Works Progress Administration (WPA) Sites

"On the west side of the historic downtown area of Guthrie, this two-level viaduct takes W. Noble Avenue (State Highway 33) across the often-raging Cottonwood Creek. The upper level is one-lane each way, beginning at N. 2nd Street and ending at N. 5th Street. The viaduct is constructed of concrete and crosses several railroad tracks, as well as the Creek. A lower level is barricaded and no longer in use. It has a concrete roadbed and appears to only be a single lane, however, in the 1930s it was most likely a two-lane access. A pedestrian walkway runs along the north side...

At over 1,000 feet, Council Crest Park occupies the highest point in the City of Portland. From 1907 to 1929, an amusement park occupied that vantage point. Despite its superior position and streetcar access, it took eight years before the City of Portland could acquire it and another year before it could begin to be improved with WPA labor. The Oregonian, one of the city’s newspapers, announced in March 1938 that a crew of twenty-six WPA workers had started “clearing brush, grubbing undergrowth and opening trails through Council Crest Park” so that it might be available for use by summer. The...

"South of town, the WPA built a rustic club building for the 9-hole golf course at a new country club; the building, however, was heavily altered and later burned." The building "served as a city-owned recreation center until its conversion to the Rock Hill Country Club in 1954." (sc.gov)

The Works Progress Administration built a one-room country school in Worland, Washakie County. The location and status of the facility are presently unknown to Living New Deal.

This WPA armory was constructed in 1939. It now houses J.R.'s Archery.

The county office facility at 116 Adams Street in Plymouth, NC, was constructed as the County Agricultural Building in 1938 with the assistance of federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor.

Among the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects identified as completed in an El Paso Times article from June 7, 1936 was "Exposition Building site, $25,903.67"—Exposition Building being another term for what is now the County Coliseum, which was completed in 1942.

The WPA allocated $16,326 at the end of 1938 to make improvements to the Phillips County Fairgrounds in Dodson, Montana. Gary Winthorpe: "These fairgrounds were actually completed in 1942, not 1939 . They continued to do cosmetics and added an additional attraction. These two things took three years to complete."

The Works progress Administration (WPA) installed a new vault and made other  improvements to the Contra Costa County Finance Building in 1935-36, and perhaps later. According to WPA Project Cards from the National Archives, the vault was to be built of reinforced concrete and lined with steel and additional work was to be done to partition off additional space for the Treasurer's office.  The total amount allocated for the project was around $5,000. We know that improvement work was done because of reports in the Contra Costa Gazette.  One notes that additional painting was done on the county assessor and school administration...

What is now Palace Apartments started out as Williamson Mill (a cotton mill)—built in 1902. Sometime after that it was bought and plans were made to convert the building into a county multi-use building (basketball, boxing, tennis, indoor track, concerts, dances, etc.). WPA work included removing the upper part of the building, new roof installation, and upgraded utilities. The WPA spent $250,000 dollars on the project, which is about $4 million in 2013 dollars, so the conversion work must have been extensive. In later years, the county building became a popular venue for professional wrestling.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built an addition to the County Hospital, also known as the Southside District Hospital in Mesa. The hospital was built in 1923 as a 12-bed facility with emergency and surgical services. The hospital expanded to 37 beds after the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built an addition. This was the only hospital facility in Mesa at that time. The building was designed in the Mission Revival style, with typical architectural elements such as arched openings and clay tile roof. Pictured are hospital facilities such as an x-ray room, an operating room, and the nursery. The exact location...

In 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to the former Contra Costa County jail, which stands just behind the old courthouse (the present Finance Building) at 625 Court Street.  According to a WPA Project Card from the National Archives, the work involved painting the interior and exterior of the jail and the project was approved for $14,888; but because the card appears to combine painting work at the jail with painting the Hall of Records (in the present Taylor courthouse), it is unclear how much was allocated to the jail. The jail was constructed in 1901 and had its entrance...

Originally built by the WPA in 1942 as a group of Arvin county office buildings, the adobe complex is now a business incubator and retail complex. A local newspaper of the time had this to say: "Another large project reaching completion this month is the county office building in Arvin, This group of buildings, including a sizable auditorium, will afford the citizens of that community with a central location for the efficient conduct of county business." - Dart The building has had some remodeling recently.

The Work Projects Administration (WPA) conducted a road improvement project on a county road "between Burdick and highway 50N" (now U.S. 56), which Living New Deal believes to be 2800 Rd., grading, graveling, and improving the road. Existing culverts were enlarged to a width of 28 feet.

