Education and Health Sites

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Vocational Training Building for the Flomaton High School. The building façade is red brick veneer. The total cost, including landscaping, was $8,312.00, and was sponsored by the Escambia County Board of Education.

"This P.W. A.Moderne style school was constructed from 1937 to 1939 to plans drawn by architects John C. Austin and Frederick M. Ashley. The P.W.A. Moderne married the symmetry and classicism of earlier eras with elements culled from the fashionable Art Deco and Streamline Moderne idioms." - https://www.laschools.org/employee/design/fs-studies-and-reports/download/LAUSD_Presentation_March_2002.pdf?version_id=1895945

McGuinn Hall was a Colonial Revival style men’s dormitory constructed in 1938 on the campus of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), a historically black college founded in Tallahassee, Florida in 1887. A dedication plaque on the wall of McGuinn Hall indicates that it was constructed as a Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works project, number FLA 1092-6-DS. The architect was Rudolph Weaver, F.A.I.A., who served as dean of the University of Florida’s College of Architecture from 1925 until 1944. He designed a number of dormitories for the University of Florida as well as Florida State University. The latter included...

A pair of infirmary/ward buildings at what was then known as the Florida Farm Colony was constructed in 1936 as a New Deal-aided project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) supplied a $48,402 grant for the project, whose total cost was $108,174. The exact location and status of the buildings on the campus (presently known as the Tacachdale Center) are presently unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. FL 1158-R

A pair of infirmary/ward buildings at what was then known as the Florida Farm Colony was constructed in 1936 as a New Deal-aided project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) supplied a $48,402 grant for the project, whose total cost was $108,174. The exact location and status of the buildings on the campus (presently known as the Tacachdale Center) are presently unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. FL 1158-R

A pair of segregated dining halls at what was then known as the Florida Industrial School for Boys, a reformatory, was constructed in 1936 as a New Deal-aided project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) supplied a $34,389 grant for the project, whose total cost was $84,517. The exact location and status of the buildings on the now-abandoned campus are presently unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. FL 1161-R

A pair of segregated dining halls at what was then known as the Florida Industrial School for Boys, a reformatory, was constructed in 1936 as a New Deal-aided project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) supplied a $34,389 grant for the project, whose total cost was $84,517. The exact location and status of the buildings on the now-abandoned campus are presently unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. FL 1161-R

A girls' dormitory building at what was then known as the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind was constructed in 1936 as a New Deal-aided project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) supplied a $34,190 grant for the project, whose total cost was $76,013. The building is located at the northwest end of campus. It is possible that additional construction was undertaken at the School with federal funds. PWA Docket No. FL 1134-R

The Public Works Administration (PWA) was involved with multiple construction projects on the grounds of the Florida State Hospital in 1936-7. The PWA supplied a $300,355 grant for construction as part of one combined project, whose total cost was $670,428. PWA Docket No. FL 1135-R. (A second project, Docket FL 1240-R, provided $42,853 for "miscellaneous buildings"—total cost: $95,447.) "The acutely congested condition of the hospital wards and the general housing problem has been somewhat relieved during the biennium with the completion of eleven major buildings with the assistance of federal funds. The structures, all completely fireproof, are designed and built to conform with the needs...

Landis Hall was completed in 1938 as a 202-room dormitory for student nurses and other employees working at the Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee, Florida. It replaced the old nurses home which was destroyed in February 1937. The construction contract was financed in part by the PWA and awarded to Batson and Cook of West Point, Georgia. The building was named for the late Florida Attorney-General, Cary D. Landis. PWA Docket No. Fla 1372-DS.

The former Florida State Tuberculosis Sanitarium was constructed during the last 1930s as a New Deal-aided project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) supplied a $320,000 loan and $310,890 grant for the project, whose total cost was $804,005. Construction began in 1936 and, according to a PWA document, construction continued well to 1939. (Dedication occurred well before this date. See below.) Florida Memory: "P.W.A. project, docket 1034-R. Also known as: the Central Florida Tuberculosis Hospital, the Sunland Training Center for Retarded Children, and the Sunland Hospital of Orlando. Dedicated in January 1938. The building, located at 7500 West Silver Star Road, was later...

