Civic Facilities Sites

The Flanagan Center alternately also referred to as the Rockland Recreation Center was built in 1935 by the Works Progress Administration. It is a red brick and granite building with a small playground in the back. "Our indoor facility is located at 61 Limerock Street in Downtown Rockland, Maine and offers many Youth Programs and Adult Programs. It consists of a lined gym floor for both basketball and volleyball, a new Weight Room, and a game room. The game room, which is located on the lower level, has a concession stand, many table games, arcade games, board games, and a living...

An onsite marker reads: "Rockport School has served the town of Rockport for many years as both an educational and community institution. It dates to 1935, during the era of the Great Depression. One of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs to combat the Depression was the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, later the Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the National Industrial Recovery Act. Workers completed construction on the Rockport School, labeled Project Number 2813, under the PWA, and local bonds helped to subsidize the government project. The district had the structure built on the site of an...

A WPA plaque hanging in front of the chapel building reads: "This Historic Monument Erected A.D. 1856 by Solano County Pioneers. Reconstructed by Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration A.D. 1940" A nearby California Historical Marker no. 779 highlights this structure and reads: "Erected by pioneers of Methodist Episcopal Church South with volunteer labor and donated funds. Cornerstone laid October 3, 1856. Dedicated February 1857. Site supplied by Landy and Sarah Alford. Chapel deteriorated by 1929 and deeded by the church to Rockville Public Cemetery District as a pioneer monument. Restored in 1940." -------------------- This chapel is currently home to the Church of Christ.

Rockwall County is the smallest county in Texas and was primarily agricultural during the Great Depression. By 1940, fifteen percent of the available workers were doing relief jobs or in search of work. The federal government kept the county government from bankruptcy with federal relief funds. Through the Work Projects Administration (originally named the Works Progress Administration), a new courthouse was constructed to replace the old one built in 1893. Voelcker and Dixon designed the $100,000 Moderne style stone structure, the third courthouse for Rockwall County. The county renovated the courthouse in 2002 and built a new courthouse at another location in...

Rome, New York's Historical Society & Museum occupies what was originally constructed as the city of Rome's post office in 1936-7. The building was funded with federal Treasury Department funds. A New Deal mural painted for the building now resides at Rome's City Hall.

Roosevelt Care Center in Edison, New Jersey was originally known as the Middlesex County Tuberculosis Hospital. The building was constructed with PWA funds. NJ.com states: "Today, that building is on the National Register of Historic Places. For many years, Roosevelt served as the Middlesex County tuberculosis hospital. In the 1950s, it was converted to a long-term-care facility, and rehabilitation and recreation programs were added. An annex building on the other side of Parsonage Road was completed in 1964, and a major addition to the main building opened in 1982." The structure was reconditioned and converted into affordable senior housing. It opened in April...

Construction of the Roosevelt County Courthouse and Jail was undertaken as a New Deal project during the Great Depression. Sometimes mis-attributed to the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), the building was actually a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project. The P.W.A. supplied an $89,173 grant for the building's construction; total cost of the project was $197,381. Construction occurred between 1937 and 1938/9. P.W.A. Docket No. N.M. 1024-D.S.

The Roosevelt County Courthouse, at 400 2nd Avenue South in Wolf Point, Montana, was constructed between 1939 and 1940 with WPA labor.

At the behest of the city of Barrett, Minnesota, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) built a combination public auditorium and high school gymnasium in 1933-34.  The CWA provided the labor from the ranks of local unemployed workers and the city provided the empty lot and pitched in $5,000 for materials. The building was named Roosevelt Hall in honor of President Franklin Roosevelt. It served for around twenty years as the school gym and Barrett community hall. The 34' x 110' structure is wood frame, with Western Red Cedar siding and a shingle roof. The roof is rounded in a style roughly reminiscent of...

