Schools Sites

The large gymnasium is standing by itself in a residential part of town, built on donated land that at the time was outside of the town proper. It has been in use since it was built and has been used for athletic events as well as for entertainment events by the community. Photographs were taken in a torrential downpour.

The CWA did construction work for the Diamond School on St. Croix. “Setting door frames with concrete forms around, setting concrete forms around steel sashes, laying rib lath for roof, erecting iron columns for lean to roof preparing to pour roof”

"It is unknown when the first school was formed for this community, but in 1938 the National Youth Administration (NYA) constructed a stone school. The school in the community of Ida has been known as the Antioch, Center Ridge, Dill and Ida schools. This was one of 17 schools in the county to be constructed or renovated by the NYA or WPA during the 1930s. Ten years after the construction of this school, a plan was devised by the county to consolidate schools of less than 350 students to larger schools using buses. The students that had attended the Dill School...

In 1938, the Washington Post reported funding allocations for work at the District Training School for the Feeble Minded, which opened in 1925: "About 70 men will be employed on the construction of the hospital and administration building at the District Training School for Feeble Minded at Laurel, Md." The site was later known as the infamous Forest Haven Asylum, which closed in 1991 amid scandal over patient abuse and neglect. The sprawling facility still stands, and is a popular place for photographers and "ghost hunters." Unfortunately, few if any photos exist of the years when the facility was...

"The school was built by the Works Progress Administration. It opened for classes in 1936 and was dedicated by Eleanor Roosevelt. The main building is nearly identical in construction and materials to Simon Kenton High School, located in Independence, Kentucky. Before the renovations to both Dixie Heights High School and Simon Kenton High School, they were known as the sister schools. The school was originally to be named for Franklin D. Roosevelt. The school is on U.S. Route 25 (Dixie Highway)/U.S. Route 42."

Dominguez Elementary School, which opened in 1909, 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 with me...

Improvements were made to the Millbury, Massachusetts's Dorothy Manor School building and grounds with the assistance of federal New Deal funds. Municipal reports note that the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) redecorated the building and installed a concrete floor in the school's basement in 1936.

The main building and auditorium of this modernistic earthquake-proof school was constructed by the PWA. From Southwest Builder and Contractor, October 8, 1937: "The streamlined appearance of Dorsey High was conceived by architects H. L. Gogerty and C. E. Noerenberg, who declared that the design of the campus was intended to architecturally and structurally express in functional form the outer envelope of a process of public education" (p. 12).

"It contains 10 classrooms, an auditorium, a library, and other facilities. The building is not fireproof. The outer walls are cinder block, covered with brick veneer. The interior and roof framing are wood. The auditorium roof is carried on steel trusses supported by steel columns. The upper part of the auditorium is constructed of wood, covered with wood siding. The project was completed in December 1936. The total cost of construction, including equipment, was $52,038 and the cost of the project was $58,492."

Douglass Community Center, formerly Douglass School, is is a one-story classroom building constructed by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938. It is located just south of the Douglass Auditorium. The school was an African American school during segregation and closed in 1968. It now houses the community center and is an active building. There is no WPA shield on the school itself, however, stamped in the sidewalk in front of the entrance is a WPA shield with what appears to be the year 1938. (The auditorium directly to the north is dated 1936).

The Public Works Administration (PWA) financed the construction of the Downey Grade School in 1939. The school building is a long, single-story, brick Moderne (Art Deco) structure. The former school is now a private assisted living facility called "Whispering Pines".  

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded a major rebuild of the former Patrick Henry Elementary School (now the Downtown High School) in San Francisco, California. In December 1933, the San Francisco Board of Education decided to remodel the 3-story, wooden Patrick Henry Elementary School for seismic reasons and the work was carried out in 1935-36, replacing much of the old school with an elegant Moderne structure. In the 1950s, the rest of the old school was torn down and rebuilt to match the 1930s additions. According to Verplanck & Graves (p. 109): "The remodel, designed by architects Gardner A. Dailey and Wilbur...

This school near Muskogee was originally constructed in 1925. It was listed on the National Register in 1984 as "the only extant educational facility associated with Summit, an all-black town founded in 1896. Further, it was one of the few remaining schools in Oklahoma constructed as an all-black school during the era of segregation which retained its historic integrity."   (nr_shpo.okstate.edu) The WPA built an addition to the school in the late 1930s, which was "approximately 35' x 85' and finished with red brick laid in the running bond." (NRHP form) The building burned down in 1991.

