Education and Health Sites

The Works Progress Administration built a gymnasium with native stone walls on a concrete foundation in Hamilton, Texas between 1939 and 1940. The official project number was 65-1-66-140.

This gymnasium was constructed in 1941-2 by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA). It is a one-story red brick building on South Main (Highway 81). The Hennessey grade school was attached to this gymnasium on the north side, but has been torn down. The wall of the old classroom building has the cornerstone showing 1941, and above that is mounted a bronze WPA shield showing 1941-2. More information is needed to determine whether or not this gymnasium is being used today.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a gymnasium in Henry, Nebraska. The location and status of the structure are presently unknown to Living New Deal.

The Works Progress Administration built a two room combination gymnasium, auditorium and school with cut stone masonry walls on a concrete foundation in Hico, Texas between 19398 and 1939. The official project number was 65-1-66-93.

The Works Progress Administration built a gymnasium in Hugo, CO, Lincoln County. The modernist, reinforced concrete and adobe structure cost $33,452. The gymnasium was adobe construction with two inch concrete panels on the exterior. The balcony seating capacity was 1500 seats. The building was also used for public gatherings.

A photograph on the website "Vanishing Georgia" identifies the building along the south side of Church Street at Library Street in Jeffersonville, Georgia to be a gymnasium constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). As of 2022 the building does not appear to be in use.

Details were completed in August 1936 for construction of a modern gymnasium for the Kingston High School in Adams County. The building was concrete blocks and 70 feet x 120 feet, constructed by the Works Progress Administration. Kingston was a rural community in the Natchez vicinity, and "badly in need of gymnasiums" (Gymnasium work, 1936, p. 2). The new gymnasium constructed by a WPA crew was "strictly modern and up-to-date" (Gymnasium work, p. 2). The school burned October 2016 and no buildings are extant.

The Works Progress Administration built a gymnasium in Luling, Texas in 1937.

A gymnasium construction project in Muleshoe, Texas was undertaken in 1938 with Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The P.W.A. provided a $10,314 grant for the project, whose total cost was $22,919. The exact location and status of the facility is presently unknown to Living New Deal. P.W.A. Docket No. TX 1708

A plaque on the gymnasium at the Pettus Texas school complex indicates the Works Progress Administration constructed the building between 1938 and 1940. No other details on the original construction have been found. A bond package in 2015 included funds to renovate the gymnasium.

The Pflugerville Gym, which was built for $17,000 in 1934 through the Works Progress Administration, has a rocky interior and exterior of limestone. The “Rock Gym,”as it is called, served as the only high school volleyball and basketball gym in the Pflugerville area for many years. It received a Texas Historical Marker in October 2012 and remains utilized by the Pflugerville Independent School District.

This two-story gym, Miss. Proj. 1144D, was constructed by the PWA in 1939. The gym remains in use.

Peter Kostrometinoff was the supervisor of construction for the new Sitka gymnasium and Ross Gridley was the state Public Works Administration (PWA) inspector engineer for project W1004. The community was awarded a $12,500 grant towards the $27,000 cost approved 10/20/1936. Construction began 2/25/1937 and was completed 9/2/1937 for a total cost of $29,179. Peterman Construction Company of Juneau won the contract for the new gymnasium with a bid of $28,200. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Sitka also received a loan of $14,850 toward the gymnasium, but that does not appear in the official PWA report. The current status and exact...

L. L. Burnsed, supervisor for project, announced the new Tunica High School gymnasium would begin construction in November 1940. Tunica County issues bonds for $35,000 and the Works Progress Administration allotted funds for the remainder of the cost. Constructed of concrete with brick veneer, the gymnasium cost $46,000. Hull and Drummond were architects for the one story, brick Classical Revival building with a pedimented tetrastyle portico.

Works Project Administration project No. 50,348 was approved to construct a gymnasium for the Tutwiler school. The first news item reported $20,690, scheduled to begin May 12, 1940 and employ an average of 60 workers for six months. The announcement releasing the funds following approval showed $10, 768. The Art Moderne concrete gymnasium served 196 students when constructed. When the Tutwiler school closed, the gymnasium was bought by the Baptist Church. It was demolished in January 2018 when the church could no longer afford the upkeep.

