Education and Health Sites

A former grade school building in Gillette, Wyoming was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project during the Great Depression. The PWA supplied a $52,869 grant for the project, whose total cost was $121,432. Construction occurred between Dec. 1937 and Oct. 1938. The exact location and status of the facility is unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. WY 1055-DS

"Huntley is a census-designated place (CDP) in Goshen County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 30 at the 2010 census." (Wikipedia) While Huntley no longer maintains any educational facilities, the town received a new grade school whose construction was enabled by federal Public Works Administration funds during the 1930s (PWA Docket No. 1051 DS). The building is located within a dirt road loop just off the south end of local road 92. As of 2014 the old school building still stands, though its current use is unknown to Living New Deal.

The former Grafton Public School building, located on the west side of Griggs Ave. between W 7th and W 8th Streets, was constructed in 1935 with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA provided a $95,000 loan and $41,000 grant for the project, whose total cost was $150,635. PWA Project No. ND 6426

Graham 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 me...

"Graham Gymnasium at Western New Mexico University in Silver City was built and other buildings were remodeled with WPA funds. The sidewalks, streets and the riverwalk park were a part of the projects. The banks of the Mimbres River in the walk area are shorn up with rock work, a trademark of much of the WPA construction." -Phyllis Eileen Banks

Graham High School was constructed in 1939 by the CCC camp in Graham (Holub). Wiley G. Clarkson was the architect, and the school is listed as one of his accomplishments (Clarkson & Co.). Clarkson is documented as having been one of the leading architects in Texas who worked with the WPA (and presumably, other New Deal agencies as he worked throughout the 1930s). The cost of the building was placed at $289,000 by Clarkson. The school remains in use, although a new auditorium has been added to the rear of the school. The new additions are complimentary in design to...

In 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed work on the Graham School, a large 2-story school with a brick façade, designed by H.D. Pampel and featuring concrete highlights and carvings. The building is now the Nodaway-Holt High School.

The Fulton Grammar School was completed in 1940 with a WPA grant, following the loss of the old grammar school by fire in April. The one story brick school was designed by architect J. B. Lawson. Containing 19 rooms, the school housed a library, music room, kindergarten, office, and a 550-seat auditorium. WPA provided funds between $48,008-$74,590. The school closed in 1999, was named a Mississippi Landmark in 2001 and received grant money in the amount of $168,000 from the Mississippi Arts Commission and $75,000 from the Community Heritage Preservation foundation for renovations. It is currently in used by the...

The Itta Bena Grammar School is a one-story brick, five course common bond building in a standard T-shape constructed 1940 by the National Youth Administration, designed by architect Robert James Moor. It remains in use as of 2018. Itta Bena citizens met in May 1939 to discuss the proposed new elementary school building, and by September, the old building was facing demolition. The National Youth Administration covered the cost of labor for the school building. The $45,000 grammar school building was dedicated February 24, 1941, with an approximate cost of $25,000 to Itta Bena. The dedication ceremony, held in the...

One story beige brick building. Plaque: KNOX CITY GRAMMAR SCHOOL FEDERAL EMERGENCY ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC WORKS PROJECT NO. 1339-R "S.W.T.T.C. Project is Given Approval Fort Worth March 10 Plans and specifications on five PWA projects were approved Tuesday in state PWA offices, and bid opening dates are Knox School, March 30....." "Dr. J.D. Sandefer, president of Hardin-Simmons University, was the principal speaker at the dedication program for the new Knox City grammar school gymnasium and auditorium tonight."

This Works Progress Administration grammar school building in Mariposa, CA still functions as the local elementary school. The stonework surrounding the school is classic WPA style, and there are still WPA stamps in the cement, marked 1940. WPA Proj. No. 65-3-2147, $10,644, Oct. 2, 1935, "Complete grammar school, improve grounds. ERA Spa. Mariposa School district." WPA Proj. No. 65-3-3148, $270, March 13, 1936, "Cook to prepare and serve hot lunches for undernourished children from families on relief. At the Mariposa Grammar School." WPA Proj. No. 650-3-3851, $536, December 14, 1936, "School Improvement"

The Walnut Creek Grammar School operated from 1871 to 1956 to serve a sparse rural population of 1,014 (1930 Census). After being torn down and the hill razed, a plaque marking the former location at Plaza Esquela downtown can be located at the Cheesecake Factory. WPA Project No. 465-03-2-646, App. Date May 26, 1938, $19,329, Total Funds $34,480, Average Employed 43, Federal Man-Hours 20,484, Sponsor: Walnut Creek School District, "Construct classroom addition to the Grammar School building, including heating and electrical facilities, in the town of Walnut Creek, Contra Costa County, and perform work appurtenant and incidental thereto. Project also includes...

