Works Progress Administration (WPA) Sites

The Works Progress Administration installed new sewer lines on Dronningens Gade in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas.

In 1936, Works Progress Administration (WPA) crews helped restore this pioneer-era cabin, dating to 1866.  The log and earth-covered cabin had been built by the Bennett and Drown families, who moved on to frame houses as time passed. The cabin was originally located near the old town cemetery,  just south of the town center of Midvale UT and hard by an ASARCO smelter (now gone). The Drown Cabin was restored again in 1999 and moved to a new site near the intersection of Center Street and 700W in Midvale.  It was still there in 2011 but we did not find it on a...

The Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) constructed this bridge, which carries Carroll County Road 814 over Dry Creek, northeast of Green Forest, in 1940.

A WPA press release from Jan. 1938 reported: "Improvement of Dry Falls State Park, two miles from Coulee City will keep more than 50 men busy for eight months, Abel said, with the aid of $29,601.75 in WPA funds. This allotment continues a project which is already 25 per cent completed, and includes the construction of water systems, roads and other needed improvements. The State Park Committee is sponsoring the work which a project supervisor estimated would benefit more than 100,000 persons."

This playground on the edge of Forest Park in Queens is named after Glendale's original name: Dry Harbor. The NYC Parks site explains that it was "constructed in 1934 with swings, see-saws, a wavy slide, a flagpole, and a schoolyard gymnasium." A June 1936 press release also announced the completion of the reconstruction of an area in this playground to contain "a wading pool, complete equipment for small children and a play area with a soft ball diamond and horseshoe pitching court for boys," and in December 1936 Parks announced the completion of the second half of the remodeled playground...

This school near Muskogee was originally constructed in 1925. It was listed on the National Register in 1984 as "the only extant educational facility associated with Summit, an all-black town founded in 1896. Further, it was one of the few remaining schools in Oklahoma constructed as an all-black school during the era of segregation which retained its historic integrity."   (nr_shpo.okstate.edu) The WPA built an addition to the school in the late 1930s, which was "approximately 35' x 85' and finished with red brick laid in the running bond." (NRHP form) The building burned down in 1991.

"A number of other APS buildings were built, remodeled, or had additions built as the result of this source of this source of funding. Likewise adjacent school playgrounds, ball fields, etc. were also created. The schools include Armijo, Coronado, Duranes, Five Points School, La Mesa, Lincoln, Los Candelarias, Pajarito, San Jose, Santa Barbara, and Stronghurst. For specific information on each of these refer to the Albuquerque Museum Monograph written by Charles Biebel." -Treasures on New Mexico Trails

The Works Progress Administration built facilities for the Dublin High School between 1938-1940. A large rock construction structure located to the right of the High School building bears a plaque that reads "Works Progress Administration 1938-1940." Across the front of the building is a sign that reads "Recreation," suggesting that it may be an auditorium with a stage as well as a gymnasium. There is a wall around the school, and across the street is another rubble rock building that does not have a plaque.

The WPA worked on Duboce St. between Market and Mission.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) put men to work beginning in 1935 on an improvement project at the city-owned Dubois Avenue Yard. A $125,473 project involved the construction of two extensions to garage buildings at the then-Highway Department facility: one 100' x 50' and the other 63' x 50'. A $84,000 project entailed "building repair and alterations" at the facility. The site (albeit with newer construction) is still in use by New York City's Department of Transportation.

The public swimming pool at Rafferty Slough in Dubuque, IA was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1937. Measuring 75 x 225 feet, the Dubuque pool was the largest and most expensive of a number of publicly constructed swimming pools in Iowa during the late 1930s and early 1940s. Over the course of its construction, the pool project secured employment for sixty-one laborers. The dedication of the pool culminated a total expenditure of $17,000 by the city of Dubuque with the rest of the funding coming from the WPA. The opening ceremony included public speeches, diving exhibitions, and swimmers performing...

The federal Works Progress Administration undertook a $93,900 project starting in 1935 to modernize and otherwise improve several public (now-former) bath facilities in Brooklyn, NY. The public baths at 42 Duffield Street were constructed in 1905; the building has since been demolished. The facilities identified as part of the WPA project were: 209 Wilson Ave. Municipal Baths, Coney Island Duffield Street Hicks Street Pitkin Ave. Huron St. Montrose Ave.

"In the early 1930s, though, Duke Park became one of several Durham parks that were redeveloped by the Civil Works Administration and Emergency Relief Administration of North Carolina as agents for the Federal Works Progress administration."

Dunbar Playground is named after African American poet Paul Dunbar. It was opened by the New York Department of Parks on September 23, 1935. The department press release stated that the playground would be "equipped with a wading pool, shuffle board court, handball courts, swings, slides, seesaws, etc." (kermitproject.org). Although the release does not specify federal involvement, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that “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...

