Works Progress Administration (WPA) Sites

Today's NYC Parks site explains: "Greenwood Playground is bounded by Fort Hamilton Parkway, and Prospect and Greenwood Avenues." "Greenwood Playground first opened to the public on December 19, 1935, as one of hundreds of Works Progress Administration-era playgrounds commissioned throughout the city, and built under the direction of Parks Commissioner Robert Moses (1888-1981). It contained a recreational building, a large wading pool, and standard playground features such as seesaws, monkey bars, slides, handball courts, and an open play area. At the time, its single acre was surrounded by residential lots to the east and the Greenwood Avenue Methodist Church to the...

"This 1939 WPA constructed school is located on county road E590, northwest of Inola. The Gregory area is a 3-square mile area considered a Census-designated place, and not an official town. The school appears to be in good condition, and occupied, but it does not appear to be used as a school at this time. The playground equipment in the yard is quite old and in disrepair. "This is a rectangular building with a gabled composition shingled roof. It is constructed of cut, coursed and rusticated native stone. The ribbon windows are set in groups of three. The centered entrance has...

From 1939 to 1940 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements and built additions to Gresham High School in Gresham, Oregon, just east of Portland. The additions included a gym, an agricultural building, the north wing of the classrooms, and an auditorium. Michael Schaefer, Gresham High School Principal, estimates that, at the time, 80% of the school was rebuilt with funding provided by the WPA. The primary architectural style of the high school is Art Deco. Teresa Carson of the local Gresham press tells us that "The building originally had hand-crafted doors created by highly-regarded WPA blacksmith Orion B. Dawson, who also created gates at WPA-built Timberline...

Grevillea park is graced by an gargantuan mosaic mural, called "History of Transportation."  This extraordinary mural is 8 feet high and 240 feet long, composed of 60 panels. It is made of cast concrete and terrazzo paneled walls.  It is the largest petrachrome mural in the world and one of the last examples of petrachrome mosaic art (that is, made up of tiny stones). The mural was created by artist Helen Lundeberg with the support of the New Deal Federal Art Project in 1939-42.  (The FAP was part of the Works Progress Administration, or WPA). Originally installed in the nearby Centinela Park,...

TheWorks Progress Administration built an extension for the community hall in Greybull, Bighorn County.

Miami and the surrounding Dade County were effectively without city or county parks until the 1930s.  The city got its first park in 1925, after which the city was devastated by a hurricane the following year. The county received its first donation of land for a park in 1929, which became Matheson Hammock Park.  In 1930, the park system got its own director and a beach park, Surfside, was added in 1932. The county began improvements on the parks using mostly convict labor and men sent by the Charity Office once the Depression hit, as well as starting a Roadside...

A 1939 WPA report lists: No. 3272 Los Angeles County Griffin Road Improvement, Little Rock Federal Contr. $18,963 Sponsor $2,018 Average No. of men employed per month 41 Months to complete 7 Project consists of a rubble wall and concrete ditch along the hillside emptying into the Arroyo Seco River

"On Oct. 3, 1933, tragedy struck in the Mineral Wells area of Griffith Park. More than 1,500 public-relief workers in the park came rushing to put out a brush fire. Some climbed down into the steep canyon to fight the blaze, but having no firefighting experience, 29 of the workers were engulfed by fire and died. Two years later the WPA rebuilt the clubhouse that had burned in the fire." - https://articles.latimes.com/1993-11-22/local/me-59618_1_wpa-art-projects/2 "Following the fire which destroyed the original clubhouse, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Work Progress Administration built the current Clubhouse in 1937. Constructed in the Spanish Revival Architectural Style, the Clubhouse...

"WPA funds were responsible for various projects in park, including construction of a 9 hole golf course on the former Griffith Reservation. At the urging of Mayor Frank Shaw, it was named in honor of President Roosevelt in 1937."

