Museums Sites

The structure originally built as the Lehi School Auditorium in northern Mesa, Arizona was constructed as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in 1936. Located on the east side of N Horne south of Lehi Rd., the building is now part of the Mesa Historical Museum Annex complex. Waymarking.com: "In 1936, a WPA project added an auditorium to the Lehi School on Horne and East Lehi Road. It was so well built that it was designated as the community bomb shelter during the cold war. Further, when the building was no longer needed, due to its sturdy construction, it would have...

The WPA allocated $12,100.41 in 1935 to assist with miscellaneous repairs to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The New York Times reported in Sept. 1935: "A shooting gallery to make the guards more proficient in the use of firearms is only one of the many improvements at the Metropolitan Museum of Art begun within the last two months with WPA funds ..." The WPA also washed the building's exterior, in addition to "pointing up brick and stone masonry and washing it down with muriatic acid." They also constructed what was known as Gallery E-15. Inside they washed the building and undertook "masonry...

Myron Nutting painted murals for the Milwaukee Public Museum (a natural history museum) in the early 1930s.

The post office in Mineola was built in 1936 under the Public Works Administration (PWA) program and was designed by architects at the U.S. Treasury Department. It continued to be used as a post office until 1998. It is now the Mineola Historical Museum.

The Minnesota Machinery Museum is housed in the former Hanley Falls School built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1939.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) relocated and reconstructed the former United States Mint Building in Charlotte, North Carolina: now the Mint Museum. The project was completed at a cost of $46,724.75. "Between 1932 and 1935 communities throughout North Carolina, including Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, benefited from a broad array of public works funded primarily by Washington.  These included the reconstruction in Eastover of the former United States Mint Building ..." Furthermore, the FERA improved and graded the grounds at the site.

The Mission Historical Museum was constructed as the city's post office in 1940. The building houses an example of New Deal artwork.

"Opened and dedicated on May 16, 1939 at what was then known as “Mound State Monument,” built with labor from the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 1999, The University of Alabama Museums began a comprehensive effort to rebuild and redefine the museum, resulting in a $5 million renovation completed in 2010. Today, the museum combines the latest technology with more than 200 stunning artifacts to describe one of the most significant Native American archaeological sites in the United States. Outside, visitors are greeted by symbols of the Native American culture mounted on enormous wooden heraldic poles. Inside, visitors will find life-size...

In 1936 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a gorgeous stone museum in what was then known as Old Settlers Park—now Pioneer Park—in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. The structure, whose present function is unknown to Living New Deal, is still extant and can be found in the west side of the park. Five colors of calcerous limestone for the building was quarried for the project from Ingleside quarries in Colorado, 105 tons in all. One stone mason, Manuel Huberto, who lived in Mitchell, voluntarily walked 20 miles round trip daily to participate in the project. "He took great pride in his work, which...

Founded in 1937, the Museum of Contemporary Craft was originally located in 3934 SW Corbett Avenue. At the time, it was known as the Oregon Ceramic Studio and became the Contemporary Crafts Gallery in 1965. The studio was built with WPA labor and donated materials and was dedicated to investigating and advancing the "role of craft and design in contemporary culture while at the same time honoring the history of the studio craft movement." (Museum of Contemporary Craft) In 2007 the museum moved to a new building on Davis St. Status of the original building unknown.

The Museum of Indigenous People was constructed 1933-1935 by relief workers employed by the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA).  It is built of local fieldstone and flagstone in a sober, if romanticized, indigenous style. It was long known as the Smoki Museum after a local club of White businessmen who called themselves "the Smoki People" and dressed up as Hopi to perform native dances. After protests by Hopi, who disapproved of such imitations, the club stopped its dances and eventually disbanded.  The name of the museum was changed in 2020.   The museum collection evolved from native...

"At the time of the Texas Centennial Exposition at Dallas in 1936 certain of the buildings constructed were made permanent, and one of these was the Museum of Natural History. The structure is two stories in height and 71 by 224 feet in plan. The spacious entrance lobby connects with numerous exhibition halls containing cases in which are shown specimens of the plant and animal life of Texas. The building is semifireproof. The frame is reinforced concrete and the exterior walls are stone. Texas shell stone is extensively used on the interior, with bases of marble...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed what is now the Museum of the Big Bend in Alpine, Texas in 1937. sulross.edu: "Originally constructed in the late 1930s, the Big Bend Memorial Museum served first to house and museum and later as the Student Union Building. In 2002, Emmett and Miriam McCoy donated to SRSU its largest private contribution commitment which launched a fund-raising campaign to renovate and restore the native rock building to once again serve as the home of the Museum of the Big Bend. In honor of these benefactors, the renovated facility is named the Miriam and Emmett McCoy Building." "For...

The WPA undertook a project to improve what was then known as New York's City Museum, during the 1930s. Work included: "Paint interior and exterior, construct exhibition cases, stages, buns, shelves, install ventilating and electrical systems; repair elevators; and make improvements to the grounds of the City Museum in New York City, New York County."

