Education and Health Sites

The former Presbytère or Rectory of the late 18th century St. Louis Cathedral is now part of the Louisiana State Museum complex, along with the old Cabildo Building.  The Cabildo flanks St. Louis on the west and the Presbytère on the east, along the north side of Jackson Square along Chartres Street.  The Presbytère was begun in 1891 and only finished thirty years later, and never served its intended purpose.  It was rented and then sold to the City of New Orleans for use as a courthouse and then transferred to the Louisiana State Museum in 1911 (see plaque). The Presbytère...

Preston College, a dormitory building on the University of South Carolina campus in Columbia, SC, was constructed in 1939, "part of the extensive building program undertaken during the New Deal, which allowed the University to continue its physical expansion after financial constraints of the Depression. The Public Works Administration paid 45 percent of the cost of the building, and dormitory-revenue bonds provided the rest." (USC) The building is located south of the Horseshoe on the north side of Greene St.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided funding for the construction of a new high school in Preston, Idaho in 1939. The school building is a long, two-story structure with two wings flanking a central entrance, and what appears to be a gymnasium and second entry at the east end. The design is Brick Moderne with bas-relief columns capped by white stone and a slightly projecting central entrance with modest carved stone decorations and the date 1939 above the doorway. The school is in good condition and still in use.

Lock Haven University's Price Auditorium was one of several facilities constructed during the late 1930s with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The building is still in service.

Priest River Junior High School (originally High School) is an Art Moderne-style building designed and built by the Work Projects Administration in 1940.

The Leander C. and Laurel L. Pritchard Memorial Auditorium in Falls City, Nebraska was constructed as a $100,000 Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in 1939.

Pittsburgh's historic Prospect Junior High and Elementary School building dates to 1931. However, an addition to the building was built in 1936-8 as a New Deal project: the Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $154,980 grant for the project, whose total cost was $390,249. According to the Pittsburgh Press: "The addition will be three stories with a basement and sub-basement, and will provide gymnasiums, swimming pool, auditorium, filter rooms, locker rooms, fan room, social rooms and other facilities." Regarding the school, Wikipedia states: "It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The school closed in 2006, and the building has since...

Th PWA granted $320,000 for the construction of a new dormitory at the Montana School of Mines, now known as the Montana Technical campus of the University of Montana. The residence is now known as Prospector Hall. The school's website explains: "Construction of the Residence Hall began in 1935 with an appropriation grant from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration of Public Works. It was open for use during the 1935-1936 academic year. The main structure has four floors each with a student lounge. In addition, there are two wings, each with one floor. It was originally designed to house 110 students."

Improvements were made to the Millbury, Massachusetts's old Providence Street School building and grounds with the assistance of federal New Deal funds. The old school is now privately owned. The Civil Works Administration provided labor for a grounds grading project begun in 1933 as well as a roof shingling project begun and completed that year. At the same time Federal Emergency Relief Act funds enabled other improvements at the school, such as the installation of concrete steps. The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) redecorated the interior of the building in 1936 and constructed a fence and sidewalk "on the Pearl Street side...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) repaired 69 public buildings in Parkersburg, Wood County. The projects were sponsored jointly by the City of Parkersburg and the Board of Education, and were backed by local organizations. The WPA provided the labor and part of the materials and equipment. The projects included the modernization of schools and city fire stations.

The Allenstown Public Library was erected in 1934 by Public Works Administration (PWA) workers at a cost of $13,138.00. This Colonial Revival structure was designed by Harold, Homes, Owen, Inc. The original contract stipulated that the majority of the construction work was to be by hand in order to employ more local workers longer.

In 1936 the National Youth Administration (NYA) constructed the Broken Bow High School building. It was later renovated in order to house the new Broken Bow Public Library which moved into the NYA building in 1990. A cornerstone located to the right of the entrance reads: Broken Bow Youth Center Sponsored by National Youth Adm. and Broken Bow Bd. of Edu. Houston A. Wright State Director, NYA Guy B. Massey, Supt. of School, B.B.O. James L. Womack Const. Engineer, NYA Cecil . Martin Supervisor, NYA

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided funds and labor to construct parts of the library in 1936.

This neoclassical building was completed with funds and labor provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

Haleyville, Alabama's historic public library building was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the 1930s. The city has utilized the building as the community's library since the post office moved out in 1970. The building also houses a New Deal mural, presently in questionable condition.

