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  • 109th St. Pool - Los Angeles CA
    The WPA helped in improvements at this pool that put 66 people to work in 1939. 53,300 man hours were used. $36,211 went toward labor and $3,129 to other expenses. As of Winter 2015, the facility was extant but being extensively renovated.
  • 227th Street Playground - Bronx NY
    The 227th Street Playground in Bronx Park, June 2015, built by the New Deal Works Progress Administration (WPA) and opened on June 25, 1941. From the NYC Parks Department press release: The new development covers an area of about two acres in the sloping lawn between the Parkway and the Bronx River. The playground itself is semi-circular in shape, contains various items of play apparatus including swings, slides, see-saws, jungle gym, a sand pit and a shower basin, and is paved with bituminous material. It is fenced with chain link fabric for purposes of control and a number of trees have...
  • 28th Street Land Reclamation Project - San Diego CA
    This WPA land reclamation project (a process by which new land is created from sea or riverbeds) appears to have taken place where 28th street runs into the San Diego coastline near East Harbor Drive. Note the ships and masts just visible towards the horizon in the photo below.
  • 2nd Street Dead End Wall - Salina KS
    In 1939, a dead-end wall was constructed on 2nd Street in Salina, Kansas by youths who were employed by the National Youth Administration (NYA). The NYA was a division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that focused on training, employing, and educating young people between the ages of 16 and 25. Chris Cotten, Parks and Recreation Director of the City of Salina, Kansas tells us that "n April 1939 the Salina Journal reported that 35 NYA youths, working part time and using rubble masonry, were hired to construct 'ten dead-end walls' on streets that terminated at the Smoky Hill River. Remnants...
  • 3rd Street Dead End Wall - Salina KS
    In 1939, a dead-end wall was constructed on 3rd Street in Salina, Kansas by youths who were employed by the National Youth Administration (NYA). The rock wall at the south end of 3rd Street bears an NYA plaque. The NYA was a division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that focused on training, employing, and educating young people between the ages of 16 and 25. Chris Cotten, Parks and Recreation Director of the City of Salina, Kansas tells us that "n April 1939 the Salina Journal reported that 35 NYA youths, working part time and using rubble masonry, were hired to construct 'ten...
  • 4-H Camp Cabins, Appomattox-Buckingham State Forest - Appomattox VA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built some of the cabins at the Holiday Lake 4-H Center in Appomattox-Buckingham State Forest. The CCC also constructed the Woolridge Wayside picnic area nearby.
  • A. H. Stephens State Historic Park - Crawfordville GA
    "A. H. Stephens Historic Park contains tent and trailer sites, picnic sites, and fishing ponds, as well as a nature trail and rustic cabins, and was mostly built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, beginning in 1933." (wikipedia) The park "is located in a beautiful loblolly pine forest planted in the early 1930’s by the CCC."   (https://www.reserveamerica.com) The WPA also worked in the park.  
  • ABC Playground - New York NY
    This small playground on Houston St. between Essex and Norfolk was constructed by the Department of Parks in 1934 as a playground for small children. According to the press release announcing its opening, it originally contained "a shelter house, basketball courts and complete playground apparatus," and was one of 38 new play areas "completely equipped with modern recreational facilities, which have been added to the park system during a period of four months by the new administration.” The playground took on its current name after a major renovation in October 1998. The name "reflects both its location at the northern...
  • Abe Andrews Park - Norman OK
    Formerly known as Norman City Park, this site was established in the late 1890s and considerably improved during the New Deal: "Between 1935 and 1937, under the New Deal programs, several items were constructed in the southwest portion of the park. Work was performed by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Works Progress Administration with some work done by the National Youth Administration. A beautiful native stone amphitheater was constructed which is still in use today. The amphitheater is a semi-circle, with three sections of twenty rows of seating. The seats are native stone benches with concrete caps. At the rear of...
