Military and Public Safety Sites

Built in 1935 by the Works Progress Administration. Moved from Clare Ln in Pinetop in 1988. Donations Made by First Interstate Bank, JTPA Youth, and The People of Pinetop-Lakeside to Preserve Pinetop's History. History: It appears that the jail of the past has been reconstructed to its current configuration, with major changes like cell bar locations, stone, etc.

This old jail served Somervell County for 50 years, before it was closed by the state for not meeting modern jail standards. Built in 1934, funded as a WPA government project during the Depression, as a replacement for the first county jail built in 1884, located on the same site.

The historic Olympia Armory in Columbia, South Carolina was constructed in 1936-7 by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA). The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This WPA project replaced a much smaller airport to the west of the present airport. It was a $350,000 project and was met with much fanfare, completed just after the start of WW II.

Fire Station #6 built was built with Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds by the City of Oshkosh. A WPA funded project to dismantle the old Winnebago County Courthouse and old Oshkosh Post Office buildings were done in 1939. Materials from those buildings were recycled and used in other building projects, including this fire station.

"Between 1935 and 1940, Massachusetts and the federal government, primarily using Works Project Administration funds, constructed 63 buildings (all but Buildings 102 and the old Williams Hospital have since been demolished) and two, 500-foot (150 m) wide turf runways at Otis Field. The project was the largest WPA project in state history, employing over 600 workmen. In 1938, Governor Charles F. Hurley dedicated Camp Edwards, named after the former commander of the 26th Infantry Division, Major General Clarence Edwards." (Wikipedia)

In 1939, the Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Owen County Gymnastics center located in a former National Guard Armory in Spencer IN. 

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to clean and otherwise improve the old Paterson Armory on Market St. in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1936. In addition to giving the armory its first scrubbing since its construction in 1894, WPA workers oiled, sanded and finished the 225'-by-151' drill floor; rebuilt two stairways; repaired all the doors; and fixed the sewer connection. Federal funds: $9,338.49; sponsor funds: $3,857.65. Project descriptions, per a DoD Heritage Assessment: "General repairs to Armory on Market Street"; "Improve 113th Infantry Armory, including constructing floor, walls, ceilings, and rifle ranges, filling, removing floors, painting, installing plumbing, electrical, heating, and...

The U.S. military had a sizable footprint on Peaks Island, and the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted improvement work at the site. Project information: "Clean areas at Peaks Island and Long Island Military Reservation" Official Project Number: 165‐2‐11‐122 Total project cost: $9,603.00

The historic former armory at West College St. and North Central St. in Canonsburg was constructed in 1938 as a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project. The building presently serves as a youth center. Short and Stanley-Brown: "This armory is the headquarters of Company H, One Hundred and Third Medical Regiment of the Pennsylvania National Guard. The building is also extensively used for public meetings and entertainments. The structure is two stories and a mezzanine in height. The first floor contains two offices, officers' recreation and locker room, the company property room, a garage, recreation and locker room for enlisted men, a kitchen, and...

This small building was constructed as a jail by the Works Progress Administration in 1939. It was restored in 2002 and is now a museum. The building bears a WPA stamp to the right of its door.

'The site of this building is 100 by 150 feet and is on the corner of two streets. The building is approximately 80 by 88 feet and is one and part two stories in height. The foundations are concrete and the superstructure is frame with a stucco surface. The first floor houses seven pieces of fire apparatus, contains a recreation room, office, kitchen, storage room, toilet facilities, and alarm and battery rooms. Dormitories for the firemen, quarters for the fire chief, toilet and locker facilities are on the second floor. The building was completed in 1938 at a construction cost of $39,403...