The former grammar school auditorium in Denair, CA, was constructed from 1939-1940 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

“Of all the Minnesota CCC-ID projects perhaps the most well known is the reconstruction of the North West Company Fur Post, a historic fur trade site at Grand Portage on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Grand Portage (‘the great carrying place’) was part of an age-old route connecting Lake Superior with inland waterways used first by Indians and later also by fur traders. Between 1778 and 1802, a large fur trading organization, the North West Company, built a summer rendezvouz and supply center there, on the shores of Lake Superior. In 1933, CCC-ID enrollees started work by clearing nine...

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...

This modest stone schoolhouse was built by the WPA in 1938. It is still in use, although a 1985 Oklahoma Landmarks Survey of the site reveals that by then it had already been altered with extensions: "Originally a four-room school house, the Grand View building is rectangular and constructed of uncut and uncoursed native stone laid in a random rubble pattern. Window jambs and corners have been squared with poured concrete. The roof is hipped with two interior chimneys; a small intersecting hipped roof extends as a cover to an enclosed entryway on the east front. Window openings extend to the...

These grandstands were constructed in 1939 by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA). They once belonged to Gray High School. Today Idabel Middle School uses them. On the side is a bronze WPA shield showing the year 1939.

Opening its doors in 1924, the Grandview Heights Public Library moved to four different sites until arriving at its present location in 1936 where it was "built with WPA funds on land donated by George Cambridge Urlin, one of the founding fathers of Grandview Heights."  (ghpl.org)

"Work is expected to start immediately on the grounds of Granger School in Yakima County ... in leveling the grounds, installing irrigation pipes and graveling the parking strip. When completed the high and grade schools of the district will have a playfield of four blocks, separated so that the high school pupils will have a baseball diamond and tennis court on one side and the other half be developed for a playground for the smaller children. WPA funds in the amount of $10,777 are provided with the school district contributing $1,352. Twenty men from the WPA Yakima water system project...

"W.P. A. funds matched by special bonds were approved to build a facility to house the hospital on donated land. The Town Council authorized Dr. Randolph Watts to travel to St. Louis and ask Mr. William Swift to donate land he owned." "A new 25-bed facility was completed on several acres located near Highway 180 and Juniper Street in Silver City utilizing the W.P. A. program. At that time, it was renamed Swift Memorial Hospital. " -Gila Regional Medical Center

In 1936, the Works Project Administration (WPA) completed construction of a new Streamline Moderne–style campus for Grant Elementary School in Santa Monica, CA. The school was designed by architects Donald Parkinson and Joe Estep, who would go on to design Santa Monica City Hall. Grant's original Virginia Avenue campus was one of four Santa Monica schools demolished after suffering severe damage in the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. System-wide renovations cost $3 million dollars.  

  Grant Union High School was built with PWA funding and WPA labor in 1935. The construction included a swimming pool and a stadium with a building housing lockers and dressing rooms. Descriptions of the pool and stadium from the verso's below: "This pool, opened to general public during non-school time, provides swimming facilities for Del Paso Heights Community and surrounding areas thereto. Project 4040 and 4035 rectified a bad muddy condition surrounding the pool and provided dressing room facilities." "New adobe building at Grant Union High School, North Sacramento, California, stadium which houses lockers and dressing rooms for athletes using the facilities of...

Constructed by the WPA in 1939. This was an elementary school in the Lindbergh School District and was sold to the Catholic Church in 1979.  It currently houses a Catholic Academy.

Gray Horse (also spelled Grayhorse, Greyhorse) is an Osage Indian ceremonial town in Osage county, Oklahoma. The WPA constructed a school for the town in 1939. "Designed by A.J. Love, architect of many public structures in north east Oklahoma in the early part of 20th century, this was one of, if not his last, designs. Consisting of four class rooms and a large gymnasium/auditorium, it was built with a combination of quarried sandstone, native field stone, and limestone, with liberal use of arched entryways. The combination is striking, even after years of abandonment. The school operated until 1962, when is was...

Sayville's Suffolk County News reported in 1936 that the WPA had allocated $20,248.50 for "landscaping the Copiague school grounds and laying out a baseball diamond, tennis and badminton courts, at a cost of $20,248.50." Living New Deal believes the school in question to be what is now known as the Great Neck Road Elementary School.

The amphitheater, located on the campus of Southern Arkansas University, was constructed by the NYA in 1936-38.

This mining town took advantage of the New Deal to get aid for the repair of its school, a classic one-room school house, originally built in 1917. "Provide new underpinning under Grammar School, repair of walls, etc." WPA Proj. No. 65-3-3770, December 27, 1935, $1,136.

The WPA built the Greenbush School in Greenbush MN. According to the Greenbush Local Government website: " Superintendent Marvin Lueck, President Dr. H. C. Stone, Treasurer O. K. Christianson, and direc­ tor Matt Kotchevar went to St. Paul to interview members of the educational department, Works Progress Administration (WPA) officials and executive council, and senators and representatives regarding aid to build a new school. Tom Hendrickson and A. W. Clay were also on the school board. The school board decided to build rooms on the school grounds for temporary classrooms. the Works Progress Administration (WPA) started work on a new school in the...

