Schools Sites

This Works Progress Administration (WPA) building is also the site of the "Legend of California" relief panels, sculpted in 1939 by Donald Hord for the WPA Federal Art Project.

These seven 6' x 9' relief panels are carved from Indiana limestone and were intended for the school library. "The Legend of California is a set of seven incised relief panels carved from Indiana limestone for the Library of the Coronado High School. Dedicated in February of 1941, the central panel depicts the mythical Amazonian Queen Calafia, after whom California was named. The side panels depict the various ethnic groups that have made up the population of the state. The Legend of California was executed under the sponsorship of the Federal Government Works Progress Administration." (https://content.cdlib.org)

The Works Progress Administration built a vocational building for the Cotaco School. Correspondence with David Burleson, local source: "The last 8 pictures are of the Cotaco High School vocational building referred to in the 1938 work order At that time Cotaco was an elementary school and high school; grades 1 thru 12. In the late 1960’s or early 1970’s Cotaco and three or four other schools consolidated the high school grades into a new school in central Morgan County. That left Cotaco as an elementary school and middle school. Sometime in the 1990’s the vocational building was remodeled into the...

Constructed by the WPA in 1936-1938, the high school building was destroyed by fire in 1977.

The Cotton auditorium stands adjacent to the Fort Bragg Middle School (formerly Fort Bragg High School).  It was completed in 1938 with Public Works Administration (PWA) funding and named after Principal Joel Cotton in 1939. It was restored in 2006. The style of Cotton Auditorium, which is rather unusual for New Deal era civic structures, is typical of lumber towns like Fort Bragg in the redwood country of California's North Coast.  

The Works Progress Administration built a one-room country school in Worland, Washakie County. The location and status of the facility are presently unknown to Living New Deal.

The Works Progress Administration completed improvements for county schools in Parkersburg, Wood County. The exact location of these facilities is unknown to the Living New Deal.

"President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs put people to work. Young men in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built flood control projects at Elephant Butte Dam. Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers built three schools in Las Cruces, including Court Junior High. They also built numerous tourist and recreation facilities in the area. Picacho Avenue earned the nickname 'Little Oklahoma' when it became a thoroughfare for refugees bound for California. Stranded and destitute, travelers sold their belongings for gas money. This roadside trade was the precursor of Picacho Avenue's antique and second-hand stores." -Las Cruces: Crossroads of History

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the stately and historic Cove Creek High School building in Sugar Grove, North Carolina. It was one of many educational facilities constructed by the WPA in Watauga County. The building features three WPA plaques (one at each entrance). Wikipedia: "It was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1940–1941, and is a two-story, Collegiate Gothic style stone building. It is seven bays wide and features slightly projecting square stair towers and a crenellated roof parapet. It was designed by Clarence R. Coffey, an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright, and constructed by local artisans and laborers...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a one-story frame and stucco music building at Covina High School in Covina, CA. "The school had been badly crowded, therefore, the Orchestra and Glee Club classes were held in the same building with other classes which was very disturbing to the rest of the school. Completion of this Music Hall corrected this condition by giving these music classes a building of their own, thereby improving the education facilities of the entire school" (Connolly & Farman, 1939).

Originally a gym for Cranberry High School. Now owned by an alumni group and used for various functions. The WPA began building the gymnasium on January 27, 1937. The construction employed sixty workers and cost $12,000. On the cusp of its construction, a Johnson City, Tennessee newspaper described the planned 80’ by 120’ building as having a coach’s office, dressing rooms for girls and boys. Native stone formed the foundation and basement and stained shingles sheathed the exterior. The gymnasium was one of 277 recreational buildings constructed in North Carolina by the WPA by the spring of 1942. One year later,...

In 1934 the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) completed a Civil Works Administration (CWA) project in Crane Eater, Georgia, about six miles east of Calhoun: a two-room schoolhouse. The location and status of the building is unknown to Living New Deal.

In the mid 1930s the new Cranford High School building was constructed with assistance from the Federal Public Works Administration (PWA). In their photographic history of Cranford, New Jersey, Robert Fridlington and Lawrence Fuhro tell us that the high school building was dedicated on January 3, 1938. At the time, it was a six year school serving seventh through twelfth graders. In the words of Fridlington and Fuhro, "he forty-nine-classroom building cost $850,000, nearly half the amount coming from the New Deal's Public Works Administration." (1996: 98)

New Deal-funded crews built an addition to the Calvert School, now Cranston Calvert Elementary. The school closed in 2013, though the building remains standing as of May 2015. The Newport Mercury, linked below, suggests that funding was through the PWA: "Official approval 0f Ray E. Wilson. Jr., as plumbing contractor for the Cranston-Calvert school improvements now being carried on through PWA funds has been received by Superintendent of Schools Lowe. Mr. Wilson has started work at Cranston. Superintendent Lowe said today that he expected to receive approval from the PWA office on the Humford plans any day."

Creeds School was constructed for the 1939-40 school year with funds provided by the Works Progress Administration. The twelve-room structure served students from first grade through high school in the rural community of Creeds in Princess Anne County, Virginia. In 1954 when a new high school was opened in the county, Creeds School no longer offered upper level classwork. Creeds Elementary School, now located within the city of Virginia Beach, remains a vital and vibrant part of the Creeds community.

The Works Progress Administration built an addition for the Crichton Elementary School in Mobile. The architect of record was Fred W. Clarke. The school was permanently closed. The current state of the structure is unknown to the Living New Deal.

New Deal school in Daly City.

Crowder Hall is another of the “White Campus” projects and was and is the home to the University ROTC program. It was named after Enoch Crowder, Professor of Military Science at MU.