"The 1937 building of stuccoed cinderblock represents the successful culmination of the organizing and fundraising efforts of the Julesburg Woman's Club to establish a permanent town library and community meeting facility. The project combined local funds with a grant from the Depression era Works Progress Administration."   (www.historycolorado.org)

Text From the state historical marker reads: Kilgore's first public library opened in 1933 under the direction of two local women's clubs. With funding from the Federal Public Works Administration, support from the city, and labor from the Works Progress Administration, this structure was completed in 1939. Designed in a style reminiscent of cottages in the French province of Normandy, it stands as a visible reminder of Kilgore's depression-era progressivism and continues to serve local citizens. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1990

"The Lockport Public Library project was begun as the result of two generous bequests from citizens of the town. It was carried out with the assistance of municipal and P.W.A. funds . The building is H-shaped in plan and is set back from the street, which provides a small yard in front separated from the street by an iron fence. It contains an entrance hall, 2 reading rooms, exhibit room, stack room, an office for the librarian, cataloging room, and a director's room. In the basement are receiving and stack rooms, the children's room, and an auditorium seating 250. The construction is...

"n 1937 a new library was constructed under the Workers Progress Administration.  An addition was added to the library in the 1960’s. Okemah Public Library is still located in this historic rock building. The library is located by scenic Noble Park with the WPA canal and is one block from Okemah’s middle school. Unique to our library are the two original stone fireplaces that lend a quaint charm to the library’s interior."   (https://www.okemah.okpls.org/) Note: the Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory form lists the date of construction as 1935.

The Rutland Public Library was renovated with the help of Public Works Administration funds. (Docket No. Vt. 1059-DS) The work consisted of installing interior partitions and painting and restoring the architectural details of the façade. The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted restoration work on the facility as well. "The Rutland Free Library was started in 1886. Originally housed in various storefronts and at the old Memorial Hall on West Street, the library has been located in the old courthouse and jail on Center Street since the 1930s."   (https://rutlandfree.org) In the 1935 town report, the mayor Henry H. Branchaud said: "Taking the PWA projects voted...

Fort Worth's first library opened in 1901 thanks to a $50,000 donation from wealthy philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. By the late 1920's the need for additional space became critical, but a bond issue for a larger library failed. When funds became available through the Public Works Administration in 1933, library supporters pushed to secure money for a new building. After years of wrangling with the city council and the PWA, the Carnegie Library was demolished, and the new library project was completed in June 1939 at a construction cost of $370,688 and a project cost of $390,861. A new central library opened...

The library was completed in 1936 with funds provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It has since been demolished.

After the Ohio River flood, in 1937 the Lawrenceburg public library—along with libraries in Aurora, Jeffersonville, and New Albany—were furnished with materials and labor by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in order to get facilities back in “good condition.” This library has been demolished.

The public library building in Upper Marlboro used to be the town Post Office, built in 1936 – one of  1,100 post offices built by the U.S. Treasury Department as part of the New Deal.  Today, it serves as the Upper Marlboro branch of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System.  The building is a good example of  the Colonial Revival style of architecture used often in the eastern states under Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect for the Treasury Department.  A large mural painted for the post office by local artist Mitchell Jamieson still hangs on its interior west wall. 

On April 26, 1933, the City of Jacksonville issued a charter to the Jacksonville Library Association to reestablish the Jacksonville Public Library, which had closed in the mid 1920s. The City Commission granted use of space vacated by removal of the Jacksonville Building & Loan Association to its new location, and on July 10, 1933, there was once again a Jacksonville Public Library. In 1936, by vote of the people of Jacksonville, the library became city-supported. On October 11, 1939, citizens passed a bond package for sufficient expenditures to build a public library and also granted permission for it to be...

The historic former public library building at 206 W 6th Street in Stillwater, Oklahoma was built by a Public Works Administration (PWA) grant funds in 1938. A two-story brick, hipped roof building, the library was built in colonial revival style. Most of the interior has changed over the years, but the outer construction is still unaltered. At the time of the visit, the now-privately-owned building was for sale and listed on multiple realtor websites. The cornerstone shows it was built by Federal Emergency Administration of Public Work Project No. Okla. 1095 DS R.W. Shaw Architect Dennehy Const Co. Builders. Agencies: PWA The library website has...

