Education and Health Sites

State Street Elementary School, which opened in 1932, was 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 that every member of the board agrees...

The Wyoming State Supreme Court building is situated in central Cheyenne, the state capital. It is a restrained example of Art Deco architecture in the neo-classical mode, with elegant bas-relief decorations, inscriptions and brass (-plated?) doorways and surrounding decoration. It was built in 1937 with aid from the Public Works Administration (PWA) and is still in active use. "This structure is immediately opposite the present State Capitol Building and is an important unit of a well-developed plan for the State and municipal group, occupying a square which is landscaped and surrounded by streets.  The building is three stories in height and...

The PWA built this cottage at the State Training School, later known as the Stockley Center, which housed the developmentally disabled.

The SUNY Maritime College is located on the Throgs Neck Peninsula in the Bronx. Researcher Frank da Cruz has compiled a brief history from multiple sources: "It started as the New York Nautical School in 1874 on a succession of ships moored at various locations in New York City's harbor and waterways. In 1929, it was renamed New York State Merchant Marine Academy, got a new ship, and moved to Brooklyn Navy Yard. The Throgs Neck peninsula had been home to US Army Fort Schuyler since just before the Civil War. The fort itself is the dark grey pentagon in photo, constructed...

The PWA conducted unspecified work at the State Welfare Old Age Infirmary, now the Delaware Hospital for the Chronically Ill. The state legislature appropriated $50,000 to the infirmary in 1935, potentially as matching funds for PWA work. From Delaware: A Guide to the First State: "The State Welfare Home ..., a prominent group of brick buildings in neo-Colonial style, was opened in 1933 to take the place of the almshouses in the three counties of Delaware. Planned to permit the addition of more buildings, the plant cost $590,000 as developed up to 1937. In 1936 there were 372 "guests" averaging 61...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped to restore the the Staten Island Historical Society Museum, now part of Historic Richmond Town. New Deal efforts on this project likely began under a precursor agency to the WPA: the Civil Works Administration (CWA) or Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). The Federal Writers' Project guide to New York City has this to say: "The Staten Island Historical Society Museum, opposite the old county courthouse at Court Place and Center Street, is housed in the old county clerk's and surrogate's office, a two-story brick structure of Colonial design, built in 1848 and restored in 1933-5 by...

The Staten Island Technical High School building was originally constructed as New Dorp High School during the 1930s, with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds (PWA Docket No. NY 8882). The large building is Georgian Neoclassical in design, bears a 1935 cornerstone, and houses some 1,500 students. It is typical of the dozens of schools built in New York with New Deal aid. These schools were all large, modern facilities, equipped with auditoriums, libraries, cafeterias and gymnasiums, and were often done in sober Neoclassical style. New Dorp was relocated to a new building in 1982 and Staten Island Technical High School...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) undertook a modest project to paint the since-demolished Charles Steele School in Northumberland, Pennsylvania. The school had been located at the western corner of Orange St. and 6th St.

An addition to Pennsylvania State University's Steidle Building was constructed during the Great Depression as part of a massive construction project enabled by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA). The building is still in use today.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) approved the Crook County School District's request for funds to construct a new high school in September 1935. A local bond raised $29,000 for the project and PWA funds provided the rest. Over the years, this one-story building has served several purposes, including its use as the school district's high school from 1936 to 1951. It is currently the Steins Pillar Elementary School. Portland area architect John Ernest Tourtleotte designed the $52,000 building in a style commonly known as PWA Moderne. The simple, modern lines of the school are accented with details that include both the...

Named after E. Sydney Stephens, the University of Missouri's Stephens Hall was constructed by the PWA in 1935-36. The building now houses the biochemistry department.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) hired local workers to build the Stephenson High School. The school replaced an older facility that no longer met the needs of a growing population the surrounding area. Dedicated in 1939, the new structure was a one-story limestone building with a metal hipped roof. The school was named after a popular student, Allen J. Stephenson. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. The structure is currently home to American Legion Post 290 and VFW Post 2933.

The Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed this one-story classroom in 1939 for the town of Sterling in Oklahoma. A Waymarker in Oklahoma describes this building as "a one-story sandstone classroom building which is symmetrical, with two entrances flanking a center portion which is slightly projected. The entrances each have a single door and one sidelight and are recessed in a portico with an arched opening. A WPA shield is marked in concrete and set into the stone wall in the entrance way. Two steps lead to the entrance porch, with stone sidewalls. The window openings are large, and have been...

The 1933 Long Beach Earthquake destroyed hundreds of schools throughout Southern California. Designed by Clarence N. Aldrich in WPA/PWA Moderne style, Stevenson Elementary School (Buildings A and B) was reconstructed in 1934 with Public Works Administration (PWA) funding. “On August 29, 1933, Long Beach citizens approved a $4,930,000 bond measure for the rebuilding of schools. Applications for approximately thirty-five schools were filed with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Public Works Administration (PWA); federal grants up to thirty percent of labor and material costs were obtained. To minimize costs, building materials were salvaged from damaged buildings, some schools were rehabilitated, and...