This school was built for the small community of Cruzville in 1938 by the WPA. The building is apparently now privately owned.

Crystal City High School was a PWA project, completed in 1939. It consists of a colonial-style two story building with a brick façade, the main entry facing to the south, centered on the long access of that part of the building. It is still in active use.

The federal Public Works Administration (PWA) sponsored a large school/addition construction project in Cuba, New York during the Great Depression. The PWA provided a $247,500 grant for the project, whose total cost was $544,637. Construction occurred between Jan. 1938 and May 1939. PWA Docket No. NY W1353.

An addition to the Cudahy High School was built as a Milwaukee County PWA construction project.

"Milwaukee County PWA Construction Projects-addition to Cumberland School in Whitefish Bay."

Constructed by the PWA in 1939. Curtis Hall is on the main campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia. It was named after Winterton Curtis, Professor of Zoology who was one of the expert witnesses called to the Scopes “monkey” trial of 1925. The building was initially named the New Chemistry, then the BioChem building, and is now primarily used for genetics work.

In 1937 an addition to Staten Island's Curtis High School was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The building is still in use today.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor conducted improvements at the since-demolished Cushman School in Boston, Massachusetts. The facility was located at 44 Prince St. WPA Bulletin: To insure the safety of pupils in the Cushman School, North End, WPA has rebuilt the fire escapes, setting in new gratings, new hook bolts and hand rails. Seven ironworkers and three laborers were employed on this job.

The Works Progress Administration built the elementary school in Custer WA.

Petrachrome mural by Grace Clements. "Damien High is renovating their physical plant and the music building was one of the structures that needed some T.L.C. While removing the stucco that covered the building's facade the mural was uncovered. What the workers had found was Grace Clements' The Spirit of Music... This mural utilizes a technique called "petra-chrome," which was invented by Stanton Macdonald-Wright for the Federal Art Programs. It is concrete that is colored to create a permanent and weather resistant art work. It is a cousin of tile and opus sectile, but one that is more affordable and uniquely suited to...

Then the Bonita Union High School, this school received extensive WPA support after the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. According the a 1939 WPA Accomplishment Report for Southern California, the federal government spent $63,927 on the school out of a total of $92,406. The WPA constructed three new reinforced concrete buildings on the site: a library and classroom building, girls gym, and music building. They also developed 7.22 acres for athletic and playground purposes (grading and seeding, handball courts with concrete floor and walls). When Bonita High School moved in 1959, the site was sold to the Catholic Diocese and became an...

Constructed by the WPA.

1 of 27 schools in the Pasadena CA school system that the New Deal, whether the WPA or PWA, was involved in reconstructing, demolishing, or reinforcing after the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. Was built in 1926 in a Gothic style of architecture. Damaged slightly by the earthquake. October 31, 1935 WPA did reinforcement work to get the building up to standards.

"The Daniel Webster High School is a two-story and basement structure which contains 15 classrooms, a library, 2 cafeterias, a lecture room, corrective gymnasium, girls' gymnasium, auditorium seating 400, domestic-science department, 2 manual training rooms, 3 laboratories, offices, swimming pool, dressing rooms. Another adjacent building houses shops, boys' gymnasium, and lockers. Both structures are fireproof. Exterior walls are brick with stone trim. Both buildings were completed in July 1938 at a construction cost of $662,855 and a project cost of $768,257." (Short and Brown) "Daniel Webster High School is a high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is part of the Tulsa Public...

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Danville High School in Danville, Caledonia County. The two-story school was built in 1938 and housed grammar and high school grades. The architect of record was Galen H. Nichols. The building replaced a structure built in 1840, and reproduced some architectural elements from the old structure, such as the columns that mark the entrance. Docket No. Vt. 1075-DS.

The Davisville School was completed with funds and labor provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It is a single or two-room school wi th a facade made of local rock. Presently, it is the site of the Davisville American Legion post.

The Works Progress Administration built the Day Street School in Montgomery. This was one of seven schools that were upgraded with larger classrooms throughout Montgomery County. Federal cost: $42,062.

The National Youth Administration built this 1.5 story gymnasium for De Kalb High School in 1938. The gym remains extant.

"This school is for crippled children and for children who are deficient in sight or hearing or who are cardiac cases. A partial basement provides a manual training department, a playroom, and three unfinished rooms. The first floor has four divisions: (a) Administration, library, and assembly rooms; (b) five classrooms and kindergarten; (c) home economics, restrooms, and lunchroom; (d) hydrotherapy, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy. The construction is fireproof. No stairs are used, ramps taking their place. The building will accommodate 125 children. The estimated construction cost was $324,775 and the project cost was approximately $362,396."

The Works Progress Administration completed repairs at the Delanco school in Delanco NJ. "Just when things looked as if they might be getting better, they found in 1937 that the walls in the· auditorium were faulty and unsafe. They were rebuilt by the Works Projects Administration - more familiarly the WPA." The facility was located at Walnut, Hickory, Union and Chestnut St. It was removed circa 1962.

Delano High School was built with the aid of funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA). The name of the school at the time of construction was Delano Joint Union High School. The building design is elegant Streamline Moderne, on three levels. In the last decade, the classic white exterior paint (probably repeated since the building's origin) has recently been replaced with more eye-catching colors, name, logo and images.  Still, the New Deal era school appears to be largely intact.  The one-story classroom building with pillared breezeway and the quonset-hut gymnasium also look to be original. There are plaques on the building...

Delaware Academy, in Delhi, New York was constructed with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The building bears a 1939 cornerstone and Federal Works Agency: Public Works Administration plaque.