Schools Sites

Congressman Ross Collins announced Public Works Administration (PWA) approval of allotment of $28,636 for the Philadelphia School in Neshoba County. Project W1214 was approved 8/17, 1937. Contract was awarded 12/14, 1937, construction began 12/18/1937, and was completed 8/18/1938. The school's 1938 gymnasium, designed by Krouse & Brasfield, may have been part of the project. Philadelphia schools were recipients of additional $9,116 in August 1938.

Big Timber Pioneer reported in October 1935 that the WPA allocated $1,500 for "park improvement in school district No. 1, Big Timber" -- that is, school ground improvements at what is now the abandoned site of the former (1905) high school at the northern corner of West 4th Ave. and Hooper St.

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)'s "constructive project work" in Russell County, Virginia included "the Honaker school ground." The location and status of the facility is unknown to Living New Deal, though a historic map shows a school at the site of the current high school in Honaker.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) put 20 men to work improving school grounds in Mexico, New York beginning in March 1939. The exact location of the grounds is unknown to Living New Deal.

"Rehabilitation of the athletic field and school grounds at Washougal is also expected to begin on December 4 . The work will consist of grading the field, building a tennis court, cinder track, bleachers and sidewalks. The cost will be $4,264.75 of which the WPA will put up $2,147." The exact location and current status of this project is unknown to Living New Deal.

The federal Works Progress Administration constructed sidewalks and landscaped school grounds in Oakhurst, New Jersey ca. 1936. It is unclear to Living New Deal whether these projects were related / located at the same facilities. WPA N.J. Project No. 5-233.

The PWA gymnasium constructed in 1937 is now surrounded by additions to the school that followed it. It has a red brick façade with stone accents.

"The Harrah school gym is unique because it is constructed of poured concrete. This is a two-story gym building with a barrel roof. The building is painted white and the windows have been covered with metal siding painted blue. Only a couple of window units have a small window remaining. "The building was constructed in 1939-1940 with a WPA appropriation of $84,078. A brick extension has been added to the gym on both the east and west sides. The building appears to still be in use."

This building is still in use and appears to be part of what is now the Holly joint Jr./Sr. High School. "Built under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration, the building is associated with the federal relief programs administered in Eastern Colorado during the Great Depression. Providing employment and increased job skills for the area’s unemployed, construction began on the Holly Gym in 1936 utilizing a locally quarried chalk-like stone—Niobrara. The WPA created an opportunity to provide the town with a more “progressive” educational facility. This was the first school gymnasium in Holly, which not only functioned for athletic education,...

The Works Progress Administration built the School Gymnasium in Meridian, Ada County.

This Batesville elementary school gymnasium was PWA Project # 1371. It is no longer extant.

The WPA constructed a school and gymnasium in Locust Grove in the 1930s. The gym, pictured here, served as a functioning gym for the Locust Grove High School and was in good shape until it was torn down in 2014 due to the construction of the new high school. It is unknown to the Living New Deal whether the rest of the WPA school construction has also been demolished or when.

The gymnasium of the Spanish Fork school was paid for by the Public Works Administration  (PWA). The design is elegant Art Deco with exaggerated Neoclassical Moderne columns over red brick. Today, the building houses the Nebo School District offices.  It  was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. The condition of the interior is unknown to us.

A gymnasium/auditorium was built for Marion High School in Marion, Arkansas in 1938-39 with a funding from the state Department of Education and the federal Public Works Administration (PWA) – also known as the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (see plaque).  (The high school paper at the time made the common mistake of confusing the PWA with the WPA (Works Progress Administration)). The new structure was built across the street from the old Marion High School on E. Military Road. According to the Marion High School Yearbook of 1942, it included typing and bookkeeping rooms, two music rooms, a biological laboratory,...

The Works Progress Administration built a school gymnasium/auditorium in Davis, OK. Contributor note: "This gynmnasium is located at the center of the Davis school campus." "The coordinates shown above are for the gymnasium itself. However, due to later construction, the building is now surrounded by several Davis schools, which cover a two-block area between 4th and 5th Street, from Ferguson to Atlanta Avenue. The only viewing point for the gym is through a chain link fence from a vantage point on 5th Street."

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted school improvement work in Acme, Wyoming.

Public Works Administration project w1218 for $28,635 loan and $28,635 grant was approved 6/22/1938. Construction started 9/14/1938 and was completed 5/10/1939 for a total of $63,968. The citizens voted approval of $55,000 in bonds toward the project with a vote of 84-1 to construct a new auditorium and gymnasium. The “modern gymnasium” (Remodeling, p. 10) was “62x85 with maple flooring” and could seat 400. Several classrooms were enlarged and four new classrooms constructed. The auditorium seated 500 and featured a stage, scenery, and blinds. A loud speaker system was added with the improvements. Architect was James Manly Spain and construction...

