Works Progress Administration (WPA) Sites

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed several miles of sidewalk in Lordsburg during the Great Depression. By 1936, they were building on average 4,000’ of sidewalk per month, with the goal of completing 40 blocks. Adhering to WPA rules, only property owners who paid for materials and incidentals benefited from the program. The work was declared by the Lordsburg Liberal on August 16, 1936 “as something that will be of a lasting benefit to the community.” Animas Street sidewalk work was conducted in 1936 and 1938.

"The Anna Miller Museum, a place where you can walk back in time and relive the old west. Built in the 1930's, the museum was originally a WPA project for Company A, 115th Cavalry, Wyoming National Guard. Many long, hard hours were spent constructing the building out of 18 inch hand-hewn sandstone blocks, quarried from nearby Salt Creek. The museum was named for Anna C. ( McMoran) Miller, the daughter of a pioneer family, and widow of Sheriff Billy Miller who was killed in what is known as the last Indian battle in this area. In cooperation with School District #1 and...

In 1935-6 the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) constructed clay tennis courts at Framingham's Anna Murphy Playground; removed the remnants of a stone wall; and installed a wire mesh fence.

The WPA reconstructed and earthquake-proofed the school in 1935.

The Works Progress Administration completed improvements work on Annaly Road in Frederiksted.

From the National Park Service: “One of the 14 national cemeteries that date from the Civil War, the Annapolis National Cemetery is the final resting place for many Union soldiers who died in the nearby ‘parole camps’ and hospitals of the Maryland capital” (see source note below). Maintenance ledgers (see image below for an example) show that the WPA did extensive work at the cemetery, such as installing utilities, realigning headstones, removing dead trees, and constructing a utility building. A superintendent’s lodge was built in 1871 and then replaced between 1936 and 1941 with the current lodge. It appears that WPA laborers...

The WPA graded and widened a portion of this mountainous road along the canyon of the Gualala River. They also constructed a major bridge at Clarks Crossing, improved a recreational and farm-to-market road in nearby valley and coastal districts. Employed men mostly from Kashia Indian Reservation.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) laborers worked at Anniversary Park in Holyoke, Mass. Work included the construction of a recreation center and winter sports facilities.

As part of a massive $12-million project to improve New Orleans’s City Park, the WPA built nine concrete vehicular bridges between 1936 and 1939 throughout the expanded grounds. Spanning Bayou Metairie near the southwest corner, the Anseman Avenue Bridge replaced one of the oldest bridges in the park. Constructed in 1938, it crosses the bayou by a 114’-long, single-span, reinforced concrete, closed-spandrel arch. In elevation, its low elliptical arch is highlighted by the recessed extrados and the heavy, angular cutwater abutments. The bridge carries two lanes of traffic over a 28”-wide concrete roadway; 5’ sidewalks are provided on both sides. Approach spans, flanked...

This high school gymnasium was constructed in Antelope, Texas during the Great Depression with the assistance of the Works Progress Administration. In addition to the native stone structure, the construction project included a septic tank, disposal field, and improved school facilities and employed approximately 20 laborers. $13, 622 of the total cost of $21,393 was provided by WPA while the local school district provided the remainder.

The Anthony Township Building in Anthony Township, Pennsylvania was originally constructed as a consolidated school by the Work Projects Administration (WPA). The semi-fireproof brick and tile building featured "four large class rooms, health room, boys and girls inside flush sanitary toilets, drinking fountains," among other things.

Refurbishing of Reading, Pennsylvania's Antietam Dam, which created the Antietam Reservoir, was conducted by the WPA.

The Battle of Antietam took place on September 17, 1862, and is known as the bloodiest day of the Civil War.  General George B. McClellan and his Union forces faced off against General Robert E. Lee and his Confederate Army at Sharpsburg, Maryland.  When the fighting was done, well over 3,500 men were dead, and another 19,000 wounded. Throughout the New Deal period, Antietam National Battlefield received a large amount of attention, funding, and work from the CWA, PWA, and WPA.  The CWA placed a historical survey group there, circa 1933-34; the PWA funded restoration of large buildings and monuments, such...

This frieze on the ceilings of the library's reading rooms depicts "Flowers and Animals" and was funded by the FAP and WPA. The artist is currently unknown to the Living New Deal. The library itself was completed in 1932, but is very similar in design to what soon after became known as the WPA style.

Now one of two spans that carries Florida State Highway 20 across the Apalachicola River, this bridge, which connects Blountstown in Calhoun County with Bristol in Liberty County, was a federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. (The New Deal span, the more northerly of the two bridges, now carries westbound traffic only.) The bridge was constructed between 1937 and 1938.

