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  • Anna Miller Museum - Newcastle WY
    "The Anna Miller Museum, a place where you can walk back in time and relive the old west. Built in the 1930's, the museum was originally a WPA project for Company A, 115th Cavalry, Wyoming National Guard. Many long, hard hours were spent constructing the building out of 18 inch hand-hewn sandstone blocks, quarried from nearby Salt Creek. The museum was named for Anna C. ( McMoran) Miller, the daughter of a pioneer family, and widow of Sheriff Billy Miller who was killed in what is known as the last Indian battle in this area. In cooperation with School District #1 and...
  • Arizona Museum of Natural History (old City Hall) - Mesa AZ
    The Arizona Museum of Natural History is housed in a building that was originally the Mesa City Hall. The structure was built in 1937 with Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds and labor, and was designed by Lescher & Mahoney. The new civic building complex  housed the new City Hall, the fire department, the police department, municipal offices, municipal courts, a jail, the city library, the Chamber of Commerce, new public restrooms, and other functions. At the time the complex was built, Mesa was a small farming community of circa 5,000 residents. The structure is designed in Mission Revival style with typical features such as...
  • Arkansas Arts Center - Little Rock AR
    "In 1937, the Museum of Fine Arts opened in MacArthur Park. Franklin Delano Roosevelt approved $25,000 from the WPA for construction of the 10,140 square foot building. FDR wrote a letter of congratulations to the citizens of Little Rock to be read at the opening." The original Museum of Fine Arts Museum entrance is now an interior wall of the expanded and since-renamed Arkansas Arts Center. "Located in historic MacArthur Park; contains an international collection of art and special exhibitions; live theatre performances for family audiences; lectures, films, poetry slams and family festivals; Museum Shop features works by notable artisans; lunch at Best Impressions...
  • Arkansas Territorial Restoration - Little Rock AR
    The federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) furnished the labor for the restoration of the last territorial capitol grounds of Arkansas, during the latter years of the Great Depression. The site now houses the Historic Arkansas Museum. The institution states on its website: " Loughborough began a one-woman campaign to save the block, lobbying the Arkansas Legislature for funding to restore the buildings and have them preserved as the Arkansas Territorial Restoration. The museum formally opened in July 1941." In 1940 the WPA wrote: "This project, located in the downtown business district, has restored the grounds and buildings of the last territorial capitol...
  • Aztec Museum - Aztec NM
    The city hall in Aztec, New Mexico was built by the WPA in 1936. The building now houses the Aztec Museum.
  • Bass Museum of Art Improvements - Miami Beach FL
    Originally the Miami Beach Public Library & Art Center, this building was designed by Russell Pancoast in 1930. FERA later completed the interiors of the rooms on the ground floor.
  • Baytown Historical Museum - Baytown TX
    Originally built as the Goose Creek post office, the historic Baytown Historical Museum building was originally constructed in 1936 as the city's post office and Federal Building. Construction was funded by the federal Treasury Department. The building houses an example of New Deal artwork.
  • Bear Mountain State Park: Historical Museum at Trailside Museums and Zoo - Bear Mountain NY
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed the Historical Museum at the Trailside Museums and Zoo, Bear Mountain State Park, Bear Mountain, NY. The Trailside Museums and Zoo, built during the years 1932-35, expanded an earlier Trailside Museum in the park that dated to the 1920s. The naturalistic style of the building, which ties the structure to the landscape around the building, recalls the "Park Service Rustic" design of Herbert Maier, who designed a building for the Trailside Museums completed in 1927. Maier went on to work in both Grand Canyon and Yellowstone national parks.
  • Boise Art Museum - Boise ID
    The Boise Gallery of Art was originally constructed in 1936 of Boise sandstone in the Art Deco style with the assistance of the WPA. Over the years several additions have been added, but the original building still remains.
  • Brackenridge Park, Reptile Farm (demolished) - San Antonio TX
    The Reptile Farm had originally opened in 1933 in close proximity to the Witte Museum. It would move twice before coming to this final location in 1937 when permanent stone structures replaced the temporary structures made of planks, barbed wire and old sheet metal. The NYA assisted museum employees in constructing the large tank and surrounding snake houses. It is on the edge of the Witte Museum property which is in the boundaries of Brackenridge Park. The Reptile Farm was a huge success from the time it opened. Attendees paid a dime to walk through the amphitheater-like enclosure to view snakes,...
