Education and Health Sites

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded additions to three existing schools in Nashville 1938-1940. Supervising architects for the projects were Hart, Freeland, and Roberts of Nashville, although the design architects for projects varied. The Nashville firm of Dougherty, Clemmons and Seale designed the elementary wing and gymnasium addition to Bailey. Original cost was planned at $72,000, but at completion was $82,000. A two-story elementary wing accommodating 300 children, and a basement were added to the southeast corner of the building. A gymnasium at the rear of the original building (partially destroyed by the 1933 tornado) was also constructed next to...

Originally Bailey Junior High School, this historic building is "two stories and a basement in height and, due to sloping site, part of the basement is entirely above grade. The basement contains locker and shower rooms, a cafeteria, kitchen, club rooms, assembly room, industrial-arts rooms, shops, workrooms, and laboratories. On the first floor are the gymnasium, band room; domestic-science department including an apartment, a sewing room, and a cooking room; also 12 classrooms, rooms for the fine arts and natural sciences, the auditorium with its stage, a clinic, and administrative offices. The second floor contains the bleachers for the gymnasium, 10 classrooms,...

"This is another of the WPA-constructed schoolhouses in rural Oklahoma which live on in these small communities. The town of Bailey is gone! It is a ghost town, lying 12 miles northeast of Marlow. Its post office served from June 25, 1892, until September 30, 1932. This schoolhouse was constructed in 1939. It faces east along 2915. A sign shows it is/was the home of Bailey Community Church, but we could not determine whether the church still meets here today. This is a one-story Native Stone building which is rectangular with a gabled roof. The front entrance has a four-step stairway, leading...

The federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) constructed a gymnasium at the old high school for the Bain school district in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (now within the city limits of Mint Hill). The structure, whose exact location is unknown to Living New Deal, no longer exists. "The Long Creek High School Gymnasium was one of eight facilities of its general type constructed in Mecklenburg County under the arrangements outlined above, the others being at the high schools then in the local school districts of Huntersville, Paw Creek, Pineville, Sharon, Oakhurst, Berryhill, and Bain. Only the Long Creek Gymnasium survives from this...

The PWA funded this addition to the Bain School in Cranston.

The Works Progress Administration built the Baird High School gym, football field, and wall in Baird TX.

The New Deal's Civil Works Administration (CWA) employed 30 men at the end of 1933 constructing a heating plant for Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas. The exact location and status of the facility is currently unknown to Living New Deal.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved the grounds at Balboa Elementary School in Glendale, CA.

Along with the adjacent gymnasium, this school was constructed in 1938 with Workd Progress Administration (WPA) labor. NCDCR.gov: "Bald Creek Elementary School is a native stone Rustic Revival-style building, and one of five schools built by the WPA in Yancey County."

The Bald Creek Elementary School and accompanying gym were constructed in 1938 with the assistance of the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA).

The Bald Eagle Hill Children’s Health Camp was built in 1936-1937 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for children suffering from tuberculosis. The camp’s address was 4900 Nichols Avenue SE, which is now Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.  The camp was located at the southern end of the avenue, near its intersection with Joliet Street, which is the site of today’s Bald Eagle Recreation Center. This WPA-built camp replaced a smaller tuberculosis facility in Northwest DC and cost between $79,000 and $110,000 to construct. In 1939, the Sunday Star described the camp: “Scattered over nearly five acres of grassy hilltop land overlooking...

Ballard High School in Seattle opened in 1901, underwent renovations through New Deal funds in 1934. The Civil Works Administration (CWA) completed renovations between 1933 and 1934. Special Report of accomplishment by CWA workers from November 24th, 1933 to February 15th, 1934. Project KCWB 547-CWA 17-244. See 1934 progress report. *Building has been remodeled in 1998 and the work done by the CWA cannot be viewed.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Baltic School in Baltic SD. The structure served as a public school. Its current use is unknown. A building plaque reads: "WPA project number 3883."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to construct a athletic field at Baltimore City College. Maryland WPA Project #15.

This large elementary school is in the Nob Hill section of Albuquerque, NM, just south of the University of New Mexico and has one of the highest ratings in the city. It was built by the PWA in 1939. The interior includes the typical glazed brick wainscoting in hallways. The exterior style includes modern deco elements mixed with a short visible clay tile roof and dentilwork below the fascia. Brick is the predominant exterior building material. The building is still in use.

