Education and Health Sites

Among the numerous WPA-constructed buildings in Bozeman designed by Fred Willson was the Irving School located at 611 South 8th Avenue.

"Irving School, located at 12th and Sycamore in Duncan is currently a Pre-K Center and Head Start program. The School was a WPA project, built in 1935 as a two-story school, with an appropriation of $23,576. In 1966, the second story was removed and additional construction was completed on the first floor... The Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory provides the following information on this building: IRVING SCHOOL, DUNCAN, OK, WAS ORIGINALLY A TWO STORY BUILDING. OF THE WPA GRADESCHOOLS (IRVING, LEE, EMERSON), IRVING IS THE ONLY ONE USING THE ORIGINAL BUILDING, THE OTHERS WERE RAZED IN THE MIDDLE 60'S WHEN NEW BUILDINGS WERE BUILT....

The Irving School was a grammar school in the City of Hornell, New York. After it burned in 1938, it was rebuilt the following year with labor provided through the Works Progress Administration. The 1939 building was incorporated into the current Hornell High School when that was built. The address provided is the modern address for the high school.

Washington Irving STEAM Magnet School (originally Verdugo Road Junior High School) in Los Angeles, CA, was constructed by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The Northeast Los Angeles River Revitalization Area Report describes the school as being built in 1936-37; a PWA plaque on the auditorium, however, bears the date 1939. The original buildings include the main building, a cafeteria, a gymnasium with two bas-relief sculptures near the roof, and an auditorium containing a Federal Art Project (FAP) mural by Ivan Bartlett. All these structures are still standing. The school is one of many schools in the LAUSD school system which were damaged...

A Public Works Administration grant helped fund the construction of an addition to O’Keeffe Elementary School at 70th Street and South Merrill Avenue in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood. The two-story, nearly 10,000-square-foot addition was designed by Board of Education architect John Charles Christensen and provided eight new classrooms. The architectural style of the new addition was patterned after that of the existing school building and formed a short wing at the northern end of the original school building, which opened in 1925. Construction work on the addition began in April 1936 and was completed in time for the start of...

J. P. Elder Middle School Annex (originally part of the North Fort Worth High School), was one of the school district's existing schools that received landscaping by the CWA/WPA during the New Deal. At this school, a lengthy sandstone retaining wall and a terrace were constructed by the CWA in 1935. The terrace included a fountain that had three cast stone lion heads. The landscape features were designed by Hare and Hare and constructed under the supervision of the city's park department.

"This high school occupies a site of 35 acres. Large play areas, 7 fields for games, 6 tennis courts, and 12 handball courts, as well as a stadium seating 2,626 and bleachers seating 1,000, are part of the plant. The building accommodates 2,500 pupils. The academic, commercial, and science departments are in the wings on the left; and the shops, domestic science, and art departments on the right, with the auditorium and gymnasium between them. There are 52 standard and 30 special classrooms, a library seating 250, and a cafeteria with a capacity of 625. The construction is fireproof. Exterior walls are...

"The new Magnolia School replaces a four-room frame structure which had served the school district for 50 years and which was heated by stoves and lacked proper sanitary accommodations. The new building is one story in height, with provision in the basement for the heating plant, and provides four classrooms and an auditorium with a stage. The construction is semifireproof. The exterior walls are red brick backed up with hollow tile and trimmed with wood and limestone. The first floor is a concrete slab and the roof construction is wood covered with slate. The project was completed in June 1935 at a construction...

An addition to the J.H.S. 80 school building in the Bronx was constructed in 1935-36 as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project. The  PWA funds were allotted in 1934-36, and the school opened in 1936.

The Emergency Administration of Public Works funded the construction of the Auditorium/Gymnasium at J.U. Blacksher High School.