Appalachian State University, then known as Appalachian State Teachers College (A.S.T.C), was substantially improved and developed as part of infrastructure and building construction projects on the institution's campus. Numerous New Deal organizations, including the Civil Works Administration (CWA), Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), Works Progress Administration (WPA), and Public Works Administration (PWA), provided labor or funding for the numerous projects undertaken at A.S.T.C. during the Great Depression. At A.S.T.C the CWA: conducted landscaping work; provided office help and laborers; repaired buildings; and installed a chlorinator (presumably for a pool). The FERA: constructed a gymnasium and a library; repaired a basement at...

The Work Projects Administration (WPA) constructed a boys' dormitory at what was then known as Appalachian State Teachers College (A.S.T.C.). Work was completed in 1939. Per The News and Observer, "On a hill immediately back of the stadium is the nearly completed 65-room boys' dormitory. Well designed rooms, latest type heating, plumbing will place the brick building at par with the best student housing." The facility, which was located toward the southwest part of the campus, by the coordinates provided below, has been demolished.

A high school facility for Boone, NC was constructed in 1935-7* on the campus of what was then known as Appalachian State Teachers College (ASTC)—now Appalachian State University—by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The building, known as Appalachian High School or Demonstration High School, is located on Locust Street south of Howard Street. * Note: Some sources date the project to 1938, though a WPA plaque on the building identifies the years as 1935 to 1937. AppState.edu: "Chapell Wilson was first known as Appalachian High School until 1965, when the school was merged into Watauga High School and the building was renovated...

In 1939-1940 the Work Projects Administration (WPA) constructed faculty homes at what was then known as Appalachian State Teachers College (A.S.T.C.). The homes were constructed of brick or native stone. Per the university's website, the buildings were "converted later for departmental use and gradually demolished during 1990s." Also known as Faculty Row, the "series of small stone and brick houses built as faculty residences" once lined "Faculty and River Streets."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed sidewalks on the campus of what was then known as Appalachian State Teachers College in Boone, North Carolina.

The Work Projects Administration (WPA) constructed a stadium and athletic field at what was then known as Appalachian State Teachers College (A.S.T.C.). Work was completed in 1939. Per The News and Observer, the college has "a class one field on which to display their prowess. Naturally, the main item is a 2500-seat steel and concrete stadium. No, the college is not an adjunct to its football team. The sport is just a normal college activity here." The facility, which was located north / east of Rivers Street at what is now the site of Rankin Hall and Edwin Duncan Hall, has...

During the Great Depression the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and Work Projects Administration (WPA) helped to develop and complete the old Watauga County Hospital, whose construction had begun at the beginning of the 1930s. The building was later known at Appalachian State University's Founders Hall, and was dedicated as Watson-Brumit Hall on Sept. 18, 2021.

"n 1937, the Merced City Council applied for a Works Progress Administration project to construct a new park -- a park that would cost about $41,000 total, with the city providing $9,800 and the federal government $30,800. Included in the new park would be seven acres of lawn, more than a mile of water pipe, demolition of the grandstand and bleachers in the old park's athletic field, a new fence, pens for animals and birds, duck pond, and deer shed, along with trees, shrubs, flowers and landscaping... The project required 590 man-months of labor, according to G.E. Winton, the city engineer at...

Appleton (West) High School has served as a high school in Appleton, WI since September, 1938. It was built by the Works Progress Administration.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor repaved Appleton St. in Holyoke, Mass.

With WPA support, Cal Peters painted several murals for the University of Wisconsin-Stout campus, circa 1935-1936. This 7' x 20' oil on canvas is entitled "Perrault's Trading Fort." It depicts a trading post on Red Cedar River at the future site of Menomonie, Wisconsin. The mural is located in Room 315, Applied Arts, Choir Room, University of Wisconsin-Stout.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to develop Aptos Playground in San Francisco during the Great Depression.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the mile-long Berkeley Aquatic Park on the bay front south of University Avenue in 1935-37.  It was created as a water park for water skiing, canoeing, sculling and model yacht racing, and is still used for practice by collegiate rowers and for water sports. The park lies between the freeway (Interstate 80) and the former Southern Pacific Railroad tracks (now Union Pacific).  Tidal gates under the freeway keep the water level constant and refresh the basin with water from San Francisco Bay.  The aquatic park project grew out of the Eastshore Highway, a feeder road for the...

