Education and Health Sites

In 1943, the Washington Post reported the planned construction of the former Birney Elementary School by the Federal Works Agency (FWA) with appropriations under the Lanham Act. The building is now the Excel Academy Public Charter School.

This school was rebuilt with New Deal help after it was damaged by an earthquake in the early thirties. WPA construction included an auditorium and a classroom building, as well as a boiler house. The buildings showcase a combination modernistic and Spanish style. The high school saw its last graduating class off in 1981. The building is now home to the Norwalk Adult School.

The WPA contributed $1,511 toward improvements for the Exchequer Grammar School. The work included the following tasks: "Improve school building lighting, leveling playground & building wall & frame." WPA Proj. No. 65-3-4630, February 8, 1936. Exchequer no longer exists. It was a mining town for the nearby Exchequer Mine and was serviced by the former Yosemite Valley Railroad. When the New Exchequer Dams height was raised in 1967 to increase the reservoir's capacity to 1,032,000 acre⋅ft, the town was inundated.

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...

The National Youth Administration completed improvements at the Ezel High School. A team of 18 NYA boys remodeled an old residence that was converted in the science building. The crew consolidated the foundation, added a sewer line to the street, and completed extensive interior and exterior renovations.

A PWA project.

The former F. L. Garrison Memorial School was constructed as a New Deal project in 1938-9. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $269,100 grant for the project, whose total cost was $516,456. PWA Docket No. PA 1903

Among the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects identified as completed in a Abilene Daily Reporter article from June 14, 1936 was "Repairs on a girls' dormitory and finishing of an auditorium and recreation building Ranger, at a total cost of $1659. Twenty men were employed for two months." The location and status of these facilities is presently unknown to Living New Deal.

The WPA built an elementary school with agricultural buildings in Fair Grove circa 1935-1937. The site appears to now be used for all grade levels. In 2009, a windstorm with sustained winds of over 100 miles per hour tore off the roof; subsequent repairs in 2013 may have significantly altered the building's original structure.  

"The Fair View School building is a single-story, T-plan structure built in 1938 by Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor and designed in the Craftsman style . The school building, as well as the two adjoining service buildings (coal house and well shed) was constructed of fieldstone veneer and rests on a continuous concrete foundation." (National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form) The building is last known to be privately owned.

Fairfield Township School #2 in North Fairfield, Ohio received an addition completed in 1937 as a New Deal project, with funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA). The PWA provided a $27,111 grant for the project, whose total cost was $72,219. PWA Docket No. OH 1342

The Works Progress Administration built a two-room schoolhouse in the Fairland community near Marble Falls, Texas. The rock masonry building was completed by February 1940 under official project number 665-66-2-485. The building is currently a private residence.

Fairlead Academy I is part of the St. Mary’s County Public Schools system. It used to be called Great Mills School and was built by federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers in 1936. It originally served as an elementary school, and now serves as a school that helps young adults prepare for their post-high school lives. Another example of how the great work of the WPA continues to be utilized.

"The Architect and Engineer" of 1936 reports that a ward building at Fairmont Hospital was a WPA project.

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.

Completed in 1937, "the gymnasium building contained a gym floor and basketball court and courts for several other types of floor games, a modern swimming pool, with bleachers to seat 500 people on the semi-basement lever, shower rooms, dressing rooms, and restrooms and storage rooms on both floors. The first floor contained a large stage and the gym floor was used as an auditorium at times. It would seat 1,500 people. The building was modern in every detail. The Fairview School was the only school in Arkansas that had a swimming pool at that time."* **Docket 1034 cost $116,566 and involved...

"The Fairview School (District 89) replaced the "Thompson School", built in 1894 which burned in 1936. This was a joint effort, with the School District supplying $1,013 and the WPA picking up the balance of $2,600. It was completed in March 1937 and operated as a one-room school until 1949-1950 when the district was annexed by the Prague and Agra school districts. This is a rectangular building constructed of native sandstone. It is currently a residence, and access to the property could not be gained. The gabled roof, once covered with asphalt, currently has a metal sheeting. The typical WPA set...

The federal Work Projects Administration worked to improve what is now the Fargo VA Medical Center in Fargo, North Dakota during the 1930s. One project was described by the WPA in its project rolls: "rading; reconstructing roads; sidewalks; installing sewers; water mains; steam services and electrical services;" other related work.

From contributor Charles Swaney: "This single story elementary school with 2-story gymnasium was constructed with local bluestone as were 2 other schools constructed at the same time.  The date of construction is well seen above the entry.  Currently, the school houses an antique mall."

The Suffolk County News reported that the WPA conducted many improvement projects on Long Island between 1935 and 1936, among which were "repairs and painting (exterior and interior) of ... the State Institute of Applied Agriculture at Farmingdale" (the former name of Farmingdale State College).

"The library was founded in 1921 in the living room of Mrs. Lorena Mahany’s home at 506 West Arrington in downtown Farmington, New Mexico. Mrs. Mahany offered her services as the first librarian. In 1938 the library was moved to a new building constructed as a Works Progress Administration project located on the small city park at the corner of East La Plata and Orchard. The collection consisted of 2,000 books. This building was remodeled in 1961 and again in 1974. In 1984 the library was moved into the former First National Bank building located at 100 West Broadway in...

