Civic Facilities Sites

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

The federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted improvement work at Tyler, Texas's Oakwood Cemetery during the 1930s.

Oakwood Cemetery in Parsons, Kansas was improved by work undertaken by the Civil Works Administration (CWA). "Plans of the commissioners call for employing ... 42 on work in Oakwood cemetery, mainly building a retaining wall."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a a 2,517-foot-long rock wall on three sides on the perimeter of the Oakwood Cemetery in Cisco, Texas. According to the Texas Historical Commission, "The general landscape of the cemetery is traditional with granite, limestone, marble, and sandstone grave markers with a prominent WPA rock archway at the southeast entrance.  More than six hundred burials are veterans of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War."

The Obion County Courthouse was erected in Union City, Tennessee during the Great Depression with the assistance of the Public Works Administration (PWA). The limestone veneer, PWA Moderne courthouse was built for "just over two hundred thousand dollars" with "Art Deco details, terrazzo floors, marble wainscoting, and Art Deco-styled ornamental metal" (Van West, p. 42).

Constructed by the WPA in 1940.

Designed by William J.J. Chase in the Stripped Classical style, the Oconee County Courthouse was built by the PWA and opened in 1939.

'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.

VisitNebraska.com: "A community landmark, Ohiowa Auditorium was completed in 1940 and preserved in near original condition. It is one of many Nebraska buildings constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression." The auditorium is located at the southeast corner of S Main St. & Grafton St.

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Oildale Standard School Auditorium in Bakersfield CA. The structure has been in use as a school auditorium since completed in 1937.

The Farm Security Administration build this camp in 1939 to house black farm workers from the Caribbean. While there is still housing here, this is no longer a camp.

"Armory construction was the first major thrust of the WPA Building Program in Oklahoma. By mid-1937, 126 armories had been constructed throughout the United States, with 51 of these projects located in Oklahoma. When the WPA ended its program in 1943, 54 armories had been built and 53 others 'reconstructed' in the state. The new construction infused $3.5 million into local Oklahoma economies. Groundbreaking for the Okemah Amory took place in October of 1935, and construction proceeded through the rest of the year, through 1936, and into 1937. Due to labor shortages, material shortages, and weather-related shutdowns, a short project expanded...

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 Oklahoma County Courthouse was constructed in 1936-1937 as a Public Works Administration project at a cost of $1.5 million. Designed by the well-respected firm of Layton & Forsyth, it is an Art Deco construction of Indiana limestone, with touches of the "new" material available in that day - aluminum. The south-facing main entrance has Cold Spring Minnesota granite steps and wing walls, with cast aluminum and etched glass lights atop each wing wall. The building is three stories to the east and west, and then soars in an additional ten story tower...Above these panels is an etched quotation from Abraham...

"The Oklahoma National Guard Armory located west of the Capitol at 200 N. E. 23rd Street, is an armory constructed in 1938 by the WPA. In the Depression torn 1930s, the federal government's WPA project kept food on many an Oklahoma table. Unlike so many of the native sandstone armories, this one is constructed of light colored brick. Its Art Deco features are classic. A two-story office area projects from the north and west of the main drill hall. The windows have six-over-six double-hung sashes. A panel of vertically set bricks decorates the area between all the first and second story...

The Shelter House/Chapel was constructed with native limestone in 1937 as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) project and renovated in 1984. The one-story, asymmetrical Mission-style chapel now houses the cemetery office. Oriented west, the building features an L-shaped footprint. The facade, located on the west elevation, has a parapet roof with a bell tower capped with brick trim. Two angel sculptures sit on each side of the bell tower. Two replacement doors are centered at this elevation. An opening with a replacement window also is located at the main elevation near the southwest corner of the chapel. An...

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 historic former Baldwin County Courthouse building in Milledgeville, Georgia was constructed in 1887. It was remodeled and repaired with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds in 1937. The PWA supplied a grant of $29,250 for the project, whose total cost was $65,297. Construction occurred between Jan. and Sept. 1937. PWA Docket No. GA W1197

The Old Fort Community Building was built in 1937 with aid from the Works Progress Administration. Native river stone was used in its construction. It served as a community center and later an inn. Since 1973 the building has been home to the Mountain Gateway Museum and Heritage Center administered by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. The museum interprets the history and culture of the mountain and foothills regions through exhibits and educational programming.

The heart of today's Greenbelt, Maryland – popularly known as "Old Greenbelt" – is a large, planned community laid out and constructed during the New Deal. It features community facilities such as a school, theater and community center, a large number and variety of housing, basic infrastructure of roads, water and sewers, and extensive landscaping and an attached forest.  Almost all of the original facilities are still intact. Greenbelt was one of four greenbelt towns initiated by Rex Tugwell, head of the Resettlement Administration (RA). Greendale, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee, and Greenhills, Ohio, near Cincinnati, are other surviving greenbelt towns; a fourth,...

The Works Progress Administration built the Morton County Courthouse in 1936 in Richfield KS. County maintenance building (later temporary courthouse).

This old jail served Somervell County for 50 years, before it was closed by the state for not meeting modern jail standards. Built in 1934, funded as a WPA government project during the Depression, as a replacement for the first county jail built in 1884, located on the same site.

In 1938 the W.P.A. improved the grounds of Framingham's Old South Cemetery, located on Winthrop Street. Town Report, 1938: Old South Burial Grounds This cemetery was regraded and walks and drives constructed throughout it. The old broken down wooden fence was replaced with a chain link fence and the stone wall along the front end and rear was rebuilt and repainted.

F.E.R.A. conducted improvement works to the old town hall building and grounds in Wayland, MA.

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.

The Old Windmill in Eastham, Massachusetts, which dates to 1793, was "restored by a Works Progress Administration Project in 1936."

Excerpt from a 2014 National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: "Originally designated as a pauper’s burial ground in 1839, little documentation of the historic layout of the Potter’s Field Cemetery exists prior to 1935. A 1935 map illustrates a grid imposed upon existing burial plots. This map was likely prepared as part of an effort to renovate and expand the existing city burial grounds, an effort that resulted in the creation of Oleander Cemetery. A 1939 City Ordinance formally establishes Oleander Cemetery by adopting the plat map and outlining rules and regulations related to the design and management of burial plots...

The Onamia Municipal Hall in Onamia, MN, was built in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration. The building housed a community room, a council chamber, the jail, and the fire hall. The town first tried to obtain funding for a community hall from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. The project was estimated at $8,500 and was turned down. According to a 1985 National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, "nterest in a community hall project was revived following the establishment of the Works Progress Administration in 1935. New, lower estimates of construction costs were obtained. These estimates, along with the possibility that the...

The Works Progress Administration built the City Hall of the City of Ontario. The ceremonial grand opening took place in 1937.   The structure currently houses the Ontario Museum of History and Art. 

The PWA provided funds toward the construction of a new Orange County Courthouse in 1936.

"The courthouse and its grounds underwent major changes during the depression years, courtesy of the Federal Government’s Public Works Administration (PWA). Under the courthouse the PWA workers hand-dug a basement to create office spaces."

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) laborers renovated houses on Oread Place in Worcester, Mass. in 1937. WPA Bulletin: Worcester — Taken by legal process through the Land Court for failure of owners to pay real estate taxes, three brick blocks at 19-23-25 Oread Place are being repaired by WPA— will be used to house welfare and soldier's relief recipients.

The historic Oregon County Courthouse building in Alton, Missouri was a Work Projects Administration project. Designed by architect Earl Hawkins, the structure was completed in 1942.

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...