Auxiliary Civic Facilities Sites

This building was constructed by the WPA in 1940.

This building was constructed by the WPA in 1940: "A rectangular...structure, the Skiatook Municipal Building looks very much like an armory. It is constructed of dressed and lightly rusticated native sandstone laid randomly...It appears to be a military armory, but it was planned and has always been utilized as a municipal facility."   (www.okhistory.org) The building is currently occupied by the town Police Department.

This building was constructed as Springville's municipal and fire hall building by the WPA in 1936-1937. It no longer appears to house the fire department, but continues to serve as a municipal building housing the police department, court and other offices.

This deep red brick building was previously the post office for Columbia. With the construction of the new post office nearby, this building was remodeled by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and housed the public library until the library moved to West Broadway and Garth Ave. The present iteration of this building is the home for the parks and recreation administration.

WPA Bulletin, 1937: "Amesbury now has a secondary municipal auditorium, auxiliary town hall and community center with the completion of a WPA project which remodeled the old fire headquarters building for that purpose. The building on School Street was erected in 1829, served as the first schoolhouse in the settlement and was later made into a fire station, serving that purpose until the new fire headquarters building was dedicated in 1927."

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration built a municipal garage in Carbon Hill. The exact location and condition of the structure is unknown to the Living New Deal.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded the construction of a municipal garage in Stratford, Connecticut, circa 1935. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration  (FERA)completed about 50% of the structure, and the WPA completed the project. This building is currently being used by the Stratford Public Works Department as part of its garage property at 550 Patterson Avenue, at the corner of Frog Pond Lane.

According to an index of WPA projects in the national archives, the WPA did extensive work in Brentwood, including: installing water mains, constructing sidewalks, curbs and gutters, and paving and storm drainage. Records show the WPA also constructed a Law Hall for Municipal offices, a fire department and a community hall. The exact location and current status of these buildings is unknown.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a 40' x 66' "municipal patrol shed" in North Platte, Nebraska, as an addition to North Platte's then city hall, ca. 1935-6. It was used for the storage of street maintenance equipment and a fire truck. The location and status of the facility is unknown to Living New Deal.

The former Municipal Public Works Garage Industrial District is comprised of six single-story, brick buildings built c. 1940. The garages are on the west bank of the Cumberland River, in Nashville. Buildings 1 through 4 run lengthwise northwest to southeast while Buildings 5 and 6 run northeast to southwest.  This New Deal project was funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA), which was absorbed into the Federal Works Administration (FWA) in 1939. The Works Progress (or Projects) Administration (WPA) provided labor for the project. The Municipal Public Works Garage Industrial District was constructed to house various municipal public works departments, such as...

The caption on the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) photo above reads: "City of Binghamton's municipal shops. Started by TERA and completed by WPA September 2, 1936." TERA was a program created by Franklin D. Roosevelt prior to his presidency, when he was still Governor of New York (The Social Welfare History Project). More information is needed to determine the current status and location of this project.

"Munson Valley Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 for its landscaping and eighteen of the buildings.  During the 1930’s and 1940’s, landscape architects Thomas Vint, Merel Sager, and Francis Lange oversaw the development of the rustic landscape around Munson Valley at almost every level.  The landscaping of Munson Valley no longer has much of the original work of Vint, Sager, Lange and the CCC, but the layout and natural placement of buildings still remains. Some of the historically significant buildings within the Munson Valley Historic District include: Administration Building Ranger Dormitory Superintendent's Residence (now housing part of...

Originally called the National Bureau of Standards, this a measurement standards laboratory, which is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce. The name was changed in 1988. (It is also sometimes known as the National Metrological Institute (NMI)). In 1938-40, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) did extensive work on the facilities.  WPA relief labor was employed around the Bureau of Standards site to: "Rehabilitate buildings and improve facilities and grounds at the National Bureau of Standards Reservation. The work includes improving roofs and gutters; placing footings and floors; relocating and remodeling doors, windows, and skylights; replacing doors and window...

"No state benefited more from these government-funded programs than New Mexico whose Democratic governor, Clyde Tingley, was a political supporter and friend of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt... ...New Deal projects in Santa Fe include the National Park Service building on Old Santa Fe Trail."   (Sharpe)

Art deco style WPA project.

"Originally constructed in 1867, the courthouse underwent expansion and renovation in 1900. It was drastically remodeled in 1936-37 by architect George Sellon, resulting in the existing WPA Moderne structure. An annex was constructed in the mid-1960s."    

