Civic Facilities Sites

Howard County Courthouse in Kokomo, Indiana was constructed with the assistance of Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The building was dedicated Oct. 20, 1937.

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Howard County Courthouse in Nashville, Arkansas. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement work at Huff Cemetery in German Township, Marshall County, northwest of Bremen, Indiana.

"The Hughes County Courthouse was designed in the Public Works Administration Moderne style with Art Deco features by the architects Hugill and Blatherwick and constructed by the Henry Carlson Company, all out of Sioux Falls. This governmental interpretation is a simplified version of the exuberant Art Deco style that appealed to a nation in the midst of the Great Depression. The uninterrupted square massing of the building and vertical bands of windows separated by decorative-patterned brick spandrels provide the only historical references to the style. The buildings utilization of Art Deco and Moderne design elements is typical of South Dakotas...

What is now the Hugo School Administration Office was constructed as the community's post office during the Great Depression. The re-purposed building continues to house New Deal artwork inside.

The federal Work Projects Administration worked to improve New Rochelle's, New York's former Huguenot Park Library (opened 1926) during the 1930s. The library, which was used as such until 1992. The building since reopened as a children's library. One WPA project, which involved numerous municipal buildings in New Rochelle including this one, was described by the WPA in its project rolls: "Work includes performing carpentry, masonry, and sheet metal work; excavating and constructing walls; painting, placing tile, and roofing." WPA Official Project No. 665-21-2-635.

Oxford, Massachusetts's old Huguenot Steamer No. 1 Fire Station is located on Main Street in North Oxford. A second-story community meeting space was in the building was known as Huguenot Hall. Huguenot Hall received assistance from the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the 1930s. The building now houses a firefighting museum managed by the Oxford Firefighters Association.

"Plans for the current courthouse were approved in 1936. The Des Moines architectural firm of Dougher, Rich & Woodburn were retained to design the building. The county applied to the Public Works Administration, or PWA, to assist with the funding. The grant was approved in 1937. The contract to build the building was given to Holtze Construction Co. of Sioux City, Iowa. The cornerstone was laid on April 30, 1938, and the new building was dedicated on February 25, 1939. The courthouse was built for $185,000. Iowa Supreme Court Justice Richard Mitchell delivered the main address at an open house. The...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided funding for the Humboldt County Public Health Building in Eureka, California, built in 1939.   The building was originally the county welfare building and juvenile detention home. It is now used by the county health department. The two-story, Streamline Moderne style building was designed by architect Frank Georgeson.  

The Works Progress Administration excavated and constructed stone drives, straightened the monuments, improved the grounds, and constructed the entrance posts at Huron Cemetery in Huron, Indiana. $3022 was budgeted for project.

The historic former Huron Hospital in East Cleveland, Ohio was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The project, which had otherwise been delayed, was completed in 1935. The facility was expanded multiple times until its closure in 2011. The complex, located along Terrace Road between Forest Hills Blvd. and Belmore Rd. in East Cleveland, has since been demolished.

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 on Huron St. (a few hundred feet west of Manhattan Avenue, on the north side of the road) were constructed in 1903-4; the baths closed in 1960, but the building is still standing. 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.

The Works Progress Administration built a memorial for the war veterans and civilian victims of the September 3, 1935 hurricane.

The Works Progress Administration built a hurricane shelter on the island of Upper Matecumbe Key FL.

What was the Hurricane Library/City Hall "was constructed in 1938-1940 as a Work Progress Administration (WPA) project. The WPA was one of several New Deal programs designed to stimulate economic recovery during the Great Depression while providing needed public services and facilities. Over 230 Public Works buildings were constructed in Utah approximately one half of them retain their architectural integrity. This building housed the city offices, library, police and Hurricane Canal Co. until the mid 1980s. The city then made it available to the Hurricane Valley Heritage Park Foundation to develop a museum. The structure is built chiefly of hand-hewn...

The PRRA built housing across the Island, as described in the 1938 Annual Report of the Department of the Interior: “The development of that part of the urban housing program of the P. R. R. A. originally aimed for the elimination of unsafe and unsanitary housing conditions, for the provision of decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings for families of low income, and for the reduction of unemployment and the stimulation of business activity, was continued during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1938. Inasmuch as the funds originally allotted were not sufficient to accomplish the demolition and clearance of the existing slum areas,...

The Hyattsville Armory is a historic National Guard armory built in 1918 and located in Hyattsville, Maryland. "The building is patterned after a medieval English castle and built of native stone, with rectangular turrets flanking the arched limestone entranceway." (wikipedia) A “Microfilmed Index to WPA Projects" in the National Archives describes the WPA as improving and repairing the Armory in 1935. (Note: It is not entirely clear whether the index refers to completed or only to planned projects, but all listed projects had received presidential approval, the last administrative step before a project proceeded.)

The modernist Iberia Parish Courthouse was undertaken in New Iberia, Louisiana during the Great Depression with the assistance of funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The three story, Art-Deco style building had white stucco walls and was completed for a cost of $410,863. The original courtroom contains the last federally directed mural by Conrad Albrizio, The Struggle of Man, completed in 1940. The courthouse entered use in 1940 and was officially dedicated on Armistice Day, 1941.

The Iberville Projects public housing was the third of six low-rent public housing developments in New Orleans funded by the United States Housing Act of 1937. The Housing Authority of New Orleans was the first housing administration approved in the US under the Housing Act (Adams, 2014). The 75 building complex resembled rowhouses, and were constructed of brick exteriors with tile roofs, chimneys, and galleries with iron columns and decorative cast iron railing, typical of other New Orleans style architecture. One, two, and three bedroom apartments made up the 858 units completed in 1941. The architects were Herbert A. Benson,...

