Schools Sites

"North Side Senior High School is another excellent example of the monumental high schools constructed in Fort Worth prior to World War II. Its location atop a bluff adds to its impressive presence on Fort Worth’s North Side. With the exception of Farrington Field and the Jennings Avenue Junior High School Gymnasium (demolished), it is the only Public Works Administration (PWA) school facility designed in the Classical Moderne style. Wiley G. Clarkson, better known for his Period Revival schools, designed the structure. Harry B. Friedman was the general contractor. The 3-story building features a stepped facade with fluted pilasters and...

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the North Summit Grammar School in Coalville, North Summit School District. Docket # 1016-R (Utah). The condition of this structure is unknown to the Living New Deal.

In 1937, a new school was completed for Decatur costing $76,000.00, accomplished in part due to the cooperation of the PWA on the project. The school was built on the site of the former school, which was razed just prior to the construction of the new school. It was built by Beckenhauer Brothers of Norfolk. The school was dedicated on April 27, 1937 with a program given before a large audience of patrons and townspeople. Mr. E. Dudley Beck, chair of the Board of Education, presided as Master of Ceremonies, and invited several to speak, including a school teacher who...

“Many large schools built in Oklahoma during the New Deal era are still being used. In Oklahoma City, Northeast High School occupied a gym and four classrooms added with WPA funds, after the original building of Carthage stone was made possible with a PWA grant. The school board used WPA funds for excavating to make the Northeast High School property ready for construction, and again for work around the school after it was finished. It has not been determined if any WPA labor was used in the initial building phase. Northeast High School was slated to be one of the city’s...

In 1934 the Flagstaff school board received a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA) for a new elementary school on the south side of town. Additional funds came from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). The South Beaver School was meant to serve the largely Mexican, Native and Black children of the neighborhood.  The school board had declared its intentions to build the school since 1918 but never came up with the funds until the New Deal stepped in. The PWA under Harold Ickes was n0ted for funding minority schools across the country. The school building was constructed with volcanic malpais,...

The federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) contributed to the development of Rock Hill's original North Side School. "School buildings and classroom additions went up at Central School, Northside School, Arcade-Victoria School, and Ebenezer Avenue School, with A. D. Gilchrist the architect for all these PWA projects." The former Northside School has since been demolished.

Constructed by the PWA circa 1939. The front of the school has been added onto extensively, covering up the original façade.  Interestingly, the original façade is just inside the existing façade and is almost identical to that of the Hughesville, MO School.  Presently, the building in Houstonia is the elementary school for the consolidated schools.  As with the Hughesville, this school is surrounded by the Osage Farms resettlement project and was constructed in the midst of the farm resettlement.  The bronze plaque is not visible.

Constructed by the PWA in 1939. Located within the bounds of the Osage Farms Resettlement project, this was original the school for Hughesville, but became the High School for the consolidated Houstonia and Hughesville District.

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of Northwest Junior High School, completed in 1935. Windows and doors were recently replaced, but the school retains its original elements. Muhlenberg Greene Architects (at the time of construction was called Muhlenberg, Yerkes, and Muhlenberg), was one of the six Architectural Firms coordinating with the School District of Reading, Pennsylvania to create the new Junior High School Building. The photographs and a blueprints of the floor plan are from the Muhlenberg Greene Architects archives.

"This structure replaces an old high-school building which had become inadequate to care for the student body of 1,200. The building contains 32 classrooms, an auditorium, boys' and girls' gymnasiums, administrative offices, a library, domestic science rooms, shops, a study hall, a cafeteria, and rooms for music. The construction consists of a steel frame, exterior brick bearing walls trimmed with cast stone and reinforced concrete floor slabs on metal lumber. The structure is three stories and a basement in height and its fominating feature is the tower at the auditorium entrance. It was completed in December 1937 at a construction cost of $789,379...

"The Norwood School is significant as an example of rural educational buildings built by the WPA during the Depression.  Use of native stone was a typical construction technique and while many of these buildings remain, few retain this degree of integrity.  The Norwood School is the only building of its type documented by the Benton County Survey." The building is no longer a school. Current use unknown.

"The South Dakota School of Mines and Technology took advantage of the New Deal program when it received a $95,000 federal grant that it combined with a $120,000 appropriation from the 1941 South Dakota state legislature to construct the OHarra Memorial Building. James C. Ewing, later known for his design of the concession building at Mount Rushmore, incorporated an Art Deco style into the OHarra structure. An Egyptian Revival pavilion dominated the front of the building, constructed of native stone. The interior of the building consisted of two floors and a full basement, showcasing terrazzo floors and faux marble walls....