In 1938, the Public Works Administration (PWA) provided $150,000 (about $2.8 million in 2020 dollars) for the construction of a museum in Browning, Montana, for the Blackfeet and other plains tribes. At the time, it was “the largest Government project… undertaken to aid native groups in reviving their crafts and to furnish them an outlet for the marketing and sale of their goods” (Indians at Work, July, 1941). The building was dedicated on June 29, 1941. The Museum of the Plains Indian is managed by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board (a unit of the U.S. Department of the Interior) which...

From the National Park Service website: "Among the highlights of Chandler’s Route 66 landscape is the Chandler Armory, behind which stands the only brick outhouse in Oklahoma, thought to have been built between 1903 and 1912 and still containing its original French fixture.  The Chandler Armory is an excellent example of Works Progress Administration (WPA) architecture; it is rich with history. The armory is also significant as the home of Battery F, Second Battalion of the 160th Field Artillery of the Oklahoma National Guard, 45th Infantry division and for its role in helping the men of Battery F prepare for their...

From the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County description plaque: "Los Angeles planners wanted to visualize the city center to improve roads, bridges, tunnels, and other public works. Sponsored by the Works Progress Administration, a team of City Planning Department model makers, draftsmen and architects surveyed downtown Los Angeles between 1938 and 1940 and built a model of which this is just a small part. Much has changed, but you can spot Union Station, City Hall and the old Plaza."

"Kent Hall (University Ave. and Solano Dr.), on the campus of New Mexico State University, was constructed by the WPA and now houses the school's museum." -New Mexico Off the Road

"Kent Hall (University Ave. and Solano Dr.), on the campus of New Mexico State University, was constructed by the WPA and now houses the schools museum. Additionally, the Rhodes-Garrett-Hamiel Dorm, built in 1941, used WPA funds." -New Mexico Off the Road

Multiple New Deal agencies worked to develop the North Chagrin Reservation outside Cleveland, Ohio. "Over the course of the 1930s the reservation was modernized with graded roads, permanent trails, sewage and water infrastructure, and shelter houses, much of this construction undertaken by federal and state public works programs. Between 1933 and 1937, workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps camp at neighboring Euclid Creek Reservation laid out miles of hiking and bridle trails in North Chagrin. Similar projects funded through the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, National Youth Administration, and WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION included an enlarged trailside museum, picnic and parking areas, the...

"Located in Caribou, Maine, the Nylander Museum of Natural History was dedicated in 1939 by Maine Governor Lewis Barrows. The museum was built as a WPA project. The museum’s construction was jointly funded by federal, state, and municipal governments. The museum was originally designed to house the collections of Olof O. Nylander, a self-taught naturalist from Oremella, Sweden born in 1864, died 1943... Today the Nylander Museum houses the original Nylander collection and additional specimens and exhibits that have been donated or are on loan to the museum."   (https://www.cariboumaine.org)

"Built from 1937 to 1939 and designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1987, the Old Santa Fe Trail building on Museum Hill is the work of the young men who served in the Civilian Conservation Corps in New Mexico during the Great Depression. The Spanish/Pueblo Revival-style adobe building is a testament to them and in particular, the Native American and Latino New Mexicans whose commitment and craft are manifest in this beautiful building. "The CCC men constructed the unique building largely by hand using local materials. The logs for the vigas and corbels came from the CCC camp in nearby...

"The Osage Tribal Museum, originally constructed in 1872, is housed in a building finished with native Oklahoma sandstone.  Originally used as a chapel, school and dormitory as a two-story structure with an auditorium, it was remodeled in 1937 as a one-story building and museum.  Each stone was carefully removed and put back.  The building's cupola was retained and is a distinguishing feature of the edifice... The adaptive reuse of the building to a museum was funded as a Public Works Administration (WPA) project and carried out by the CCC.  At the time of its opening in 1938, it was the only museum in the...

The Overland Trail Museum was built in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration to commemorate the Overland Trail, allegedly America's "heaviest traveled road" from 1862 to 1868. The original building "was made of native rock and designed after the early trading forts. In the past 65 years much has been added, not only to the structure, but to the collections which have been donated by local citizens." ("Overland Trail Museum.")

"The Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum opened its doors to the public in 1933. It was a hit with the public, who soon began donating artifacts to the museum from the area’s past in addition to their financial contributions. In 1941, Walter Irvin gave a Ford Model A (number 28 off the assembly line), in honor of his daughter, Miss Peggy Irvins. In 1958, Retta Carter Hubbard contributed Charles Goodnight’s silver-mounted saddle, which she received as a gift from the famed cattle rancher after her 1926 marriage to his foster son, Cleo (the saddle was probably made about 1905). In 1960, Topay...

This small building was constructed as a jail by the Works Progress Administration in 1939. It was restored in 2002 and is now a museum. The building bears a WPA stamp to the right of its door.

"After three years of renovations carried out by the Works Progress Administration, the Atwater Kent Museum was formally dedicated on April 19, 1941."

