.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided labor for landscaping work at Duluth, Minnesota's Civic Center .

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook multiple projects in Livingston, New Jersey. "Among the local WPA projects are a sewing project for women, road building, the laying of water mains and the clearing of lands at the Civic Centre Park." Living New Deal believes the park in question to be that encompassed by Robert H. Harp Drive.

Civic League Park sits on land donated by Uriah Gilliam Taylor to the San Angelo Civic League in 1904. The San Angelo City Council accepted the property as a park in 1907, and Taylor signed the deed over to the city in 1911. During the Depression, Works Progress Administration laborers improved the park based on the designs of Albert Nealy Carlin, the city’s first superintendent of parks. These improvements include a bridge and the rock work around the park. Civic League Park is still in use and is the site of one of the world's foremost waterlily collections.

"Civic Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in Eugene, Oregon, owned by the Eugene School District. Civic Stadium, the vacant stadium located near East 20th Avenue and Willamette Street, adjacent to South Eugene High School, has a seating capacity of 6,800. The stadium was built in 1938 through a public-private partnership between the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, Eugene School District 4J and the federal Works Progress Administration; it has been owned by the Eugene School District since its construction."   (wikipedia)

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 no-longer-extant Civil Prison at the southeast corner of Willoughby Ave. and Raymond Ave. (now Ashland Pl.). The land is now occupied by The Brooklyn Hospital Center.

Built in 1912, the two-story, native stone Clairette School building survives as a community center and polling place. In 1939, Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a separate gymnasium building and a star shaped fountain in front of the 1912 building. The rock work on the flagpole, the water tank, and the retaining wall appear to be the same vintage as the fountain, but there is no reference to them being WPA projects.

There are four large (about 20' tall), vertically-oriented murals in the auditorium of the Clare Middle School, originally the Clare High School, on the north wall of the auditorium. The outer murals are dominated by a woman on the left, and a man on the right, both with sheets behind scenes of prosperous agriculture in front of the woman and oil wells and buildings in front of the man. The right of two center panels depicts scientists in front of classical thinkers. The left of the center panels depicts farmers and agricultural goods in the foreground with athletes, musicians, children,...

Sculpted by Samuel Cashwan in 1938 for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), "Pioneer Mother" is a deco modern-style sculpture on the south side of the Clare High School, now the Clare Middle School. It has the appearance of a madonna and child, with the mother's face elongated and the child clinging to her breast. It was recently conserved and remains outside the school.

The 17-acre Claremont Park in the Bronx was extensively renovated and improved in 1940 by the Works Progress Administration. The renovated park opened on December 7, 1940. A press release from opening day describes WPA work in the park: "This park has been redesigned by the Department of Parks and constructed by the Work Projects Administration to provide wider year round usage for all ages and groups of citizens of the surrounding community. Besides three new children's playgrounds which were opened on September 14 of this year, the old playground at the East 170 Street end of the park has been...

The armory was built by the WPA in 1935: "This armory is a single-story, rectangular...structure constructed of cut, course, and rusticated native stone of buff color. The central portion of the roof is arched, while the remainder of it is flat... As a WPA building this armory is exceptional for its quality of workmanship that reaches the level of artistic expression. It is unique within the city of Claremore in terms of type, materials, style, and most notably workmanship."   (www.okhistory.org) Since its addition to the Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory Nomination in 1985, the armory has unfortunately been demolished.

Built the avenue between Laguna Honda Boulevard and Stanyan Street trhu the Sutro Forest. Work consisted of laying a base course of 8 inch Quarry run rock and 2 inch asphalt wearing surface, together with required curb, sidewalk, guard rail, drainage, etc. This improvement created a 40 feet highway between the Sunset Section, west of Twin Peaks and down town San Francisco, making the shortest connection and most direct route between Forest Hills and Downtown.--Healy, p. 47.

Las Vegas's Sun reported in 2004: "The underpass, the first structure of its type in Nevada to be listed in the , was built in 1937 by the Depression-era Works Project Administration. Preservationists say it's important because it brought what is now West Las Vegas together with the rest of the city. The city used to be split by the rail line, which was then elevated. The underpass was one of 78,000 bridges constructed under the Works Progress Administration. The original structure has already been altered due to the widening of Bonanza Road, which was Clark Avenue until the 1940s."

Clark field is an athletic field built in St. Cloud by the Work Projects Administration (WPA) and the National Youth Administration (NYA), set up for Technical High School by the principal at the time, Elizabeth Clark. When the field was dedicated in 1942, a program for the event deemed that they dedicated the field to Tech High. Dedicated to the school by the Grace McConnell property, although it was originally a pig farm. Built by students under the NYA and the WPA, it was finished in 1942 and named in honor of Elizabeth Clark. The NYA was originally set up by...

The WPA constructed two buildings on this campus, completed in 1940-41. One was originally a science building and is now the school administration building. The high school (then Clovis Union High School) received $66,000 for the science building.

This organ screen was originally built for the California School for the Blind. It is a wood carving with gold leaf and polychrome. It remains in the same location, but the building has since become part of the UC Berkeley Clark Kerr Campus in the 1980s. "In 1936 was hired by the WPA as a senior sculptor, advancing almost immediately to the position of unit supervisor. Working from his shop at Fifteenth and Shotwell, Johnson began producing large scale public art. His first public art project was a twenty-two foot long organ screen for the California School for the Blind...