The addition to this original school is in the rear of the building and is rather nondescript. It was a $29,000 project in 1938.

The University of Michigan's Stockwell Hall was constructed during the Great Depression with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. "The building expansion plans of the University gained impetus in September 1938, when announcement was made of a grant by the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (PWA), making possible a new $1,000,000 dormitory for women. The offer "in the amount of 45 per cent of the cost of the project upon completion …, but not to exceed in any event, the sum of $450,000," was formally accepted by the Regents on October 18, 1938 (R.P., 1936-39, p. 714). The...

Stoddard Hall was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. "The first Stoddard Hall was the original state dormitory at TWU and was completed in 1908. The current building was completed in 1936 and now is home to the College of Professional Education."

The Colonial Revival style Stone Deavours school was designed by architects Krouse & Brasfield. PWA project W1059 for $23,881 grant was approved 9/25/1935 and completed 7/28/1936 for total of $56,477. The building was in use as Laurel School District offices in 1988 when it was destroyed by fire.

"he historic Nature Museum features displays on forestry, flora and fauna native to Connecticut, local history artifacts, rocks and minerals, and insects. Programs are offered throughout the summer. The Museum is on the National Register of Historic Places." "The museum was built in 1934-35 by a crew of the Civilian Conservation Corps based across the river in American Legion State Forest, and was formally dedicated by Governor Wilbur Cross in 1935. It closed in the early 1950s, and was reopened in 1992 after standing unused for many years."

Originally a long, low Art Deco structure, the building now used as Stonington Middle School (originally High School) was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project between 1936 and 1938. It was designed by S. Wesley Haynes & Associates, of Fitchburg and Hartford. The building has been recently altered, resulting of the reconstruction of the central bays. Unfortunately, the building has lost much of its character: its Art Deco detailing has been removed and been replaced with a poorly designed neo-traditional facade.

Stony Point Battlefield is the site of a 1779 Revolutionary War battle. This stone building was constructed on the site as the Stony Point Battlefield Museum in 1936 by the WPA. It continues to serve that function.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the rural Stonybrook School (of the then Stonybrook School District) in southeast Alameda County.  It replaced a wooden, one-room schoolhouse (see photo). Unfortunately, the PWA record does not give an exact location or date for the school. We surmise that it was built somewhere in Stonybrook Canyon, north of Niles Canyon, in southeastern Alameda County – still a very rural area in the 1930s. A 1924 map of school districts in the county shows a Stonybrook District in that area (see below) and there is no other place anywhere in Alameda County with the name...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Stratford Grade School, High School, and Gym in Stratford OK, in 1936. Contributor note: "This is a one-story buff brick building with a flat roof (except for the arched roof over the gymnasium). In recent years, red metal siding now covers the roofs with a slight gable. The siding extends down the upper walls. Over the main entrance and in two other locations, the roof line has scrolled cornices, with the words STRATFORD and HIGH SCHOOL on concrete panels. The original casement windows still exist in the gymnasium, however, the triple window units in the...

The school was built using funding of $48,372 grant from the Public Works Administration. Construction began on 22 August 1938 was completed by contractor J.O. Freeman. The school cost $77,405 when complete with the balance from local and/or state funding. The school opened Fall 1939 as a school for blacks. It survived desegregation. The school is part of the New Deal effort in West Virginia and is considered eligible under Criteria A although further research is needed for determine other criteria.

The Works Progress Administration built a school in Stratton CO, in Kit Carson County, School District # 57. The reinforced concrete structure includes four classrooms and a combination auditorium and gymnasium, which accommodated 4,000 persons. The construction cost was $35,354.

The Works Progress Administration contributed $1,909 toward streets and school grounds improvements in Skagway, Alaska, between 1939 and 1940.    

Stuart Hall was constructed in 1939-40 with New Deal funding, presumably from the Public Works Administration (PWA) (then under the Federal Works Administration).  The building, which is named after Arsenal Tech's first principal, stands in the center of the 75-acre Arsenal Technical High School campus. Stuart Hall is a long, four-story brick building with a central bell tower that holds a carillon. It is meant to echo the look of the original Civil War arsenal building on campus, but in the Moderne (Deco) style popular in the 1930s, done by Pierre & Wright architects. The bell tower has three narrow windows...

Framingham's former Sturtevant Library was improved by federally funded labor during the Great Depression. According to local sources the library was located at the site of the former Framingham Memorial School. The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) painted the library, cleaned the floors and furniture in 1936.

No-longer-extant, the Suffolk County Tuberculosis Sanatorium is now the site of Suffolk County Community College in Selden. Suffolk County News reported that, between 1935 and 1936, the WPA undertook many projects in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, including landscaping the grounds of the Suffolk County Sanitorium.

