Education and Health Sites

This building was originally built as a public library in 1903. During the 1930s, New Deal workers significantly improved the building. In 1970, the library moved to Court Street. The Hunt Memorial Building then housed the offices of the Nashua School Department until 1991. Since renovations in 2011, the building has been rented for events. Municipal reports from the 1930s detail New Deal work on the site: In his town summary of 1934, Mayor Lucier wrote: "This has been a year of much needed repairs both inside and outside the building. Here, again, federal aid stepped in and grateful thanks are due the...

Hunt Recreation Center in Concord, Massachusetts was constructed as a New Deal project. It was built in part with federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The P.W.A. supplied a grant of $27,653 for the project, whose total cost was $61,494. Construction occurred between Nov. 1935 and Aug. 1936. PWA Docket No. MA W1028.

The North Building at Hunter College was built between 1937 and 1940, using funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA). It lies between 68th  and 69th Streets along Park Avenue.  FDR dedicated the building on October 1940 and in his speech he recounted the story of how Mayor LaGuardia asked for the funding. North Building’s designer was the firm of Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, in consultation with Harrison & Fouilhoux. Wallace Harrison had already designed Radio City Music Hall and the auditorium in Hunter’s building, though much simpler, bears a related design If the façade appears familiar, the main designers also built the Empire State...

The WPA constructed a school building at this school for $14,945 in federal funds and $27,864 total, and also improved the grounds under another WPA project.

' new school plant consists of several buildings with a total floor area of 17,600 square feet and are typical of the architecture being produced in California at the present time. The illustration is of the sunlit court at one end of the classroom building. The structure is one story in height and provides five classrooms, a children's rest room, a teachers' room, and a kindergarten to which are attached two workrooms. In addition to this, in the group are buildings which provide administrative offices, an auditorium, gymnasium, shops, and rooms for domestic science and the arts. The construction is a combination...

Huntington Park High School, which opened in 1909, was one of an expedited group of four schools 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...

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of a school building and a shop for the Huntington School in Huntington, Emery County School District. Docket # 1003-R (Utah). The condition of these structures is unknown to the Living New Deal.  

"The Hunts Point Branch of the New York Public Library is the thirty-seventh and final Carnegie branch library to be built in New York City and the ninth to be constructed in the Bronx. It has been in continuous operation as a branch library for over eighty years." The library was built in 1929. From 1935-38, the library was expanded by the WPA, "with the construction of a rear two-story addition that accommodated a new activity space and supplementary reading room."   (https://hdc.org)

The 1937-38 ART Moderne administration building for Hurley School was Public Works Administration project 1247. The town received a loan for $16,500 and a grant for $13, 167, approved 8/12/1937. The contract was awarded 11/23/1937, construction started 12/15/1937 and completed 8/29/1938. the architect was Vinson B. Smith, Jr.

The historic former Huron Hospital in East Cleveland, Ohio was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The project, which had otherwise been delayed, was completed in 1935. The facility was expanded multiple times until its closure in 2011. The complex, located along Terrace Road between Forest Hills Blvd. and Belmore Rd. in East Cleveland, has since been demolished.

What was the Hurricane Library/City Hall "was constructed in 1938-1940 as a Work Progress Administration (WPA) project. The WPA was one of several New Deal programs designed to stimulate economic recovery during the Great Depression while providing needed public services and facilities. Over 230 Public Works buildings were constructed in Utah approximately one half of them retain their architectural integrity. This building housed the city offices, library, police and Hurricane Canal Co. until the mid 1980s. The city then made it available to the Hurricane Valley Heritage Park Foundation to develop a museum. The structure is built chiefly of hand-hewn...

Hurst School for grades 1-8 was built in 1940 by the WPA with $23,291 in federal funds. The building now houses the Hurst Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

"This structure, housing the swimming pool, was erected as an addition to the physical-education building. The swimming pool is 42 by 75 feet and galleries for spectators are provided to seat 1,000. The construction is reinforced concrete with exterior walls faced with brick and trimmed with cast stone. The steel roof trusses support a wood roof. The project was completed in September 1938 at a construction cost of $193,818 and a project cost of $205,887." (Short and Brown)

Hutchins Street Square, a community center, was originally Lodi High School. The CWA improved the girls' gym and tennis courts at the high school in 1934. The tennis courts have now become a large grassy area that is currently used for art shows, the Sandhill Crane Festival, and the July 4 celebration. The girls' gym of 1934 was converted in the 1990s into a senior citizen's center. The boys' gym is now used as a large hall with patio, where dinners and other civic functions are held. A pool separated the boys' and girls' gyms in 1934 and citizens still use...