The Works Progress Administration completed improvements for county schools in Parkersburg, Wood County. The exact location of these facilities is unknown to the Living New Deal.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) reconstructed County Street in Attleboro, Mass. WPA Bulletin: County Street, Attleboro, is being excavated and refilled by WPA with a seven-inch stone asphalt penetration pavement. On the south side of the street eight sewer man holes will be reset.

Among the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects identified as in progress in an El Paso Times article from June 7, 1936 was the "construction of a county warehouse at Fabens." The location and status of this project are presently unknown to Living New Deal.

An old unsatisfactory wagon road, connecting the village of Dennisville with Cape May Court House, New Jersey, was converted into a farm-to-market road in Middle Township, New Jersey, with approximately 100 federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers. "The entire cost of the work is $33,425.00. Of this amount, the WPA will furnish $29,035, leaving $4,590 to be contributed by Middle Township. The project will continue for seven months." The road in question is most likely what is now known as Court House-South Dennis Road.

"President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs put people to work. Young men in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built flood control projects at Elephant Butte Dam. Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers built three schools in Las Cruces, including Court Junior High. They also built numerous tourist and recreation facilities in the area. Picacho Avenue earned the nickname 'Little Oklahoma' when it became a thoroughfare for refugees bound for California. Stranded and destitute, travelers sold their belongings for gas money. This roadside trade was the precursor of Picacho Avenue's antique and second-hand stores." -Las Cruces: Crossroads of History

Grenada County was approved for WPA project 40079 for rehabilitation of the 1885 courthouse. The project was allotted $11,308 to include improving the boiler room, plastering, painting, and improving floors along with rearranging office space. The Grenada County Board of Supervisors sponsored the WPA project to repair the county court house. The project began January 13 and used an average 34 WPA workers for six months. The state legislature passed legislation for $6,000 county bonds to cover the sponsor portion of the work. The House passed the measure January 18 for funds to be used in match to the federal...

This small playground in East Harlem was named after "New York City’s first African American Deputy Commissioner of Cultural Affairs." NYC Parks explains that the City acquired this land in 1936. In June 1937, Parks announced the completion of a new playground on the site: "In Manhattan, at Fifth Avenue between West 130th and West 131st Streets, the new playground is equipped with swings, see-saws, slides, jungle gym, sand tables, playhouses, a rectangular wading pool, handball and shuffleboard courts. There is also a large open play area for group games. Around the perimeter of the playground is a landscape area with...

"In the fall of 1999, the Plano City Council established a tax increment finance district in downtown Plano. Four and a half million dollars of the projected income from the district was earmarked for the creation of the Courtyard Theater. This project is an adaptive re-use of the Cox Annex, a historic structure located in Haggard Park Historic District. The Cox gymnasium/auditorium was built in 1938 as a Works Progress Administration project. Interestingly, it was constructed on almost the exact location of the Civic Auditorium (1909) which had been built by subscriptions pledged by Plano citizens. Here the Lyceum was held...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the stately and historic Cove Creek High School building in Sugar Grove, North Carolina. It was one of many educational facilities constructed by the WPA in Watauga County. The building features three WPA plaques (one at each entrance). Wikipedia: "It was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1940–1941, and is a two-story, Collegiate Gothic style stone building. It is seven bays wide and features slightly projecting square stair towers and a crenellated roof parapet. It was designed by Clarence R. Coffey, an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright, and constructed by local artisans and laborers...

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers constructed a covered reservoir in Beverly, Massachusetts. The status and exact location of the project is unknown to Living New Deal. From a W.P.A. Bulletin: Now near completion, the Beverly WPA Concrete-Covered Reservoir Project, connected with the present pipe distribution system, completely surrounded with an earth embankment and featuring a driveway over its top, has a capacity of 2,800,000 gallons.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a one-story frame and stucco music building at Covina High School in Covina, CA. "The school had been badly crowded, therefore, the Orchestra and Glee Club classes were held in the same building with other classes which was very disturbing to the rest of the school. Completion of this Music Hall corrected this condition by giving these music classes a building of their own, thereby improving the education facilities of the entire school" (Connolly & Farman, 1939).

"The Cowen Park Bridge is a reinforced concrete arch bridge that spans a ravine in Seattle's Cowen Park. The structure is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and it is a designated city landmark. The bridge has been praised for the 12-foot (3.7 m) Art Deco light standards along its sides. It was built in 1936 under the authority of the Works Progress Administration. The bridge engineer was Clark Eldridge."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the Crab Meadow Beach Pavilion. "In 1937, the old pavilion was finally replaced with a Mediterranean style brick and concrete building designed by Huntington architect David Dusenberry that featured men’s and women’s locker rooms, showers and lavatories. The locker rooms would be in the two wings of the building that were joined by an open-air court. On the roof of the center portion was a sun deck. The cost of the building, which was a WPA project, was split between the State and the Town."

