Civic Facilities Sites

WPA Bulletin: Long Island — Boston's smallest firehouse is soon to be built by WPA. Though David-like in proportion the new building will be a Goliath to the 1500 people and 16 institutional buildings on this Boston Harbor plot of land. When complete it will be 67 feet long, 27 feet wide and one story high, housing modern and efficient fire-fighting equipment. The Island is greatly in need of adequate protection as the only existing apparatus is a hand-drawn pump and rolls of hose.

The federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) played a crucial role in the development of Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale, New York. NPS.gov: "By June 1939, the cemetery employed 480 men through WPA projects. A final narrative report of the WPA projects completed at the cemetery listed: construction of the shelter house and comfort station, including its sewer line and septic tank; clearing 76 acres of scrub trees and underbrush, and a 60’ fire break along boundary lines; construction of a rostrum; construction of 2,363’ of sidewalks, 5,472’ of curb and gutters; and completion of woven-wire and barbed-wire fences on the...

The federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted improvement work at the former Longfellow School (now town hall) in Millville, Massachusetts. Work included painting the exterior of the Longfellow School buildings, a project which "gave employment to 4 men for a period of eight weeks."

This school was constructed in part with funds provided by the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works in 1937, and bears the name of an important early town denizen. A well-constructed building, it has since been repurposed and, until recently, served as the Cape Girardeau City Hall and Municipal Court.  

"The Public Works Administration funded the construction of buildings for Federal, State, and local government. Portland was granted 45 percent of the cost of a new boiler house, heating plant, laundry, and additional housing for the nurses at the city home and hospital." The City Home and hospital refers to todays Barron Center "The origins of today’s Barron Center date back to the early 1800s when the City of Portland established an “Alms House” on Portland Street. Its purpose was for the care of the City’s poor, elderly and mentally disabled. By 1870 the Alms House was replaced with the Greely...

"The Los Angeles National Cemetery was dedicated on May 22, 1889, a few days after the first interment. The Works Progress Administration constructed the Spanish Revival style administration building-chapel and the indoor columbarium at the National Cemetery in the late 1930s and early 1940s."

"Designed as the largest enclosed structure without walls in the world by noted California architects Robert Clements and Associates, this Art Deco building, constructed between 1938 and 1941 by the WPA, is the largest and second-oldest Navy Reserve Center in the United Stages. It has served as the induction, separation, and training center for more than 100,000 sailors since World War II well as the filming site for countless motion pictures and television shows."

This fresco in the Post Office Terminal Annex lobby consists of eleven semi-circular, tempera on plaster "lunettes" by Boris Deutsch depicting "Cultural Contributions of North, South and Central America." The murals were funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and completed in 1944. "The mural series entitled “The Cultural Contributions of North, South and Central America” in the Los Angeles Terminal Annex Post Office was painted in the early 1940s by Boris Deutsch. While the murals depict a number of indigenous North and South Americans, Mr. Deutsch himself was originally from Lithuania... In 1939, he received a commission from the United...

The New Deal funded a $6,000 adobe fire station in Lost Hills. Current status unknown.

The federal Public Works Administration (PWA) provided $13,909 grant towards a repair project for Loudon, Tennessee's county courthouse during the Great Depression. The total cost of the project, undertaken in 1936, was $30,909.

"At the time the Louisiana State Capitol was constructed, it was considered large enough to house virtually all of the administrative offices and departments of the State government. This proved to be incorrect and due to urgent need, the State Office Building, often called the Capitol Annex, was erected about 400 feet distant from the capitol. It is a part four and part six-story building, rectangular in plan, with over-all dimensions of 130 by 260 feet, and in addition to a large amount of office space, housed the official board room and library. It has a...

Conrad Albrizio was commissioned by the Works Progress Administration to paint several murals in the foyer of the Capitol Annex. An exhibit in the foyer today explains that "Albrizio's murals in the Capitol Annex were designed to illustrate 'the achievements of the state program under the administration of' Governor Leche." They depict social security and social well being, industrial prowess, public construction, and health care. The murals have been recently restored by a conservator who "worked on restoration projects in Louisiana, most notably Conrad Albrizio's murals at the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum in Shreveport and his students' frescoes in LSU's Allen Hall....

Louisiana State University's historic Parker Coliseum, also known as the Agricultural Center, was constructed by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1937. The building, which contains numerous artistic details created by artists of the period, is still in use today. WPA Project No. 165-64-2016.