The Pheobus Fire Department in Hampton, Virginia was originally constructed as the Town Hall for Pheobus, Virginia. The town of Phoebus has since been incorporated into the city of Hampton. The Town Hall building was constructed in 1938. In his 2008 "Historic Structures Survey of City of Hampton, Virginia," for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Stephen Del Sordo writes: "The federal government used the potential for a European war, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and Works Progress Administration programs to provide unemployment relief and to improve public facilities.... The federal government...constructed a new post office in Phoebus, the Phoebus Firehouse and...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted millions of dollars (not even adjusted for inflation) of improvement and development work at the Picatinny Arsenal and a sub-installation, the Lake Denmark Naval Ammunition Depot, in New Jersey. Work involved the construction and improvement of storage facilities and various utilities. One WPA project description: Repair and rehabilitate buildings, utilities, equipment, water supply, and purification, water and sewer lines, transportation facilities, and airport, improve plumbing, heating, and electrical installations, landscape, grade, and drain grounds, also includes the construction of storage buildings officers quarters extension to storage buildings, officers quarters, extension to carpenter shop, change houses,...

The federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) conducted improvements to the old stone barracks in Plattsburgh, New York ca. 1940-1.

The former armory building in Northfield, Vermont was improved by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The building is now owned and managed by Norwich University. WPA Project Nos. 65‐12-2, 65-12-259

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor constructed a fire station in the Point of Pines section of Revere, Mass. WPA Bulletin, 1937: Any old-timer will tell you that up to a quarter of a century ago the Point of Pines section of Revere was noted for its clambakes, prizefights, and, as a rendezvous for politicians and excursionists. Its main building was a hotel at which two former presidents, Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft stopped to speak during their campaigns. In recent years this section has developed into a residential section. Skilled WPA workers are completing construction of a modern two story...

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 St. Landry Parish Courthouse annex and jail project was undertaken in New Roads, Louisiana during the Great Depression with the assistance of funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The facilities were part of the largest wave of courthouse construction and improvement in Louisiana history, with eleven total courthouses erected in the period of  1936-1940. The annex and jail was added to the north side of the existing courthouse in the parish at a cost of $185,971.  

The Police Department headquarters in Thomasville, North Carolina was originally built as the community's city hall and municipal building during the Great Depression. Construction of the Art Deco-style building was enabled by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA), which provided a substantial grant ($45,818 of the project's $118,344 eventual final cost). Construction occurred between June 1937 and March 1938. A National Register of Historic Places registration form discusses the building: "The Raleigh firm of William C. Olsen and Associates, Engineers and Architects, designed the building. Albert L. Haskins Jr. was the architectural associate, and Olsen was the consulting engineer. When City Hall...

Originally the Louisiana State School for the Deaf, this neoclassical design building is now an administration building for the Baton Rouge Police Department.

The WPA constructed this building in 1936. It originally served as a firehouse, and now serves as the town’s police department headquarters.

"The Los Angeles Police Gymnasium Building, Work Project No. 5034. Sponsored by the City of Los Angeles, is located in Elysian Park in the city of Los Angeles. The purpose of this project was to create a training center for the Los Angeles Police Department and to provide modern housing, recreational and administrative facilities. The building is located against a steep and wooded hillside and is constructed of reinforced concrete foundations, reinforced concrete exterior walls and floors, steel roof trusses and composition and tile roof. All interior walls, partitions and other framing are of wood.   "The basement, approximately 3200 square...

WPA crews built this firing range. It is unclear if the range is still in the same location or if the original structure remains.

The federal Works Progress Administration constructed a police pistol range in Perth Amboy, New Jersey in 1936. The exact location and status of the project are unknown to Living New Deal.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a pistol range at Fort Funston in San Francisco. The facility was: Built for target practice and competitive pistol matches with other police departments.--Healy, p. 70.

"The town department first had an office in the Springdale fire house and later was at the Springdale Rolling Mills. The guard at the Rolling Mills took messages from downtown for the officers and alerted them of a message by lighting a light out near the corner of Hope and Rolling Place. In 1941, the department head quarter was located on Haig Ave., where a two-story stone building was completed by the WPA. The town police department was equipped with a 3-way radio system and a 24-hour patrol was maintained throughout the territory outside city limits. In 1949 The Town...

The W.P.A. built a pistol shooting range at the old police headquarters in Leominster, Mass. The location of the old police station is unknown to Living New Deal.