The iconic Philadelphia Museum of Art was improved and developed by Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor during the Great Depression. "The WPA had permitted extraordinary construction and growth at the museum, while even allowing it to save money." Philadelphia Museum Bulletin: Everywhere, behind the scenes, the Museum is filled with workmen. Steelworkers, smiths, masons, plasterers, painters and men of the dozens of other building crafts ply their trades behind doors through which, as these open and close, we catch a glimpse of strange and delicate shapes—vast pillars of carved stone from India, tall red columns from China, gilded French panels of...

Formerly known as 'The Indian Caves' or 'The Indian Ghost Caves' around Billings, MT, this pre-historic site has become one of the most visited state parks in Montana. Artifacts dating back several thousand years were found here in 1937. A professional excavation was overseen by William Mulloy and Larry Loendorf with work performed by the Works Progress Administration workers. Over 30,000 artifacts were recovered, but many of them lost as the site was abandoned by the WPA in 1941. Pictographs are what the site is known for today; of the 106 originally recorded images, about 10-20 are visible today. The...

The Pioneer Museum in Provo UT was built with substantial aid from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1935-37.  It was started as a project of the Sons and Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, who ran out of funds by 1935.  The City Commission of Provo applied to the federal government and received a WPA grant of $11, 735.  The WPA provide the labor and the city the materials for the building, and the Sons & Daughters of the Pioneers raised money for the interior furnishings. The Pioneer Museum sits in the middle of North Park in Provo.  The building is...

The former gatehouse at the entrance to Pokagon State Park was completed by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees in 1937 and used until the mid-1980s. The style of the former gatehouse is classified as Park Rustic.  Using a variety of native materials, the CCC built gatehouses designed to appeal to the eye and draw in visitors with hints of the delights of nature within the park. In 2016, the little building was dedicated as a CCC Pocket Museum, featurng exhibits about the CCC's work in the park and beyond.  There is also a permanent exhibit in the Nature Center (not a CCC building)...

The historic former post office building in Adel, Georgia was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds ca. 1939. The building now serves as the Cook County Historical Society Museum. A New Deal mural, which had been created and housed in the historic post office, has since been relocated to its current location.

From Flickr user Courthouselover in 2012: "Built in 1940, this former post office today acts as the Alvin Historical Museum. The old mural that once hung in this post office's lobby today is rolled up in storage awaiting restoration." Since then, the mural has been restored, thanks to the efforts of former Texas Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan and his wife Ruth. It now hangs in the museum.

The historic former post office building in Cocoa, Florida was constructed in 1939 with federal Treasury Department funds. The building is now home to the State Headquarters of the Florida Historical Society.

"The Greer Post Office, constructed in 1935, is architecturally significant as an excellent example of a New Deal-era Colonial Revival post office produced by the Public Works Branch of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Architect Donald G. Anderson of New York City designed the Greer Post Office under the administration of Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect of the Department of the Treasury. The Greer Post Office reflects the designs favored by the Treasury Department at the time, exhibiting a restrained Colonial Revival style with minimal ornamentation. The new post offices in South Carolina built during this era reflect the...

This post office was built under the New Deal in 1937 and now houses the "Old Post Office Museum." An original New Deal mural still hangs in the building.

The former Presbytère or Rectory of the late 18th century St. Louis Cathedral is now part of the Louisiana State Museum complex, along with the old Cabildo Building.  The Cabildo flanks St. Louis on the west and the Presbytère on the east, along the north side of Jackson Square along Chartres Street.  The Presbytère was begun in 1891 and only finished thirty years later, and never served its intended purpose.  It was rented and then sold to the City of New Orleans for use as a courthouse and then transferred to the Louisiana State Museum in 1911 (see plaque). The Presbytère...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided funding and labor for construction of what was then known as the Queen City Pool and Pool House at Queen City Park in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The WPA supplied $100,000 of the $125,000 total cost of the construction project. The facility now serves as the Mildred Westervelt Warner Transportation Museum. Wikipedia: "Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright's apprentice Don Buel Schuyler, the Queen City Pool served the citizens of Tuscaloosa from 1943 through it closure in 1989. It was constructed as a ... Works Project Administration relief project of the Great Depression. The site features a poured concrete...

"In an effort to preserve the rich history of Rapid City and the surrounding area, WPA Project 1112 began in 1937 in an effort to construct a massive, native-stone edifice to house various collections of historical artifacts. Early in 1936, several city commissioners began to meet with architect Waldo Winter to discuss the construction of a local museum. Talks came to a standstill when Winter vehemently opposed locating the museum in Halley Park, purchased by the city from several individuals in 1916 and 1917, as the intended location of a future museum. Negotiations resumed in late 1936 when George Mansfield,...

The historic former Roane County Courthouse in Kingston, Tennessee received a two-story addition during the Great Depression with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The building remained in use as the courthouse until 1974, and is in use currently as a museum and home to the Roane County Historical Association.