"During the Great Depression, the federal government established the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to employ Americans in a series of public construction projects. Almost 19,000 New Yorkers labored on Staten Island. They built sidewalks through wooded areas that were supposed to eventually have roads laid through them. Many of these planned roads were never built, but the sidewalks remain in many of the island’s parks, including this one. Remnants of unfinished roadbeds for Eyelandt and Collins Avenues run through or near the park as well."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed a municipal baseball park in Arcata, California, just north of the City Hall.  The work was first approved in 1936, finalized in 1937 and then completed in 1938 (WPA funding was greatly reduced in 1937 and then pumped up again in 1938). This is full-sized ball park, with a grandstand behind home plate, has been upgraded over time, but the entrance and barrier behind the grandstand appear to be original (wood).  The bleachers, lights, field and fencing all appear to be much newer.  It is still in use (and hard to view because the fencing...

The Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) constructed the Arch Hurley Conservancy District building in Tucumcari, New Mexico in 1940. "Construction of the High Street office building took place in the summer and fall of 1940. A photograph at the ACHD office, dated July 9 of that year, shows “Manufacture of cement cinder blocks by W.P.A. men. These blocks are to be used in the construction of the new administrative building."

Arch Rock Tunnel is one of three tunnels built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) along the Feather River Highway in northeast California.  The tunnels were the final pieces in the construction of the Feather River highway (highway 70) by the State of California (1928-37). Arch Rock tunnel is the southern-most tunnel of the three and the shortest. The tunnels were blasted through solid granite in and around Grizzly Dome. Rock from the tunnels was used for rock safety walls along the highway.

The Archer School Gymnasium was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) with funding from the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, as part of the New Deal Project 1189. The building was restored (with ADA updates) beginning with fundraising efforts in 2003. Construction commenced in 2007 and completed in 2011, and the building dedicated. It now serves as a multi-purpose center for the City of Archer. The condition of the Gymnasium Building is excellent; however the school was demolished in 1972. (New Deal Project 1189 also remodeled the auditorium of the school into classrooms.)

"The Recreation Hall in Arco, Idaho was constructed in 1937-38 as a Works Progress Administration project. The building was built as a gymnasium and was constructed of basalt. The project was a challenge to the WPA masons because the basalt could not be shaped into regularly shaped blocks. Instead irregular stones were mortared together and then small “seams” were traced into the mortar to give the appearance of tightly fitting stones. The building was renovated (including a new roof) in the 1990s and now includes city offices in addition to recreational facilities. On June 8, 1948, President Harry S. Truman greeted...

The Argos Izaak Walton League clubhouse and attendant (former) fish hatchery were constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1935 to 1937. The fish hatchery in Argos, Indiana had "a capacity of 375,000 fingerlings annually."The facility is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. "This building of glacial stone and the surrounding 17 acres of fishing ponds and structures are a tribute to natural aesthetics, an idea important to the League who made this building their clubhouse. The Argos Izaak Walton League was established in 1929 in response to concern for the conservation of natural resources, fish and wildlife...

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) resurfaced Argyle Rd. and Dundee Rd. in Arlington, MA. The W.P.A. installed sidewalks along these roads as well.

The Arizona Museum of Natural History is housed in a building that was originally the Mesa City Hall. The structure was built in 1937 with Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds and labor, and was designed by Lescher & Mahoney. The new civic building complex  housed the new City Hall, the fire department, the police department, municipal offices, municipal courts, a jail, the city library, the Chamber of Commerce, new public restrooms, and other functions. At the time the complex was built, Mesa was a small farming community of circa 5,000 residents. The structure is designed in Mission Revival style with typical features such as...

The Works Progress Administration built the grandstand at the Arizona State Fair grounds in Phoenix. "As the Great Depression deepened and thousands were uprooted and looking for work, numerous fairgrounds were turned into camps for these transients. The Arizona State Fairgrounds provided a temporary place to stay and an opportunity to earn money through labor. Funded by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and later the Works Progress Administration, transients helped to construct the stadium. A fifty-foot grandstand, an adobe wall on three sides of the grounds, and an auto racing track inside the horse track were created in 1936. Exhibit buildings...

The Works Progress Administration built additions for the Arizona State Hospital (also known as the Arizona State Hospital for the Insane) in Phoenix. The present condition of the structures in unknown to the Living New Deal.

In 1940, the Works Program Administration (WPA) constructed the dormitory complex called Irish Hall on the south side of the campus of what was then the Arizona State Normal School, now Arizona State University. Irish Hall consists of three separate wings (A, B & C buildings) around a courtyard. The buildings are plain, two-story Moderne style structures with horizontal streamlining and metal frame windows.  They still function as dormitories (which means that today access is closed to the public). There is a WPA plaque in the entrance way.