WPA project description: "Improvement of the grounds surrounding this Martha's Vineyard community's new school provides a proper setting for the new structure completed recently by WPA workmen. After carefully grading a little more than an acre around the school WPA men set out twelve fir trees which provide a pleasant frame for the new building." The location and status of these facilities is presently unknown to Living New Deal.

What is now Oak Hill Middle School in Newton, MA was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds in 1936.

One story frame and stucco building partitioned into 8 classrooms and a cafeteria.

At a cost of approximately $6,000, "...an extensive arcade system of walkways" was completed at the two schools in Clarksdale (Arcade sidewalks, p. 1).

The federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) constructed a gymnasium at the old high school for the Oakhurst school district in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (now within the city limits of Charlotte). 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 initial...

A mundane Colonial Revival structure serving the Oakland Beach neighborhood of Warwick. The architects were William R. Walker & Son of Providence.

In 1934, the Public Works Administration approved a loan of $4.2 million for a school building program in Fort Worth. Oaklawn Elementary School was one of the schools constructed from 1935 to 1936 through funding provided by the PWA. Architect Joseph R. Pelich selected a Spanish Eclectic style for the design. The contractor for the structure was James T. Taylor. The Works Progress Administration under the direction of Hare and Hare of Kansas City landscaped the school grounds from 1935 to 1937.

"The construction of Oakley High School Stadium in 1938 was financed through the New Deal-era Works Progress Administration (WPA) and has hosted football games and track meets since its completion in 1939. Lewis Mershon was the lead builder and used a team of unskilled WPA laborers made up of financially struggling local farmers. The limestone and concrete stadium faces a standard 100-yard football field with natural grass surface encircled by a 400-meter track and includes two locker rooms, restrooms, a tornado shelter, and outdoor bleacher seating. It exhibits symmetry, vertical and horizontal lines, and rounded features, all of which gives...

The WPA constructed a stone gymnasium for the Oaks Mission School in 1937. The school was originally a Cherokee Mission school and is now a general public school. A 1985 Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory described the building in detail: "This rectangular shaped (106' x 60') gym is constructed of cut and rusticated limestone laid randomly. It has a gabled roof with stepped parapets... This Cherokee Mission school gymnasium is significant because it constituted an economically important community resource... The gym has served almost fifty years as an educational facility for primarily Cherokee Indian children of the community." This appears to be what is now...

After the Bandon Fire of September 26th, 1936 destroyed the city's grade school along with most of the town, the community sought funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA) to assist in construction of its replacement. The PWA approved the request, providing 45 percent of the necessary funds for the new grade school. Construction began in January 1939 and after five months of work, the new Bandon Grade School was presented to the community. The local newspaper noted that PWA inspections occurred throughout the process with the result being: "the federal aid was efficiently administered and the local school district not...

"The original application for a grant from the P.W.A. of $45,900 contemplated an annex to the existing school at an estimated cost of $102,000. Investigation disclosed that the old building was a fire hazard, so the city demolished it and without an additional grant constructed a new building which contains 24 classrooms and an auditorium. The construction is reinforced concrete throughout, the exterior walls being stuccoed. The project was completed in March 1939 at a construction cost of $246,754 and a project cost of $264,059."

Edison Elementary School (today's Odyssey South Charter School) was rebuilt by the Public Works Administration (PWA). It was one of 27 schools in the Pasadena Unified School District to be rebuilt, demolished, or reinforced by the PWA or the Works Progress Administration (WPA) following the 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  

Ogden High School is an excellent example of New Deal school building, featuring elegant architecture and all the modern features of the time.  It is still in use today and appears to have been little altered over time. From the PWA report of 1939: "It is one of the largest high schools in the State and will care for an enrollment of 2,000 students. The classroom section, which is 4 stories in height, contains 40 classrooms, domestic arts and science rooms, a cafeteria, 69 by 122 feet, physics, chemistry, and biology laboratories, and a library, 60 by 80 feet. The gymnasium section...

The Public Works Administration funded improvements at the Utah State Industrial School in Ogden. Docket # 1112-R (Utah). Now called Ogden-Weber Technical College.

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Oildale Standard School Auditorium in Bakersfield CA. The structure has been in use as a school auditorium since completed in 1937.

