Works Progress Administration (WPA) Sites

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted extensive improvement and development work at the former Fort Williams in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Work was largely sponsored by the Commanding Officer, Fort Williams, U.S. Army (the remaining by the War Department). Project information: "Remodel and improve buildings" Official Project Number: 165‐2‐11‐5 Total project cost: $271,131.00 "Reconstruct and improve roads and sidewalks" Official Project Number: 265‐2‐11‐14 Total project cost: $146,732.00 "Construct chapel" Official Project Number: 65‐3‐11‐164 Total project cost: $13,082.00 "Construct tent floors" Official Project Number: 65‐3‐11‐169 Total project cost: $7,569.00 "Improve grounds" Official Project Number: 745‐11‐2‐2 Total project cost: $3,849.00 "Construct tent floors" Official Project Number: 865‐11‐2‐11 Total project cost: $13,300.00 "Construct club building and...

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 1811 arrived in Mineral Wells in June 1933 to begin work on project SP-8, a state park that never was completed and transferred to the state. The company divided its time between the park and improvements to facilities at nearby Camp Wolters. The CCC built several rock buildings at Camp Wolters, of which only one survives according to the interpretive sign near the building. The company left Mineral Wells in January 1934. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was active at the camp from 1938 to 1940. The most visible remnant of the WPA work is the...

Fort Wootton in Trinidad, Colorado "is a giant war memorial that takes up about half a city block. It was once described as the most complete war memorial in the nation. Nine veterans’ groups teamed up with the WPA to have it built in 1936-7. It has an auditorium and meeting spaces inside." Fort Wootton was from its "inception a veterans' gathering place evocative of their military training and posts, somewhat patterned after the regional historic site Bent's Fort. Further, and fortunately, in 2018 the county deeded the property to the Las Animas County Veterans' Council, an organization now seeking to...

The Fort Worth Botanic Garden had its origins in 1912 when the park board purchased a tract of land southwest of Trinity Park and named it Rock Springs Park. In his 1909 park master plan for Fort Worth, landscape architect George E. Kessler recommended that the city acquire the parcel because of its natural flowing springs and dense stand of native trees. The park remained largely unimproved until 1929 when work began on the creation of a lagoon and an arboretum under the direction of landscape architect S. Herbert Hare and Raymond C. Morrison, the city’s forester. In 1930 Hare and...

The Works Progress Administratio built several cages and exhibits at the Fort Worth city zoo.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted work on the fish hatchery shown in the WPA photo above. The caption notes the location of this hatchery as being in Fortsville, New York. Fortsville is a hamlet located in the town of Moreau in Saratoga County. The Living New Deal does not know the current status or location of this project.  

In 1936, Work: A Journal of Progress reported the completion of a project by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to extend 44th Street NW,  from Dexter Street to W Street.  Today, 44th Street extends 1/4 mile south of Dexter, after which it becomes an unpaved walking path joining W Street in Grover Archbold Park.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved a segment of Forty-ninth Street NW, from Ashby Place to Garfield Street. The WPA graded this road, and also prepared it for paving with a foundation of salvaged material. “This is an important project because it is an outlet from Conduit Road to Ashby Place through a part of the northwest section to Massachusetts Avenue.”

WPA funds and workers constructed the two-story Fossil Elementary School gymnasium in 1936, adjacent to the Fossil Grade School which was built in 1924.  The well-used facility changed in appearance in 1949 when it received a layer of asbestos siding. Community fund-raising and a donation from the Oregon Community Foundation returned the structure to its original appearance during the summer of 2013 with the removal of the asbestos and the application of a new coat of paint by volunteers.

In November 1935 the WPA approved the provision of labor for the construction of curbs and gutters along Foster Avenue in Sayville, NY.

Park Rustic-style pavilion constructed by the WPA in 1938. Rectangular in plan, the building is constructed of rustic stone with chamfered timber beams and has the form of an open pavilion with enclosed ends. The roof is covered with wood shingles and is hipped on the north end, while the south end has a parapetted gable with a massive stone chimney. There were two outdoor fire places on the south and one on the interior that have been infilled with stone. Flooring is stone and concrete. A former kitchen is located at the north end with two arched windows and a door....

One of the results of the 1936 Works Progress Administration (WPA) airport beautification project was the Four Winds fountain and bas-reliefs by sculptor Enrique Alférez. The airport, originally Shushan Airport, was renamed New Orleans Municipal Airport, and then Lakefront Airport after the new airport was constructed. The airport was restored in a 4-year project following Hurricane Katrina damage, at which time Alférez' bas-reliefs and murals by Xavier Gonzalez were uncovered. Alférez served as the director of the sculpture program for New Orleans WPA artists.