"The rapid growth of the city of Louisville, population 307,745 in 1930, necessitated additional facilities for the fire department. A grant was secured from the PWA with which this central fire station was built, as well as a hospital annex, an extension to the sewerage system, and some park recreational improvements. The total cost of all of these projects was $1,665,230. The fire station is three stories and a basement in height, approximately 90 by 120 feet in plan, and has a volume of 564,322 cubic feet. In the basement is a swimming pool, 30 by 60 feet. The first floor...

From contributor Charles Swaney: "Modern deco design in this 2-story building that presently houses the Communication Arts Center of Trinity High School.  Trees obscure the front façade, but the prominent vertical elements surrounding the entry are still evident as is the rounded portico above the entry." The building is now the Trinity High School Communication Arts Center.

“The P. W. A. made an allotment of funds for the erection of low-rent housing in the Virgin Islands sufficient to allow for the development of three such projects. (...) Bassin Triangle erected on a vacant site of 5 acres at Christiansted, St. Croix Island. The site cost $2,000 and was improved with 1-story row houses which provide 54 rooms divided into 30 family-dwelling units. The structures cover about 5 percent of the area of the site and average 10 rooms per acre."

The Pontalba Buildings flank Jackson Square in the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans.  The Upper Pontalba Building lies on the west side of the square along St. Peter Street, the Lower Pontalba Building on the east side on St. Ann Street.  Both are block-long structures, four stories in height, built of brick and graced with the ironwork typical of buildings in the French Quarter. They were originally built in the 1840s. The two building were the gift of the Baroness de Pontalba, who wished to improve the appearance of Jackson Square – then the center of the city....

"Luther Cemetery (also known as Valley View Cemetery), dates back to about 1910. This is a cemetery with 1470 burials. Surrounding the cemetery, on all four sides, is a wall constructed of uncut native stone, topped with concrete. The wall was constructed under a WPA project funded with $3022 in 1936. The cemetery is located about one-half mile north of Route 66 on Peebly Road. This WPA project is listed in the Oklahoma Landmark Inventory database."   (waymarking.com)

Lyon County Courthouse in Yerington, Nevada was constructed in 1912. During the mid-1930s the building received an addition enabled in part by federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. "In 1936, the existing west half of the building was added at a cost of $40,000." (NPS nomination form) The PWA provided a grant of $18,000 toward the project, whose final cost was $46,006. Construction began in Dec. 1935 and was completed Apr. 1936. (PWA Docket No. NV 2538.)

The present Mackinac County Courthouse replaced an 1880s structure on the same site. Effectively dismantled to the foundation and rebuilt as a new facility, the project was originally approved as a remodeling. Construction of the modern structure was undertaken by the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.). W.P.A. Project No. 49-1-249

The small, one-story, red-brick Colonial Revival building was constructed as Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (later renamed the PWA) Project Miss. 1366-F. It is part of the Macon Historic District. Mississippi architects P. J. Krouse and L. L. Brasfield, from Meridian designed the building. It was constructed by Mississippi builder/contractor John L. McLemore of Meridian.  

"The community house was a common project, with at least seventeen known to survive in the state. The style of building differed from community to community. In Macon, a one story wooden bungalow-style structure was built..." (Gatlin, 2008, p. 5). The former community house is now used as the Noxubee Post 63 of the American Legion. The building is part of the Macon Historic District.

The historic, Art Deco, Macon County Courthouse (a.k.a. Macon County Building) in Decatur, Illinois was constructed as a New Deal project with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds.

The Madera County Hospital was built using Public Works Administration funds and Works Progress Administration labor. The PWA built building is now the headquarters of the Madera County Public Health Department. There was a bronze plaque inside the building where the entrance used to be indicating the date, 1935, the supervisors, and the architect Ernest J. Kump. 'It is a one-story building and provides an operating department of six rooms, an X-ray department of three rooms, a maternity unit of 10 rooms including two wards, a children's ward, a dental department of three rooms, nine men's wards, two solariums, an observation room, a...

"Plans were announced in 1939 for construction of the present courthouse by the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works. The new building was approved in the November 8 general election and a $90,090 allotment was provided. A new site was selected at 1 Main Street and three houses were sold and moved to make way for the new courthouse. ... The dedication ceremony was held on November 30, 1939. Congressman Clyde T. Ellis of the Third Congressional District delivered the dedicatory address. The building was lauded for its up-to-date fixtures and modern courtroom and jail." "The Madison County Courthouse is ......