"A number of other APS buildings were built, remodeled, or had additions built as the result of this source of this source of funding. Likewise adjacent school playgrounds, ball fields, etc. were also created. The schools include Armijo, Coronado, Duranes, Five Points School, La Mesa, Lincoln, Los Candelarias, Pajarito, San Jose, Santa Barbara, and Stronghurst. For specific information on each of these refer to the Albuquerque Museum Monograph written by Charles Biebel." -Treasures on New Mexico Trails

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded a new Duchesne High School in 1936, near an earlier structure built in 1907 that the school had outgrown. It was expanded in 1965 and then demolished in 1980, to be replaced by the present structure.

The town's annual report from 1934 reports that: "The Federal Emergency Relief Administration aided greatly in improving our school buildings and grounds... The Duck Cove building was painted inside and outside and the roof shingled." The Duck Cove school building still stands: "Built in 1895, this wood frame one-room schoolhouse served as a school until 1943, and been owned by a local community organization since. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993... It was transferred to the Duck Cove Community Club , which has maintained it and used it has a clubhouse since then."  (Wikipedia)

"This is one-story native stone building once housing a Vo-Ed school operation. There is a wooden sign above a door which reads "HOUSE OF MANNA" and it is possible the building is being used in some way by the church. The Oklahoma Historical Society records show that this building was constructed with an appropriation of $19,779 in 1937. It was once enclosed by another building, which was removed in time past. The building is rectangular with a flat roof. The building appears to be structurally sound, however, it is not being kept up...A small concrete area set into the stone to...

"The Public Works Administration, one of the New Deal programs, was a large-scale construction effort which built dams, bridges, hospitals and schools. The Duncan Senior High School was PWA Project No. 8458 and was constructed in 1936. Facing 9th Street, at Ash Avenue, this is a two-story light-colored brick building, which currently houses Duncan Edge Academy. This is a school program for students who would likely not graduate from high school. Special attention is given to learning and health needs, and the issues related to difficult family situations. It meets in the mornings. Unlike many WPA projects where native rock is used,...

"At Jacksonville Beach, a new two-story brick high school was financed in part by PWA funds. Designed by Marsh & Saxelbye, the building was assembled by the Frank Mitchell Construction Company in 1937 at an approximate cost of $75,000. The new school was named Duncan U. Fletcher High School in memory of one of Florida's most successful politicians of the early-twentieth century. Fletcher High School was among the largest New Deal projects built at Duval County's beaches area during the 1930s, perhaps rivaled only by Public School No. 65 in nearby Atlantic Beach, a WPA project." The school is now known...

Now (2023) apparently unused, but still owned by Madison (Indiana) Consolidated Schools. Gym was built by WPA in 1938 behind the 1926 Lancaster Township Grade and High School. School was replaced with a new building attached to the gym.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Durant Public School in 1940-42. N. W. Overstreet and Associates designed the Art Moderne school building and  W. E. Rubush of Meridian was the superintendent of construction. The building is 181 feet by 138 feet, with a 2-story central auditorium joining together two single-story wings.  The Durant school system made two applications to the federal government for aid in building a new school.  Public Works Administration application x1330 was returned unfunded due to lack of funds. A Works Progress Administration application was submitted in 1940 and approved for project no. 41133 for an allotment of...

The Dutch Flat Grammar School dates to the mid 19th century. In 1939, the WPA built the tennis court area which still remains. The school saw its last graduating class in 1962, and the building was subsequently turned into the Dutch Flat Community Center.

On August 22, 1935, the Grant County Board of Education submitted a WPA proposal to build a new school in Dwyer, a homesteading community straddling the Mimbres River, 40 miles southeast of the county seat in Silver City. The board had been busy the summer and into the fall, preparing similar project proposals for far-flung rural school districts in the county. It justified the need for the Dwyer school, stating in the application that the original adobe schoolhouse, constructed 30 years prior, “is unsafe and is beyond repair. It is poorly lighted and hard to heat sufficiently for pupils’ needs,” concluding, “a...

The Works Progress Administration built an entrance gate for the E. W. Luther Elementary School track. A plaque installed on the structure reads: "WPA 1036." The gate marks the back entrance to the school's athletic field.  

In December 1939 the Eagle Bend School burned down, causing $110,000 in damage and destroying a gymnasium constructed by the Public Works Administration in 1934. While deliberating on new construction on January 31, 1940, the members of the Eagle Bend School Board applied for $52,000 of Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) funding to complete the rebuilding of the school. Blueprints were drawn by architect, E.F. Broomhall from Duluth, MN., and A.C. Dunn was the W.P.A. area engineer. The project employed a variety of local laborers and businesses to supplement W.P.A. labor. Carpenters Gust Berggren and Olof Edmonds received an additional 50-cent per...