"Two Buttes Gymnasium, constructed between 1935 and 1937 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), is significant under the New Deal Resources on Colorado's Eastern Plains Multiple Property Documentation Form (MPDF).  The gymnasium is significant in the area of Social History for its association with President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal legislative agenda to rescue the United States from the Great Depression.  Additionally, it is significant for Education and Entertainment/ Recreation.  This community building is a good example of the efforts of the WPA to boost morale during the Depression through the construction of buildings for the enjoyment of the entire community. ...

The WPA project for the gymnasium/band building for Tylertown High School was approved January 1939 and construction began in February. The monolithic concrete gym was proposed for 120 x 110 feet, with a playing floor of 80 x 50. Each side held bleachers with locker and dressing rooms underneath. The band room was proposed for 40 x 22 and could be converted into a stage by removal of a partition. The use as an auditorium would enable capacity for about two thousand people.

After the county seat was moved from Washington, Arkansas to Hope, Arkansas, the Washington Public School moved into the empty 1874 Hempstead County Courthouse in Washington. With assistance from the Works Progress Administration, a gym was erected next door in 1940 to serve the school. The gym currently is used as an event venue for public functions.

Details were completed for construction of a modern gymnasium building at Washington High School. It was constructed of concrete blocks, with a size of 70 feet x 120 feet. It was constructed under the Works Progress Administration with a "large crew of workmen given employment" and were billed as "strictly modern and up-to-date" (Gymnasium work, 1936, p. 2). At completion, a "gala celebration" was planned. The gymnasium was slated for completion for the fall start of school. The school is still extant, but the gymnasium appears in maps to have been demolished.

The Coxburg community gymnasium was constructed 1936 by the National Youth Administration. The structure cost approximately $5,000 and was 80 x 100 feet. The gym was destroyed in 1952.

The Como gymnasium, recreation hall, two classrooms, and kitchen were PWA project W1256, approved June 22, 1938. The estimated cost was $22,727 and a $10,227 grant was awarded toward the project. Construction began August 25, 1938, and was completed February 2, 1939, at a final cost of $22,887. Architect was Edgar Lucien Malvaney.

The Emergency Relief Association funded the construction of a gymnasium for the Cross Roads School and it was under construction in February 1935. The gymnasium is still extant and is used as the Family Life Center by the Cross Roads Baptist Church.

The two-story red-brick former gymnasium was constructed by the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (later the PWA) in 1936-1937. It retains its original massing and pedimented parapet. It was renovated in 1964 to become a first floor library and second floor science laboratories/classroom space.

With the consolidation of the numerous one-room school houses into a central facility, the Works Progress Administration helped construct a gymnasium for the school district. "WPA Project No. 265-1-63-83, $26,321, Total funds $47,163, Application date 12-12-41, Average Employed 48. "Construct a school gymnasium building and perform work incidental and appurtenant thereto. Publicly owned property. Sponsor: Newark School District #33." A new facility was constructed in 1984 and Newarks school district was consolidated into the Cord-Charlotte School District to create the Cedar Ridge School District in 2004.

The Art Moderne gymnasium designed by architects N. W. Overstreet and A. H. Town was completed June 19, 1939. The project was approved as PWA x1310 9/13/1938 for a $15,000 loan and $12,272 grant. Construction began 11/30/1938 and completed for a total cost of $27,500. The building is in use by private enterprise.

This local gymnasium was built by the WPA in 1936. It was destroyed by fire in 1972.

The former Texas Woman's University gymnasium was constructed with the assistance of Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) funds and labor. Located at the northwest former of N. Bell Ave. and Administration Dr., the W.P.A. contributed $40,000 toward the project.

This large Works Progress Administration (WPA) project includes the gymnasium which has been in continual use since construction and also the space below the gym floor. Currently, it is used for storage, but it is anticipated that it could potentially be used as a community tornado shelter. The exterior is local rock.