Seattle's old Ice Arena, built in 1915, gained a number of improvements from the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938. A WPA press release from January 1938 detailed the nature of the works to be carried out: "Modernizing of the Seattle Civic Auditorium and Ice Arena by WPA workers will begin January 21 with the aid of $21,539 in Federal funds, it was announced today by Don G. Abel, state Works Progress Administrator. ...In the Ice Arena new bleacher seats are planned. New lockers and benches will be made for the dressing rooms, and the broadcasting house is slated for complete...

Built by the WPA in 1936 as an ice skating and hockey rink. The arena is still being used today, it is referred to as the "Old Thief River Falls Arena."  

"The Rockford Armory is one unit of a program to house adequately the National Guard of the State of Illinois. Up to 1938, 15 armories had been constructed in the State and at a present three more are under construction in the Chicago area. The building at Rockford has over-all dimensions of 246 by 183 feet, and it has a total floor area of 69,840 square feet. The drill hall, 180 by 120 feet, has a balcony seating 1,000. It also is provided with a stage, 26 by 57 feet, and around the drill hall are clubrooms, general...

The Works Progress Administration built the Inavale Community Hall and Gymnasium in Inavale NE. Constructed from cement blocks salvaged from a building in a nearby town. The structure was a roller rink in the 1970s, now vacant. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2023.

The Independence County Courthouse is a two-story, stone masonry institutional building with a raised basement and a Batesville marble exterior, laid out in a symmetrical, roughly "H"-shaped plan. The central, taller section of the building is five bays in length along the northern or Main Street elevation and accessed via a central, double-leaf entry. The lower, flanking sections are a single bay across. The eastern and western are each five bays in length. The building is fenestrated throughout with metal casement and awning windows, virtually all of which are original. It rests upon a concrete foundation and is covered with...

"The Division of Grazing (Grazing Service as of 1939) operated the greatest number of CCC programs in the state. There were several reasons for this. First of all, Nevada has the largest public domain (nonallocated federal acreage) of any of the forty-eight states. With little trouble, Nevada's elected officials and stockmen easily persuaded national CCC officials to approve requests for several new grazing camps, notwithstanding national CCC program budget cuts. Second, following passage of the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, a large workforce was needed to implement its ambitious provisions. Even with CCC assistance, the amount of work needing to...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement work at the historic former Pennsylvania National Guard Armory in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Located at the northeast corner of Washington St. and Wayne Ave., the building presently houses the Indiana County Historical Society and also serves as a Veterans' Memorial.

Federal funds, via the Public Works Administration (P.W.A.), enabled $195,000 of construction work of the then-in-progress World War Memorial. P.W.A. Docket No. IN 2200

In November 1935, federal Public Works Administration (PWA) Administrator Harold Ickes allotted $237,200.00 to the Hastings State Hospital for three units in the institution’s building plans. Together with the $290,000.00 provided by the state legislature, the allotment raised the total amount of funds to be spent to $527,200.00 for the construction of a new hospital building, a building for the night watch, and a sewage disposal plant. Kenneth Gedney was hired to be the architect for these improvements. Bids were called in December 1935. The bid for excavating the basement of the night watch building was given to F. C. Hageman...

The historic U.S. Border Inspection Station on Alburg Springs Road in Alburg, Vermont was built in 1937 with U.S. Treasury Department funds.

The historic U.S. Border Inspection Station on State Route 141 in Canaan, Vermont was built in 1933 with U.S. Treasury Department funds.

The historic former U.S. Border Inspection Station on State Route 235 in the town of Franklin, Vermont was constructed c. 1935 with U.S. Treasury Department funds. The station is also known as the "Morse's Line" facility.

The historic U.S. Border Inspection Station on State Route 114 in Norton, Vermont was built in 1933 with U.S. Treasury Department funds.

The historic former U.S. Border Inspection Station in Highgate Springs, Vermont was constructed in 1940 with U.S. Treasury Department funds. It has since been demolished.

The former U.S. Inspection Station at the Canadian border north of Eureka, Montana (along Route 93) was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the 1930s. Completion photographs of the facility taken Nov. 3, 1933 reside in the National Archives. The facility has since been replaced.

The former U.S. Inspection Station at the Canadian border north of Raymond, Montana (along Route 16) was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the 1930s. A completion photograph of the facility taken Aug. 5, 1937 resides in the National Archives. While the operations have been replaced by a newer facility closer to the border, Google Street View and satellite imagery suggest that the original New Deal structure, as of 2014, still stands.

The former U.S. Inspection Station at the Mexican border south of Sasabe, Arizona (along Route 286) was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the 1930s. Completion photographs of the facility taken May 7, 1937 reside in the National Archives. The structure has since been replaced.

The former U.S. Inspection Station at the Canadian border north of Scobey, Montana (along Route 13) was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the 1930s. Completion photographs of the facility taken Jul. 6, 1937 reside in the National Archives. The facility has since been replaced.

The former U.S. Inspection Station at the Canadian border north of Sherwood, North Dakota (along Route 28) was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the 1930s. A completion photograph of the facility taken June 3, 1937 resides in the National Archives. The photo shown shows a secondary facility, likely used for storage. A building fitting the building's visual description appeared on Google Street View imagery from 2009; however, an even newer facility appears to have been constructed since that time, so no part of the original New Deal construction is in existence today.

The former U.S. Inspection Station at the Canadian border north of Westhope, North Dakota (along Route 83) was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the 1930s. Completion photographs of the facility taken Sept. 4, 1937 reside in the National Archives. The photo shown shows a secondary facility, likely used for storage. A building fitting the building's visual description appeared on Google Street View imagery from 2008; however, an even newer facility appears to have been constructed since that time, so no part of the original New Deal construction is in existence today.