  • Aberjona River Rechanneling - Winchester MA
    Winchester.us: "During the 1930s the channel upstream of the Aberjona Pond was rechanneled, section by section, as ERA and WPA projects. The projects were based on recommendations by Herbert Kellaway, published in 1928. In the Kellaway plan, three ponds for flood expansion were to be created, bordered by solid land and green grassy banks and connected by new channels. The rechanneling was designed to eliminate the mosquito problem by draining the marshes. The Town consulted the State Reclamation Board during these projects. At that time, the entire northern section of the river was lined with industries. While the 1930s improvements...
  • Abilene Stadium - Abilene KS
    Abilene Stadium, part of Eisenhower Park, was constructed by the Works Progress Administation (WPA). WPA Project 4711.
  • Abilene State Park - Tuscola TX
    "The Civilian Conservation Corps, Roosevelt’s first New Deal recovery program, built the original parts of Abilene State Park, including picnic areas and swimming pool complex. In 1934, the 507 acres were dedicated as a state park. According to the Taylor County Historical Commission, another CCC company, all black veterans, returned a year later to finish the effort, repairing roads and building a stone water tower." (Abilene Reporter-News)
  • Abol Campground - Millinocket ME
    One of many campgrounds the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed in Maine, this one is located in Baxter State Park. "Set in a northern hardwood forest near the base of Abol Slide, Abol is the closest campground to Togue Pond Gate and a trailhead for Katahdin hiking."
  • AC Brace Arena - Cape Girardeau MO
    Designed by Hal Lynch and J. Carl Jourdan and completed in 1939, this Art Deco style arena has been upgraded and well-maintained through the years. The stage is original.
  • Acadia National Park - Mt. Desert Island ME
    "Across the country, natural resources were being lost to poor conservation, heavy use, and severe drought. In Maine, one of the newer national parks was struggling. Even though Acadia National Park had been created 17 years earlier, it was still rural, small, and undeveloped. Most areas were overgrown and inaccessible, and the facilities were inadequate for the park’s large number of visitors. Superintendent George Dorr desperately wanted to develop the area and saw a huge opportunity in the CCC. He petitioned Roosevelt for a camp to be stationed at Acadia. His wish became reality when one of the program’s earliest camps...
  • Ackley Lake - Hobson MT
    Big Timber Pioneer reported: "Joseph Parker, state WPA administrator, has approved construction of the Ackley lake project on the Judith river west of Hobson in Judith Basin county. This irrigation undertaking will cost $113,003. It will employ 328 clients for four months."
  • Ackley Park Baseball Stadium - Elk City OK
    The WPA created the Ackley Park baseball field and stadium in 1939, along with a boy scout hut in the park “The occasional use of dark stones created a unique pattern at the baseball field in Ackley Park in Elk City.”   (Barton)
  • Adel Swimming Pool - Adel IA
    A public swimming pool in Adel IA was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1935. One of the earliest municipal pools constructed in Iowa, the facility was around for a good share of historical events – war, environmental disasters, and cultural and economic changes. “When the pool was completed,” states Allison McNeal of the Dallas County News, “it was quite an attraction to residents including the fact that it had covered restrooms and a bathhouse, uncommon for the era.” The WPA project also provided unemployment relief for area residents. Over time, the pool faced a lack of upkeep as well as...
  • Administrative & Support Buildings - Death Valley National Park CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was present in Death Valley National Monument  from 1933 to 1942. CCC 'boys' built erected a total of 76 buildings in the monument, including administrative, residential, maintenance & visitor facilities.   The main CCC camp was at Cow Creek, built in 1933 and rebuilt after a fire in 1936.   The original park headquarters was at Cow Creek, as well, and now serves as a Research Center.  Some of the old camp buildings at Cow Creek still stand and are in use as support facilities for park administration: warehouses, a carpenter shop, trades shop, radio building and...
  • Admiralty Cove Shelter - Admiralty Island AK
    Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers built a shelter at Admiralty Cove as part of the Admiralty Island Canoe Route, created from 1933 to 1937. This route included shelters, portages, dams, cabins, boathouses, and skiffs and was part of a program to enhance recreational opportunities in Alaska. The CCC structure serves as a boat shelter today and is located on the site of the Admiralty Cove Cabin.    
