Libraries Sites

A 1939 municipal report detailed extensive New Deal work in the area, including: "During the summer of 1939 the exterior of the public library was cleaned and painted at no labor cost to the city, the work being done by the NYA and relief workers. While this work was in progress the old entrance door was replaced with a new door of the same design, but equipped with hardware of a design more in keeping with the building. Bulkheads were repaired, a new step was installed at the rear entrance and the roof was repaired at this time also. Settees were...

Improvements, including building washing and painting, were made to the Millbury, Massachusetts library in 1933 with Federal Emergency Relief Act funds. 282 Millbury locals were given employment in 1933 as a result of the federal E.R.A. The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) assisted the library (as well as community schools) with a book binding project in 1937.

F.E.R.A. improved the grounds at the library in Wayland, Mass. in 1934.

The John Adams Building is one of three buildings of the Library of Congress. Congress passed a bill to fund an annex to the library in 1930, but construction did not take place until the mid-1930s, making it a New Deal project.  The building opened in January 1939.  It was known as 'the Annex' until the 1970s. The original appropriation for the building was $6.5 million, which proved insufficient and an additional $2.8 million was added by the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1935.  The total cost, including land and equipment, was $9.3 million. The Adams Building was meant to supplement the Library's Main...

Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers conducted building repairs at the main public library in Bayonne, New Jersey. Furthermore, WPA workers were employed to re-bind thousands of damaged books at the library. An additional WPA project involved "organizing and operating branch library services."

Constructed by the WPA in 1937-1939. "In 1939 the City Council voted to name the building the Lily Lawrence Bow Library after Homestead’s first librarian, an accomplished musician, artist, published poet, and a member of the local police force."   (wikipedia)

The old Lincoln County School Library, located on Central Avenue in Carrizozo, New Mexico, was constructed as a federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) project during the Great Depression. The building was dedicated in 1937.

The Lincoln Park Public Library was originally funded by the Carnegie Foundation and built in 1907. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) rehabilitated the library after it was damaged by the March 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  It appears that the reconstruction was thorough (but confirmation is needed). The library was destroyed by a fire in 1972. Suzanne Miller's series of WPA Federal Art Project (FAP) murals were relocated to the new Billie Jean King Main Library.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers constructed an extension to the multi-purpose former community building and Linden Fire Station in Malden, Mass. WPA Bulletin: A ward meeting place has been built, recreational quarters added and library floor space doubled by a recent WPA addition to the Linden Fire Station, and branch public library, Maiden. The addition is provided with modern heating, plumbing and electricity. The expansion housed a small branch library, in addition to the fire station. The building has not been an active fire station or library for years, however, it remains the property of the City of Malden which utilizes it for...

The Works Progress Administration and the Llano Women's Culture Club teamed together to build a library on the southwest corner of the courthouse square in Llano, Texas in 1939. The WPA provided 70% of the resources for the one-story native flagstone veneered building, and the literary club provided the other 30%. The building is currently used as the Llano County Clerk's office.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) renovated what is now known as Longfellow House during the 1930s. The WPA converted the building into the Longfellow Community Library; the project was completed in 1937.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the historic and photogenic public library building in Lordsburg, New Mexico. NRHP: "The Lordsburg-Hidalgo County Library is a single-story adobe building constructed in 1936-1937 as part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) cost-sharing program with the Town of Lordsburg and Hidalgo County. The library is situated west of the corner of Third Street and Second Avenue within the town limits of Lordsburg, New Mexico. The library is approximately rectangular in plan, measuring at a maximum 61.0 by 54.3 feet or 3,057 square feet. There have been a minimal number of alterations to the building. With...

"In 1940, the City of Chowchilla gave three lots (4,5, and 6 of Block 88) to Madera County for the purpose of building a library. Madera County contributed $5400 toward a total building cost of $15,800.1 The library, built by the WPA, was made of adobe brick, and had a basement. It is reputed to be the last structure built by the agency in Madera County. The library opened to the public on 1 August 1941. It closed on 1 February 2003, and was replaced by a new library on Kings Avenue." The building is still extant, but it's current use...

The magnificent main library building in Toledo, Ohio was constructed with the aid of multiple New Deal agencies: the Public Works Administration (PWA), which supplied a large grant to the city for construction, and the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which supplied labor. The building, which bears a 1939 cornerstone, was dedicated on September 4, 1940. "With a cost of nearly 2 million dollars, the Main Branch Library brought work to many Toledo workers and continues to be one of the best public libraries in the nation." One remarkable aspect of the building is the breathtaking frieze that wraps around above its main lobby. According to ToledoLibrary.org: "Displaying...

A WPA press release from Dec. 1937 stated: "To provide employment for needy persons on relief rolls an allotment of $6,900 has been made ... for labor in cleaning and renovating public buildings in Tacoma, such as the city hall, library, and others... The work includes cleaning walls, woodwork, furniture and washing and repairing furnishings and drapes. This project employs mostly women and the funds will curry it until about June 1, 1938. Tacoma as sponsor is supplying materials needed with $740."