A mission revival style building. In July 1933, the Illustrated Daily News reported that under various projects that were being initiated under the CWA and CCC in Griffith Park as part of the first large wave of mass employment projects was a club house and a sprinkler system for the golf course at a cost of $128,988. The plaque on the clubhouse though says Built by the United States Works Progress Administration 1937

"The Griffithville School, built by the Works Progress Administration in 1939, employs Craftsman features and has a construction method and design that is characteristic of the federally funded institutional buildings from the late 1930s. The building, located along a state highway in Grifftthville, is still used as a school, is in good condition, and has undergone very little alteration within the last fifty years." (National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form)   As of 2015, the gymnasium has been used as a community center and a park is on the grounds of the original school. The extant buildings are in disrepair.  

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) remodeled the Grimes County Courthouse in Anderson, Texas, in 1940. WPA crews installed a tile roof, cleaned and painted the building facade, installed tile floors, built outside stairs, plastered the interior walls, and landscaped the grounds.

Grizzly Dome 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). Grizzly Dome tunnel is the middle tunnel and the longest of the three, at 1178 feet.  It has "windows" cut into the north wall. 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.

Though the high school was originally established in the 1920s, the WPA carried out several projects on the school grounds in the 30s: "Built by the New Deals Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression years 1936-37, our Gym has literally seen millions of individuals from the school and community pass through its doors to watch and participate in plays and musicals, the communitys Christmas Pageant, sporting events, assemblies, committee and district meetings, conventions, speeches, and practices and rehearsals of every conceivable kind. The Gym was even noticed in the April 13, 1959 issue of Life Magazine, highlighting the schools nominating...

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted a massive development / improvement program at what is now known as Groton - New London Airport. "Develop landing area at airport" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐15‐123 Total project cost: $49,684.00 Sponsor: State of Connecticut, Department of Public Works "Develop landing area at airport" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐15‐123 Total project cost: $161,141.00 Sponsor: State of Connecticut, Department of Public Works "Construct landing strips at airport" Official Project Number: 165‐15‐1057 Total project cost: $23,247.00 Sponsor: Department of Aeronautics, State of Connecticut "Make improvements at airport" Official Project Number: 265‐2‐14‐71 Total project cost: $7,894.00 Sponsor: U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, District Engineer, Providence

The WPA worked on Grove St. between Gough and Market.

The W.P.A. constructed a bridge on Grove Street (crossing Centennial / Catlin Brook) in 1938. The bridge has been largely rehabilitated and rebuilt such that little of the original structure is apparent. However, though "budget and time constraints prevented a full restoration of the Grove Street Bridge, the original structure was never removed and its components still remain in situ. Today, an adventurous visitor to the bridge can spot the original brick by peering behind the rocks and other materials installed around the new culvert." The WPA also paved Grove Street as part of a separate project. WPA Project No. 465-12-1-15 (bridge) WPA...

The building was originally constructed in 1832 and many of the rooms portray it as it looked in 1837, the year of Grover Cleveland's birth. In 1936, laborers for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) restored the building to its original appearance.

The land for Grover Cleveland Park was first established in the 1920s. It acquired its present name in 1939. In June 1940, the Department of Parks announced the completion of the WPA's reconstruction of the park: "This five-acre park has been redesigned and reconstructed to provide a wider all year round usage. Approximately three-quarters of the area is set aside for active recreation. There is now a completely equipped separate small pre-school children's playground, a wading pool which can be used for basketball, and three paddle tennis courts, a volleyball court, and three shuffleboard courts for older children. For adults, there is...

Native limestone rock building built in 1941 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed this building out of limestone between 1935 and 1937.

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 stretches of: Van Cortlandt Avenue between Clove Road and Rugby Ave. Rugby Avenue between Grand Ave. and Highland Ave. Grand Avenue between Rugby Ave. and Victory Blvd. Dudley Avenue between Clove Road and Rugby Ave.

The federal Work Projects Administration put many men to work starting in 1935 with a Staten Island project that removed dangerous street ditches from roads throughout the borough. Granite block gutters and headers were installed by WPA laborers along nearly a dozen streets, including the stretches of adjacent Waverly Place and Irving Place between Van Duzer and Targee Streets.

