Military and Public Safety Sites

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to the Attica Armory in Attica IN. The armory is presently vacant. The structure is designed in the Art Deco style that is characteristic of New Deal era projects.  The DOD WPA Inventory lists 3 projects involving the Attica armory, "armory improvements" and "repair, alter, and construct armories."

This art deco style WPA building is no longer used for official business. Now the fire station side holds the Boys and Girls Club, while the other side is used by small businesses.

Then known as Auburn State Prison, the Auburn Correctional Facility received a sizable expansion as a result of a $226,000 federal Public Works Administration grant during the 1930s. PWA Federal Docket No. 3248 (NY). Specific construction included "accommodations for inmates, incinerator, connecting corridors and guard house."

In 1938, WPA labor constructed a stone retaining wall outlining the east and north edges of the Auburn Veterans Memorial Hall property. The approximately 380’-long wall is made of pieces of uncut native stone laid in random courses. The wall sweeps up at the entry, framing concrete steps leading to the hall. It continues along the sides of property, meeting another stone wall of unknown origin. The ends of the wall terminate with tapered posts. The post at the south end includes a scratched inscription in concrete identifying structure as a WPA project. Unlike other walls constructed by the WPA in Auburn,...

A 1940 Maine State Legislature report records the Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport was one of 6 airports considered important for national defense by the State Defense Commission in 1940 and that construction was undertaken by the WPA. Developed under FERA, it was originally built in 1935 to support recreational flying and consists of two 2,000 x 100 graded runways. "From late 1942, during World War II, the airfield was under the control of the United States Navy for use as a base for anti-submarine patrols by Squadron VS-31. It was commissioned on 15 April 1943 as Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Lewiston, and used...

The W.P.A. conducted repair and improvement work on numerous civic facilities in Newton, Massachusetts, including at the since-demolished Auburndale fire station.

The federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) conducted improvements ca. 1940-1 at what was then the Aviation Mechanics Training School in Plattsburgh. The exact location and status of this facility is unknown to Living New Deal.

"The current courthouse was built in 1916 after a fire destroyed the first Baca County Courthouse in 1910. The elegant brick addition, which presents the Main Street facade, was designed by the Denver firm Mountjoy and Frewen and constructed in 1929-30. In 1935, WPA workers began construction of a second addition. This two-story, stone building served initially as a jail and sheriff’s quarters, which remained at this site until 1972 when a new jail was built. The WPA plans by E.C. Measel included landscaping and a stone wall around the grounds. The lovely stone building behind the courthouse was built...

Works Progress Administration (WPA) project No. 3544 started 10/05/1935 included 3 additional fire stations. WPA funding supplied $13,495.01 and the sponsor $9,513.78 for payroll, materials, and equipment. Ground was broken for the new Back Bay fire station on the north side of Elder Street between Lameuse and Reynoir Street. The Back Bay station was expected to take 90 days and cost about $5,000. It contained a one engine garage, bed room, bath, kitchen and breakfast room, with a 20 by 30 foot assembly room. The brick and concrete block building was designed in Colonial Style by architect John T. Collins....

This fire station was constructed by the PWA in 1939 and remains in use today.

SERA crews built this small fire station in Balboa Park in conjunction with the California Pacific International Exhibition – the first structure built. It is unclear if it survives, and if so where it is located.

 Created in 1927 as a commercial airport named Godfrey Field. In 1940 the Maine State Defense Commission considered 6 airports priority for use as military bases, Bangor being a key one. A 1940 Maine State Legislature report records that construction of the base was done by the W.P.A. and improved by FERA with  a 1400 x 100 gravel runway and a 1500 x 100 Gravel runway. "he airfield was taken over by the U.S. Army just before World War II and renamed Godfrey Army Airfield and later Dow Army Airfield. It became Dow Air Force Base in 1947, when the new U.S....

Barking Sands Pacific Missile Range Facility is a U.S. Naval Installation on the Island of Kauai in Hawaii. Between 1941 and 1942 WPA funds helped enlarge the facility.

“WPA workmen improved 15 miles of gravel roads, 25 miles of dirt roads, cleared 15 miles of bayous and drainage canals, rehabilitated 43 wooden bridges which cross bayous and drainage canals on the reservation.”   (NARA)

"In 1940, leading up to World War II, the federal WPA program improved the airport for possible use by our armed forces." WPA project details: "Construct and extend runways" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐14‐308 Total project cost: $563,018.00 Sponsor: Board of Selectmen "Enlarge Hyannis Airport" Official Project Number: 665‐14‐2‐1260 Total project cost: $17,047.00 Sponsor: War Department

In 1940, the Washington Post reported allocation of funding to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for improvements to naval facilities in the city's southeast quadrant: "A group of 685 men working on an additional ammunition depot and buildings for the United States Naval Research Laboratory at Bellevue, a naval torpedo station in Alexandria, Va., and storage facilities at the Navy Yard proper for ordnance and improvement of all utility facilities. Cost, $400,000." In 1942, the Washington Post reported on cuts to WPA funding that were affecting military projects, but noted roadway improvements and new building construction at the Bellevue Magazine naval facility...