Roosevelt Park is located in Edison, New Jersey. It contains a number of picnic groves and sports facilities. The WPA did major work on the park in the 1930s. In addition to general park development, a monument honoring the laborers who built the park was erected in 1933. There is also a WPA sculpture in the park by Waylande Gregory (see linked project page).

"Rose Hill Cemetery now encompasses 28 acres. Limestone walls along the north and west sides, and ditches throughout, were installed in 1936 as a Works Progress Administration project. Buried over time, the ditches were discovered and restored in 1993."

Rose Hill Courts was the smallest of the developments in Los Angeles, CA completed under the city’s New Deal–era public housing program. In 1941-43, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) constructed 10 public housing developments for $16 million, funded 10% by city bonds and 90% by federal loans from the United States Housing Authority (USHA). Located in the Montecito Heights neighborhood, Rose Hill Courts was completed in 1942. In September 1941, the City of Los Angeles demolished 79 homes, 71 of which were deemed “substandard,” to make way for Rose Hill Courts. Completed in December 1942, the...

“This is a most unusual example of WPA construction - the use of petrified wood. We noted several buildings in this area of Oklahoma which used petrified wood. Apparently, the local topographical circumstances lead to availability of this type of preserved wood.   “This chapel is still in use and was constructed in 1935. In 1965, a carport facility was attached on the north to serve with cemetery maintenance.   “The chapel is constructed of native stones. The front of the building, however, has been overlaid with chunks of petrified wood. The centered entrance is recessed under a covered portico. The one-over-one windows (some...

"This is one of the more interesting post-office buildings in which the design avoids tradition. It is fireproof except for the roof, which is slow-burning construction. The exterior walls are a blue-gray brick trimmed with Indiana limestone and the spandrels are aluminum. The lobby has a terrazzo floor and base and a wainscot of American butternut. The workroom has an area of 8,600 square feet. The building was completed in August 1936 at a construction cost of $90,047. The P.W.A. allotment was $121,804.67 and the cost of the site $12,250."

In 1936, the WPA completed the addition of this two-story annex next to the old city hall. At the time it housed a new jail, but no longer does so. An excerpt from the archive photo below reads: "This project has provided the City Police Department with a modern jail. The old jail was inadequate to handle the demand. The town being a railroad division point, results in numerous transients to deal with. Front view of City Hall - under this project the interior and exterior of building were remodeled and a new jail addition 10'x26' was built."

On September 1, 1937, President Roosevelt signed the United States Housing Act of 1937. This created the United States Housing Authority (USHA) and provided $500 million for subsidies to be paid from the U.S. government to local public housing agencies (LHAs) to improve living conditions for low-income families. The Austin City Council established the Austin Housing Authority on December 27, 1937. The housing authority made an application to the USHA for $500,000 to build 186 units of public housing at three sites. Austin’s housing agency became the first in the country to receive funding and to start construction on its USHA...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a municipal auditorium for Roslyn, South Dakota, completed in 1936 (WPA Project No. 441). The stately building is now the home to the International Vinegar Museum.

Built in 1798, the Rossborough Inn is today the oldest building on what is now the campus of the University of Maryland College Park. The WPA was involved in extensive renovation and improvement of the Inn in 1937-38 including: "Improve and restore Rossborough Inn, including tearing out and rebuilding old work, altering interior, painting, constructing new additions, installing plumbing and electrical facilities."   (National Archives) "Articles in the University of Maryland archives reveal that WPA grants funded renovation of the building starting in 1938. The Dec. 14, 1937, issue of the Sun reported that the WPA approved $19,042 for renovation, and the...

"Rehabilitation of old Cemetery" occurred in November of 1935 thanks to $2,303 by the Works Progress Administration for this former gold rush town of 637 (1930 population). The cemetery was established in 1850 and is open and active for burials.

The Rowan County Jail and Superintendent's Office was completed in 1938 with funding from the WPA. Both the jail and the supt office are constructed of local rock.  The jail has crenellations decorating the top giving the appearance of a formidable castle. The superintendent's office now houses a museum.