The Works Progress Administration built a library in Yale, OK in 1938. Contributor note: "This building screams 'WPA' so we had to climb the stairs and investigate. Sure enough, there was the iconic bronze shield showing WPA 1938 at the top of the stairs. This is a two-story native stone building which faces West onto South "B" Street. Its main entrance faces west at the end of a walkway that has stone side walls. The windows on the ground level are all boarded. On the north side, a stone walkway leads to a set of stone stairs leading to the back of the second...

The federal Work Projects Administration worked to improve New Rochelle's, New York's former Main Library (funded by Andrew Carnegie, opened 1914, and extended during the 1920s) during the 1930s. The library, which was used as such until 1983, is located at the southwest corner of Main St. and Pintard Ave. The building still stands, though it is now privately owned. One WPA project, which involved numerous municipal buildings in New Rochelle including this one, was described by the WPA in its project rolls: "Work includes performing carpentry, masonry, and sheet metal work; excavating and constructing walls; painting, placing tile, and roofing." WPA...

The library was built in 1904. It was repaired by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) after the Ohio River flood in 1937. By 1938, the library was re-opened to the public with flood damage reconditioning work by the WPA. The building has been altered by replacement windows, a north elevator addition, and replacement doors. The building has been restored recently and has had some stones and parts of stones replaced. The interior is mostly new to accommodate the special collections foundation that was the building''s tenant until recently. The building is presently vacant and looking for a new tenant.

"Library additions were also constructed," by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) "such as the expansion of the Williston and Mandan Public Libraries ..." The exact location and status of the project in question is unknown to Living New Deal.

The public library in Mount Vernon, New York was expanded with a new addition during the 1930s, aided by federal Public Works Administration funds. The library is still in use today. The addition is located at the S. 2nd Avenue side of the building. PWA Docket No. NY 6504-D.

After the Ohio River Flood, the public library in Aurora—along with libraries in  Jeffersonville, Lawrenceville, and New Albany—were furnished with materials and labor to get facilities back in “good condition.” These were provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1937.

Works Progress Administration (WPA) library construction projects in North Dakota included "work on the Dickinson Carnegie Library." That facility still forms part of the Dickinson Area Public Library complex.

After the Ohio River flood in 1937, the public library in New Albany—along with libraries in Aurora, Jeffersonville, and Lawrenceburg—was refurbished by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which provided materials and labor to get facilities back in “good condition.”

WPA grant was obtained in 1939 to build a school. Three low-water dams on the Paluxy River, several local school buildings, and a canning plant were built with Work Projects Administration money.

The Commissioner's court minutes of 1939 show that the Kendalia RCSD#14 was authorized to issue $2500.00 of school bonds to build a new school building. In 1940 the old frame school house was replace with a 3 room native rock school constructed by the WPA (Works Progress Administration) for $2500.00 and classes were held in the new building starting in the fall of 1940. The Kendalia Mother's Club was responsible for the fund raising and construction of a small cafeteria that served the students of the new rock school building. The new Kendalia school was a modern school building and over...

School and landscaping around the school done with PWA funding in 1940. Abilene Reporter-News 1940: "Working orders for the PWA project for the Rule Public schools was issued Thursday. The contract calls for the building of an eight room grade school building, a bus shed, bleachers stand on football ground and landscaping of the school grounds. The grade building will face highway 16. The project will cost approximately $45,000.00."

The completed project, including the local funds and Works Progress Administration money, totals around $37,000. The structure is built of native stone, it contains eight class rooms, study hall, library, office, text book room and auditorium. Hardwood floors were used throughout. Class rooms included a Home Economics equipped with cabinets, work tales, stoves and machines and a Vocational Agricultural room with a trophy cabinet. Heating provided by seventeen new butane heaters, and a 1,000 gal butane storage tank. The auditorium has a seating capacity of 500, with room for still more seats. A large stage with dressing rooms, inclined floor and good...

The Public Works administration funded the construction of the public school in Trent TX. There is a metal plate with 1937 mounted on the facade, but it only mentions the Board of Trustees. Metal walls have been added to the building. Excerpt from the Abilene Reporter-News, 01 Dec 1937: "TRENT. Dec. 1. (Spl) -Contract for construction of Trent's new- school plant--a $26,000 project with half of that amount a Public Works administration grant--was awarded here yesterday to the Balfanz Construction company of Abilene. The contract went to the Sun Electric company, also of Abilene, and the heating contract to the Don Lacv Heating company...

The Brooklyn school P.S. 253, presently The Magnet School of Multicultural Humanities, was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The building possesses a 1933 cornerstone.