Schools Sites

Designed by William E. Webb in WPA/PWA Moderne style, Starr King Elementary School was built in 1934 with Public Works Administration (PWA) funding. The 1933 Long Beach Earthquake destroyed hundreds of schools throughout Southern California. “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 new schools were...

In 1935-36, the Public Works Administration (PWA) paid for the partial reconstruction of a 1913 wooden school building (removal of the 3d floor) and the addition of a new wing that added six classrooms. Verplanck and Graves (p. 113) provide further detail: "Similar to Patrick Henry School, Starr King Elementary was deemed unsafe due to vulnerability to fire and earthquakes. The scope of work for Starr King removal of the third floor and the construction of a reinforced-concrete addition containing six classrooms. The work was designed by City Architect Charles H. Sawyer and completed in 1935 or 1936." The follow-up to the...

"State Center Middle School is located at 16011 N. E. Wilshire in Jones. This is a small brick school, with the east end being a gymnasium that was WPA-built. The gymnasium is a rectangular simple-styled building, with a barrel roof. The front of the building, facing south,has four bays, separated by wide brick columns...Several windows have been bricked in on the east and north sides. A single metal entrance with a wood ramp accesses the rear of the gymnasium. There is a large open gazebo at the front of the building which may post-date the building. There is no WPA marking...

"An infirmary and dormitory buildings were built at the State School for Girls."   (Short and Stanley-Brown) "The town of Hallowell is home to the Stevens School, a historically significant campus that stands as testament to Maine’s social and educational history. Formerly known as The Maine Industrial School for Girls, the school opened in 1875 and boasts several buildings showcasing the Colonial Revival style of architecture. Maine Industrial became the Stevens School in 1915 and functioned as a state facility until 1970, when it closed its doors. State offices then moved onto the campus, along with the Maine State Prison Pre-Release...

The boys' dormitory at the State School for the Blind was designed by architects Hull & Drummond in 1934 as part of a $220,000 project using state funds and ERA funds with WPA labor. The new brick 2-story dormitory was constructed to relieve crowded conditions at the school, and cost in excess of $40,000. An additional $3,587 was awarded in September 1935 in order to complete the dormitory. It was used in the Gilfoy School of Nursing after the school relocated in the late 1940s, and was demolished c. 2005 in order to build a parking lot.

The State School for the Deaf, originally constructed 1906-1908, removed a wall and rebuilt one wing on the east wing in order to correct surface drainage damaging the wall. The project, financed by ERA and the state legislature replaced glass, plastered walls, and updated electrical and plumbing systems for a total cost of $39,938.25. The facility was demolished in 1951 following the construction of a new school.

The State School at Ellisville received $15,000 for repairing the boys’ and girls’ dormitories, including roof, floors, windows, and painting. Three employee cottages were improved with painting, woodwork repair, and modern plumbing installation. The grounds were graded and landscaped. The old boys dormitory and old girls dormitory were constructed 1929 and are possibly the dorms that were renovated, and are extant, as are the employee cottages, constructed in 1930.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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...

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...

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.

"Deming has an impressive list of WPA projects: Deming Public Library, Country Club, Junior High, Morgan Hall, Columbus School, Sunshine School, Hospital addition, Park, street paving, sewer work, curbs and trees plus a National Guard building." -Phyllis Eileen Banks

This school was originally built for children with physical disabilities. It later became a continuation high school, and currently houses the SFUSD Cal-SAFE program, the Hilltop School, and various community agencies. At the time of its construction, it housed 18 classrooms, a courtyard and a therapeutic bathing pool. It was situated near Buena Vista Elementary School, which was also designed for children with various health ailments. The first floor of the building was devoted to crippled children and provided facilities for their education and care. The patio provided a play area in which they could move about freely in their...

The Works Progress Administration built the Swampton School in Swampton KY circa 1938.

This addition to the Switzer School was to the north of the building constructed in 1899 and replaced the original Switzer School which was built in 1882. The addition was completed in 1939 with funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and designed by Nate Downes. The entry is marked with cut stone and Switzer School in raised lettering. It has a brick modern deco style and consists of 12 classrooms, 6 to a floor and a large hall on the first level. It is in the process of being repurposed.

When the school for African American students burned in 1935, Belton sought a federal grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA) to replace the school and repair and renovate three other schools. PWA project 1431 for a grant of $13,590 was awarded 9/25/1935. Newspaper items used the terms PWA and WPA in referencing the new T. B. Harris School and repairs to the other city schools, but total amounts equal the cited costs and dates in the Texas region PWA records and it seems evident that the funds were provided by the Public Works Administration. Funds were secured in the...

Taft Union High School's main building was constructed with federal help under the New Deal.  It is an elegant Art Moderne (Art Deco) facility with lovely decorative elements, particularly the colored bas-reliefs (probably terra cotta). The original Taft Union HS had been built in 1917 with local funds, but the state declared it unsafe in 1934 – most likely because of the great Long Beach earthquake in 1933.  It was not torn down entirely, but reconstructed and expanded. The federal government offered a grant of $51,000 in 1935 – almost surely from the Public Works Administration (PWA).   The county passed a...

Originally built as the Lincoln Negro School by the WPA in 1937-38. It is now the administration building for Tahlequah Public Schools. The Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory Nomination describes the structure: "The old segregated, negro school at Tahlequah is rectangular...and constructed of cut, rusticated and coursed native stone. Masonry is excellent... This structure is significant in that it was constructed for the black community of Tahlequah with black workers made destitute by the depression. It provided an economic salve for the laborers and a boost to their self-esteem. The building also enhanced the quality of education for the segregated youngsters it served, replacing...

In 1933/4 the federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) furnished the labor for construction of a new gymnasium floor at the now-former Talcott Junior High School in West Hartford, Connecticut.

The Atlas of Historic New Mexico Maps, produced with assistance from the New Mexico Humanities Council and the New Mexico Chapter of the National New Deal Preservation Association, lists a number of New Deal buildings in Taos County. These include: The old high school (now part of the middle school); Taos Valley School on Randall Street; the fire station; the fish hatchery; the old Post Office, and over a dozen schools.

The Atlas of Historic New Mexico Maps, produced with assistance from the New Mexico Humanities Council and the New Mexico Chapter of the National New Deal Preservation Association, lists a number of New Deal buildings in Taos County. These include: The old high school (now part of the middle school); Taos Valley School on Randall Street; the fire station; the fish hatchery; the old Post Office, and over a dozen schools.

"The major accomplishment according to Superintendent Nickerson was the beginning of construction on a new elementary school, which would be named the John S. Tapley School, designed to replace the two buildings being used at that time. The new building was a Federal Public Works Project, which meant that 45%, or $29,250, of the $65,000 cost was paid by the federal government. The building committee of Francis Thwing, Marion L Tapley, Daniel M Marshall, Harold York and Harold Bridges, worked long and hard, coming up with a plan for a two story plus basement, 60 by 100 foot building of...

Taylor Middle School was built by the PWA in 1939 as the Millbrae Elementary School. There is a PWA plaque in the west wall of the front vestibule of the school entry.