Colleges and Universities Sites

Lock Haven University's former power plant building was one of several facilities constructed during the late 1930s with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. It has since been demolished.

"Funding from the WPA was also granted to North Texas State Teacher’s College. Some of the smaller projects included the construction of tunnels that connected the power plant on the college campus to the larger buildings such as the library, the Education Building, and the Science Building." The power plant was located just east of what is now Curry Hall. The status of the tunnels is unknown to Living New Deal.

Powers Hall / Keeler Union on the campus of Central Michigan University was constructed during the Great Depression with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $119,250 grant. Construction occurred between October 1938 and 1939. "Powers Hall, which now houses the history department, has undergone several major changes since it was first built as the combination student union and first men's residence hall on campus. Although the outside looks nearly the same, the inside would be completely unrecognizable to its original inhabitants. ... The building was funded through a Public Works Administration Grant, one of the programs...

Preston College, a dormitory building on the University of South Carolina campus in Columbia, SC, was constructed in 1939, "part of the extensive building program undertaken during the New Deal, which allowed the University to continue its physical expansion after financial constraints of the Depression. The Public Works Administration paid 45 percent of the cost of the building, and dormitory-revenue bonds provided the rest." (USC) The building is located south of the Horseshoe on the north side of Greene St.

Lock Haven University's Price Auditorium was one of several facilities constructed during the late 1930s with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The building is still in service.

Th PWA granted $320,000 for the construction of a new dormitory at the Montana School of Mines, now known as the Montana Technical campus of the University of Montana. The residence is now known as Prospector Hall. The school's website explains: "Construction of the Residence Hall began in 1935 with an appropriation grant from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration of Public Works. It was open for use during the 1935-1936 academic year. The main structure has four floors each with a student lounge. In addition, there are two wings, each with one floor. It was originally designed to house 110 students."

Multiple New Deal agencies: the Public Works Administration (P.W.A.), Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.), Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), and National Youth Administration (N.Y.A.) left an indelible imprint on Purdue University with many notable construction and improvement projects. Robert Topping: Elliott once summarized federal grants and expenditures made since 1933, pat of the national effort to shore up the United States economy. The PWA, for example, had spent $700,000 toward construction of five new buildings—two units of the women's residence halls (Windsor Halls), the Executive Building (Hovde Hall of Administration), a fieldhouse and gymnasium (Lambert Fieldhouse), and an addition to the Purdue Memorial...

ENMU's Quay Hall was constructed as a New Deal project in 1935-6. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a loan and a grant to cover most of the cost of the project.  

The WPA undertook a $940,000 project aimed at improving the campus of Queens College during the 1930s. The description for the project is as follows: "landscaping; draining; constructing roads, sidewalks, parking areas, athletic fields, field house, bleachers, and tennis and handball courts; and performing incidental and appurtenant work."

Among the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects identified as completed in an El Paso Times article from June 7, 1936 was "Completion of addition to Chemistry Building at College of Mines"—now known as Quinn Hall at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Valdosta State University's Reade Hall, a dormitory-auditorium building, was constructed as Senior Hall with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds and was completed in spring 1937.

Cal Poly Humboldt (formerly California State University Humboldt) began as Humboldt Teachers' (or Normal) College in 1913 and moved to its present location on a hill northeast of Arcata, California, in 1921.  Founders' Hall was built at the top of the hill in the 1920s and the campus has filled in below over time. During the New Deal, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the athletic fields and bleachers at what is now known as Redwood Bowl, just east of Founders Hall. The facilities have been greatly enlarged and upgraded over the years, but the roofed bleachers on the west side...

Shippensburg University's Reed Operations Center was constructed as a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project in 1938. It was formerly known as the Utility Building.

The historic Research Administration Center on the University of Massachusetts campus in Amherst was constructed as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project. Construction occurred in 1938-9. PWA Docket No. MA W1418

Richards Hall is a PWA building constructed to house the University of Oklahoma's zoology and micro-biology department in 1935-37. Designed by Univ of Oklahoma architectural professor Joseph Smay, it includes numerous bas reliefs of aspects of Zoology.  It was the first building on the south oval of the campus.