"This is one-story native stone building once housing a Vo-Ed school operation. There is a wooden sign above a door which reads "HOUSE OF MANNA" and it is possible the building is being used in some way by the church. The Oklahoma Historical Society records show that this building was constructed with an appropriation of $19,779 in 1937. It was once enclosed by another building, which was removed in time past. The building is rectangular with a flat roof. The building appears to be structurally sound, however, it is not being kept up...A small concrete area set into the stone to...

On 3 September 1935, the city of Spartanburg signed a contract with the Works Project Administration (WPA) to building Duncan Park Lake. The city furnished equipment in the amount of $14,720. A second contract at the same time provided for the construction of the American Legion Memorial Building atop a knoll known then as “University Hill.” The Duncan family donors believed in the philosophy of New York’s Central Park designer Frederick Law Olmstead who said, “Where building begins, the park ends.” In the 1923 contract with the city, the donors specified that the land could be used only as a...

This WPA building was originally constructed as the general Duncan Public Library. It now houses the Stephens County Genealogical Society Library. "This one-story buff brick building, located at 301 N. 8th Street, was constructed by the WPA, as were several local school buildings. A bronze plaque at the entrance show it was constructed in 1937, however, the NRHP nomination form shows 1939. The Colonial Revival style was used, in lieu of the typical native stone construction. The architect was Kenneth T. Price... The building was placed on the National Register in 1999 (#99001427)."   (https://www.waymarking.com)

"The Public Works Administration, one of the New Deal programs, was a large-scale construction effort which built dams, bridges, hospitals and schools. The Duncan Senior High School was PWA Project No. 8458 and was constructed in 1936. Facing 9th Street, at Ash Avenue, this is a two-story light-colored brick building, which currently houses Duncan Edge Academy. This is a school program for students who would likely not graduate from high school. Special attention is given to learning and health needs, and the issues related to difficult family situations. It meets in the mornings. Unlike many WPA projects where native rock is used,...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved and paved Duncan Street during the Great Depression. Work consisted of 8,000 cubic yards earth and rock excavation and placing 1,000 cubic yards of red rock for surfacing from Hoffman to Kenyon Avenues. This street was conditioned like Brunswick and Silver Avenues to make them useable.--Healy, p. 47. Hoffman Avenue, which presently ends north of Duncan Avenue, had extended straight through Duncan Avenue. Kenyon Avenue is unknown to Living New Deal.

The Dundee State Fish Hatchery was built in 1927 with 44 ponds. The Works Progress Administration built stone bridges and concrete drainage ditches at the hatchery. The hatchery is currently the largest Texas state hatchery in operation with 97 ponds. The current manager of the hatchery relayed that the structures pictured in the historical photographs have either been removed or covered over in the expansion of the hatchery.

The WPA constructed this two story brick-faced courthouse in 1939. It features rock accents and columns on the front façade, and multi-colored abstract decorative tiles adorn the entryways and windows. From the University of Missouri Extension Department of Community Development: In 1937 the courthouse was reported in dangerous condition. The dome had sunk several inches; ceiling joists were pulled completely out of the walls, and the Circuit Court room was in danger of collapsing. The Dunklin Democrat claimed it was the worst courthouse in southeast Missouri. The building was razed in 1937. Louis Miller's drawing was found in the cornerstone. For the...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) contributed greatly to the development of the park system in Woonsocket, R.I. Dunn Park benefited from landscaping improvements and construction of a 600-foot stone boundary wall.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a 600-foot stone wall along the Mason Street and Asylum Street edges of Dunn Park. As of 2016 the wall remains in great condition. The wall bears four WPA stamps; see map provided for locations and images. It appears that this project took at least one year to finish and was completed in 1939.

The WPA installed sidewalks, curbs and gutters in Dunnigan's Old Town. Most are stamped WPA/1940 on Main, First, Second, and Hayes.

Now (2023) apparently unused, but still owned by Madison (Indiana) Consolidated Schools. Gym was built by WPA in 1938 behind the 1926 Lancaster Township Grade and High School. School was replaced with a new building attached to the gym.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Durant Public School in 1940-42. N. W. Overstreet and Associates designed the Art Moderne school building and  W. E. Rubush of Meridian was the superintendent of construction. The building is 181 feet by 138 feet, with a 2-story central auditorium joining together two single-story wings.  The Durant school system made two applications to the federal government for aid in building a new school.  Public Works Administration application x1330 was returned unfunded due to lack of funds. A Works Progress Administration application was submitted in 1940 and approved for project no. 41133 for an allotment of...

