Pier 64, located along the Hudson River opposite West 24th Street with respect to 12th Avenue, is presently a New York City park. The park opened in 2009. The pier was originally constructed by the Work Projects Administration: “Built by… read more
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) reconstructed what was then Pier No. 8 in Baltimore Harbor. Believed destroyed, the exact location of Pier Eight is unknown to Living New Deal. Maryland WPA Project #18.
‘This project at the port of San Francisco includes two passenger piers, each 161 by 840 feet, with railroad tracks on each side connecting the piers with the railway yards, a transit shed on each pier, and a connecting wharf… read more
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted repairs to Pier Six in Baltimore. Maryland WPA Project #157.
In its 1936 report entitled “The First 3 Years. PWA,” the PWA remarks that “…probably the most dramatic and spectacular changes effected by PWA are advances in transportation.” Among the the transportation advances listed in the report are water-related improvements to… read more
The artificial Point Judith Harbor in Rhode Island was improved with the aid of a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project between 1934 and 1935. It is likely that work included the following: “the harbor at the mouth of the… read more
WPA crews conducted numerous improvements, including retaining wall construction and road paving, in the mid-1930s to the recently opened Point Reyes Lifeboat Station.
The Army Corps of Engineers, the Public Works Administration, and the National Industrial Recovery Administration funded and conducted improvement operations in the Port Allen Harbor between 1934 and 1935. The work consisted of creating a 1,200 foot “rubble-mound breakwater,” and dredging the “harbor… read more
The Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) sponsored a large harbor improvement project at Port Allen in Eleele, Hawaii. The P.W.A. supplied a $401,904 grant for the project, whose total cost was $818,446. Construction occurred between Jan. 1938 and Oct. 1939.
"In January 1929 the Brownsville Navigation District was organized to secure a channel up the Rio Grande, 100 feet wide and 25 feet deep from the Gulf to a port near Brownsville. Work was started at the mouth of the… read more
Funds for road improvements at the foot of Seventh Street in the Port of Oakland were secured through the State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA) in 1935 (Minutes of the Port Commissioners). SERA was funded by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration… read more
The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided funding to the Port Authority of Oakland to enlarge the Outer Harbor area, just south of the Bay Bridge. The work was done as the bridge was under construction, c 1935-36. From PWA photographs… read more
A WPA press release from Dec. 1937: “The Port of Olympia is making a definite bid for world trade with the new harbor facilities made possible by W.P.A. grants new totaling more than $87,296, Don G. Abel, state W.P.A. director… read more
The port of Redwood City has a convoluted history, but was finally fully established with New Deal help in the 1930s: "A 1929 bond issue campaign to improve the channel was defeated. But in 1935, a harbor bond issue of… read more
Bayonne’s massive Port Terminal—later the Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne—was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. While plans for the development were made in the early 1930s, construction occurred between 1937 and 1938. The PWA supplied a $2,430,000… read more
This eventual WPA project was originally begun during the Hoover administration, in 1931. The current $625,000 pier took over 3 years to complete. Not part of the original appropriation, Congress approved the construction of a new pier head light in 1934,… read more
The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded an expansion of the Martinez public marina along the Carquinez Strait/Sacramento River. The city had sought PWA support for expansion plans to what it called the Yacht Harbor since 1934 but was turned down… read more
In 1943, the Public Works Administration (PWA) (by then part of the Federal Works Administration) funded a new ferry slip and expansion of the public wharf in Martinez. The government grant was for $77,000, but the city accepted a bid… read more
The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted millions of dollars (not even adjusted for inflation) of improvement and development work at the former Raritan Arsenal in Edison, New Jersey. Work involved the construction and improvement of facilities and various utilities,… read more
The federal Public Works Administration helped to finance a large jetty construction project in Rye Harbor, New Hampshire. The PWA provided a $126,000 grant toward the project, whose construction occurred between 1938 and 1939. (PWA Docket No. NH [X]1090.) A… read more
The Army Corps of Engineers, with funds from the National Industrial Recovery Act, carried out improvements in the San Juan Harbor between 1934-1940.
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a “sea wall and boathouse” by the site of the former Naval Militia armory in Whitestone, New York. The boathouse, which still stands, is likely abandoned.
Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration work relief division efforts included “a concrete landing pier … at Sein[e] Bay, Culebra, where naval vessels and marines assemble for winter maneuvers.” The exact location and status of the project are unknown to Living New… read more
Multiple New Deal agencies conducted improvement and repair work at the facilities at Boston / East Boston South Ferry facilities.
The PWA and the Army Corps of Engineers made improvements to areas around St. Thomas Harbor and Lindbergh Bay. The work included filling swamp areas to reduce the incidence of malaria, and dredging to deepen and widen the “Haul Over… read more
The Public Works Administration built new State-owned docks that replaced the old docks in the Mobile Channel.
The federal Public Works Administration (PWA) financed part of the construction of ferry boats for the Staten island Ferry, to the tune of $1,397,500. The first boat, “Gold Star Mother,” was dedicated by Mayor La Guardia on May 7, 1937. The project… read more
A WPA press release from Dec. 1937 announced: A project, “giving employment to 150 men, will operate in Seattle cleaning up Smith Cove Piers 40 and 41. It is designed to lead the way to the modernization of these two… read more
The 1934 town report under town appropriations says that $1500.00 was spent on “Wharf C.W.A. Fed. project” It is located behind the hardware store and is used by the the town fire department according to a recent selectmen report. A… read more
According to an article in the Illustrated Daily News, as part of a group of 8 federally funded projects was “No. 6 – Relocation of tracks around west basin, $1,470,000; will employ 210 to 300 men for from 18 to… read more
“Among the many lighthouses designed and erected by the technical staff of the Bureau of Lighthouses is the one at Tree Point, Alaska, which is an interesting example of this type of work. The machinery equipment building forms the base… read more
The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement on the training ship USS Illinois (later USS Prairie State), stationed off 135th Street on the Hudson River. The boat was sold for scrap in 1956. WPA project details: “Alter and rehabilitate U.S…. read more
This is an unusual entry. The PWA assisted in the construction of the USS Mohawk, a Coast Guard cutter launched at Wilmington, Delaware. After World War II, the ship was sold to various parties, and served briefly as a museum… read more
Mississippi Project 1102 “undertook a considerable program of improving its waterfront facilities and harbor for small craft, including slips and pier with recreational features, a clubhouse, swimming pool, and tennis courts” (Short & Stanley-Brown, 1939, p. 424). Miss Proj. 1419… read more
Improvements to the wharfs at the harbor in Kawaihae, Hawaii were made with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds in 1937. The PWA provided a grant of $24,829 for the project, which provided seven and a half… read more
Between World War I and World War II, the economy of New Bedford changed dramatically. The city’s whaling industry disappeared and textile manufacturing plummeted. In 1937, the city’s unemployment rate was a staggering 32.5 percent. New Bedford was down and… read more
“Location.— Wrangell Narrows lies to the west of Mitkof Island, connects Sumner Strait with Frederick Sound, and forms a part of the inside water route from Puget Sound to southeastern Alaska. (See U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Charts Nos…. read more
The PWA granted $121,800 “for building a jetty in Wychmere Harbor to provide a haven for fishing boats and yachts.”
Yacht Basin No. 2 was part of a large-scale New Deal redevelopment of the Washington Channel and Southwest Waterfront area. The Diamond Construction Company started building the basin in 1938, supervised by the Army Corps of Engineers. The basin was completed… read more