Construction of stone voting houses was recommended because there were insufficient places for voting with previous solutions producing problems for locations that were over-crowded because of a central location, too small such as in one room schoolhouse, or too far for individuals to travel to vote.  It was felt that this discouraged voting. A total of 17 stone voting houses were proposed along with redistricting to enable citizens to access voting more easily.  Construction on the stone voting houses started in late 1935, concluding in 1936. Of 17 original stone voting houses, 11 remain, 9 of which are held in private...

The National Youth Administration constructed the building that houses the Runnels County Sheriff's Office between 1941 and 1942.

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of the Ruppert’s Court Automobile Repair Shop in Washington, DC between 1935 and 1936. In 1943, the building became a woodworking shop for the ADA, It is unknown to the Living New Deal if any part of this structure still exists today, but it is not likely. The alley where Ruppert’s Court Auto Repair Shop was located is now called “Lincoln Ct. SE.” and is historically known as DC’s “Square 762.” (Note: On page 7 of the ADA’s 10-year report, Ruppert’s Court is said to be located in Square 672. However, in the ADA’s 1937 fiscal...

The first Mississippi county approved for rural housing loans from the United States Housing Authority was Lee County. Loans represented 90% of the construction and 10% was locally supplied for the $790,000 program. "America's first 'economy wall' unit of brick residences have been completed under direction of the rural housing authority on Highway 78, three miles east of Tupelo..." (Housing Work, 1941). D. D. Smith Lumber Company constructed the brick houses, which were the first of the farm houses under New Deal work to be built of brick. The project authorized 300 rural homes to be constructed. The first home...

The historic former Russell County Courthouse in Phenix City, Alabama was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. Presently titled the Justice Building, it is still operated by the county. The PWA provided a $42,340 grant for the project, whose total cost was $102,493. Construction occurred between December 1937 and November 1938. PWA Docket No. AL W1174.

The WPA built an annex on the North side of the Sacramento City Hall in 1939, but it was demolished in 2003. A new, five story building (much larger than the historic City Hall itself) was recently built just behind the building.

In response to the foot dragging of Portland city officials on creating affordable housing for the influx of military related industry in a city with a severe lack of modern housing, the Federal Housing Authority of the Federal Works Agency ordered the construction of 550 units, 200 of which were in Sagamore Village. Designed by John Howard Stevens and John Calvin Stevens II, it featured Colonial Revival houses with a community center, playground, & school.

"The St. Bernard Courthouse in Chalmette was built with funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA) project. The building was designed by the architectural firm of Weiss, Dreyfous, and Seiferth."   (knowla.org) The cornerstone dates the courthouse to 1939. KnowLA writes that the 11 parishes that received new courthouses attributable at least in part to the PWA are: Caldwell, Cameron, East Carroll, Iberia, Jackson, Madison, Natchitoches, Rapides, St. Bernard, St. Landry, and Terrebonne. As of 2014 each of the courthouses is in active use.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement work at was then known as the Saint Lawrence State Hospital in Ogdensburg, New York. Among the improvements were "painting 31,100 square yards of surface and construction of 10,000 square yards of concrete floors and verandas. An open canal was built, window guards were reinforced and interior and exterior repairs were made to the Flower and other buildings."

The Works Progress Administration built the wall around the Salt Lake City Cemetery. Construction in the area was authorized in 1938 and the project was completed in 1941. Two plaques at the cemetery entrance mark the work of the WPA.  

The Public Works Administration contributed $1,329,508 toward the construction of the Sam Houston Coliseum and Music Hall. The architect of record was Alfred C. Finn. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held on November 4, 1936 and dedication was held on November 26, 1937. The buildings housed circuses, concerts, athletic events, stock shows and conventions. The coliseum and music hall were demolished in 1998. The former site of the coliseum was redeveloped into the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, which opened in 2003.