The addition to the Main School was built with the help of the Public Works Administration. The main structure was built in 1934, and it replaced a wooden structure that had previously served as the city’s only school. “By the late 1930s additional space was needed to accommodate a growing school population. In1939, an addition of 12,350 square feet was constructed as a Public Works Administration project with the design purportedly prepared by Alaska Architectural Company. The addition was added to the south side of the building. It more than doubled the south facade and wrapped around the auditorium to...

"This school is 1 unit of a P.W.A. docket which included 18 new school buildings and repairs to 35 others. Its site is large and provides ample playground space. The building accommodates 480 pupils. It has a central auditorium-gymnasium flanked by 2 wings containing 8 standard classrooms, a kindergarten, a library, domestic science room, and shop. The traditional design is carried out in red brick with stone trim. It was completed in February 1937 at a construction cost of $228,275 and a project cost of $251,092."

Various sources reference the construction of the old, now abandoned high school gym as being done under the WPA. Local people refer to it as the Rock Gym referring to the rock on the school and surrounding wall that was quarried locally. All sources reference 1934 as the construction date, further research needed on project. It appears to have been constructed in the Art Deco style. No marker exists; however, holes on the south side of the building appear to be spaced to coincide with a plaque and a WPA marker.

Sometimes misattributed to the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), Olean High School was built as a federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project. The P.W.A. supplied a grant of $235,700 for the project, whose total cost was $944,666. Begun in 1935, the building was dedicated Feb. 22, 1937.

A new $17,800 school building at Olfen, Runnels county, was dedicated 3/26/39. The modern six- room structure was completed March 22. Attending the dedication was E. C. Grindstaff, county school superintendent; John C. Becker, architect who designed the building; the Rev. O. A. Boockman, Catholic priest at Olfen; Hugh Horn, of the Abilene Construction company, general contractors, and Glenn A. Rector, PWA engineer and inspector. The building was made possible by a 55 per cent PWA grant.

A 1940 edition of the Fresno Bee reported that Porterville had received $15,000 from the federal government for the Olive School Building. This was apparently a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, finished in either 1940 or 1941. The New Deal portion of the building is now used as an annex to a newer school building.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) helped fund the construction of the Oliver Morton School in Hammond IN, which was completed in 1937.  An addition was added in 1952 and when a new high school was built in 1967, this building became Morton Junior High (Middle School).  It was demolished in 1991. Short and Brown's 1939 survey of PWA buildings says this about Morton High:  "The new structure is 3 stories in height and is built around a court which is landscaped as a formal garden. On the ground floor are 12 classrooms, a band room, shop, kindergarten, 2 museums, girls' and...

Buff Brick building with tower above the entrance with the name "Oliver School". Decorative cement work around the entrance. The plaque at entrance says: "FEDERAL EMERGENCY ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC WORKS FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HAROLD L. ICKES ADMINISTRATOR OF PUBLIC WORKS OLIVER SCHOOL 1939" A passage in Corsicana newspaper article with title of "Texas is Granted Additional Funds for PWA Project" tells us the Stamford was awarded $40,500 in 1938 to build a school.

One Hundred Eighteenth Street Elementary School, which opened in 1907, 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...

One Hundred Ninth Street Elementary School, which opened in 1926, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. The school appears to have been rebuilt yet again in the 1960s or 70s, although the PWA auditorium may remain—confirmation is needed. 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 historic Ontonagon School received an addition as a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project. The addition extended the building southeast. The P.W.A. supplied a $28,228 grant for the project, whose total cost was $62,878. Construction occurred in 1937-8. "In 1938, a two-story addition for elementary schooling, designed by architect A.B. Nelson of the Warren S. Holmes Company, was constructed next to the original high school building. The addition was connected to the original building on the southeast side via an annex corridor." A further addition was built continued the building's extension to the southeast. (Wikipedia) PWA Docket No. MI 1441

Gym, Public Works Administration (PWA) 1936-1937, classical revival, 1 story cut limestone w/concrete frieze w flowers and panels (i.e. the World Globe) flat roof, repl 3 part alum/glass windows, repl a vm/glass doors. Fine interpretation of the style and also significant for it's association with the PWA.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided the bulk of funding for a new school for the small town of Orick in Humboldt County. Orick was a lumber town when the school was built in 1935-36 and much in need of school facilities.  The style of the building is Mission Revival, much in vogue in California at the time but not so frequent along the North Coast where wood frame building were most common. The PWA report by Short and Stanley-Brown provides more details about the site:  'The new building contains two large and two small classrooms with a stage at the...