"The main public library is a joint undertaking of the city of Massillon and its school system. The project included the construction of the main library, the remodeling of the adjacent museum, and the erection of a branch library in another part of the city. The main library was constructed as an addition to the city museum. It is irregular in plan and 120 by 87 feet in its over-all dimensions. On the first floor are the main reading room, reference room, librarian's room, and the stack room. The basement, due to sloping ground, is well lighted and...

"South Manchester Free Public Library moves into a new building and is renamed Mary Cheney Library, located 'in Center Park' on Main Street. Money for the building is made possible from Cheney Brothers fund and Federal Public Works Administration funds." The Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) supplied a $35,969 grant for the library's construction, whose total cost was $79,997. Construction occurred between Nov. 1936 and Oct. 1937. PWA Docket No. CT W1260

In 1935, the Works Progress Administration completed upgrades/repairs for the Matawan Aberdeen Public Library on Main Street, Matawan, NJ. "As the year draws to a close, a WPA-funded upgrading project begins. The project includes book repair, creation of local history scrapbooks, mounting of photos (for instructional purposes), indexing/cataloging and shelf-listing."

In Feb. 1936 the Tribune reported Oak Park would be building a new branch of their public library thanks to a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA). Library directors proposed the idea for the expansion. They wanted the South Branch of the library, which opened in 1915, to be moved to a new location at the corner of Gunderson Avenue and Harrison Street. A new site was purchased and a budget of $65,000 was proposed, $22,677 of which would be covered by the PWA. Construction got underway and by the fall of 1936 the South Branch of the Oak...

"McKissick Museum is located at the heart of the historic Horseshoe on the Columbia campus of the University of South Carolina. It was established in 1976 by the University Board of Trustees to bring together under one roof the many object collections housed in various departments and colleges across campus... The McKissick building is a Works Progress Administration structure erected in 1939 as the University's library. It stands on the site of the first President's house built on the Horseshoe, which was removed to make room for the library in 1937. A plaque commemorating the house lies in front of McKissick...

Mead Library in the Lovejoy neighborhood of Buffalo, New York was constructed in the 1930s by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA). "After the Erie County Library Board selected the Mead Library as one of several Buffalo branch libraries to be defunded and closed, the Lovejoy neighborhood and Councilmember Richard Fontana took steps to keep Mead open as a community resource. Today Mead continues to loan books, host weekly meetings of such groups as the Homemaker’s Society and offer free internet access, entirely through the work of volunteers. This industrious and collective spirit is very much in keeping with Mead Library’s roots:...

"This building constitutes a cultural and recreational community center. It was constructed with a donation of site and of $40,000 by a citizen of Ashton and with the aid of the P.W.A. It provides a public library, a stack room, a combination auditorium and gymnasium with a stage and men's and women's locker rooms, a kitchen, and a room for the American Legion. It is a fireproof structure and the exterior walls are a light-colored brick trimmed with stone. The auditorium-gymnasium is used by the high school as well as by the public. It was completed in June 1936 at a...

The Milwaukee Public Library opened in 1898 in a building combining French and Italian Renaissance styles at a cost of $780,000 (mpl.org). In 1936, Works Progress Administration (WPA) laborers assisted, according to museum director Samuel Barrett, in “completely overhauling the building, redecorating it from cellar to garret, installing a new lighting system, repairing the mosaic floors, repainting and relining exhibition cases, reinstalling a large number of exhibits, restoring photographic negatives and prints and other study and research collections, and in myriad ways improving the conditions of the institution and increasing it usefulness to the 2,500,000 people it serves annually.” ("Milwaukee Journal.")...

The Mitchell Student Center at the Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minnesota was built between 1936 and 1937 by the Public Works Administration (PWA). Designed by Harold Crawford, Rochester’s preeminent architect at the time, the building originally housed the Rochester Public Library and could hold 75,000 books. The Jacobean-style structure was built of limestone quarried in the town of Kasota, in South Central Minnesota. The PWA grant funded 45% of the total building costs, and the remainder was covered by the Library Board. After the library moved in the early 1970s, the Mayo Clinic purchased the 1937 building. It was listed...

"The Molokai Public Library (1937), designed by Harry K. Stewart, was one of a number of public buildings in Hawai'I to be built thanks to the PWA. Another PWA project, the Honoka'a Library on the island of Hawai'i used the same plan." PWA Docket No. T. H. 1038-A

"The former Clayton Library, now known as the D.D. Monroe Civic Building, was built in 1939. The building was constructed as a Works Progress Administration project. The building was designed by Willard C. Kruger in a Pueblo style. The building served as the public library until the 1980s when the library moved to a new building and the building then became a meeting facility." -Waymarking

This building was constructed by the WPA in 1936 as the Matecumbe School and Storm Shelter: "After the 1935 hurricane, to build a new school Hugh Matheson exchanged land he owned on the highway for the beach site of the destroyed school. W.P.A constructed the new school and was to be a combination hurricane shelter and school. A second almost identical structure was also constructed in Tavernier. The Matecumbe school is now the Islamorada Library and in Tavernier it is the health department."   (www.keyshistory.org)

This deep red brick building was previously the post office for Columbia. With the construction of the new post office nearby, this building was remodeled by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and housed the public library until the library moved to West Broadway and Garth Ave. The present iteration of this building is the home for the parks and recreation administration.