The first major federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project undertaken in Atlanta during the Great Depression was the city's police station and jail. The PWA supplied a $257,000 loan and $97,460 grant for the project, whose total cost was $355,867. Construction occurred between February 1934 and May 1935. The exact location and present status of the facility is unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. GA 2983.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded a new fire station for Porterville in 1937.  This building replaced the original fire station, which was on an adjacent lot and where the new City Hall was constructed (also a New Deal building). The fire station is a one-story, Moderne building with minimal decoration (vertical ribbing), with four bays for fire engines.  It was designed by W. D. Coates. The New Deal fire station is still in use.

"The base is the home of the 142d Fighter Wing, Oregon Air National Guard. The 142d FW participates around the globe supporting drug interdiction, USAFE air defense, as well as contingency operations such as Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom. To complete these missions, four groups are assigned to the 142nd Fighter Wing: 142nd Maintenance Group, 142nd Operations Group, 142nd Mission Support Group and the 142nd Medical Group... The base's history begins in 1936 when Works Progress Administration (WPA) funding allowed the City of Portland to purchase 700 acres of land along the Columbia River and bordering the Columbia...

The W.P.A. conducted substantial development work at what was then known as the Portsmouth Navy Yard, in Kittery, Maine. W.P.A. project info: "Construction and improvements" Official Project Number: 109‐3‐11‐10 Total project cost: $200,000.00 Sponsor: U.S. Navy Department "Construct access roads" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐11‐130 Total project cost: $100,000.00 Sponsor: Town of Kittery "Rehabilitate, extend, and improve buildings, structures and facilities" Official Project Number: 165‐2‐11‐68 Total project cost: $880,222.00 Sponsor: Commandant, 1st Naval District, U.S. Navy "Construct interior access roads" Official Project Number: 165‐3‐11‐136 Total project cost: $19,156.00 Sponsor: Commanding Officer, Portsmouth Harbor Defense, U.S. Army "Repair and improve grounds, roads, and systems" Official Project Number: 65‐11‐1327 Sponsor: U.S. Navy Department "Complete construction of extensions to...

The historic former post office in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania was constructed in 1940 with Treasury Department funds. The building, which also received an example of New Deal artwork, now houses the Southwest Regional Police Department.

Constructed in 1935 with federal Treasury Department funds, the historic former post office building in DeRidder, Louisiana presently houses the Beareguard Community Action Association.

Constructed as the Morehead post office, Morehead's police building (previously the Municipal Building / city hall) was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds ca. 1936. The building houses an example of New Deal artwork.

"One of many public buildings constructed in Mississippi under WPA legislation during the Great Depression, the building has been well maintained and has retained its architectural integrity" (Weaver, 1995). The former US Post Office in Philadelphia was one of 32 post offices constructed in Mississippi under the New Deal Administration. The nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places described the building as "loosely Classical Revival with Mediterranean influence." Currently in use as the Philadelphia Police Department, the building retains its original wood and glass entry vestibule and other internal and external elements. A mezzanine level is on the...

The historic post office in Rensselaer, New York was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project with Treasury Department funds. The building, which was completed in 1936, has since been re-purposed as the town's police department building.

Constructed by the Treasury Department and PWA in 1938, and now used as a city police station. "By the mid-1930s, Rockville’s population was about 1,500, County government had erected the Grey Courthouse, and across the street arose a stately bank in the Art Deco style.  It was time for Rockville to have a permanent post office. The Federal Government paid $35,000 for the lot on the corner of Montgomery and Washington Streets, then demolished the small frame buildings that had housed the Sentinel newspaper since 1855.  Construction began in November 1938 and cost $42,000. Rockville celebrated the dedication of the Post Office on July...

Among the numerous projects conducted by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) at Fort Leavenworth was the construction of a theater. The project, sponsored by the Commanding Officer of Fort Leavenworth, cost $25,000. WPA Project No. 713-2-26

Renovate officers' quarters in the Presidio of San Francisco, by painting interior and exterior, reflooring, repairing and improving plumbing and electrical work, making general carpentry reparis, and performing appurtenant work. This project will operate in the City of San Francisco, San Francisco County. Federally owned property--Mooser, p. 96.