"NEW GUARDHOUSE, opposite Catharine Street, was built by WPA workmen. The new building is Georgian Colonial in design and constructed of gray stone with dark blue slate roof. The stone used in the building was taken from an old mill demolished by WPA labor. Herman Miller, WPA architect, designed the building. On the first floor, the center hall is the roll room off which is an ante-room used by the Fairmount Park guards as a private office for the sergeant. The north wing is used by the park maintenance fore- man as a tool shop and blacksmith forge. The south wing houses the stable for guard horses. The second...

"Completed in 1935, after a design by John Gaw Meem, the New Mexico Public Welfare Building was financed with Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) funds to serve as headquarters for FERA and other relief agencies working in New Mexico during the Depression. Reflecting a restructuring of the state’s relief agency under Governor Tingley’s administration, the Public Welfare Building represents the strengthening and centralization of both the state and New Deal relief programs in New Mexico during the Depression. The architecture of the Public Welfare Building is also significant for introducing the Territorial Revival style to public architecture in Santa Fe,...

"The Supreme Court Building was built to relieve the congestion that existed in the State capitol where the supreme court had always been housed. The new building is occupied by the supreme court with its accessory offices, the attorney general, the State treasurer, and the State law library. The necessary vaults and storage spaces are provided for each department. It is a semifireproof structure provided with a sprinkler system. The floors are concrete on steel joists, sash are steel, and exterior walls are brick covered with cream-colored stucco. Copings and window sills are brick....

This WPA building was dedicated on July 18, 1940. It currently houses the city's police department.

"Norris Dam State Park is a state park in Anderson County and Campbell County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The park is situated along the shores of Norris Lake, an impoundment of the Clinch River created by the completion of Norris Dam in 1936. The park consists of 4,038 acres (16.34 km2) managed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. The east section of Norris Dam State Park was developed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps as a "demonstration recreational project" of the Tennessee Valley Authority. The CCC built a lodge, several rustic cabins, and an amphitheater. The...

Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds enabled "the modernization of the North Side Municipal Market in Pittsburgh ..." The exact location and building status is presently unknown to Living New Deal.

Built in 1939 with PWA funds, the Northwest Office Building was originally supposed to be part of an expanded Capitol complex that never came to pass. The building is now used as headquarters for the Pennsylvania Liquor Board.

"This structure replaces an old high-school building which had become inadequate to care for the student body of 1,200. The building contains 32 classrooms, an auditorium, boys' and girls' gymnasiums, administrative offices, a library, domestic science rooms, shops, a study hall, a cafeteria, and rooms for music. The construction consists of a steel frame, exterior brick bearing walls trimmed with cast stone and reinforced concrete floor slabs on metal lumber. The structure is three stories and a basement in height and its fominating feature is the tower at the auditorium entrance. It was completed in December 1937 at a construction cost of $789,379...

The WPA constructed this brick municipal building in 1941. The building now houses the city police and other offices.

'This building was constructed by the Forest Service for the Mount Shasta branch of the California Forest and Range Experiment Station, and is located in an area of several thousand acres of dense chaparral set aside for experimental fire work in brush-covered land. The area is representative of over 1,000,000 acres of high-quality timberland which is overgrown with brush as a result of fire or logging followed by fire... The building was completed in October 1935 at a cost of $7452 which came out of a $2,246,599 PWA allotment to the Forest Service.'

The PWA provided funding for the construction of the Ogden Municipal Building in 1939-1940.  The brick and terra cotta building was designed by the same team, Hodgson & McClenahen, as Ogden High School.  The building is still in use and has been put on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1937, the WPA: Converted abandoned basement area into offices. Cleaned and repainted rotunda. Landscaped surrounding grounds. Planted trees and bushes.

The Oklahoma City Municipal Building was constructed in 1936-37 with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) and a City bond issue. "Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the State, having a population of 185,389 in 1930. The new municipal building provides quarters for all of the commissions and departments of the city government except the police department and the court which are housed in a new jail building, which was built at the same time and as part of the same P.W.A. docket. The structure is fireproof throughout with a steel and concrete frame, the exterior walls being select...