“WPA projects both directly and indirectly affected fish and wildlife. More than 300 fish hatcheries were built or enlarged nationwide. Creating fish hatcheries was important economically, as well as for sport fisherman….Some of the fish hatcheries established or improved by WPA were located in or near Cherokee, Durant, Lawton, Tishomingo, Krebs, Lake Overholser in Oklahoma City, and Mohawk Park in Tulsa. A fish hatchery is on the city lake at Holdenville in Hughes County, where the WPA built a caretaker cottage and office building. With few details of location given, fish hatcheries have been hard to locate 70 years later. At...

A former armory quartering the Durham National Guard, what is now the central civic center in downtown Durham, North Carolina  was constructed between 1935 and 1937 by the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) It was converted to a civic center circa 1954.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a shop building, incinerator plant, and remodeled the bus stop at Durham High School.  It appears that the shop building still stands, if considerably altered.  There is no sign of the incinerator and the bus stop could not be located.

The bridge carrying Durham Road across Muddy River in Wallingford, Connecticut was constructed by the W.P.A. in 1938.

The Dutch Flat Grammar School dates to the mid 19th century. In 1939, the WPA built the tennis court area which still remains. The school saw its last graduating class in 1962, and the building was subsequently turned into the Dutch Flat Community Center.

The historic Dutch Gardens in New City, New York, part of Courthouse Park, were constructed between 1935 and 1938 with federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor. This was significant as the only W.P.A. outdoor construction project to be designed and supervised by a woman, Mary Mowbray-Clarke.

On August 22, 1935, the Grant County Board of Education submitted a WPA proposal to build a new school in Dwyer, a homesteading community straddling the Mimbres River, 40 miles southeast of the county seat in Silver City. The board had been busy the summer and into the fall, preparing similar project proposals for far-flung rural school districts in the county. It justified the need for the Dwyer school, stating in the application that the original adobe schoolhouse, constructed 30 years prior, “is unsafe and is beyond repair. It is poorly lighted and hard to heat sufficiently for pupils’ needs,” concluding, “a...

The Dyess colony commissary or trading post or the Big Store was where the colonist got their household needs especially the daily consumables.

The Dyess Colony Hospital served not only as a local medical care facility, but also a cost-effective alternative to the hospitals in the area. The cost of general medical services was about half of the state’s rate, and the price for surgery was about one third. This was also one of the first hospitals at the time to try to encourage women to come into the hospital for pregnancies, rather than the more traditional stay at home births. The hospital itself no longer exists, but there is a plague in front of the land where it historically was. While the...

The Dyker Beach Golf Course first opened in 1897. It was redesigned by Jon Van Kleek in 1935-1936. On May 7, 1936, the Department of Parks announced that the Dyker Beach Golf Course had been “thoroughly reconstructed with new tees and greens throughout…with relief funds provided by the C.W.A., T.E.R.A. and W.P.A.” The renovation project was part of a larger city wide renovation of public golf courses that was funded by New Deal programs. David Owen, staff writer at The New Yorker, remarks that "Dyker is where Tiger Woods’s father, Earl, learned to play golf, in the early nineteen-seventies. (He was...

Dyker Beach Park, located just south of the Dyker Beach Golf Course and north of the Belt Parkway was assembled in eight stages between 1895 and 1934. In 1942, the WPA and the Department of Parks completed extensive work on the park, much of which is still visible today. A press release announcing the completion of a field house and playground described the finished and ongoing work: "The field house, a one story brick structure, approximately 44' x 100' is located at the east end of the athletic field in a paved plaza designed as a focal point for the park...

The Works Progress Administration built sidewalks on E Magnolia St. in Angleton. This researcher found a mark in a section of sidewalk at Magnolia and Chenango streets, one block from the Brazoria County Courthouse. A 1940 Galveston Newspaper article tells of sidewalk work being done in Alvin, which is also in Brazoria County, so the work was likely completed in this same time period.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built sewer lines in front of the Washington Auditorium in Washington DC. Pictured are work crews building the sewer lines in 1936. The Washington Auditorium, built in the 1920s and demolished in 1964, was located on E Street NW.  The site is now an extension of Rawlins Park. Washington Auditorium hosted the inaugural ball of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration leased the entire building in 1935 – which may be why a new sewer was put in place in front.  It subsequently held the US Geological Survey and other federal offices.

"This is an arch bridge constructed in 1941 as a WPA project. It spans the Tahlequah Creek and has a two-lane asphalt surface known as East Choctaw Street.   "The bridge is supported by concrete walls on either side of the creek. The sidewalls of the bridge have six concrete pillars on each side, connected with metal pole railing. One of these pillars is embossed with the WPA shield and reads 'WPA 1941.'"