Rollins College is a private liberal arts college established in the late 19th century. Construction continued in phases for many years, including a "...burst of building activity in 1936, when Public Works Administration loans permitted the construction of five new dormitories. Joint ceremonies in 1937 dedicated Fox Hall (named for Caroline A. Fox, a Rollins donor), Gale Hall (named for Sullivan French Gale, one of the first trustees), Cross Hall, Hooker Hall, and Lyman Hall."

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...

Glassboro State Normal School, founded in 1923, trained South Jersey women and men to be elementary school teachers. In 1935, when they received federal funds, there were 330 students at the school. Today, Glassboro State Normal School is Rowan University. A rapidly growing institution with a full complement of University undergraduate subjects, two medical schools, a nursing school, and a new school of veterinary medicine, Rowan has bounded beyond its origins as a Normal School. In the summer of 1935, Dr. J. J. Savitz received approval from the Works Progress Administration of Camden County 8th District for several Improvement projects for...

Shippensburg University's Rowland Hall was constructed as a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project in 1939. "Built as the campus training school," the building "was dedicated to President Albert Lindsay Rowland in 1941."

The University of Houston's old Science Building, now known as the Roy G. Cullen Building, was constructed as a New Deal project. Houston, a history and guide: "Directly opposite the reflection pool is the SCIENCE BUILDING (open day light hours, Mon.-SatJ, forming the north boundary of the central quadrangle. Of modern architecture and faced with Texas limestone, the two-story structure is designed to harmonise with the earlier building. Wings and offsets break the monotony of long walls void of other ornamentation. The main entrance faces the pool. The Science Building contains 15 laboratories large enough to accommodate a total of 300...

Ruth G. Rush Residence Hall, constructed as a women's dormitory at North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina, was built as part of a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project during the Great Depression. A National Register of Historic Places nomination form states that the building bears a plaque stating that the building was "designed by Federal Works Agency architect John M. Carmody."

Rutledge College, is building on the University of South Carolina campus in Columbia, South Carolina. The building was improved with New Deal funds. The school's building history pages state: "When South Carolina College first opened its doors January 10, 1805, the building now called Rutledge was the college. The only building on the campus at the time, it served as dormitory, lecture hall, chapel, library, faculty housing, and laboratories." "In 1934 a Civil Works Administration grant paid for repairs to LeConte, Davis, Sloan, Rutledge, and DeSaussure colleges and other buildings." Rutledge College is located along the south side of the Horseshoe.

"The Sacramento Junior Colleges Annex and Extensions were the most costly PWA project in Sacramento. Built in 1936 and 1937 they were built to meet the needs of the growing city population and student body. Together they added an auditorium, gymnasium, library, aeronautical and engineering-technology laboratories, and many classrooms. Designed by notable Sacramento architect Harry Devine Sr. the buildings show signs of many diverse styles such as Mayan and Romanesque. These buildings are stylistically a transition bridging the gap from Devines early Romanesque designs into a more moderne style of work. The library building was demolished in the late 1990s...

The WPA undertook campus improvements at San Bernardino Valley Junior College.

In the 1920s and 30s, SDSU transitioned from a a small women's teachers school to a co-ed teachers college with a progressive curriculum. The old location in University Heights could no longer support the enlarging student body. The current site in Mission Palisades was a gift from LA oil tycoon Alphonzo E. Bell through his Bell-Lloyd Investment Company. Building began in the Mission Palisades location in 1930, but due to the depression, Bell-Lloyd pulled out of the project in 1936 (The Bell-Lloyd/Mission Palisades housing tract was experiencing slow sales). WPA money was essential to continuing the development of the college....

In 1931, the San Diego Teachers College moved to a new site on Montezuma Mesa northeast of the city. The college changed its name to San Diego State College in 1935.  The Works Progress Administration (WPA) did major development work on the site to accommodate the new college and improve the site.   WPA relief workers built a sewage disposal system, drainage facilities, roadways, walls, walkways, and gutters, and completed grading, landscaping, excavation for the college.