Construction on Belmont's central fire station was begun in 1935 by SERA and completed under the direction of the WPA using local labor. The station hired its first two employees in 1938. Presently, the building houses Belmont's Center for Independence of the Disabled (https://www.cidbelmont.org).

The building was the county police headquarters and 40-bed capacity county jail from 1938 until 1993 when it was razed to make way for a 220-bed facility.

Then known as Butte Municipal Airport, the CWA, FERA, and WPA each contributed toward the finishing of the "best equipped landing field in the state." The Big Timber, MT Pioneer reported in Sept. 1937: "Definite plans were completed for the construction of an asphalt surfaced runway 100 feet wide and a mile long, by means of a WPA project, with the city of Butte and the county of Silver Bow co-operating equally in furnishing materials and equipment." 150 WPA workers worked tirelessly to ensure that the runway was constructed before the onset of winter. As Bert Mooney Airport's runway 12/30 is one mile long...

Originally constructed as the Lumberton City Armory-Auditorium, what is now the Bill Sapp Recreation Center was constructed by the federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.). Postcard: "The Lumberton City Armory-Auditorium is one of the most handsome and best equipped buildings of its kind in North Carolina. It is the home of the famous Lumberton Coast Artillery Company and the war-time organization Home Guards."

The Works Progress Administration built a new National Guard Armory in Birmingham. According to BHAM Wiki: "The Graymont Armory was an Alabama National Guard armory located at 210 Graymont Avenue in McLendon Park near Legion Field in Birmingham's Graymont neighborhood." The structure has since been demolished.

"By a vote of its 113 citizens, the Town of Biscayne Park was incorporated on December 31, 1931, and on June 16th, 1933, a state charter was granted changing the name to the Village of Biscayne Park.  The Works Progress Administration built a log cabin, a clear and distinct reference to the Depression as well as to the simplicity of the American frontier days.  On February 1, 1933, at the height of the Depression, the Federal Emergency Relief Program provided the labor for the Dade County pine construction.  William Green, a resident of the Park, as well as a Councilperson,...

This is now San Francisco Fire Station No. 8

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted drastic improvement work at the South Boston Army Base in Boston, Massachusetts. WPA Bulletin: At the Army Base, South Boston, WPA employed more than 1000 men repairing and altering buildings, warehouses, wharves, roads, grounds and water and electric systems. The site of the old army base is now part of Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park. Per the DoD Heritage Assessment cited below: W.P.A. project information: "Boston Army Base" "Improve U.S. Maritime Commission buildings" Official Project Number: 165‐2‐14‐155 Total project cost: $163,750.00 Sponsor: War Department "Improve and rehabilitate buildings and utilities" Official Project Number: 165‐2‐14‐177 Total project cost: $96,755.00 Sponsor: Commanding Officer, Boston Army Base, U.S....

The W.P.A. conducted substantial improvement and development work at the then-Boston Navy Yard, which was located southeast of Chelsea Street in Charlestown. The details—including description, Official Project Numbers, total costs, and sponsors—of more than two dozen W.P.A. projects undertaken at the Navy Yard can be found in the DoD Heritage Assessment cited below. Projects included buildings, the grounds, roads, and utilities at the installation.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA), in conjunction with the War Department, developed a "municipal airport" in Agawam, Massachusetts. Living New Deal believes that the airport in question is most likely Bowles-Agawam Airport, a facility with a fascinating history that involved multiple openings, layouts, and closures. WPA project details: "Improve municipal airport" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐14‐539 Total project cost: $427,950.00 Sponsor: War Department

Built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), this Mission Revival-style fire station was built in 1936. The building has been substantially altered since its original construction.

"This red brick armory was constructed by the WPA in 1936... Architecturally, the armory is unique in terms of materials in that brick WPA structures are unusual in northeastern Oklahoma. Moreover, nothing in Boynton compares to the structure in terms of scale. This WPA project also gave work to those desperately in need of it and infused wages from almost 75,000 man-hours of labor into Boynton's economy." The building, which is located at the northeast corner of Porter and 3rd, is currently vacant.