Now part of the Carrie Palmer Weber Middle School complex, what was then known as the Flower Hill Elementary School in Port Washington, New York was improved by the federal Work Projects Administration during the 1930s.  One modest project undertaken in 1938 involved repairs to the building's walls, ceilings, and plastering. Other schools in Port Washington were similarly improved. WPA Official Project No. 665-21-2-219.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted work in 1933 to construct what is now known as Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium at what was then the Middle State Normal School (Teachers College)—now Middle Tennessee State University. The facility has been enlarged multiple times over the years.

The beautiful native-stone, rock veneer hospital was opened early in 1941. A county-sponsored, WPA project, it was one of the most modern and best equipped in this section of the country when it opened. The hospital closed in the 1960s. Today it is the home of the Rolling Plains Management Corporation. Several Texas WPA Projects Approved By the President including Crowell, Foard county, construct county hospital and Improve adjacent grounds, $14,254.

"Built as Fogarty Junior High in 1938-39 by the WPA, the school is currently Fogarty Elementary. This one and two-story building was constructed in 1938-39 as a WPA project. It faces west and is addressed as 902 N. Wentz. The building is constructed of multi-toned light colored brick, with portions of the ground level native stone. Above one of the entrances, metal lettering reads: FOGARTY JUNIOR HIGH. It is currently an elementary school... A bronze WPA shield is mounted on the wall by an entrance, above the cornerstone. The shield reads: USA / 1939 / WPA / Oklahoma..." The cornerstone is engraved with...

The school first opened in 1927, and the WPA made grounds improvements during the 1930s.

From the city of Somerville website: "A native stone gymnasium and football stadium with seating and fence were built for the Somerville Independent School District by the WPA during the Depression and finished by 1939 ." Text from the state historical marker at the stadium reads: "Emerging from the Great depression, the Somerville School Board partnered with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to build a football stadium. Known as 'The Rock,' the stadium was designed by Travis Broesche in the rustic style of architecture, using native stone and petrified wood. It was completed in 1940. A crew of around 100 local...

Ford Boulevard 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...

The Public Works Administration W1183 funded constructing for new buildings and improvements for five Hinds County schools in 1938-1939. Forest Hill School used funds to construct a vocational building, auditorium, gymnasium, and home for the vocational teacher. They used a $24,000 bond issue to supplement the PWA funding for a loan of 151,986 toward estimated cost of all 5 schools of $337,746, approved 6/22/1938. Bids were advertised October 1938; first contract awarded 11/10/38; construction began 11/14/1938; and was completed 12/4/1939 for a total of 322,153. The school was demolished in 1987.

The historic Forest Hills Elementary School in Danville, Virginia was originally planned as a high school. Plans changed prior to construction and the school became an elementary school. It has operated as an elementary school since its construction.  The project was undertaken with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds.. PWA Docket No. VA 7126. As of 2024, Forest Hills Elementary is in the beginning stages of renovation and expansion planning.

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.

The original building was built by the WPA between 1938 and 1940. It held 15 classrooms, laboratories, library, and an auditorium. It is currently used as the administration to the Webster County School District. The architect said, "The selection of architectural concrete was made after failure of other materials to satisfy the various requirements considered fundamental to the Eupora project" (Malvaney, 1941, p. 24). No decorative details were included in order to keep within the allocated funds, $110,000, with $40,000 provided by the school district. The sole decorative feature is molded plaques across the front of the building. Concrete canopied...

The gym was constructed in 1933 by the Emergency Relief Administration. It is no longer extant. An historic photograph is available at the Southern Arkansas University site or the Southwest Archives site. The elementary school was built on the former site of the gym.

"Forney's first schoolhouse was built here about 1868, and its first general store was built nearby by pioneer settler John C. McKellar in 1871. This building was erected by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938-39. Designed by WPA architect Hoke Smith, the Spanish Colonial revival style structure features a tile roof, multi-light windows, buff brick, and wrought iron and cast stone details. A high school was housed here until 1974 and a middle school until 1993." The school became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1994. The building is still standing.

"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...

Originally the Fort Bragg High School, the building now houses the Fort Bragg Middle School. The high school has moved to 300 Dana St.

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.

Dating from WWI, Fort Dix provided training for soldiers enlisted in the U.S. Army. According to a Works Progress Administration (WPA) Information Division document, the WPA engaged in “Campwide improvement to grounds, including grading, checking of soil erosion, improvements to drainage to eliminate mud, and clearing fire trails and brush; construction of target pits and machine gun range, landing field, one mile of railroad. Construction or repair of garage, motor repair shop, schools, tent floors, incinerator, sawmill, woodshop, quarters, storage buildings, mess hall, cold storage plant, hospital, airport buildings, disposal plant, improvements of water supply system, clearing of ditches...