Concrete, 150' x 64'

Academic building; 3 stories,375' x 112'. The October 3, 1938 edition of the Daily Pacific Builder reported that $1,366,032 had been allotted for the first unit of the science building.

Sanford Hall was one of multiple buildings constructed on the GCSU campus with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. It was completed in 1938.

A PWA grant and bonds made possible a group of buildings at Santa Rosa Junior College, including an administration unit, large assembly hall and library. These plans were drawn up by C.A. Calkins, and the building materials were steel, concrete, brick veneer and tile roof. The WPA constructed permanent bleachers in the football stadium (now Bailey Field). Tree-trimming and other work was done on the campus. They installed the first permanent exhibit in the Jesse Park Museum of Native American artifacts as well as Californian flora, fauna and rock specimens. This grew into a biological, cultural, and historical center. Santa Rosa...

"Construction for Kutztown State Teachers College's Schaeffer Auditorium began in 1938 by the General State Authority with funding from the Public Works Administration. Schaeffer was part of a large construction program announced by KSTC president Dr. Quincy A. W. Rohrbach who led the school from 1934-1959. The program included the construction of the portico on the north entrance to Old Main, a greenhouse for the study of plant germination and conversion of the existing chapel to a dining hall. During construction Rohrbach would have to fight to keep the government contractors from painting over Schaeffer's copper dome. Construction crews felt the...

Multiple New Deal agencies financed or conducted development or improvement work at what was then known as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy at El Paso (or "School of Mines"), now the University of Texas at El Paso. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided funding for the construction of two dorms on campus, while the Works Progress Administration constructed an addition to the chemistry building, graded "drives on campus," and built an "extension of the power plant at the College of Mines."

Originally Texas Woman University's Science Building, the structure that is now part of the Ann Stuart Science Complex was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds in 1936.

SERA began constructing the Aztec Bowl in 1933, spending $260,000 on excavating, filling, leveling, and removing rock. The WPA provided another $216,863 for the labor for filling in the canyon, seating for 10,000 people, as well as a flood lightening system, turfed playing field, a press box, and restrooms on either sides of the stadium. The stadium was dedicated on October 3, 1936, right before a football game against Occidental College (San Diego State won the game).

The WPA built three classrooms, a lecture hall, basement, and an arcade (which provided a covered walk between the administration building and the science buildings). This classroom addition forms a quadrangle, and is part of the original design for SDSU. It was lined by approximately 50 wooden benches also made by the WPA. The college had experienced a 40 percent enrollment from 1936 to 1938, and the classrooms were finished in time for the fall 1939 semester. Later, in 1942, the WPA built extensions to the library and science buildings, and a music building.

"Two Works Progress Administration (WPA)-era murals from the 1930s, long thought to have been destroyed during subsequent building renovations, were uncovered in San Diego State Universitys (SDSU) Hardy Memorial Tower in August of 2004. Local student artists Genevieve Burgeson Bredo and George Sorenson completed these murals in 1936 at the entrance and in the hallway of the old library at SDSU, known at the time as San Diego State College. Although portions of the murals were obliterated during construction from 1957-59, some of the artwork remained intact. Non-destructive tile maintenance during the summer of 2004 exposed the murals, which have...

A Gainesville FL landmark building that began construction in 1926 but was unfinished until New Deal agency (PWA and WPA) funding made completion possible. It was used by University of Florida following completion in 1937 and later was converted into residential units above office.

"The WPA also funded the laying of sewer lines in various areas" on the North Texas State College campus.

Shippensburg University's Shearer Hall was constructed as a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project in 1937. It was "named in 1941 for Simon S. Shearer, science professor and chair of the Science Department."

Then known as Shippensburg State Teachers College, Shippensburg University benefited during the Great Depression from a large construction project enabled by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA). The PWA provided a $208,000 grant for the project, whose final cost was $635,363. Construction occurred between September 1937 and October 1938. (PWA Docket No. 1803.) Five buildings were constructed on the campus: Henderson Gymnasium, Reed Operations Center, Rowland and Shearer Halls, and a power plant (since demolished).