The WPA worked on Guerrero St. between Market and 14th St.

A bridge carrying Gulf Mountain Road over a tributary of Joneed Creek, in Scotland, Arkansas, was constructed by the Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) in 1940. Some sources state that the bridge has since been demolished.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Casino and Muncipal Pier in Gulfport FL. The marker on site states that, "The U.S. Department of the Interior has listed the Gulfport Casino in the National Register of Historic Places. This is the third such Casino on this location. The first fell in the 1921 hurricane; the second came down in the early 1930s. Using funds from the Works Progress Administration's Civil Works Authority. Gulfport dedicated the Casino on December 1, 1935. A crowd of 1,200 people attended the dedication, which included a flag raising and a concert by the Florida Military Academy. Throughout...

Built in 1937-38 by the Works Progress Administration as part of the Brockport Municipal Park Development Plan. Building has fallen into disrepair and exists at the back end of an otherwise empty lot adjacent to a cold storage plant.

The Works Progress Administration made improvements on Gunbarrel Road in Gunbarrel CO. Pictured are work crews building deep-barrow pits for the trench along Gunbarrel Rd.

The Guntersville Armory was constructed in 1936 under President Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration. The project was a collaboration between the WPA and the Public Works Administration. The armory was constructed to house Company E of the 167th Infantry of the Alabama National Guard. Our local congressman, Joe Starnes, a member of the Armed Services Committee, was very influential in a national armory construction program. His perseverance led to the construction of numerous armories across the country as well as our own. After its completion in 1936, the armory was used for drills, training, and classroom instruction. President Roosevelt called the Guard to...

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

Local WPA workers used hand crow bars to dig stones from North Cadron Creek to build the gym in 1938. They hauled stone in horse-drawn wagons, and used scaffolds and chains to move them into place (Arkansas Historic Preservation Program). The gym was still in use by the Guy-Perkins School District as late as 1992.

Local WPA workers used native stone to construct the home economics building in a Craftsman style (Story, 1992). The building was still in used by the Guy-Perkins school district as late as 1992.

This oil on canvas mural "Early Farmers" by Karl Kelpe, and a companion piece ("Pioneers"), were originally in the main entrance of the old Julian School building. They were painted in 1936 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. Size: 16'11" x 8'

This oil on canvas mural, entitled "Child and Sports--Summer" was painted by Ethel Spears in 1937. It is a companion piece to "Child and Sports--Winter" at the Percy Julian Middle School. Both murals were originally installed at the Lowell School. It measures 16'10" by 6'2".

"Ernest was... instrumental in the building of Gyger Gym at Greely. He and Herman Sweetser made a study in 1937 of the Federal Public Works Administration program, with the idea of financing a gymnasium for the school. In spite of considerable opposition, they persisted, and were able to continue. PWA Project No. 1097F was accepted in 1938 at a special Town Meeting. With the Town having to pay only half the cost, work started in October. The name was originally going to be Cumberland Gymnasium, but upon the unexpected death of School Superintendent, John Thomas Gyger, one week...

The gym and auditorium in Throckmorton, Texas is a two-story rock building built by the Works Progress Administration.

The historic (former) Amistad School Gymnasium was built by the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) in 1937. The Mission-style structure is made of concrete, stucco, and metal. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

From Waymarking.com: "This gymnasium was constructed in 1935 as a WPA project. It is a rectangular building constructed of coursed and rusticated native sandstone. The building is no longer in use, and is heavily overgrown with vines and plants. It appears on the Oklahoma Historical Society's Region 3 list under the town of Okmulgee."

Pearl River County Central Elementary complex, formerly the McNeill community school, includes the 1940 WPA constructed gymnasium. The gymnasium is a Mississippi state landmark.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a gymnasium in Crossville, Illinois. The facility was dedicated in November 1937. The location and status of the facility is unknown to Living New Deal.