"The 's original fieldstone building was built in 1940, after close consultation between the local school board and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a native of Hyde Park. ... In 1993 the school building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places... In 1938 met privately with members of the Hyde Park school board and other local officials at his family home in town. He had closely followed their need for an elementary school, and proposed to them that the Public Works Administration (PWA) make federal money available to Hyde Park for the construction of three schools (now Violet Avenue...

The one-story elementary school was completed in September 1936 for use by African American children in Memphis. The building had two inner courtyards. Construction cost was $157, 627 and project cost was $175,692. The school was combined with another school to form Cypress Middle School following integration.

Lee, Massachusetts's former Hyde School was enlarged in 1936 by an addition constructed with federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The P.W.A. supplied a grant of $56,244 to the project, whose total cost was $124,999. Construction occurred between April 1936 and Jan. 1937. PWA Docket No. MA W1326. The school is now a senior living complex and senior center.

Originally constructed as Hygeia Hall in 1936, what is now the Institutional Development building at T.W.U. was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The cost of construction was approximately $40,000. Hygeia Hall served as the "student health center and the infirmary. Students were generally admitted when their illness was deemed contagious enough that quarantine was needed."

Before the PWA addition, the (much smaller) building was an elementary school, first built in 1909-1910 as the A.J. Chambers School (for white students), then it became the East Eighteenth Street Colored School in 1931. The school was enlarged in 1936-37 as a PWA project, converting it to the I.M. Terrell High School. "Under the PWA building program, the building was significantly expanded in 1936-37 and became the new home of I. M. Terrell High School. The architect was Clyde H. Woodruff and the contractor was Harry B. Friedman. In 1955-56, fourteen classrooms, a gymnasium, and a cafeteria were added to...

What's now the Dyker Heights Intermediate School was constructed during the mid-1930s as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project.

The red brick gymnasium and classroom buildings were constructed by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938-1939. The buildings originally belonged to Gray High School. Today, the gymnasium is used by Idabel Middle School. However, the gymnasium was rebuilt following a fire in the past year (2017). The extent of the reconstruction and how much of what we see today is original cannot be determined. Although the one-story brick classroom building still exists, it is not in use. It has been boarded up.    

Illini Union, the Student Union building of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, "was dedicated on November 1, 1941 as the campus's home for student organizations, meetings, and student programs and activities, replacing University Hall. It was constructed in cooperation with the University of Illinois Foundation, which secured funding for the construction through a $525,820 Public Works Administration grant and a $656,000 loan which was later repaid through student fees." (Wikipedia)

Fourteen boys of the federal National Youth Administration (NYA) built a tennis court and graded a baseball field at Trenton, New Jersey's old Immaculate Conception High School. The exact location of this former school is unknown to Living New Deal, though it was possibly located at 544 Chestnut Avenue.

In the 1930s through the early 1940s, Indiana University's Bloomington campus was expanded through New Deal funding. The construction of the IU Auditorium (formerly the Hall of Music) began in 1938 with PWA funding. The Auditorium is built with Southern Indiana limestone and houses Thomas Hart Benton's "Century of Progress" murals.

Then known as Indiana State Teachers College, Indiana University of Pennsylvania benefited during the Great Depression from a large construction project enabled by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA). The PWA provided a $226,000 grant for the project, whose final cost was $700,440. Construction occurred between February 1938 and June 1939. (PWA Docket No. 1820.) Three buildings were constructed on the campus, including an auditorium and dining hall addition. The auditorium is now known as Fisher Auditorium. The present status of the other structures is unknown to the Living New Deal.

The Industrial and Training School in Columbia housed juvenile offenders from the early 1900s through 2008 when it was closed. Begun in March 1934, the state legislature appropriated $200,000 to supplement CWA funds for building repairs on Mississippi institutions. Work was delayed due to delay in the CWA funds. Approval was eventually received to use ERA funds. The largest expenditure was for the Industrial and Training School at Columbia, where $49,783.98 was spent on buildings and grounds improvement. Work included rebuilding the water supply system, new reservoir, repair and painting of water tank. Repairs were completed on Franklin Hall and...

Federal Public Works Administration Docket No. NY 2754 entailed the construction of two school buildings in Jamestown, New York: the new Jamestown High School and the Industrial Arts Building, which was located to the school's southeast. Modern imagery suggests that the Industrial Arts Building has since been demolished, perhaps during the process of expanding the facilities of the high school.