The New Deal helped to construct the Eagle Pass high school at 1610 Del Rio Boulevard in the mid-to-late 1930s. It operated as a high school until 1972 before becoming a middle school. It is now an elementary school. According to contributor William Gunter there is a WPA plaque on the building with the date 1936. However, an article in the American Educational History Journal puts the year at 1938.  

Eagle Rock Elementary School, which opened in 1923, 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 with...

The school was constructed 1935-1936 with Public Works Administration (PWA) funds.  It is similar in design to the one at Union City, TN, also designed by Tisdale and Pinson and funded by the PWA.  According to Carroll Van West (2001), “Eakin was one of Nashville’s early New Deal projects.”  The PWA Modern design features a “square Doric classical colonnade and courtyard creating an impressive entrance” (p. 101).  designed and built by the Nashville firm of Tisdale and Pinson."   (https://www.nashville.gov) The Cavert Junior High School, which is directly adjacent to the Eakin School, was built ten years earlier in 1926. Both are listed as...

A school for "Mexican-American children" was constructed with Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA provided a $13,091 grant for the project, whose total cost was $29,215. Construction began in January and was completed in July 1936. The school was later known as the Earl Bell School. It was demolished in 1979 after abandonment. A 1963 USGS map places the Earl Bell School on the south side of E 5th Street between Peach St. and Sycamore St. PWA Docket No. 1177.

What is now-Earl L. Vandermeulen High School was improved by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1936. According to the Suffolk County News, these improvements included "concrete walks, pavement, and drains on grounds of Port Jefferson High School and athletic field."

In 1940 the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) supported the construction of Earlsboro High School in Oklahoma. According to the Waymarking site for this building, the town of Earlsboro had a population of 486 in 1940. Without the resources provided by the WPA, the town would not have been able to afford to build the school at the time. In the words of the Oklahoma Preservation Survey, "the WPA brought federal funds to help meet construction costs. Without this help Earlsboro would not have the facilities it has today. In constructing the buildings, the WPA hired unemployed residents of the...

Originally called Kern County High School, East Bakersfield High School was constructed by the PWA in 1938.

This parish training school for African American students was undertaken in Lake Providence, Louisiana during the Great Depression with the assistance of funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The funding was allocated as part of a joint project with the construction of an elementary and secondary school in Lake Providence and a bond was issued for the construction of the parish training school in 1937. The school was destroyed by fire in a suspected arson in 1959 (Leighninger, 2007). The exact location of the school is unknown to Living New Deal.

This school was constructed by the PWA at the same time as West Elementary school in Jefferson City. It includes some of the West school Modern Deco elements, but has a red brick façade with decorative brick and concrete elements.  It is currently being used by the Jefferson City, but is in the process of extensive remodeling that includes the initial construction information.    

In 1936, the WPA added a rear auditorium and cafeteria to the East End Italianate/Craftsman school originally constructed in 1888.

The facility now known as East Hall was originally constructed as the "Isolation Building" for Florida Industrial School for Girls, a reformatory. It was constructed in 1936 as a New Deal-aided project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) supplied a $27,727 grant for the project, whose total cost was $65,660. (It is possible that the grant enabled other construction on the grounds as well.) Wikipedia: "East Hall is an historic one-story red brick building located at 307 Southeast 26th Terrace in Ocala, Florida, United States. Designed by architect Frank Parzaile, it was built in 1936 by the Public Works Administration. On July...

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Civil Works Administration carried out “repairs and renewals” work at the East Hill School on St. Croix.

East Lampeter Township in Pennsylvania received a new school building in 1937 as part of a New Deal project; the facility was financed in part by the Public Works Administration. The PWA supplied a $50,768 grant for the project, whose total cost was $122,170. The location and status of the facility is presently unknown to Living New Deal. Interestingly, the township had intended to auction off the "little red schoolhouses," attended by local Amish children, which this facility replaced. However, the motion was blocked by a Federal judge on March 2, 1938, and the sect won the right to continue sending their children to 'simple'...

The federal Work Projects Administration worked to improve the former East Main Street School in Amsterdam, New York during the 1930s. WPA work included the modest contributions of "painting walls, ceilings, windows, doors, and cornice" as well as varnishing. The building has since been repurposed as a church.

In 1934 the PWA built this third floor addition to the existing high school building, which was completed in 1908. The Colonial Revival building was later occupied by the junior high, which itself later moved out. It is currently elderly housing known as Taunton Plaza. The architects of the addition were William R. Walker & Son of Providence.