Between 1935 and 1938, the Works Progress Administration funded a number of municipal improvements in the town of Danville, including upgrades for the local library, town hall, and cemetery; work on roads and forest sites; and support for a local sewing project. "1935 E.R.A. and W.P.A. Cemetery Projects 8 employed $382.08 Sewing project (W.P.A.) $46.89 1936 OUTLAY FOR NEW CONSTRUCTION AND PERM. IMPROVE. W.P.A. Cemetery ----- $1,334.96 W.P.A. Sewing -------- $106.62 Town of Sandown, for W. P. A., Sewing Project $10.00 1937 Town Warrant 11. To see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $500. to purchase material for repairs on the town hall, to be used in...

Annual reports show that the town of Hudson was helped extensively by New Deal programs. In addition to work by the RFC and FERA (which included distributing food and medicine to school children), the CWA repaired and improved schools and libraries. From 1935 on, the WPA did extensive work on the town's infrastructure, including digging fire holes, improving town roads, and moth extermination. The WPA and PWA also improved local school grounds. The NYA also employed local school children for "various tasks around the school."

The Peterborough town reports of 1937 and 1940 report WPA involvement in various projects: Water Main on Pine St. Sidewalk project #1314 24 men employed Library wall project #966 18 men employed Powers Bridge project #1194 31 men employed "In addition to Direct Relief and Old Age Assistance we have forty-two men on W. P. A. with a payroll of $2,000 a month. The total payments made by W. P. A. during the past year for the town of Peterborough were $19,122.50. This has been of great help in reducing the direct relief load. We also receive a considerable amount of food and clothing from...

"According to the Annual Town Reports of 1934-35 and 1936-37, the CWA, FERA and WPA were involved in numerous projects throughout the city. The dollar amounts are the share of the project that the city contributed and don't list the amount provided by Federal Relief agencies. "The town library which was a gift from the Carnegie foundation in 1903, owing to the thorough renovation which the building received in 1934 through a CWA project, no repairs have been necessary this year (1935), beyond the general upkeep. The school district received the benefit of Federal Labor and with a small expenditure of funds...

The National Archives building was substantially completed under the New Deal and the central stacks were added with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA). In 1926, Congress approved $8.7 million for a home for the National Archives. The Public Buildings Commission and Commission on Fine Arts had to approve the site and design, which led to much jostling over where it would fit within the larger plans for a "Federal Triangle" in the center of the city.  As a result, the site was moved twice before the architect, John Russell Pope, was officially appointed by Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon and...

The rustic log cabin was the first library built in Philadelphia, Mississippi, although the library had been established several years earlier in space in two other buildings. It was a community effort spearheaded by the Twentieth Century Club. The WPA also provided the first paid librarians. The building, relocated to a park when a new and modern library was constructed, was almost totally destroyed by a tornado in 2011. Only the flooring, chimney, and fireplace remained. It was reconstructed in 2013 in a joint effort of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and City of Philadelphia.

The Works Progress Administration built the Ness City Public Library in Ness City KS. This building originally housed the Ness City Fire Department, the Ness City city office, and the Ness City Public Library. It now is the location of the Ness City Public Library only. The city office and the fire department have moved to other locations. 

Newton, Massachusetts's Senior Center was originally constructed as the Newtonville branch library. The building was constructed with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA contributed $50,040 of the project's total $102,011 cost. The Town of Newton's official site writes: "In December of 1939, on a cold winter night, an excited group of some 400 residents of Newton gathered in the newly constructed building at the corner of Walnut Street and Highland Avenue to witness the dedication of a new branch library in Newtonville. The new library was located where the Newton Club, a social organization, had been. ... After...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted improvement and repair work at the Niobrara County Library in Lusk, Wyoming. Cassity: "In Lusk, the courthouse and library were both about a decade old, but had, during the hard times of the 1920s, fallen into disrepair, and the CWA brought to both much-needed renewal."

The historic Noah Webster Memorial Library in West Hartford, Connecticut was constructed during the Great Depression with federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The building, which has since been expanded, is still in service. "This building is next to a town hall and replaces a small and inadequate building. The new building is on a lot 200 by 340 feet, and has a ground-floor area of 6,000 square feet. It has a volume of 201,000 cubic feet. It contains rooms for the D. A. R., a reference room, children's reading room, workroom, two administrative rooms, six stack rooms, kitchenette, and a...

From the City Landmark sign pictured below: "Well sited in a triangular park, the building offers a harmonious gateway to the surrounding Northbrae neighborhood. It was designed in the Spanish Revival style with a low-pitched red tile roof, central tower, and deeply inset arched windows. The project was funded by the Federal Works Progress Administration and the city. When it opened, civic leaders proclaimed this 'one of the most beautiful public buildings in the City of Berkeley.'"

Reading, Pennsylvania's historic Northwest Branch Library was constructed during the Great Depression with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. PWA Docket No. X2138