The town report for 1935 reported: "Mrs. Stevens has been very helpful in securing projects for the schools. If it hadn’t been for the financial aid given the town by these projects we wouldn’t have been able to have made so many extensive repairs. With the help of the C. W. A. lumber that the town had we have put a double roof on the Central Building/ The labor for the most part was labor that worked out back taxes. The double roof has prevented the snow from melting and backing up under the shingles. During the summer it was thought best...

A large allocation of WPA funds for school construction and improvement projects for the state of Montana was issued in late 1938. The allocation included funding for school building improvements in Belgrade, Montana. The location and current status of the structure in question is unknown to Living New Deal.

The Works Progress Administration conducted improvement work at one or more school facilities in Bernie, Missouri. The work employed 19 men for four months.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted school improvement work in remote Bitter Creek, Wyoming. "The Bitter Creek School in Sweetwater County used the CWA labor to add a drain and cesspool."

Among the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects identified as completed in a Abilene Daily Reporter article from June 14, 1936 was the following: "Improvements and repairs have been completed on a Carbon school building and grounds at a cost of $3560." The location and status of this facility is unknown to Living New Deal.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted school improvement work in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1933-4.

A school improvement project in Deaver, Wyoming was undertaken as a federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project during the Great Depression. The school(s) in question is unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. WY 1082

The Works Progress Administration conducted improvement work at one or more school facilities in Dudley, Missouri. The work employed 15 men for two months.

Among a set of 26 WPA projects approved for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in Sept. 1935 was "improvements and repairs at Josephine and Chicora streets school building" in East McKeesport, PA. The Federal government allocated $4,600 for the project and local sponsors contributed $2,557. The precise location and present status of this project is unknown; Josephine St. and Chicora St. in East McKeesport do not intersect.

A large allocation of WPA funds for school construction and improvement projects for the state of Montana was issued in late 1938. The allocation included funding for school building improvements in Fairview, Montana. The location and current status of the structure in question is unknown to Living New Deal. The allocation for the structure appears on Montana WPA Roll 25 under project number 665-91-2-45.

Unspecified school improvements were approved by WPA for the Farmhaven community school in 1936.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted school improvement work in Fossil, Wyoming.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed school improvement work in Gordon, Nebraska. The location and status of the facility in question is unknown to Living New Deal.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted school improvement work in Greybull, Wyoming.

Labor funded by the federal Civil Works Administration worked to paint and redecorate one or more educational facilities in Hamburg, New York between 1933 and 1934.

A school improvement project in Hart, Texas was undertaken in 1936 with Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The P.W.A. provided a $20,454 grant for the project, whose total cost was $46,939. P.W.A. Docket No. TX 1682

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted school improvement work in Hilliard, Wyoming. Cassity: "In Uinta County the schoolhouse at Hilliard asked for, and received, the digging of a water well. It turns out that the well, twenty-three feet deep and four feet in diameter, was needed sorely, the “water for school children being hauled 3 ½ miles by school wagon.”"

The school superintendant said that in 1939: "During the past year a considerable amount of repair work has been done. In addition to the work done at Town expense, the N. Y A. has done painting and varnishing at the High School building. A summary of the more important improvements is as follows: All windows not provided with storm sash, also outside door at the High School, fitted with all metal weatherstrip, guaranteed for the life of the building; completion of inside paint and varnish job throughout High School; fence around Village school lot, and a considerable amount of grading on the...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted school improvement work in Jackson, Wyoming.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted school improvement work in Jireh, Wyoming, "a small Christian college town located on the prairie between Manville and Keeline, Wyoming on Highway 20," in 1933/4. The town was already declining and no longer exists; nor are there any buildings left from Jireh.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed school improvement work in Lakeside, Nebraska. The location and status of the facility in question is unknown to Living New Deal.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted a project to improve the building and grounds of the school in Lynch, Nebraska, completed Jan. 1934. Norfolk Daily News, Jan. 10, 1934: "The interior of the school building has been repainted, revarnished and redecorated. The hill behind the building has been removed so that the school grounds will look nicer and can be landscaped. A deep trench has been dug around the grounds to lay open all winter and catch moisture. In the spring it is to be planted to shrubbery and trees."

Works Progress Administration (WPA) employees dug a 1001 foot well for the Macedonia school when the former drinking supply was condemned by the health department.