Museums Sites

Nashville's former main post office was built in 1933-34 by the Treasury Department's Office of Construction (later the Office of Procurement).  The enormous structure, filling a city block, was constructed in a record 18 months. The design by architects Marr and Holman is a distinctive "stripped" classicism exterior design (often simply called Classical Moderne). The exterior is white Georgia marble with gray-pink Minnesota granite. The interior is done in the Art Deco Style with cast aluminum doors and grillwork, colored marble and stone on floors and walls. Interior marble included Fantasia Rose and Monte Neva from East Tennessee, Westfield marble from...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a small museum for the town of Fruita, Colorado, in 1938-39. It is constructed in rustic style using large stones and timber gathered from the surrounding area. The building housed the Fruita Times in 1945 to 1948, then served as the Fruita Library from 1948 to 1996.  It is now home to the town's Chamber of Commerce. The Fruita Museum building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

In 1941, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a Public Library for the City of Fullerton, California. This replaced the existing Carnegie Library which was demolished to make way for the new building. The Public Library was built on the Carnegie Library site and on an additional plot of land just north of the original library. The library was designed by prominent architect, Harry Vaughn. It structure contains two wings and two courtyards. He designed the building with a mix of style influences including: Moorish, Aztec, and Spanish Revival. Vaughn designed another WPA project in the area - the original Fullerton...

While constructing central Washington's Vantage Highway in 1927, road workers uncovered the fossil remains of a diverse petrified forest. Over several years, local geologist George Beck advocated for the need to create a state park for preservation purposes. That goal was achieved in 1935 and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees began work to realize Beck's vision. From 1935 through 1938, the CCC developed the park. This work included unearthing and protecting the petrified logs in the park area as well as building structures for the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park. The National Park Service designed the structures and guided the CCC...

This small building on the grounds of the Texas Memorial Museum at the University of Texas was built by the WPA to house specimens from the Glen Rose Dinosaur Trackway. The tracks were removed and the building closed in 2004, after experts discovered that roof leakage, improper ventilation, and mold growth were damaging the tracks.  

This building was originally built as a mining exhibit hall for the 20th Agricultural District Fairgrounds. It became the first Placer County Museum in 1948. The WPA built much of the rest of the Gold Country Fairgrounds as well.

The Grand Rapids Public Museum was built by the Works Progress Administration and opened in 1940. The corner stone bears the date of 1938. The Art Deco Structure at 54 Jefferson was designed by Grand Rapids architect Roger Allen. The structure now houses the Museum as integral part of the Community Archives and Research Center. "The exterior is faced on the south and west sides with broad and smooth surfaced limestone above a base of polished black granite. The main entrance has paired projecting bays on either side of the symmetrically balanced façade. There are two glass display units framed by the polished black...

The building was originally constructed in 1832 and many of the rooms portray it as it looked in 1837, the year of Grover Cleveland's birth. In 1936, laborers for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) restored the building to its original appearance.

Guernsey State Park is built around the Guernsey Dam and Reservoir, constructed in the 1920s as a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation project along the North Platte River in  southeastern Wyoming. In the 1930s, the Bureau worked with the National Park Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to develop the area around the reservoir as a recreational park. The land is owned by the Bureau and managed by the state of Wyoming. The CCC developed the park's recreational facilities from 1934 to 1937, working out of two camps: Camp BR-9, on a bluff north of Guernsey Dam, and Camp BR-10, about a...

"The new Hall of History Building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has been completed. It is a three-story brick structure which cost $32,000." The building was constructed with the assistance of either the federal Works Progress Admininstration (WPA) or the Public Works Administration (PWA); sources vary on the attribution. The building was an "annex" to the Moravian Boys School in Salem. It was demolished in 1985. See https://www.cityofws.org/DocumentCenter/View/3835/049---Boys-School-PDF?bidId= The only notable change to the building was an annex built by the Works Progress Administration in 1937-1938. This annex was demolished in 1985 during a restoration by Old Salem, Inc.