This building was constructed as a community center in 1938 by the National Youth Administration (NYA) (which was a branch of the Works Progress Administration (WPA)).   It is a craftsman-style, one-story, T-shaped building constructed of native stone and wood. The front entrance has a porch and double doors. Above the door are the letters N Y A. There is an NYA cornerstone at the building's southeast corner.  It reads: National Youth Administration Community Building Erected 1938 Huston A. Wright, Dir NYA for Okla. Mason Hart, Mayor James Kelley, Eng. City Com. Hardin Ray, Dir. - Grey Garter C.B. Alexander, Co. Supt. - Lee Perkins Luther Lail, Bldg. Supt. - Lee...

Between 1937 and 1939 the existing 1904 courthouse was extensively renovated and a  new jail was added. A 1978 report entitled 100 Courthouses, A Report on North Carolina Judicial Facilities states that the county wanted a new building, but the WPA,  which supervised the undertaking, objected. The reconstruction greatly enlarged the building and completely transformed its looks. This all suggests that a considerable amount of the financing came from the federal government. The architect was R. R. Markley.

Samuel Gompers was an American labor leader and founder of the American Federation of Labor. This sculpture by Robert Aitken was erected in 1933 and President Franklin Roosevelt made an address at the dedication ceremony for the monument on October 7th. Apparently, New Deal relief labor was used to improve the park around the memorial (now Samuel Gompers Park).  That would likely have been part of the Works Progress Administration's (WPA) million dollar program of parks improvement in 1935-36.

This San Bernardino branch of the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel was built around 1830 and underwent a number of function and ownership changes in the ensuing century. In 1925 the County of San Bernardino took over the property. It was restored in 1937 by the WPA assisted by the San Bernardino County Historical Society.

Originally the San Diego Civic Center (now the County Administration Center), it was built on 19 acres of filled tidelands. Inscribed on the portal is the motto: 'The Noblest Motive is the Public Good'. FDR dedicated the civic center on September 16, 1938. In his speech he noted, 'American democracy will live as long as the people keep in their hearts the motto inscribed.' (Branton 1991)

"In December 1926, the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution declaring 'the necessity for the erection of a public building' for both the City and the County. As a result, three countywide votes were taken to approve the tidelands site for construction of the Civic Center, but three countywide bond votes to secure the necessary funding were defeated. In 1935, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt authorized $1 million to be granted from the Works Progress Administration to construct the Civic Center after a personal tour of the site…. "Four San Diego architects, William Templeton Johnson, Richard S. Requa, Louis J. Gill,...

These three murals in the San Diego County Administration Center were produced under the WPA by Jean Goodwin and Arthur Ames (who later married). Each mural stands about 18' high and is painted in egg tempera on muslin over a gesso surface. Each panel represents an aspect of life in San Diego County: Recreation, Agriculture, and Conservation. The murals hang in the Board Chamber to this day. Three smaller studies done in preparation for these murals also remain in the building. They can be found in Room 402a. The artists were assisted in their work by Alloys Bohner, William McAulby, Hazel Scheckler.

The "Guardian of Water" is decorative fountain featuring a granite sculpture with a mosaic frieze around the base. It was created by Donal Hord in 1939, with support from the WPA. The sculpture is a 23' high figure of a woman holding an olla on her left shoulder, symbolizing the need for water conservation in southern California. She stands in a pool of water on a base decorated with a mosaic of kneeling nudes--symbolizing clouds--pouring water from jars over a dam into a citrus-fruit orchard. The San Diego Historical Society Museum has on display a small scale plaster maquette and a film...

From the archive photo descriptions of this WPA built station: "The fire station was a new construction project, building forms, placing reinforced steel and pouring concrete. The ground floor of the building measures 50x85 feet. The main part of the building is 34 feet high with a tower rising to 70 feet. This is a two-company station with one hose truck and one hook and ladder truck. Dormitory accommodations provide for eight firemen."