The campus of Sul Ross State University was greatly developed during the 1930s as a result of efforts on the part of several New Deal agencies, including the Public Works Administration (PWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA), Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). Per the El Paso Herald-Post: A modern state institution of higher learning in the far-western "Big Bend of Texas,” Sul Ross State College faces its 20th anniversary in 1940 with a college plant and campus of first rank among state educational centers Opening of a new $150,000 PWA dormitory for women this year has brought...

Among the numerous construction and improvement projects undertaken at Sul Ross State University during the Great Depression was the construction of the original outdoor theater at Kokernot Lodge by the Civil Works Administration (CWA). Per the El Paso Herald-Post: Earliest of relief projects on the campus ,a CWA program o 1934, and one of the most interesting in background is the outdoor theater at Kokernot Lodge, a park site presented to the college in 1929 by the: L. G. Kokernot heirs of Alpine. The stage is of native stone with seating capacity for 1200. It is flanked by dressing rooms and...

Sul Ross State University, named for former Texas Governor Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross, was founded in 1917. The university built Lawrence Hall, also named after Sul Ross, in 1938 to be a dormitory for 116 female students. The Public Works Administration provided the university a loan of $83,000 and a grant of $67,900 for the construction of the building. In 1996, Lawrence Hall was converted for use as an academic facility, housing the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences. Per the El Paso Herald-Post in 1939: "On a sunny south slope the new dormitory commands a sweeping view of the rolling...

A men's dormitory was one of multiple residence projects constructed at Sul Ross State University as a result of New Deal efforts by way of the Public Works Administration (PWA). The PWA supplied a $36,000 loan and $15,886 grant for the project, whose total cost was $57,406. Construction began in May and ended in December 1935, though the dormitory opened in 1936. Per the El Paso Herald-Post: Men students in Sul Ross are provided with modern housing accommodations in the men’s residence hall completed as a PWA project in 1936 at a cost of $68,000. Like most of the buildings on the...

A series of 14 stone cottages, later known as the "rock cottages," was among the multiple residence projects constructed at Sul Ross State University as a result of New Deal efforts by way of the Public Works Administration (PWA). The cottages were built as part of a larger men's dormitory project that was the construction of a larger dormitory and band home. PWA supplied a $36,000 loan and $15,886 grant for the project, whose total cost was $57,406. Construction began in May and ended in December 1935. PWA Docket No. TX 5605. Per the El Paso Herald-Post: Built as a part of...

Lock Haven University's former Sullivan Hall was one of several facilities constructed during the late 1930s with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The building was demolished in 2015.

Prior to the building of the Summit County Hospital, operations were done on kitchen tables, in a room over the mercantile, or on a portable operating table. Thus, the county’s doctors were motivated to work with the Summit County Commissioners to build a hospital in Summit County using PWA funds ($51,830, PWA Utah 1216-F). The building was started in December 1938 and completed one year later. It was a brick structure, 124 feet by 42 feet, containing 14 beds, surgery, delivery room, x-ray department, nursery, kitchen, etc., and had modern equipment throughout. An Open House was held January 7, 1940, for...

The Sumner Elementary School was built in 1936 with the support of the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works. It was registered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. The school was designed by Kansas architect Thomas W. Williamson, and features Art Deco architectural elements and stone bas reliefs. The two-story brick structure was renovated multiple times since its construction. Many of the structure's Art Deco original details—such as lighting fixtures and woodwork—still exist. In the 1950s, the school became an important landmark in the struggle against segregation. Sumner Elementary is the former all-white school in which Linda Brown, the central figure in Brown vs Board of Education, wanted to enroll. The...

Constructed by the WPA in 1939. This was a historically black school, until desegregation in 1959.  It was subsequently used as a warehouse and is currently occupied by the Concerned Citizens  for the Black Community in Boonville.

The Oklahoma National Register of Historic Places lists this sandstone gymnasium as having been added to the Sumner School by the Federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) in 1940-1941. The gymnasium "features a hipped barrel roof." The Waymarking site for the gymnasium estimates that the small farming community of Sumner likely had little more than 50 residents when the gymnasium was constructed in 1940 and today the population has dwindled slightly. The Oklahoma Historical Society points out that the gymnasium's construction "...created jobs and some economic relief for unemployed agricultural workers. As a WPA building, the gymnasium is architecturally notable in terms of its...

This brick Romanesque architecture building overlooking the city was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) on the property of the long-closed County Hospital. This is a former Tubercular Hospital. According to a WPA job card, the project scope was to "Construct a tubercular hospital building and do other work incidental thereto, on the County Hospital grounds in San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County. In addition to projects specifically approved. County owned property." WPA Proj. No. 165-03-2104, February 6, 1937, Total sponsor and Federal funds $80,491, Months to complete 27, average employed 108. "Construct a new unit to the Tuberculosis Hospital,...