What is now St. John’s College’s Greenfield Library was originally constructed as the Annapolis Hall of Records, which served as the Maryland State Archives until 1984. The facility was constructed in 1934, and was funded by the Public Works Administration (P.W.A.). The land was deeded to the state of Maryland for $10, and Lawrence Hall Fowler was the architect. The building is part of the Georgian Revival style.  Originally, the building had a seven storied interior. The building was completely renovated from 1994 to 1996 as part of the conversion to Greenfield Library, featuring conversion to a three-story interior.

The former Greenpoint Hospital was constructed during the 1930s with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration funds (Docket No. 9063). According to New Deal New York, "The Public Works Administration helped to finance the construction of a new out-patient building and nurses' homes at this facility." The City of New York ceased operations at Greenpoint Hospital in 1982, and the Greenpoint Renaissance Enterprise Corporation took over the site.

A 1934 addition to Emporia, Virginia's old Greensville County Training School was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA contributed $16,957 toward the project, whose final cost was $56,533. (PWA Docket No. VA 3495.) According to a National Register of Historic Places registration form: "In 1934, an 8 by 12 foot addition containing classrooms was built onto the rear west wing of the building." The building, abandoned, has had its roof fall in and its windows boarded up. Its future is uncertain.

"Greenville School is a ten-room school built in 1937-1938 by the WPA. It is a long, flat-roofed building constructed of rusticated and coursed native sandstone from the local area. "The larger window units have been covered with wood paneling, leaving just a small one-over-one window. A shield on the front wall reads 'USA 1939 WPA Oklahoma' but it appears to be a replica and not the original shield. "The website below shows photos of the building as it appeared in 1985, revealing the window units to be triple 9-over-9 windows."

"The Greenwood Gymnasium is a load-bearing stone masonry building located at 300 E. Gary Street, near downtown Greenwood, Arkansas. It was built in 1938-39 by 100 workers employed and/or directed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) . This durable structure rests on a combination of concrete and native sandstone foundations. The building's dimensions are 108 feet long by 85 feet wide, encompassing two classrooms, lobby, gymnasium with basketball court, stage, bleachers and toilet / shower rooms each for boys and girls beneath the bleachers." (National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form)

The Greenwood high school for African American students was located in what was known as the Stone Street School complex. The building finishes included both marblework and mosaic (MDAH). The architect of record was Robert James Moor. Moor received the Public Works Administration (PWA) work order on February 1, 1936 and work began on February 10th. Construction was executed by J. R. Flint Construction and J. D. Lanham received the contract for plumbing, heating, and wiring. The project was funded by a PWA grant following fire damage to the former high school building, which burned in 1934. The project included an auditorium and...

The school was named after James Greenwood, a noted educator  in Missouri in the 1800’s.

"This 1939 WPA constructed school is located on county road E590, northwest of Inola. The Gregory area is a 3-square mile area considered a Census-designated place, and not an official town. The school appears to be in good condition, and occupied, but it does not appear to be used as a school at this time. The playground equipment in the yard is quite old and in disrepair. "This is a rectangular building with a gabled composition shingled roof. It is constructed of cut, coursed and rusticated native stone. The ribbon windows are set in groups of three. The centered entrance has...

From 1939 to 1940 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements and built additions to Gresham High School in Gresham, Oregon, just east of Portland. The additions included a gym, an agricultural building, the north wing of the classrooms, and an auditorium. Michael Schaefer, Gresham High School Principal, estimates that, at the time, 80% of the school was rebuilt with funding provided by the WPA. The primary architectural style of the high school is Art Deco. Teresa Carson of the local Gresham press tells us that "The building originally had hand-crafted doors created by highly-regarded WPA blacksmith Orion B. Dawson, who also created gates at WPA-built Timberline...

"373 men are employed on the largest project, the improvement of roads, farm buildings, sewage and water works at Greystone Park."   (mcl.mainlib.org) "Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital (also known as Greystone Psychiatric Park, Greystone Psychiatric Hospital, or simply Greystone) refers to both the former psychiatric hospital and the historic building that it occupied in Parsippany-Troy Hills Township (formerly part of Hanover Township, New Jersey). Originally opened on August 17, 1876, the hospital was known as the New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum at Morristown. The asylum officially received the familiar Greystone Park name in 1924."   (wikipedia)

"The Griffithville School, built by the Works Progress Administration in 1939, employs Craftsman features and has a construction method and design that is characteristic of the federally funded institutional buildings from the late 1930s. The building, located along a state highway in Grifftthville, is still used as a school, is in good condition, and has undergone very little alteration within the last fifty years." (National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form)   As of 2015, the gymnasium has been used as a community center and a park is on the grounds of the original school. The extant buildings are in disrepair.