Kalamazoo's Bronson Park featured an Art Deco-style fountain built with help from the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The fountain was located toward the east side of the park. Kalamazoo Business and Professional Women's Club held a competition, awarding the first place $250 prize to Marcelline Gougler, University of Illinois art instructor who had studied under well-known sculptor Alfonso Iannelli, designer of Pavilions at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair Center of Progress and student of Gutzon Borglum, Mount Rushmore sculptor. Iannelli was brought in to provide engineering and later Gougler, ceded the project to him. The fountain depicts a westward facing settler standing...

Mcall.com article: Union Terrace, Jordan Park, Fountain Park and the Lehigh Parkway in Allentown and Saucon Park, Monocacy Park and Franklin Park at Sand Island in Bethlehem were built under WPA and its precursor ...   "Probably it would have taken 50 years of slow progress to accomplish what has been done under WPA in two years," Robert J. Wheeler, then-secretary to the Allentown Planning Commission, told The Morning Call in 1937.

The federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) constructed a bridge for Fountain Street in Ashland, Mass.; most likely at the reservoir, in 1937. The bridge appears to be no longer extant.

This rural WPA school is still standing but is no longer in use: "Four Mile School is shown as Marlow, OK, however, it is located in a rural area four miles south of Rush Springs, and northeast of Marlow. It is located just south of the intersection of 1590 Rd and 2880 Rd... This is a most unusual WPA school and we haven't encountered a poured concrete school previously. The building is reminiscent of a jailhouse (which we're sure children of the 1930s considered it). The building was constructed in 1937 with a WPA appropriation of $7700. The style is listed as...

"The Four Freedoms" by Michael Lenson was created in 1942 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. The New York Times wrote the following in 2003 in a retrospective article of New Jersey-based artist Michael Lenson: " moved to Newark and applied at the W.P.A. office on Halsey Street ... Soon, Mr. Lenson was designing and executing murals for the state W.P.A. program. He went on to become assistant state supervisor in charge of the other muralists in the agency. By the time the federal W.P.A. closed in 1943, Mr. Lenson had created six murals and supervised the execution of 15 more...

The Works Progress Administration completed improvements on Fourteenth Street in Wheeling, Ohio County. The work included “reconditioning base and repaving.”

In 1935-36, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out pavement repair and other unspecified improvements to a long segment of Fourteenth Street NW, from Thomas Circle to U Street.   The work was part of the $949,496 WPA allotment for DC roadwork for fiscal year 1936.   The work is likely still extant but invisible, having been subsequently paved over.      

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) assisted in the paving of what was then Fourth Avenue (now Park Ave.) from 14th St. to 23rd St.

The WPA funded the removal of 33 miles of trolley tracks in New York City (The Encyclopedia of New York City: Second Edition). This image shows "WPA workers removing old street car tracks on Fourth Avenue . Picture shows 16th Street facing South" c. 1936 (WPA).

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Fowler Swimming Pool and Bathhouse in Fowler KS. Fowler was apparently hard hit by the dust storms of the 1930s, and the construction of a swimming pool would bring not only construction jobs but welcome relief from dirt and heat. Cost in 1936-1937 was $13,000, of which the town paid $3000. The pool's dedication ceremony on July 30, 1937 drew 1,000 people. The project was approved in may 1935, but construction was delayed and began in March 1936 and was completed in November 1936. According to the Kansas Historical Society, "Among 40 Kansas pools improved or...

Between 1938 and 1939, the WPA lined seven miles of the Fowler Canals with concrete.

The Cape Vincent Eagle reported that the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) was to improve several roads in the Three Mile Bay area of Jefferson County, New York, during the summer of 1939. Roads included "Fox Creek, from the county road northwesterly to the Cape Vincent town line, five-tenths of a mile."

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted "surfacing, grading, shoulder and ditch construction" work on "the back road from Lewis to Elizabethtown." Living New Deal believes this to be Fox Run Road.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement work along Foxville Road, west of Thurmont, MD. Maryland WPA Project #165.

The WPA spread a new loam surface, painted bleachers, and installed playground lights, in addition to improving other playground conditions.

The Works Progress Administration built the Frances School Gymnasium in 1938. The gym is a 102' x 60' balloon frame building sitting on a poured concrete foundation. It has steel beams supporting the roof and the exterior is clad in wood weatherboard. The building is still used by the school system and community and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 1, 1993.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked on a project that involved "resurfacing, grading, and seeding uplands on 27th St. park." Francis G. Fitzpatrick Park is still in use today; modern facilities include: "spray park, walking path, playground and benches."