Later known as the Bronx House of Detention for Men, the Bronx County Jail was constructed during the 1930s, a project aided by federal Public Works Administration funds (Docket No. NY 9050X). Located at East 151st St. and River Ave., the building was designed Joseph H. Freedlander and constructed at an estimated cost of $1,418,529. The building was ("substantially") finished on November 20, 1937. According to a PWA architect's survey, the eight-to-nine-story, 248-foot-long enamel-white brick structure was "of such ornate design that it is readily mistaken for an office structure." The building contained 243 cells, "of which 21 are for women." The...

Now an industrial park, the Brooklyn Army Terminal at 140 58th Street, which was previously known as the Port of Embarkation, was improved through numerous projects conducted by the federal Work Projects Administration during the 1930s and early 1940s.

In 1934, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that Brooklyn and Queens received their largest allotment of funds to-date, "in the government's drive to spread employment and aid industry." Improvements to drydock 2 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, were part of the Public Works Administration's (PWA) metropolitan-wide program which added "1,079,328 man-months of direct employment," as well as indirect employment, much of it in the construction trades (Brooklyn Daily Eagle). Forty percent of the $250,000,000 that the PWA allocated to the New York metropolitan area went to Brooklyn and Queens. A significant portion of these funds were used to improve and extend the city's transportation system,...

The Light Cruiser USS Brooklyn CL40 was built in the New York Navy Yard (commonly known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard) between 1933 and 1936. It started out as a PWA project, but at the last minute, its funding was redirected toward the construction of another ship at a Massachusetts shipyard. Nevertheless, USS Brooklyn is a member of a new class of cruisers that the PWA funding introduced. Furthermore, since the Brooklyn Navy Yard was heavily staffed by WPA workers, the Brooklyn was likely constructed with New Deal labor. The Brooklyn Navy Yard operated as a Navy facility from 1801 until 1966. It built...

The USS Erie was built in the New York Navy Yard (Brooklyn Navy Yard) between 1934 and 1936. It was funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The Brooklyn Navy Yard operated as a Navy facility from 1801 until 1966. It built two warships, USS Brooklyn and USS Erie under the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA). NIRA gave president Franklin D. Roosevelt the authority to build ships and an agency, the PWA, to pay for them.

The Brunswick airport was originally built in 1935 by the Maine Emergency Relief Administration, a state division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration after a survey of airports in the state by Capt. Harry M. Jones with the intention of building a chain of airports in coastal towns, inland towns, and lake resorts. It built 1 NW - SE 1800 x 50 gravel runway and 1 E - W 1800x100 graded runway. Naval Air Station Brunswick was developed and occupied in March 1943, and was first commissioned on April 15, 1943, to train and form-up Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadrons...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted work at what was then known as Brushy Mountain Prison in Petros, Tennessee.

In 1937, the California Department of Natural Resources sponsored the Works Progress Administration to "Construct warehouse, garage, barracks, and residence; install refrigeration plant, water mains, and sewer facilities; landscape and improve grounds; and perform other appurtenant and incidental work, at and in the City of San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County. All work under this project is in connection with the construction and development of buildings and facilities to be used solely in the prosecution of the normal functions of the State Forestry Division, Department of Natural Resources. In addition to projects specifically approved. State owned property." WPA...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built an administration and residence building for the fire-fighting arm of the California Division of Forestry in Humboldt County in 1941.  This is now a unit of Cal-Fire, the statewide forest and wildfire agency. The four or five building complex appears to have been constructed all at the same time and in the same style.  It is not clear if the WPA work went beyond a single building or the Division of Forestry added the rest of the structures.

Under project number 5517, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) graded and improved a national guard airfield on the site of Griffith Park where the zoo and Autry Museum are currently. $28,491 was spent by the federal government with $7,489 by the local sponsor. Total was $35,980. It employed 40 men on average for 8 months. Built in the mid 20's as the Griffith Park Aerodrome, the National Guard Air Service's 40th Air Corps Division (115th Observation Squadron) established a base & laid 2 runways: 3,600' northwest/southeast & 2,975' oil & gravel north/south strips. Training missions were flown from Griffith Park until...

A historic marker attributes the construction of the California National Guard Armory in San Jose to the Works Progress Administration (WPA). However, given as the WPA was not established until 1935, it is possible that this project was constructed by the Civil Works Administration (CWA). Plaque: "Built in 1933, the California National Guard Armory was funded by the U.S. Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Depression. This structure reflects a Spanish architectural style and is one of the few known WPA structures remaining in downtown San Jose. Originally constructed to consolidate National Guard Units from the South Bay Area, the Armory is...