  • Admiralty Island Canoe Route - Admiralty Island AK
    From 1933 to 1937, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) created a canoe route from east to west across Admiralty Island with multiple shelters, trails and a bear-watching tower at Pack Creek. The CCC Canoe Route is on the National Trust Registry of Historic Places.  The documentation form for the canoe route provides these details: "Work on Admiralty Island began in 1933, with three CCC crews totaling 23 men. By 1934 four shelter cabins had been constructed. In 1935 crews built the trails, more shelters, and installed a dam at the outlet of Beaver Lake to make it navigable to LakeAlexander. By 1936...
  • Ainsworth State Park - Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area OR
    During 1935, Civilian Conservation Corps workers made improvements to Ainsworth State Park, thirty-six miles east of Portland on the Columbia River Highway. John C. Ainsworth, former chairman of the State Highway Commission (1931-1932) donated the original forty acres for the park in 1933. CCC enrollees worked on picnic facilities and trails in the park. Perhaps the most distinctive improvement made by CCC workers involved the stone work steps and fountain that provided public drinking access to the park's spring.
  • Akron Falls Park - Akron NY
    Multiple New Deal agencies are cited as having contributed to the development of Akron Falls Park, including the C.W.A. and the W.P.A. "The Civil Works Administration ... initiated the development of Akron Falls. They hired 90 men to develop the park and each received a minimum of $15.00 per week."  
  • Al Kreuger Field (former) - Perham MN
    Al Krueger Field, located at the EOT County Fairgrounds in Perham, Minnesota, was originally constructed as a federal Works Progress Administration project during the Great Depression. The original structure was torn down in 2012 and replaced; the site is now known as Al Kreuger Field at Tuffy Stadium.
  • Ala Moana Park Landscape Design - Honolulu HI
    In 1932, the city government began grading work and site preparations on the grounds of the Ala Moana park with the help of territorial relief funds. But it was the advent of federal assistance in 1933 that expanded the scope of construction and park development. Robert Weyeneth describes the process in the volume, Ala Moana: The People's Park: "The Federal Employment Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) and, briefly, the short-lived Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) provided the resources for the park board to undertake a major construction program in the thirties. During the construction program funded by the CWA and FERA, the daily labor force was as...
  • Ala Moana Park, Roosevelt Portals - Honolulu HI
    This shore-side park was constructed with CWA and FERA funds. From a Department of Land and Natural Resources calendar: "The moderne style, FERA funded Ala Moana Park East Entry Gateway (1934), designed by Harry Sims Bent, was officially named the Roosevelt Portals, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt traveled to Hawai'I to formally dedicate and open Ala Moana Park on July 27, 1934." The Roosevelt Portals are located at the east entrance to the park.  
  • Ala Moana Park: Lawn Bowling Green - Honolulu HI
    Part of the Ala Moana Park complex, the Lawn Bowling Green was designed by architect Harry Sims Bent and built with the help of federal funds and FERA and CWA labor. "Constructed in 1939, the lawn bowling green was the last of Harry Sims Bent's designs for Ala Moana Park. It remains today the only lawn bowling green in Honolulu."
  • Ala Moana Park: the Sports Pavilion and Banyan Court - Honolulu HI
    Part of the Ala Moana Park complex, the Sports Pavilion and Banyan Court were designed by architect Harry Sims Bent and built with the help of federal funds and FERA and CWA labor. “The simple concrete exterior walls of the sports pavilion do not suggest the exotic richness of the banyan court hidden behind its walls. The banyan court is probably the best-kept secret in Honolulu's parks today; it is also perhaps Harry Sims Bent's most noteworthy design. The sports pavilion and banyan court were officially completed 1937, although much of the sports pavilion had been finished somewhat earlier, by 1935....
  • Alabama State Training School for Girls (former) Swimming Pool - Chalkville AL
    The Works Progress Administration built a swimming pool for the former State Training School for Girls in Chalkville, Alabama, near Birmingham.
  • Alamo Grounds Improvements - San Antonio TX
    Multiple New Deal agencies were involved with improving the grounds at the Alamo. A timeline mural board on the west side of the Alamo Museum indicates that "depression-era public works projects" built the walls that now encompass the grounds of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. The Alamo is regarded as the "Shrine of Texas Liberty" due to its location of the famous battle within its perimeter during the Texas Revolution; however, it was originally the site of Mission San Antonio Valero which was moved here in 1724 after several previous locations in the area were not suitable. The New York Times...