Francis Lewis Park sits at the base of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge in Queens. The park was named after an American "merchant, patriot, and signer of the Declaration of Independence"(nycgovparks). Researcher Frank Da Cruz has compiled evidence of the WPA's key role in developing this park: Like Ferry Point park, Francis Lewis Park was part of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge construction project, 1937-41. A New York Parks City Department press release on April 25, 1940, confirms that it was built by the WPA: The Department of Parks announces that exercises in connection with the dedication of Francis Lewis Park, Third Avenue and 147...

In 1942, the Oakland Recreation Department dedicated the newly renovated Recreation House at Park Boulevard and Newton Street – now the Recreation Center at Francis Marion Smith Park – which was completely remodeled with the help of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) (under the Federal Works Administration). The brick structure contains a large, open hall in Craftsman style and a kitchen on the first floor; there are play and club rooms in the basement (Oakland Tribune 1942).  It had previously been known as the Park Boulevard Clubhouse, a popular site for weddings, meetings, lectures and entertainments.   It remains in good condition. A...

The land on which St. Louis Hills was developed was owned by David Francis, former governor of Missouri and ambassador to Russia in 1916. He donated 60 acres of land for the park in 1917. It was developed as a WPA project with tennis courts, buildings, walkways, ball fields, lily pond, handball and racquetball courts, and bridges. Originally, land owned by David Francis was considered as the site for the St. Louis World’s fair of 1904, but Forest Park was the site chosen.

Rehabilitated an abandoned building, for use by W.P.A. workers on white collared projects.--Healy, p. 65.

Today's NYC Parks website explains that the "history of the playground begins in 1935, when the Board of Transportation permitted the Department of Parks to use two parcels on the east and west sides of 78th Street for recreational purposes. The property was developed by the Works Progress Administration in 1937 as a neighborhood playground and sitting park." In fact, work on the park started a bit earlier than that. A Department of Parks press release from December 30, 1936 announced the opening in this park of a "new playground is equipped with swings, jungle gyms, sand tables, play houses...

"Mosholu Baseball Field on Webster Avenue between East 201st Street and Mosholu Parkway, July 2014. A May 21, 1935, Parks Department press release says (referring to this field by original name, and by its location): This field, recently reconstructed by relief workers assigned to the Park Department, is one of the finest baseball plants in the entire park system, with seating accommodations for 3500 plus 1000 park benches. The diamond has been constructed according to big league specifications... The same press release (which announces a game between Manhattan College and the Bronx Elks) goes on to say, “The Park Department band...

Frank Newhall Look Memorial Park was constructed between the years 1928 and 1930, as the result of a large one hundred and fifty acre land grant from Mrs. Fannie Burr Look who was the wife of the late Frank Newhall Look. At the time of construction Mrs. Look provided the land and the money needed to develop the land, and she established a trust fund so that the park could be kept up and maintained for future generations to enjoy. The original park contained a variety of paths, ponds, streams, gardens, and sitting areas to enjoy nature. There were also...

"In 1935 the Section on Painting and Sculpture of the Treasury Department of the Federal Government announced two competitions – one for a mural painting and one for a statue to be located in two courtrooms of the newly constructed United States Post Office and Courthouse in Newark, New Jersey, which opened in April of 1936. There was a sculpture competition to select a 7-foot high bronze figure of “Justice”, with the winner receiving a sum of $6,500.00 to complete and install the sculpture. The Newark Museum coordinated the competition for a sculpture to grace Courtroom #2. The sculpture selected...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a bridge carrying Frankfort Road across Throckmorton Branch, between Old Lee Highway and E Lamar Ave., in Tuscumbia. Frankfort Road (1819) one of the oldest roads in the Tuscumbia area. The road was also used as Lee Highway / U.S. 72 until bypassed with new alignment.

The WPA provided resources to conduct repairs at the Franklin Avenue Armory in the Bronx during the 1930s. The armory was then home to the 105th Field Artillery (Second Battery). The National Guard utilized the building until 1988, at which point it was sold to the City of New York. WPA Official Project No. 65-97-378.

In 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a lengthy ~0.3-mile wall along part of the road which surrounds the Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir in Franklin Canyon Park, Beverly Hills, CA. When driving north along the east side of the reservoir, the wall is to your left. Plaques at the north and south ends of the wall read "Built by United States Work Projects Administration 1940."