The "Old Arsenal," as it is known, was built in 1809, and remodeled by the WPA. From Waymarking.com: "'It was repaired and remodeled in 1936, partly as a project of the Works Progress Administration and leased (1937) to the Unemployment Compensation Commission of Delaware' . The building was later used by the National Youth Administration.  During World War II the building was used as offices for the Bellanca Aircraft Corporation which was building aircraft for the war effort.  In the late 1940s the building was again used as a school building.  By 1950 the building was owned by the State of Delaware...

Florida's former State Capitol (commonly known as the Old Capitol) received an addition as part of a New Deal Public Works Administration (PWA) project. The enlargement was a wing at the north end of the Capitol. Florida Memory: "The Florida State Capitol enlargement in 1936-1937 was a joint project between the Florida Construction Program and the Public Works Administration. M. Leo Elliott, Architect, of Tampa, Florida, was responsible for the architectural drawings and plans for the Capitol project." The PWA supplied an $112,347 grant toward the project, whose total cost was $261,382. Construction began Sept. 29, 1936 and was completed Oct. 26,...

The former state capitol was one of 20 state institution renovations completed in 1934. In August, funds were approved in the amount of $200,000 by Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and supplemented with a $200,000 allocation by the Mississippi legislature. Improvements at the old and new capitols were part of the project. Painting and redecoration of the woodwork, new roof, and paving of curbs, gutters, and driveways was completed for the old building. The old capitol building was allotted $5,459.84 for painting and widening and paving driveways, and paving curbs and gutters.

The Emergency Relief Administration (E.R.A.) and Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) completely renovated Old Town Hall on Derby Square in Salem, MA.

Historically identified as the Oregon State Forester’s Office Complex, the Oregon Department of Forestry Complex was developed by workers from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The Historic American Buildings Survey described this complex as a significant example of New Deal-era planning and development. It includes 4.5 acres originally utilized as the state headquarters for the Civilian Conservation Corps and 7.25 acres purchased for the Oregon State Forester’s Office and forest service supplies. Although new construction exists, the lay-out, buildings and landscaping are a legacy of WPA and CCC work and the collaborative contributions of the...

"The Oregon State Capitol replaces a structure which was destroyed by fire in 1935. It occupies the site of the former building and is the dominating feature of a well-designed city plan. A mall has been laid out from the main façade of the capitol, cutting through several city blocks, which will be flanked on each side by future buildings of the State government, one of which, the State library, has already been constructed. It is one of the few PWA projects for which an architect was selected through competition. The first floor is occupied by offices and work space for...

The Oregon State Forester’s Office was designed by a US Forest Service architect and constructed by Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers after preparation of the site by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this structure is considered one of Oregon’s best examples of a building in the National Parks style. Timberline Lodge heads the list in this category but the Oregon State Forester’s Office, although significantly smaller, shows a remarkably high quality of workmanship as well. Linn A. Forrest, the US Forest Service Architect associated with Timberline Lodge’s floor plan and elevations, produced the...

Constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the interior of the Oregon State Forester’s Office demonstrates a high level of craftsmanship. Its interior was decorated by a wood carver employed in the Federal Arts Program of the WPA with finishes to window frames and wood floors provided by workers supported by the National Youth Administration (NYA). Making every room in the office building distinctive, different Oregon native woods were selected to panel each room – and each ceiling received a special treatment as well. Eighteen native woods are used in the interior. Eugene based artist Arthur Clough carved the stairway railing...

"The ultimate direction of development in the parks became an important issue due to the increase in construction activity during the administration of President Herbert Hoover. To ensure that this activity was proceeding in an orderly fashion, long-term planning was essential. Serious work along this line began in FY 1931, and resulted in the preparation by Vint and Sager of a master plan program for the National Park Service. The first Service master plans were six-year ones to be revised each year as work was completed. Each landscape architect was responsible for developing plans for his particular field areas. By mid-1932...

"There had been no courthouse and no proper place for the storage of records until the completion of the new courthouse in December 1936. The building is two stories in height and houses all of the county offices, the court, jury rooms, and record-storage vaults. It is fireproof and the exterior walls are red face brick trimmed with wood. The construction cost was $64,391 and the project cost $74,371."

Referring to projects accomplished by the Public Works Administration, The Indiana Gazette writes in 1937: "Five combination garage and office buildings at Allentown, Carlisle, New Castle, Bedford and Greensburg, have been built for the State Highway Department. These modern structures will house the road equipment used by the Highway Department and will provide adequate office space for its maintenance forces." One article referred to the location as being "on property at the west end of Bedford, near the Junction of Pitt and Penn streets;" the physical address of the building is 630 E Penn St.