The Works Progress Administration built the Fort Gibson School and Gym in Fort Gibson OK. The School/Church is presently abandoned.

The PWA helped in the construction of the main school building, while the WPA was responsible for the school's football stadium, tennis courts and much of the surrounding grounds. "New Deal funding relating to Fort Hill was formally initiated in November 1934 and September 1935, respectively, when the PWA committed federal funds not to exceed $230,000. The project was labeled PWA Docket #7323. Other sources brought the total amount pledged for the school to $600,000... While the PWA's funding provided for a major portion of the cost of Fort Hill High School, it was a $60,000 WPA funding package that initiated the...

Formerly known as the Army War College, Fort Lesley J. McNair is a U.S. Army post located at the confluence of the Potomac and the Anacostia Rivers. The site has been an army post for more than 200 years. During the New Deal, both the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) made extensive improvements to the post. In 1933-34, the CWA did everything from sewer construction and building renovations to adding a bandstand and repairing the bowling alley. Records in the National Archives provide these details: "Building concrete coal bin & retaining walls, south of incinerator; Making necessary branch...

The main campus of Fort Lewis College was moved to Durango, Colorado in 1956, but before then it was located at this site, 16 miles southwest of Durango on what was originally a military site, then a boarding school for Native Americans, then a high school, then a two-year college. Since the 1950s, this has been the site of the San Juan Basin Research Center and is currently connected to Fort Lewis College once more as an auxiliary campus used for agricultural research among other purposes. During the 1930s, New Deal programs contributed important resources to the campus: "Dean Bader faced...

Fort Loudoun was in operation from 1756 to 1760, when it was captured by the Cherokee. It fell to ruin until 1917 when it was recognized as an historic site. In 1933, the Tennessee General Assembly purchased the fort and created the Fort Loudoun Association, which managed it until the Tennessee State Parks purchased it in 1977. From 1935 to 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook restoration and archaeological work under the "Fort Loudoun Restoration Project," with plans to reconstruct the fort "as based on historical and archeological research." (wikipedia)

"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)

Forty-Ninth Street Elementary School, which opened in 1913, 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...

WPA funds and workers constructed the two-story Fossil Elementary School gymnasium in 1936, adjacent to the Fossil Grade School which was built in 1924.  The well-used facility changed in appearance in 1949 when it received a layer of asbestos siding. Community fund-raising and a donation from the Oregon Community Foundation returned the structure to its original appearance during the summer of 2013 with the removal of the asbestos and the application of a new coat of paint by volunteers.

This rural WPA school is still standing but is no longer in use: "Four Mile School is shown as Marlow, OK, however, it is located in a rural area four miles south of Rush Springs, and northeast of Marlow. It is located just south of the intersection of 1590 Rd and 2880 Rd... This is a most unusual WPA school and we haven't encountered a poured concrete school previously. The building is reminiscent of a jailhouse (which we're sure children of the 1930s considered it). The building was constructed in 1937 with a WPA appropriation of $7700. The style is listed as...

An addition to Morgantown, West Virginia's Fourth Ward School was constructed in 1939 with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds.

The former Foxboro State Hospital was greatly expanded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with the aid of Federal funds, during the New Deal era. One Federal Public Works Administration-assisted project saw the construction of four buildings on the State Hospital campus, including the Assembly Building. The Assembly Building is located north of Chestnut Street along Payson Road. Construction details: "masonry exterior bearing, concrete and steel interior framing, steel roof truss, non-combustible roof deck." The Foxboro Reporter wrote that the building, "one story and balcony and basement, of brick and limestone, 127 feet long and 70 feet wide, will be constructed at...

The former Foxboro State Hospital was greatly expanded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with the aid of Federal funds, during the New Deal era. One Federal Public Works Administration-assisted project saw the construction of four buildings on the State Hospital campus, including the Laundry Building, which has been slated for demolition in 2014. Construction details: "masonry exterior bearing, concrete pier and floor slab, steel column, beam and flat roof deck." The Foxboro Reporter wrote that the building, "one story and basement, 150 feet long and 75 feet wide, of first class brick and stone, will be constructed at a cost of...