Once the home of Bishop William Hanby, a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and his son, Benjamin Hanby, a popular composer, in 1937 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) moved the Hanby House to its current location, to save it from demolition. Between 1941 and 1942, WPA laborers also performed structural renovation and historic restoration work at this site, now a museum.

"Much of the park's development came to a halt in October 1929 when the Great Depression gripped the country. Work did not resume until the spring of 1933 when the young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps arrived at Hartwick Pines. The CCC Boys did a lot of work in the park: They finished the interior work of the Memorial Building, built the two buildings of the Logging Museum, expanded the campground, planted several thousand trees, eradicated the white pine blister rust within the park, built roads, and added a number of visitor amenities such as a campground, picnic area...

"The state bought the park lands in 1935, and the Civilian Conservation Corps made improvements including a picnic shelter, snack and souvenir shop, museum, and restrooms. The museum, which holds pioneer artifacts, features a glassed observation room offering a view of the gorge...The stone restroom, built by the CCC and shaped like a round tower, is unique."   (https://www.wvencyclopedia.org) The park's main overlook complex was also built by the CCC.

"In July of 1936, West Virginia's Civilian Conservation Corps obtained approval from the National Park Service to begin work on the log and stone building which would house the Hawks Nest Museum at one of the state's newest parks.  While work progressed on the structure, the state was working out details of how best to preserve and exhibit a large collection of artifacts it had purchased from Judge Harland Calhoun of Moorefield... Portions of the collection wound up at several state parks, including Cacapon and Lost River.  Much of the collection, though, came to the new Hawks Nest Museum and into...

Hawthorn Glen is a park and nature and education center administered by the Milwaukee Public Schools recreation division. The twenty-three acre site includes a long curving bluff, ravines, and a deciduous forest, as well as a soccer field, several nature trails with interpretive signs, and a small “nature museum” with limited hours. Potawatomi and the Menomonee Indians lived on the site before European settlement, and part of the park was a gravel pit at the turn of the twentieth century. The WPA constructed the building that now houses the nature museum, as well as a small stone amphitheater and a picnic...

The Federal Writers' Project wrote: "Whitfield House, on Whitfield St., is one of the earliest stone houses in America and probably the oldest house in Connecticut. ... In 1936, under a Works Progress Administration project, which was directed by J. Frederick Kelly, an authority on early Connecticut architecture, the house was restored as nearly as possible to its original appearance, even to the odd window which old prints show across the southwest corner. Now maintained by the State as a museum, the building houses a varied collection of antiques and curios."

Traversehistory.org: "In 1934, Traverse City Park’s commissioner, Con Foster, had an idea. He envisioned a park along the lakeshore at the south tip of the West Grand Traverse Bay. The park would have a zoo, a beach house and a historical museum about the region. Over the next several years, Con Foster traveled over 15,000 miles throughout the Midwest buying Native American and pioneer artifacts to display in the Museum. In 1935, the Works Progress Administration built a building to house this collection and it was later named the Con Foster Museum. For the past 70 years this collection has grown to...

Thanks to the assistance of the Lakeport History Museum, a former WPA built history museum was located. The WPA constructed the museum in 1936. The history museum was moved into a historic courthouse that had operated from 1871 to 1968 and after a vote, was refurbished and became the town museum in 1976. The former museum is now utilized as a law library. WPA Project No. 65-3-3325, App. Date 12-9-35, $3,299, "Construct building for historical museum."

What was the Hurricane Library/City Hall "was constructed in 1938-1940 as a Work Progress Administration (WPA) project. The WPA was one of several New Deal programs designed to stimulate economic recovery during the Great Depression while providing needed public services and facilities. Over 230 Public Works buildings were constructed in Utah approximately one half of them retain their architectural integrity. This building housed the city offices, library, police and Hurricane Canal Co. until the mid 1980s. The city then made it available to the Hurricane Valley Heritage Park Foundation to develop a museum. The structure is built chiefly of hand-hewn...