The Civil Works Administration funded improvements at the Industrial Home School for White Children, between 1933-1934. The structure appears to be today’s Guy Manson Recreation Center, but very little remains (see here and here). “It can be reported that during the year much very important work was accomplished by the Civil Works Administration. The roadway from Wisconsin Avenue around the buildings was completed; the large porches were repaired and painted; two large store rooms were constructed and a considerable area of the ground graded and converted into gardens with provision for irrigation. Anew tennis court has almost been finished, and suitable fences...

What was then known as the New Jersey Manual Training and Industrial School for Colored Youth was improved by the National Youth Administration (NYA) ca. 1936. The site is presently used as a juvenile penal institution. "In Burlington County 48 colored boys are working at the Bordentown Industrial School for Colored Youth, constructing four tennis courts and keeping the grounds in condition."

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction the Infirmary Building, Missouri State Hospital Number 3 in Nevada, Vernon County. The Infirmary was part of a larger program in the state of Missouri that sought to rehabilitate overcrowded healthcare and penal facilities. Funding for the program came from a state bond that was matched by a PWA grant of eight million dollars. The program employed 34 architectural firms. The building was designed by the Kansas City architecture firm Caroll and Dean. A plaque located at the entrance and bearing the date 1937 reads, “Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works Project Number 5131-1.”...

The Public Works Administration contributed approximately $220,000 toward the construction of sewers, paving, sidewalks, and school additions between 1939 and 1940 in Fairbanks, Alaska.

In November 1935, federal Public Works Administration (PWA) Administrator Harold Ickes allotted $237,200.00 to the Hastings State Hospital for three units in the institution’s building plans. Together with the $290,000.00 provided by the state legislature, the allotment raised the total amount of funds to be spent to $527,200.00 for the construction of a new hospital building, a building for the night watch, and a sewage disposal plant. Kenneth Gedney was hired to be the architect for these improvements. Bids were called in December 1935. The bid for excavating the basement of the night watch building was given to F. C. Hageman...

The fine arts building was reconstructed in 1936, including: removing brickwork to make the building more earthquake safe, installing new columns and beams to carry vertical loads, building a new fireproof starway, rearranging windows to bring in more light, updating the heating system. Most of the construction was done by CWA and SERA labor.

"Located on N. Broadway in the small town of Inola, this is a T-shaped, 10-room school house and auditorium constructed by the WPA in 1940. A bronze shield on the building documents this. "The school faces Broadway, with a perpendicular auditorium extension to the rear. Construction is of cut, coursed and rusticated native stone. There are seven bays, separated by stone columns, raised above the roofline. Windows are set in groups of one and three, with brick surrounds and have been replaced with fixed panes. The front entrance has double doors and sidelights slightly recessed under a stepped parapet, with low...

The Brooklyn school now known as Mark Twain / I.S. 239 was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The building is still in use today.

The PWA provided funding for the construction of the Iowa City High School, now City High, in 1937-1938. From Wikipedia: City High School was built through the Public Works Projects, one of many other programs formed in Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal package. City High would become the second high school to be built in Iowa City, as the older one was becoming overcrowded as the population of the city increased. To determine the new location of the school, Iowa City residents had to vote whether to build the school in a central location, closer to the existing high school, or...

Iowa Lakeside Laboratory was built by CCC Camp BFI in 1936 in the vicinity of Milford IA. It is still serving as a laboratory. 

This historic Iowa Tribe Community Building was constructed in 1940 as a New Deal project. It is "one of the only extant resources built by the Civilian Conservation Corps – Indian Division in Kansas." NRHP nomination form: "The Iowa Tribe Community Building ... is located in northeast Brown County on the reservation of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. ... The one-and-a-half-story limestone building exhibits elements of the Rustic and Colonial Revival architectural styles, which were popular during the New Deal era. It was constructed as part of a project of the Civilian Conservation Corps - Indian Division (CCC-ID), a...

Then Bath Memorial Hospital, in 1935 Ira Davenport Memorial Hospital opened "in a renovated 3-story building, funded by a local bond issue and a Federal grant." The Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) supplied a $61,022 grant for the project, whose total cost was $135,674. Construction occurred between Jan. 1936 and Jan. 1937. PWA Docket No. NY W1342.

Located at the southwest corner of U.S. 59 and S 550 Rd., a few miles east of Afton, Oklahoma, the former Iron Post school building was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938. Built of uncut native stone, the 73' x 26' building is now privately owned.