The paper "A History of the Bandera Public Library" documents that a Civil Works Administration (CWA) project was secured to cover a portion of the cost to build a new building in 1934. In the book, History of Bandera County, Texas, the library is documented as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. It is speculated that the building began as CWA project and the WPA finished it as the former program ended and the latter program began during the time period the building was constructed.

Bandini Street Elementary School, which opened in 1923, was renovated 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 Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) and/or Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) funded the labor for and materials for improvements to the since-demolished Banigan City School building in Millville, Massachusetts. Improvements included painting, for which the federal government also paid for the project's materials. While the school no longer remains, the building's foundation can still be found at what is known as the Banigan City Schoolyard, which is adjacent to the senior center on the south side of Prospect St.

"During the Great Depression the Works Progress Administration paid for work on the school's athletic fields, with the project completed in 1936."   (wikipedia.org)

The National Youth Administration built the Banneker Community Center Gymnasium in Bloomington IN. The gymnasium is now part of a Bloomington Parks and Recreation community center, in what was originally a segregated school, built in 1915, for African-American children.

"Banner School, constructed in 1935, was one of the 825 schools constructed in Oklahoma by the Works Progress Administration. Banner School is located at 1124 W. Warner in northwest Guthrie. The school was constructed in 1935 by the WPA. Unlike the red native stone buildings so prominent in the region, this school is constructed of several shades of tan brick. The brick was scored with vertical striations. This is a one-story building which was an elementary school. The windows are equipped with horizontal, exterior metal movable sun shades. The building is currently vacant and not in use... To the left of the...

Evidence of Works Progress Administration (WPA) involvement in the former Banning High School building, now Nicolet Middle School, comes from a non-copyrighted pamphlet with no clear title or page number, that was handed out at the 2005 all-class reunion of Banning High School. The following text is from the pamphlet:   “In 1933 a huge earthquake stuck Long Beach, California, and did major damage to that city. It also cause parts of Banning High School to be considered unsafe. The Auditorium was condemned and the remainder of the school was in poor condition. “In 1935 the Depression had spread across America and...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided an $82,500 loan and $67,500 grant for construction of a school in Monroe Township, New Jersey. Total cost of the project was $152,000. Completed in 1936, Living New Deal believes this is the Barclay Brook Elementary School. PWA Docket No. NJ 6920

A Public Works Administration (PWA) $27,000 grant contributed to the funding of the $60,000 Barclay Grade School in Oregon City. The PWA also provided a $33,000 loan that was repaid with approval of a local bond initiative. This simple Colonial Revival style, wooden structure was designed by noted Portland architect Carl Wallwork.  The Salem firm Odum Construction built the structure during 1936 and it opened for fall classes that year. Noted for his work in wood, Wallwork's design included a hexagonal belfry with iron weathervane, a pedimented porch entry with square columns and pilasters, arched lights in the transome over the...

Bardo Gymnasium, now a part of the Pennsylvania College of Technology, was originally built as part of Williamsport High School. Sometimes mis-attributed to the WPA, the gym was constructed in 1936-7 with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. PWA Docket No.  PA 1080.

Barnes Hall on the campus of Central Michigan University was constructed during the Great Depression with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $119,250 grant. Construction occurred between October 1938 and 1939. "Barnes Hall started life as the dormitory wing of the new Student Union, known then as Keeler Union, which is now Powers Hall. Grounbreaking for the new student union occurred on October 31, 1938 when President Warriner turned the first shovel of earth. The building was funded through a Public Works Administration Grant, one of the programs of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. The...

When constructed by the WPA in 1937-39, Barretts Elementary School was a two room school built of limestone. The school has been extended several times since then, but the original WPA construction is still used as the school kindergarten today.

This school was built as an elementary school with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1938.  It later became a junior high school and was named for William Pitt Bartlett, a Porterville benefactor. The building is single-story and the design by W.D. Coates is Moderne (Art Deco). The main building front still looked unchanged as of 2009, except for probable window replacement. There are new aluminum windows on the small building on the south, and new aluminum doors on the back side. There have been at least 2 additions for new classrooms since it was built.