This historic Iowa Tribe Community Building was constructed in 1940 as a New Deal project. It is "one of the only extant resources built by the Civilian Conservation Corps – Indian Division in Kansas." NRHP nomination form: "The Iowa Tribe Community Building ... is located in northeast Brown County on the reservation of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. ... The one-and-a-half-story limestone building exhibits elements of the Rustic and Colonial Revival architectural styles, which were popular during the New Deal era. It was constructed as part of a project of the Civilian Conservation Corps - Indian Division (CCC-ID), a...

The plaque on the front of the John Twohig house gives a brief glimpse into the interesting history of this house which was moved by the WPA to its current location on the grounds of the Witte Museum: “In 1841, John Twohig – a San Antonio pioneer, Texas patriot, and prosperous merchant – erected this house on a site which was part of the Veramendi Palace within a curving bend on the San Antonio River at St. Mary’s and Commerce streets. Mr. Twohig’s house was unique in the community since few buildings in this area at that time could boast a...

The historic public library, now Kanab Heritage Museum, in Kanab, Utah was constructed by the federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) between 1939 and 1940. "The library is one of 226 buildings constructed in Utah under the WPA and is important in documenting the impact of New Deal programs in the state. ... Although the Kanab Library was founded in 1915, it was not at first housed in a permanent structure but was rather moved around to various temporary accommodations. In 1938, an $8,000 bond election was approved to build a permanent library, and plans drawn by the architect Carson F. Wells were...

The Lake County Museum was completed by the WPA in 1936. It now serves as the Lake County Law Library.

This building was constructed as the town post office by the Treasury Department in 1939. Purchased and used as the City Hall from the 1960's to 2006, the building is still owned by the City of Lee's Summit but is on a short-term lease to ReDiscover, a mental health organization, for offices. With the passage of a recent bond issue, the City will be turning the structure over to the Lee's Summit Historical Society for use as a museum. -Denise Chisum, City Clerk for the City of Lee's Summit

The library in Sabetha, Kansas was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project. The PWA supplied a $21,375 grant for the project, whose total cost was $43,665. Construction occurred between Dec. 1936 and Jun. 1937. The building bears no cornerstone and no dedication plaque was on-site as of 2023. However, the building does bear multiple original fixtures. Per The Belleville Telescop, the library was also home to one of a number of Works Progress Administration (WPA)-established local county museums. The entire top floor of the new library in Sabetha was utilized for one of these WPA museums. PWA Docket No. 1186

"The old Lincoln County Court House where Billy the Kid made his famous escape was restored with help from WPA funds." -Phyllis Banks

Originally built as the Lincoln Park Post Office and constructed by the Treasury Department in 1938, the building now houses the Lincoln Park Historical Museum.

WPA workers developed the Lincoln Pioneer Village and Museum from 1935 to 1936. Work also included landscaping and the building of cabins and a lake. From the State of Indiana's website on the attraction: "The Lincoln Pioneer Village & Museum houses hundreds of fascinating artifacts from the area’s historic past including a hutch made by Abraham Lincoln’s father, Thomas Lincoln. The Pioneer Village features 14 Lincoln-era replica cabins from Spencer County. This site was originally a WPA project." From the Evansville Sunday Courier and Journal, July 5, 1936: ROCKPORT, July 4—With both the democratic and republican nominees for governor on the program,...

The 1914 historic school building in Red River, New Mexico—now a museum—was the recipient of a distinctive New Deal project: "in 1939, amazingly, WPA funds paid workers to raise the building made with pressed metal siding that gives it a rusticated stone pattern in order to construct concrete living quarters for the teacher as well as a furnace and storage area."