"This building is approximately 256 by 388 feet. It contains administrative offices, library, auditorium seating 1,000, double gymnasium, and classrooms for art, music, biology, general science, mechanical drawing, printing, woodworking, and metal working, a study hall seating 200, 25 classrooms, and a cafeteria. The building has a volume of 1,900,000 cubic feet. The entire construction is fireproof. The project was completed in June 1938 at a construction cost of $583,312 and a project cost of $654,468, including about $33,000 for land."

Terre Haute's historic U.S. Post Office and Court House was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds and completed in 1935. The building has been remodeled by Indiana State University; currently known as Federal Hall, the building houses the Scott School of Business as well as administrative functions.

Columbia College's Federal Hall was originally constructed as a New Deal post office building. When the post office moved to Walnut St, the building was converted into the Federal Building, then became the Youzeum, and now is the office for the nursing program at Columbia College. There were 2 murals for the post office that were moved from the post office to other locations over the time that the building was renovated to be the Federal Building. “Pony Express” was eventually moved to the City Council chambers. “Indians Watching Stagecoach in the Distance” was initially retrieved by the demolition team and...

What was then known as the Naval Training Station and Naval Hospital North Chicago, Illinois was improved as part of Federal Project F-77 by the federal Civil Works Administration (CWA). "Among the accomplishments were the removal of 125 cottonwood trees, the roots of which had caused serious damage to the sewer system; the overhaul of water pumps at the main power plant; the painting of interior and exterior steel work at the power plant; electric wiring; and numerous minor repairs to the walks, buildings, and grounds."

On August 31, 1935, the county superintendent for Valencia County prepared a WPA project proposal for two, two-room schoolhouses in Fence Lake and Liberty. The schools were to be constructed of logs cut from nearby forests and were to be designed to adhere to the WPA “school house standards” of the day (WPA OP 65-85-466). Added on to the project was a two-room community building in Trechado, an ephemeral community that no longer exists. The supervisor estimated all three buildings would cost $3,737.50, with the WPA providing $2,911.50. During the Great Depression, Fence Lake, a once cattle-raising area, became overwhelmed with refugees fleeing the...

Montana's Big Timber Pioneer newspaper reported in 1937: "Work of constructing a running track and fencing the high school athletic field, being done by WPA labor, will be resumed late this month after a winter shutdown." The old Fergus County High School -- located at 401 7th Ave. S. in Lewistown -- now houses condominiums.

Pennsylvania State University's Ferguson Building was one of a dozen buildings constructed on the campus during the Great Depression as part of a massive construction project enabled by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA). The building is still in use today.

"With 400 students that transferred from John M. Vogt HIgh School, Ferguson High School opened in 1939. It was built by the Ferguson Public School District on the (rumored to be haunted) January Estate; which had also been used as the city dump and was known as Blizzard Hill. Located at 701 January Avenue, the school was constructed with WPA, Works Progress Administration, financial assistance. In the basement of the school was a firing range for target practice by students belonging to the school's NRA Club. 1952 saw the merger of the Ferguson Public School District and the Florissant School...

The Works Progress Administration built the Ferris School between 1938 and 1940 under official project number 65-1-66-287. The brick building had 33 rooms. The former school is currently the Ferris Independent School District Administrative Services building.

Fifty-Ninth Street Elementary School, which opened in 1924, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure that every member of the board agrees with...

Fifty-Second Street Elementary School, which opened in 1926, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure that every member of the board agrees with...

Figueroa Street Elementary School, which opened in 1923, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure that every member of the board agrees with...

"Finally, in 1935 the Findlay Public Library moved from the Courthouse basement into the old Post Office building on Broadway." The conversion was aided by the provision of a Public Works Administration (PWA) grant. Construction occurred between April and November 1935. The building, which has since been expanded, is still in service. PWA Docket No. OH 8140.

No longer in use but with some buildings still extant, Firland Sanitorium in Shoreline, Washington was improved by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression. A WPA press release from Jan. 1938 reported: "Approximately 100 WPA workers will begin the same day improving the grounds at Firlands , Richmond Highlands, north of Seattle, with a WPA grant providing $41,254 and the City of Seattle furnishing needed materials totaling $6,735, as project sponsor. The work, which will require an estimated six months. includes paving the roadway, excavating, grading, pruning, landscaping, erecting fences, installing sprinklers and many other incidental tasks on...

Fishburn Avenue Elementary School, which opened in 1926, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure that every member of the board agrees with...

"A number of other APS buildings were built, remodeled, or had additions built as the result of this source of this source of funding. Likewise adjacent school playgrounds, ball fields, etc. were also created. The schools include Armijo, Coronado, Duranes, Five Points School, La Mesa, Lincoln, Los Candelarias, Pajarito, San Jose, Santa Barbara, and Stronghurst. For specific information on each of these refer to the Albuquerque Museum Monograph written by Charles Biebel." -Treasures on New Mexico Trails

Big Timber Pioneer reported that the federal government allotted $1,144 for the construction of a new log schoolhouse in the former town of Flesher, Montana in Lewis and Clark County. Originally assigned to three WPA laborers, the project was completed by one worker named Jack. As a result, it was thought that the school in Flesher was "the only one-man WPA public building project in the United States." The exact location and current status of the building unknown to the Living New Deal.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Flomaton High School Athletic Field in Flomaton. Sponsored by the Escambia County Board of Education, the field spans five acres. The approximate cost was $3,263.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) landscaped and beautified the grounds of the Flomaton High School. The project was sponsored by the Town of Flomaton.