The elementary school in Basalt, Colorado was originally built as the town's high school in 1937-38. The school was paid for, in part, with a $20,970 federal Public Works Administration (PWA) grant, which covered nearly half of the $46,504 total project cost.  Alterations to the building were undertaken in 2000, and the original structure is now a part of a larger elementary school complex.  

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built bleachers for a baseball field in Sonora, California.  This field is part of a larger group of athletic fields behind the building know as "The Dome", a former elementary school building, long abandoned, that sits prominently on a hill in Sonora.   The WPA bleachers include a stone retaining wall with stairs and a long, stone drinking fountain.  We do not know the exact date of this work, which is unmarked. The playing field are used by several schools in the area and the bleachers and ballfield sit directly behind and below a building occupied by...

This densely forested area in the 30’s was marginal land having been logged and overgrazed. This prompted the purchase of these marginal farms which were nearly bankrupt and the formation of the Baskett Wildlife Research and Education Center, a function of the University of Missouri. The land had been improved by the CCC with planting of pine, locust, and Osage orange trees as a part of the Mark Twain National Forest. Ashland Lake /dam and the adjacent building with its rock walls were also built by the CCC. The area is located four miles east of Ashland around Ashland Lake off...

Originally the Miami Beach Public Library & Art Center, this building was designed by Russell Pancoast in 1930. FERA later completed the interiors of the rooms on the ground floor.

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Bath V.A. Hospital in Bath NY. Created as the hospital for Bath V.A., replacing the 1870s facility at what had been the New York State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home. The oldest resident Civil War veteran broke the ground in 1936. The hospital was dedicated May 12, 1938 with 409 beds and two operating rooms. This is still the hospital for what is now the Bath VA Medical Center.

"This high school is planned so that when the need arises additions may be made. The present building is T-shaped in plan and two stories in height. It provides seven classrooms, teachers' rooms, a principal's office, a chemical laboratory, a library, and a combination auditorium-gymnasium with a stage and bleachers. The auditorium-gymnasium is so arranged that it may be used by the community as well as by the school. The construction is fireproof throughout. The exterior walls are red face brick with wood trim. The columns at the entrance of the auditorium are limestone. The volume of the building is 573,780 cubic...

Originally the United States Marine Hospital, what is now Richmond University Medical Center's Bayley Seton Hospital was a PWA project. It is described by the Federal Writers' Project: "United States Marine Hospital, Bay Street and Vanderbilt Avenue, a Federal hospital operated by the United States Public Health Service, is open to personnel of the Merchant Marine and Coast Guard, and to certain classes of Government employees. Constructed in 1933-6 by the PWA at a cost of two million dollars, the tawny-colored brick buildings with a silver tower cover an area of eighteen acres. Louis A. Simon was the supervising architect. This...

Bayside High School was constructed as a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project. The P.W.A. allocated $2,067,274 for the construction of the facility: $1,480,000 as a loan and $587,274 as a grant. The building bears a 1935 cornerstone and was completed December 1936. The PWA docket number for this project was NY-2735.

Originally built as the Goose Creek post office, the historic Baytown Historical Museum building was originally constructed in 1936 as the city's post office and Federal Building. Construction was funded by the federal Treasury Department. The building houses an example of New Deal artwork.

The original Beach School was built in 1913 but declared an earthquake hazard and torn down in 1934.  It was replaced in two phases: the main wing in 1936 and the rear classroom wing and auditorium in 1940 (PHS 2007). The new school included 8 classrooms, a kindergarten, offices, a health room and an auditorium. There had been three previous efforts to replace schools and temporary buildings at schools in Piedmont in the 1920s, but the bond issues lost.   After the school board sought and gained funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA), a new bond issue passed in December...

In 1933/4 the federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) furnished the labor for redecoration / painting full interior of the now-former Beach Park School in West Hartford, Connecticut. The building now houses the School for Young Children at the University of Saint Joseph.

Built in 1936-37, occupied for school use on September 7, 1937. In 1875, the school district built a wood frame schoolhouse near the center of town. In 1903, the board built a masonry building to replace the frame school. In 1935, a fire destroyed the school. The building was insured for $35,000, but the estimated loss was $100.000. The new school served the entire township, since Indiana officials had been encouraging public school consolidation since the 1890s. Public Works Administration awarded a grant for $57, 348 to fill the gap. Additionally, the town sold bonds to fund the school. The...