"Built in 1941, this Public Works Administration "Streamlined Moderne" building was the base for an auto ferry which crossed the channel at regular intervals from San Pedro to a sister building on Terminal Island. It served navy personnel, fishing industry employees, and people who wished to avoid the long circuitous route through Wilmington and Industrial Long Beach. With the completion of the Vincent Thomas Bridge in 1963, ferry operations ceased, and the building became an overflow office for the Harbor Department. Saved from deterioration by historically-minded citizens, the building has been beautifully restored, and now houses the largest maritime...

This impressive art deco museum was built by the PWA: "Completed in 1939 as one of the New Deal’s Public Works projects, the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum is an architectural jewel, in the ultra modern style of the times. Layered inside and out with costly marble, granite and polished aluminum, the circular building surrounds a landscaped courtyard and features hand-cut limestone. Without a doubt, this is one of the most impressive buildings in the state. The original artworks include a monumental fresco on the front portico executed by famed muralist Conrad Albrizio that introduces the public to the beautifully rendered scale dioramas...

Constructed in 1840, the Tower Building, "the only surviving remnant of the Little Rock Arsenal," was traded by the federal government to the City of Little Rock for 1,000 acres and the "condition that the grounds be 'forever exclusively devoted to the uses and purposes of a public park.'" The building remained vacant until the late 1930s when workers, sponsored by a grant from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) renovated the structure, leading to its opening in 1942 as the Museum of Natural History and Antiquities. (www.littlerock.org.) Workers. Workers installed new plumbing, lighting, and other improvements. (National Archives.)

"In 1937, this art deco terminal was a bold architectural statement for rural New Hampshire. Built as one of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects that sprinkled New Hampshire with unique, useful structures and employed hundreds of Granite State residents, the 1937 airport terminal continued in service until the expansion of Manchester Airport in 1995 slated it for demolition... In 2004, the New Hampshire Aviation Historical Society, Manchester Airport, the City of Manchester and Town of Londonderry, came together to preserve The 1937 Terminal. These groups raised 1.1 million dollars to convert the facility into a museum and educational center and...

"Today, as the nation works its way out of a mighty recession, it seems natural to look back at the Depression-era origins of the old stone building in which the Mansfield Historical Society is housed. Construction began in late 1934 for the Mansfield Town Office Building.  The project was one of many sponsored by the Work Projects Administration (WPA) during the period.  A one-story colonial edifice with stone exterior and a fireproof vault within, the building was designed to provide a central place for carrying on town business and for safely housing important town records.  Meanwhile, however, the construction project gave much-needed work...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Marine Corps League building in Scranton in 1936. WPA crews also completed several small projects on the grounds of the property. The work included an arched, stone gateway leading to the main building, stone fences, retaining walls, and a creek bed. The stone imprint stamps bear the date of 1936. Today the building serves as the Marine Corps Historical Museum and Detachment Headquarters.

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum was constructed as a Naval Reserve Armory by the Works Project Administration (WPA) in 1940-42. In 1939, the City of Santa Barbara deeded the land to the Navy, because city leaders thought that a Naval Reserve Armory would be beneficial to the city. The Armory was almost complete when WW II broke out and construction was stopped. The building was boarded up. Then, in 1942, the City of Santa Barbara leased part of the harbor to the Navy for a wharf and the following year Naval Reservists were ordered to finish the building, which was designated a Small...

The Mark Twain Museum and rock wall to the north of the original Mark Twain Home were constructed in 1937 to serve as a museum and to serve as protection from fire for the home.  The rock has the same appearance as that used for the Admiral Coontz Armory and Clemens Field.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Recreation Center was used as a library and mess hall. It was abandoned after the CCC camp relocated. Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers remodeled the building and created a nature museum. The nature museum opened up to the public in 1936.

"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...

This monument marks the spot where the explorer Meriwether Lewis (of the Lewis and Clark duo) died as he was traveling along what later became part of the Natchez Trace Parkway. The site had been marked as early as 1848. "In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration and CCC workers camped at the site built a cabin museum a few feet southwest of the Grinder's Stand site . While their original objective was to duplicate the design of Grinder's Stand, no reliable description could be located." (wikipedia)