A Public Works Administration (W1003) loan ($15,000) and grant ($12,641) were approved August 5, 1935 to construct a gymnasium and three vocational classrooms at the Inverness high school which had been built in 1922. A bond election was held to finance the remainder and the Hattiesburg American reported it was approved in October 1935. Construction began on October 24, 1935 and was completed on April 14, 1936. The school building was sold following federally-ordered integration and was operated as the private Central Delta Academy until it closed in 2010. The church that had owned and operated the private school proceeded...

The Art Deco structure was completed in summer of 1936 and opened for the school year Sep. 7, 1936. The opening program was held in the newly completed building. “With its additional school rooms as well as its splendid gymnasium and auditorium, it will add much to the efficiency with which the school program can be carried on this year and the years to come” (Carson School slates opening, 1936, p. 9). The gymnasium was PWA project W1013, approved 9/25/1935. Construction started 12/26/1935, and completed 7/8/1936 for a total cost of $27,235. Fire destroyed the unused structure in March 2019.

The Public Works Administration (project W1154) constructed the gymnasium, athletic field, and swimming pool for the Fernwood school. The project was approved on 11/14/1935 with a loan of $16,000 and grant of $13,090. Bids were advertised in November for the gymnasium construction, swimming pool and bath house, "to be constructed under the old PWA plan" (p.1). Contract was awarded 12/16/1935 and construction began 1/22/1936. The project was completed 9/25/1937.

The Nailor High School was initially known as the Cleveland Consolidated School for African American students. It was designed by architect E. L. Malvaney and approved as WPA No. 50,022 in the fall of 1940. The monolithic concrete building contained two wings of classrooms connected by an auditorium seating 400, with a proposed cost of $63,000. WPA approved $25,394 toward the cost of the new school. "Nailor's poured concrete construction and Art Moderne style is almost unique for black schools of the same period and would have made it one of the finest African American school buildings of its time"...

The H.L. Trigg Building, on the campus of Elizabeth City State University, was originally the G.L. Little Library and later the Thorpe Administration Building. It was built with Public Works Administration and state funds. It was dedicated in May 1939, along with Bias Hall, a women's dorm. That same year, the name of the school changed from the Elizabeth City State Normal School to Elizabeth City State Teachers College.

“Haldeman-Hayes Crossing Community Center inhabits the old Haldeman school gymnasium. The community of Haldeman is named for L.P. Haldeman, owner of the Kentucky Firebrick Company. Haldeman’s company took advantage of the local geology to mine clay to create firebrick that was exported across the nation. Haldeman valued education and built schools in the community for the children of his employees, expanding those schools as the community developed. In 1937 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed construction on a new stone school building, and completed the current gymnasium in 1938. The building served the community of Haldeman until December of 1993,...

The high school moved to Foster Lewis Drive at some point, and this is now the Cunha Intermediate School. There is an elementary school directly next door that is built in an identical style and may also have been PWA, but further research is needed to confirm.

"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.

The former Hammel Street Elementary School was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. Hammel was demolished to allow for the construction of Esteban Torres High School, which opened in 2010. 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 Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded the construction of this New Deal stone schoolhouse in Brooksville, FL. In 1941 the building was converted for use as a cannery. In the years following its construction, the building has served as a school for orphans and runaways; a cooperative extension site (Hammock Extension Homemakers); and as a northern extension site for the Hernando County Library system, known as the Rock Cannery Library. Presently, the building continues to serve the community as a facility where members of the public can come to preserve fruits, vegetables, meat, and seafood using the commercial kitchen's pressure canning...

In September of 1938 the citizens of Hampton, Nebraska went to the polls to decide if the Village should transfer $6,000 from the electric light fund and borrow another $7000 for the purpose of building an Auditorium. Those funds were to be matched at 30% by funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA). The issue carried by what the Aurora Republican Register called “a small margin.” In fact the vote of 111 to 61 represented a winning margin of 64.5%. In February of 1939 bids were let for the project. Local builders Bamesberger and Parpart were granted the general construction contract...

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.