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 0.6-mile stretch of Craig Avenue between Johnson Avenue and Bethel Avenue.

The WPA constructed this annex to the 1920s Craig County Courthouse in the early 1940s, but it didn't remain connected to the courthouse for long. After WWII, the building housed a candy factory. The rear of the building was destroyed due to an electrical fire in 2012, but the remainder of the building, now privately owned, is still in use.

The history of Craighead Forest Park portraits a close collaboration between the local community and federal government during the Great Depression “to stave off the ravages of poverty, misery and human degradation.” (1) It dates to 1937 when the Young Men’s Civic Club of Jonesboro (YMCC) started working on the project of a community recreational park for locals to enjoy. Through the help of Mr. H.E Remsburg, the areas supervisor for the WPA program, and US Senator Hattie W. Caraway, a $100,000 park development program was granted through the WPA. (2) The Civilian Conservation Corps also worked with the Forestry...

Originally a gym for Cranberry High School. Now owned by an alumni group and used for various functions. The WPA began building the gymnasium on January 27, 1937. The construction employed sixty workers and cost $12,000. On the cusp of its construction, a Johnson City, Tennessee newspaper described the planned 80’ by 120’ building as having a coach’s office, dressing rooms for girls and boys. Native stone formed the foundation and basement and stained shingles sheathed the exterior. The gymnasium was one of 277 recreational buildings constructed in North Carolina by the WPA by the spring of 1942. One year later,...

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

A large, vaguely classical styled structure, built by the WPA as Cranston's main stadium. It was designed by Providence architects and engineers Frank P. Sheldon & Son. It is mainly used for high school athletics, but also occasionally hosts larger events.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted multiple improvement and development projects at the former Cranston Street Armory in Providence, Rhode Island. Projects included: "paint and varnish armory," "install wall board, finish interior, and paint mess hall," "construct garage and repair shop," "improve armory," "construct parking ground and motor park," "various repairs to armor," and "repair sidewalks and roof, and paint."

"The Crawford County Fairground property currently includes the WPA grandstand and four agricultural buildings plus a series of other animal shelters and associated structures, compactly arranged in neat rows at the center of the property. A dirt road enters the fairgrounds from the north and south... This property was part of Raymond Park, donated to the City of Girard by Mary Winston Raymond. Crawford County constructed a completely new fairgrounds using $32,000 in WPA funds. The facility includes a series of wooden buildings and clerestory barns situated close to a race track. A large grandstand lines the west side of the...

Multiple New Deal-supported construction projects were undertaken on the campus of South Carolina State University during the Great Depression. "his large two-story brick building was designed by Professors Paul V. Jewell and John H. Blanche. Financed by the Work Projects Administration (WPA) as a trades building ..." (sc.gov)

Credit Island Park is a 450 acre island in the Mississippi River on the south west side of Davenport Iowa. In addition to a natural historic preserve, the park contains a lodge, boat ramp, golf course and many other amenities. The WPA did extensive work in the park in 1935. WPA workers graded and resurfaces roads, worked on the lake and landscaping, and relayed iron pipes.

The WPA made numerous improvements to the rapidly growing Creedmoor Psychiatric Hospital in Jamaica, New York during the 1930s. Projects included: the installation of "underground piping for heating"; "excavation and construction of steam tunnels"; the "planting of trees and shrubs"; grading the hospital's grounds; fencing the grounds; constructing "additions to shop building" as well as to garages and to the "South wing"; and more. WPA Official Project No. 65-97-501.

Creeds School was constructed for the 1939-40 school year with funds provided by the Works Progress Administration. The twelve-room structure served students from first grade through high school in the rural community of Creeds in Princess Anne County, Virginia. In 1954 when a new high school was opened in the county, Creeds School no longer offered upper level classwork. Creeds Elementary School, now located within the city of Virginia Beach, remains a vital and vibrant part of the Creeds community.

“Extensive repairs were made to Creque Reservoir in St. Croix where silting and increasing seepage endangered the dam structure which impounds 9,000,000 gallons of potable water. The dam footings have been strengthened and the reservoir area cleaned and put in order for the storage of water when the rains fall.” Built in 1926, the Creque Dam is a 45-foot high arch dam that stores water for Frederiksted. Today, the water in the reservoir sometimes runs low because of a leak.