Green Bay's Jackson Elementary School was constructed in 1937-8 with federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The P.W.A. supplied an $81,000 grant for the project, whose total cost was $208,266. PWA Docket No. WI 1326

Completed in 1938, these concrete-based football stadium bleachers were constructed in a former quarry that furnished rock to many local New Deal projects. The stadium is still called "The Pit."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Jackson School in Pauls Valley OK. Contributor note: "Jackson Elementary School is located at 1015 S. Walnut and is an active elementary school today. It has an Art Deco theme, which was rare for the architect Albert S. Ross. The school is a one story buff brick building constructed in an L-shape, with a flat roof. Later additions to the school have been built at each end, to closely resemble the original. The windows are set in triples with three large panes each. Four belts in darker brick run above and below the windows, and "through"...

James A. Foshay Learning Center (formerly Junior High School), which opened in 1925, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1934-35. 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...

1 of 27 schools in Pasadena CA that the New Deal was involved in rebuilding, demolishing, or reinforcing after the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. 5 photos available at the Pasadena Museum of History depict the demolition of the school by the WPA and 1 photo depicting a PWA contractor starting excavation for the new structure. Listed as "Project #1 B3 225" "Garfield school demolition was started by February 1, 1935. The school building proper was practically demolished by March 5th, 1935. The ensuing time was occupied with the removal, sorting and salvaging of materials. Average working force - 30 men" 1888 built as the California...

Concrete, 3 stories, for 1600 students.

The PWA constructed one building of the former James E. Guinn School in 1936-37. That building is now occupied by the Business Assistance Center. "The James E. Guinn School had its origins as the Southside Colored School, organized in 1894. Construction of a 3-story brick building began in 1917. The prominent architectural firm of Sanguinet and Staats designed this building. It was demolished in 1986. A second permanent building was constructed in 1927 and was designed by Wiley G. Clarkson. By 1930, the Guinn School was the largest black school in the city for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. An...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a community building and gymnasium, now known as the James E. Roberts Memorial Building, in Connersville, Indiana. "At Roberts Park in Connersville, a brick community house 120x50 feet is practically completed. The structure is part of a general program of park improvement being carried on in that city."

This Art Moderne-style building, designed by the architectural firm of McGuire & Shook, was constructed through a Public Works Administration (PWA) grant of $98,000 in 1936. The school has been repurposed as a living complex: Roberts School Flats. Per their website: "Roberts School Flats boasts an impressive and relatively unknown past. Built in 1936, it was funded with grant money from the post-Depression era Public Works Administration’s New Deal and generous donations from its namesake, local philanthropist, James E. Roberts and his wife, Henrietta. Roberts School Flats is truly a surviving piece of Indianapolis history. Once on Indiana Landmark’s 10 Most Endangered...

Original name was the Fifth Street Junior High School "The two new junior high schools in Bangor were built and equipped at the cost of $740,000. Every cent of this was paid by the W.P.A. (Works Projects Administration) City Manager Wallace designed the two school grounds. The new Fifth Street Junior High School is surrounded by walks, a cyclone fence, shrubs, vines, and trees. Approximately 2,000 feet of concrete walks were constructed in front of the both new Junior High Schools in Bangor. There is a tarred driveway encircling the building with a parking area at each end. Over 1 1/3 miles...

Public Works Administration-funded contractors built the Cooper School in Greenfield, WI.

The Works Progress Administration built the James M. Shields Memorial Gymnasium in Seymour IN. Former high school gymnasium, now (February 2023) all but abandoned by a private owner. Perennial presence on Indiana Landmarks' Ten Most Endangered list.

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Civil Works Administration carried out “repairs and renewals” work at the James Madison School (renamed Edith Williams School) on St. Thomas.

James Madison University (JMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia received several new buildings during the Great Depression with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds: Cleveland Hall, Converse Hall, and what is now known as Carrier Library.

"Library additions were also constructed," by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) "such as the expansion of the Williston and Mandan Public Libraries ..." Living New Deal believes this library to be what since became known as the James Memorial Library, though further confirmation is needed.