The historic Madison County Courthouse at 100 E Main St. in Jackson, Tennessee was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project during the Great Depression. "This project consisted of a building 160 by 65 feet in plan and 4 stories and a basement in height. The basement contains offices for the county agent, farm welfare, the Red Cross, the health department, and a receiving room for the jail. On the first floor are the offices for the county clerk, registrar, county superintendent, tax assessor, sheriff, and county judge. The second floor is occupied by 2 courtrooms each 35 by...

Madison Parish Courthouse was completed in 1939 in the Colonial Revival style by the PWA and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to restore the Admiral Farragut monument in Madison Square during the mid-1930s.

The Magnolia Housing Project was one of the first two planned for New Orleans. The original 740 units in one, two, and three story buildings included one, two, and three bedroom apartments. The chief architect was Moise H. Goldstein, with supportive architects Thomas Harlee, Frederick Parham, N. Courtlandt Curtis, Richard Koch, and Charles Armstrong. Construction was completed by R. P. Farnsworth Company. Jens-Braae-Jensen, structural engineer, Frank Chisholm, mechanical engineer, Orloff Henry, electrical engineer, William Wiedorn, landscape architect, and Frank Hugh Waddill, civil engineer were also part of the construction and design crew. Magnolia was completed in 1941 for $2,478,980. The...

The combination Fire Hall and City Hall in Mahnomen was built in 1937 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The structure was designed by George H. Carter and Company in WPA moderne style and built out of field stone hand-cut by WPA crews. It was listed in the National Register in 1988.

These six sunken plaster bas-reliefs depicting "The Transportation of the Mail" were installed in the Santa Barbara Main Post Office in 1937 by William Atkinson under the auspices of the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

The historic Main Street Firehouse in Pascoag, Rhode Island was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The colonial-style brick building was constructed between Dec. 1938 and Aug. 1939. The PWA supplied a $23,998 grant for the project, whose total cost was $51,721. PWA Docket No. RI X1447

“The CWA was implemented to deal with expected high employment. The president believed Many Americans would starve unless given a chance to work in the program. The plan included a specific amount of money and time, and it was under FERA in the winter of 1933-1934. Later, the WPA finished projects begun by the FERA or the CWA. In Oklahoma this resulted in the construction of the Mangum Community Building and the Purcell City Building.” --Leaning on a Legacy

The criminal court building in Manhattan was constructed with the assistance of the PWA in the late 1930s, for a cost of $14 million.  Construction began in 1938 and was completed in 1941. The site, once known as Collect Pond, was formerly occupied by an 1894 Criminal Courthouse and prison – known as 'The Tombs".  That name is sometimes still used for the present building. The seventeen-story building is composed of four towers, with the tall center tower done in the step-back style popular in the 1920s and 30s. The facade is granite and limestone and the windows and spandrel form long, unbroken, vertical bands. The...

New York's 1 Centre St. Municipal Building received improvements as part of the New Deal, including new elevators installed in part by Public Works Administration (PWA) funds.

" the new Armory building under construction in Manitowoc, Wisconsin in April, 1939. Within the central space bounded by partially built outer brick walls are piles of old paving bricks that had been removed from Eighth Street in Manitowoc for re-use in the Armory walls. About 230,000 bricks were recycled for this project. The Armory/exposition building, located at 930 North 18th Street on the Manitowoc County Fair Grounds, was built in 1939 as a WPA project. It provided office and exhibit space for the fair as well as offices, storage, and drill space for the local National Guard unit, Company...

"Today, as the nation works its way out of a mighty recession, it seems natural to look back at the Depression-era origins of the old stone building in which the Mansfield Historical Society is housed. Construction began in late 1934 for the Mansfield Town Office Building.  The project was one of many sponsored by the Work Projects Administration (WPA) during the period.  A one-story colonial edifice with stone exterior and a fireproof vault within, the building was designed to provide a central place for carrying on town business and for safely housing important town records.  Meanwhile, however, the construction project gave much-needed work...

The Works Progress Administration built the Mansfield Town Hall in Mansfield CT, circa 1937. The exact location and condition of this facility are unknown to the Living New Deal.

The Manteo Community Building (Roanoke Island) was built by WPA workers, circa 1935-1937. Today, it is used as a government office building.

The Manteo Fire Station was constructed with the assistance of WPA funds. The remaining money was raised locally by the Manteo Fire Department, which organized a series of dances. The downstairs was used to house fire equipment while the upstairs served as town hall. The building was remodeled in 1977 when it received its Tudor makeover. The Fire Department has since moved to another location, and this building is now privately owned.