  • Brooklyn Children's Museum Assistance - Brooklyn NY
    According to a Brooklyn Children's Museum history: 1930s "The Work Progress Administration (WPA) brings more than 200 docents, artists, carpenters, printers, and clerks to work at the Museum during the Depression. Over 200 volunteers support museum projects including the construction of exhibits, wooden jigsaw puzzles, and collection boxes. "
  • Brooklyn Museum Improvements - Brooklyn NY
    The WPA contributed to several improvements at the Brooklyn Museum during the 1930s. According to the Federal Writers' Project: "During the past few years a WPA project has been making the useum one of the most modern and pleasantly arranged in the country. The most striking change has been the removal of a monumental stairway which originally gave access to the third story, and the building of a new entrance hall at the ground level."
  • Bryce Canyon National Park: Rainbow Point - Bryce Canyon UT
    Rainbow Point was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) in 1939, and it has three different components.  First is the overlook area.  This has been refurbished in recent years, but the original stone and metal railings can be seen outside of the newer stone and log rails. Second is the "museum" at Rainbow Point.  The museum is not a building but an open structure with display cases featuring natural habitat, geology, etc.  The structure is relatively large (20 x 10 feet).  This is the most noted CCC project in Bryce Canyon National Park Third is the Bristlecone Trail at Rainbow Point.  This is a short, 1 mile...
  • Burnet Woods: Trailside Nature Museum - Cincinnati OH
    "Trailside Nature Museum: This fieldstone building was completed in 1939, a combined project between the PWA and the CCC and designed by Freund. It reflects the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright with its horizontal design and rustic stone work. All external corners are rounded, as is the central chimney." It is one of the approximately 67 structures (about half of the existing 135 in the Cincinnati Parks system) made by New Deal workers.
  • Burpee Museum of Natural History - Rockford IL
    Construction of Rockford's Burpee Museum of Natural History was undertaken as a federal Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) project.
  • Cabildo (Louisiana State Museum) Renovation - New Orleans LA
     The Cabildo has a long and notorious history. It was constructed in 1795-99 as the seat of the Spanish municipal government in New Orleans. The name of the governing body who met there was the "Illustrious Cabildo" or city council. It was site of the Louisiana Purchase Transfer in 1803.  The building later served as the home of the Louisiana Supreme Court and was where  the nationally significant Slaughterhouse and Plessey vs. Ferguson cases were heard before they went up to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Cabildo became the home of the Louisiana State Museum in 1911 and remains the flagship of that institution.
  • California Academy of Science - San Francisco CA
    Repaired roof and made ground repairs.--Healy, p. 70. WPA workmen also worked on the African wildlife exhibit.
  • Camp Colorado Administration Building Replica - Coleman TX
    Camp Colorado was a United States Army outpost in Coleman County, Texas. From 1857 to 1861 Camp Colorado was the center of Coleman County's settlements. The camp's buildings were made of adobe with shingled roofs and pine floors. U.S. troops abandoned the fort during the Civil War and did not re-garrison it after the war was over. The land was sold and the new owner dismantled the buildings. Citizens of the City of Coleman and Coleman County desired to participate in the Texas Centennial in 1936. The idea was proposed to erect a replica of the administration building of old Camp...
  • CCC Improvements - Big Bend National Park TX
    From Our Mark on This Land (2011): "If you have driven, hiked, or slept in the Chisos Mountains, you have experienced CCC history. In May 1933, Texas Canyons State Park was established; it was later renamed Big Bend State Park. Roads and trails were needed for the new park, and the CCC provided an ideal workforce. A year after the park was established, 200 young men, 80 percent of whom were Hispanic, arrived to work in the Chisos Mountains. The CCC's first job was to set up camp and develop a reliable water supply. The CCC boys faced many challenges, living...
  • CCC Museum - Stafford CT
    “In 1935 CCC Camp Conner was established at the present site of the Shenipsit Forest Headquarters and CCC Museum." What is now the CCC Museum was originally the camp office and officers' quarters. "The Museum is located in the only remaining CCC barracks building in the State and pays homage to the dedicated men who worked in Connecticut camps. The museum features a large collection of tools, equipment, photographs, and memorabilia from the former Camp Conner and 21 other camps in the State.”