In 1938, a massive hurricane destroyed or damaged many public and private buildings in Rhode Island. Among these buildings was the James T. Lockwood High School of Warwick. Edward O. Ekman of Providence was hired to draw plans for the reconstruction of this 1925 building. It is currently occupied by condominiums.

"The murals in the Paul Bunyan Room in the Wisconsin Student Union in Madison, WI were done by James Watrous funded by the PWAP."

The original Jamesport school was constructed in 1914. An addition was made to the gymnasium in 1938 with funds provided by the New Deal. The federal funding most likely came from the Public Works Administration (PWA), but school improvement were sometimes made by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

"The Lutheran church sponsored Jamestown Hospital (not surveyed). Ground breaking for the facility took place in 1928 and cornerstone ceremonies on October 28, 1929, one day before the Stock Market Crash. Consequently, donations and bond financing for the project were stalled for several years. The brick structure was completed in 1935, late enough that it may have been assisted by PWA financing. Stylistically, it is very unusual in its simplified Art Deco detailing, particularly in the striated spandrels and stylized arches. Discussion of the style and associated historic theme is found under the Great Depression heading, above."

Jane Addams High School, located in the southern Bronx, was constructed during the 1930s with federal Public Works Administration funds. It opened in 1937. The project was PWA Docket No. NY 1178. The school closed in 2012, and the building now houses two smaller charter schools. In 1935, the Department of Parks had also opened a new playground on the site with federal funds, most likely FERA and possibly CWA funds. It is unclear whether that playground became part of the school's recreational facilities, or whether it was demolished in order to build the school.  

Here's the summary I wrote for the Docomomo US MN listing on our registry, heavily borrowing from the application linked below: Original section built in 1911 (designed by W.E.E. Greene of Luverne; Builder: Boyd Construction Co.; cost: $30,000), four additions in 1939, 1956, 1960, and 1965; the richness and beauty of the rose-colored Sioux quartzite stone itself (also called Jasper stone) provides the visual character of the building, laid in broken ashlar; the substantial, Moderne-style 1939 addition (designed by Perkins & McWayne of Sioux Falls; Cost: $125,000, with $45,135 in New Deal funds via the Public Works Administration) on the south...

Built as a K-12 public school, the Troupsburg Central School is still extant and in use as Jasper-Troupsburg Elementary School. According to A History of Troupsburg, NY (1808-2004), "It seems likely that the new school in Troupsburg was constructed with New Deal assistance. This fact seems to be confirmed with evidence found in the dedication program. On the list of events in the dedication ceremony, there is an address given by Captain Thomas W. Poindexter. Captain Poindexter is listed as a representative of the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works.... It seems highly unlikely that a representative from such an agency...

A WPA municipal building on Main St. in Java, South Dakota. It is now used as the Java Public Library.

The historic Jay Town Office building in Au Sable Forks was originally one of several similarly designed school buildings built in the area as part of a New Deal project. Their construction was enabled by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA), which provided a $178,140 loan and $56,289 grant, effectively covering the entire $230,491 total project cost. PWA Docket No. NY 2624

The rock veneer building was constructed in 1938 by the NYA. The building, in a state of deterioration, appears to be used as storage and privately owned, with restricted access.

Houston, Texas's old Jefferson Davis Hospital was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project during the Great Depression. The PWA supplied a $1,003,500 grant toward the eventual $2,388,686 total cost of the project. Work occurred between March 1936 and December 1937. The facility was demolished in 1999. (PWA Docket No. TX 1014)

In 1937, the PWA provided funds for the construction of Jefferson Elementary School on Davenport's west side. From the Des Moines Register: "Some schools combined local tax dollars to enhance traditional building plans. Davenport, for example, built six elementary schools in 1939. Some rooms included fireplaces. Jefferson Elementary has a wood-paneled auditorium. All six elementaries are still in use."

The WPA improved the grounds of Thomas Jefferson School in the Glendale Unified School District. Location confirmation is needed, but the address here is the only Jefferson school located in that school district today.

Constructed by the PWA in 1933. Confirmation needed on whether or not this is the original building.