  • Alamo Stadium - San Antonio TX
    San Antonio's historic Alamo Stadium was constructed at/near the site of an abandoned rock quarry by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938-40. The facility was dedicated September 20, 1940. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a much loved place for many San Antonians who grew up here. In 2013 Alamo Stadium underwent a $35 million renovation which restored the facades, including plaques and markers.
  • Albuquerque Little Theater - Albuquerque NM
    "Albuquerque is home to scores of WPA buildings and works. Among the most prolific are the following- ... John Gaw Meem designed both Scoles Hall and Zimmerman Library on the campus of the University of New Mexico (the corner of University and Central). Both have undergone redesign and restoration, but still carry many of the architects innovative design features. Also on the campus of UNM, the Anthropology building is from that era, and contains three large murals by Joseph Imhof. The Old Albuquerque Municipal Airport (2920 Yale SE) is a Pueblo revival style two-story building that stands in the shadow of the Albuquerque...
  • Alderwood State Wayside - Eugene OR
    Several years after the State purchased land from Lane County, Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees improved the Alderwood State Wayside. The work was conducted in 1935. As noted in the Oregon State Park's 1965 publication: "The facilities at Alderwood are not extensive, being a small area for parking cars, two foot-bridges, trails, tables and sanitary facilities, all constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps." Necessary maintenance at the wayside has resulted in replacement of some of the improvements but the basic lay-out remains the same.
  • Alexander Hamilton Playground - New York NY
    In January 1940, the Parks Department announced the completion of a complete renovation of what is now the Alexander Hamilton Playground: "At the Hamilton Place area, the old playground has been entirely reconstructed to provide for wider and more intensive usage. Besides a new modern comfort station, there is now a wading pool, volley ball and handball courts, a jungle gym, swings, slides and see-saws, The entire area has been resurfaced with bituminous material to provide for continuous usage throughout the year. The opening of these two areas, designed by the Park Department and built by the Work Projects Administration, makes a...
  • Alice Keith Park Swimming Pool - Beaumont TX
    The Alice Keith Park Swimming Pool in Beaumont, TX was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938. A ten-acre municipal tract, Alice Keith Park was constructed in 1932 to help alleviate unemployment and provide a recreational space in the southeastern section of the city. The Superintendent of Parks and Recreation remarked after the pool’s completion: “As a WPA project, which included sewer lines, sidewalks, and other park improvements, the pool was constructed and landscaped in about six months and was opened May 28 , designated as city-wide ‘Splash Day.’ The pool is the last word in modern appearance,...
  • Alice Whitney Park Dam (demolished) - St. Cloud MN
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Alice Whitney Park Dam on the Sauk River in St. Cloud MN in 1938.  WPA workers also built steps going down the riverbank to the dam and a path along the river.  The dam was  meant to provide a swimming hole for park users. The dam was about 4 feet tall and provided a walking path to get across the river, connecting Whitney Park and Sauk River Park.  All of the stone and wood was cut by WPA workers.  The dam’s purpose was to raise the water level of the Sauk River to create a...
  • Alki Playfield Regrade - Seattle WA
    Alki Playfield underwent a regrade, thanks to New Deal funds, in 1934.
  • Allegany State Park - Salamanca NY
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) conducted major development work at New York's Allegany State Park between 1933 and 1942.
  • Allegheny National Forest - PA
    "The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) provided jobs to people willing to work towards reforestation of cut-over timber land and was the progenitor organization of the Allegheny National Forest. A number of CCC camps and CCC associated property types are located within the  Forest including planted red pine plantations, including the first such effort at reforestation by the CCC in the United States." (https://www.fs.usda.gov) "The second CCC camp in the country opened on the Allegheny National Forest. These newest enrollees came to the Forest from Pittsburgh, the hard coal region around Scranton, south Philadelphia, and the deep South. They were immediately put to work...
  • Allen Field Bleachers - Washington IN
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the bleachers at Allen Field in Washington, Indiana.
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