  • Charles A. Lindbergh State Park: Lindbergh House - Little Falls MN
    According to the Minnesota Historical Society: “By the 1930s, the boyhood home of famous aviator Charles A. Lindbergh had been badly damaged by souvenir-hunters. In 1936, the WPA began restoration of the house, which, along with the adjoining farmland, had been given to the state of Minnesota by the Lindberghs. Today, the homesite is a National Historic Landmark managed by the Minnesota Historical Society.” The WPA also put in two miles of footpaths, planted 4,000 trees and bushes, and built parking lots and other amenities on the Lindbergh property, creating what is now a state park.
  • Childress County Heritage Museum - Childress TX
    The historic Childress County Heritage Museum was originally constructed as the Childress post office in 1935.
  • City Hall (former) - Euclid OH
    Euclid, Ohio's historic former city hall building was constructed with the assistance of the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the 1930s. The building now houses the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum ('Polka Hall of Fame'). "Construction of the new city hall started in 1937 as a project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a program created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to put Americans back to work. The new city hall was completed a year later and dedicated on June 8, 1938 by Mayor Sims. Stone used in its construction was taken from a quarry located in...
  • City Hall (former) - Hamilton OH
    The Hamilton Municipal Building (city hall), now the Heritage Hall Museum, was constructed as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project. "This project included, in addition to the construction of the municipal building, the purchase of a site which was selected in the business district of the city, facing the Miami River. The building provides space for the city council, all of the offices for the departments of the city government, municipal courts, a jail, the police department with a rifle range for their use, and a unit of the fire department. The structure is fireproof throughout and its exterior walls are faced with...
  • Civic Center - Potsdam NY
    The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Temporary Emergency Relief Administration (TERA) constructed the historic Potsdam civic center. NRHP nomination form: "The Potsdam Civic Center shares salient associations with Depression-era New Deal programs and politics, particularly as manifested in the process that led to its construction. It is representative of local community planning efforts by those who endeavored to build it, and remains an important social history document given its use for a wide range of social gatherings since its completion in the mid-1930s. The building is additionally significant as an example of Neoclassical-style civic design, and one which incorporated an existing...
  • Civil War Museum - Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park WV
    The Civilian Conservation Corps completed groundwork and remade the battlefield area into an outdoors recreation area. The museum is located in a former cabin and not built as a museum. In the 1970s it was broken into and many of the original items stolen—including some artifacts that were present at the battle. Photographed is the exterior of the house and a modern interior shot featuring now retired Park Superintendent Mike Smith. "At Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park, the Civil War museum is housed in a former rental cabin built ca. 1935 by the CCC."
  • Colorado State Museum Exhibit - Denver CO
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built an exhibit for the Colorado State Museum in Denver. WPA workers built a model of the Union Pacific Stage in the Transportation series.
  • Coos Art Museum (former Marshfield Post Office) - Coos Bay OR
    The Coos Art Museum in Coos Bay was originally constructed in 1936 as the post office for what was then Marshfield, Oregon. Marshfield changed name to Coos Bay on Feb. 15, 1945. The Coos Art Museum (CAM) acquired the building in the 1970s and after fund-raising and renovation work moved the CAM collections. Public Works Administration (PWA) Federal Project No. 324.
  • Coral Gables Museum - Coral Gables FL
    Originally the local police and fire station. "The Coral Gables Public Safety Building, more commonly referred to as the Old Police and Fire Station, was built in 1939 on the corner of Argon Avenue and Salzedo Street. Phineas Paist, the city's principal architect, included a courtroom and a jail in his design of the building. The structure is constructed of oolitic limestone, a type of rock native to this area. The Salzedo Street side of the building is decorated with impressive carvings of firefighters, as well as images of the people and pets that they are sworn to save from fires...
  • Cyclorama Building - Buffalo NY
    The Cyclorama Building was built in 1888 and showcased a variety of cycloramic exhibits, including "The Crucifixion of Christ" and "The Battle of Gettysburg." The city of Buffalo acquired the building in 1910, using it as a livery and taxi garage and as a roller skating rink. The building fell into disrepair until it was renovated and repaired by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1937. The WPA added new windows, a new floor, and a new roof and built an additional room, all for the cost of $36,000. In 1942, the Grosvenor Library purchased the building, converting it into...
  • Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum - Heber City UT
    The former Heber City library was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project during the latter years of the Great Depression. Construction occurred between August 1938 and May 1939. The PWA supplied a grant of $13,275 toward the project, whose total cost was $27,529.  It was PWA Project No. UT W1142. The building served as the community's library until construction of the new Wasatch County Library during the 2000s. The New Deal facility now houses the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum. National Register of Historic Places nomination for for Midvale Library notes that the architects Ashton & Evans designed Heber...
  • De Young Museum (demolished) - San Francisco CA
    Rehabilitated and completed most of museum building, ventilation and heating.--Healy, p. 71. Unfortunately, this building was severely damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. It was eventually demolished and replaced with the new structure which opened in 2005.
  • Devils Tower National Monument - Devils Tower WY
    Devils Tower is a dramatic igneous rock formation rising 1,267 feet above the surrounding area. It and the surrounding area were declared a national monument in 1906. "From 1935-1938 a CCC camp was located there. Practically all the improvements on the area at the present time are the results of their efforts. New roads were built, modern water and electrical systems installed, footpaths were laid out, picnic areas were established with tables and comfortable benches, and trailer and overnight camping areas were provided the visitors. Residences for employees, workshops and machine shops were erected. In 1938 a museum of sturdy log...
  • Dog-trot Cabin Replica, Witte Museum - San Antonio TX
    This replica of a dog-trot style cabin (two rooms with a breezeway between them, sharing a common roof) on the grounds of the Witte Museum was constructed in 1939 through the efforts of the National Youth Administration. Thirty youth were involved in the project. The dog-trot cabin was very common in Texas and throughout the Southeastern U.S.. The cabin is situated perpendicular to the San Antonio River and features changing exhibits representative of the Texas Frontier in the two rooms.
  • Exposition Park Sculpture - Los Angeles CA
    This cast stone sculpture by Donal Hord was funded by the PWAP in 1934. The sculpture depicts a man crouching behind a wheel filled with gears and is variously known as "Man and the Wheel" or "Wheel of Industry" or "Man and the Machine." The sculpture's dimensions are 6'8" height x 5'6" width x 4' deep, and the base is 4'h x 5'w x 4'd. The piece seems to have originally been made for the museum in Exposition Park. It is currently in storage: "The sculpture was constructed as part of the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). It may have been...
  • Fairport Historical Museum - Fairport NY
    Originally constructed as Fairport's library, what is now Fairport Historical Museum was constructed with Works Progress Administration labor during the Great Depression. The building also houses an example of New Deal artwork.
  • Forkland School (former) Addition and Gymnasium - Gravel Switch KY
    An addition with full gymnasium at the community school in Forkland, Boyle County, KY. Stone came from a newly-opened quarry in Mitchellsburg, a few miles away. Final cost, $44,000. When the school was closed about 1971, residents in the Forkland area purchased it, and made a community center there. It is now the home of the Forkland Lincoln Museum, and hosts several events every year.
  • Fort Abercrombie Restoration - Wahpeton ND
    "Fort Abercrombie, in North Dakota , was an American fort established by authority of an act of Congress, March 3, 1857. The act allocated twenty-five square miles of land on the Red River in Dakota Territory to be used for a military outpost, but the exact location was left to the discretion of Lieutenant Colonel John J. Abercrombie. The fort was constructed in the year 1858... The original buildings were either destroyed or sold at public auction when the fort was abandoned, but a Works Progress Administration project in 1939-1940 reconstructed three blockhouses and the stockade (fence) and returned the original...
  • Fort D Civil War Reconstruction - Cape Girardeau MO
    The earthen works from the original Civil War fort and a replica powder house were restored by the Works Progress Administration in 1936 and 1937. During the Civil War, it was one of the forts that guarded the City of Cape Girardeau and was constructed by John Wesley Powell (the commander of the first successful trip down the Grand Canyon). It has seen many uses since then including a meeting house for the American Legion, the Girl Scouts, civil defense headquarters, private residence, senior citizens center, and the Junior Optimist Club.
  • Fort Vasquez Restoration - Platteville CO
    "Louis Vasquez and Andrew Sublette built an adobe fort on this site about 1835 as part of their fur trading enterprise. The two sold the fort in 1841 and it was abandoned a year later. In the late 1930s, the Works Progress Administration reconstructed the adobe fort using the small portions of the remaining walls and the limited information available regarding the size and plan of the original. The Colorado Historical Society operates the property as a museum."   (www.historycolorado.org)
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