In April 1942, the WPA and the Department of Parks completed the reconstruction of Hamilton Metz Field in Brooklyn. After removing an existing football field and other facilities, the WPA constructed extensive new facilities: “The area has been completely enclosed… read more
In the late 1920s, the city of Piedmont was outgrowing its schools and many classes were being held in temporary buildings. In the 1930s, voters passed a bond issue and the school district undertook a major rebuilding program. It took… read more
The Works Progress Administration built an athletic stadium and swimming pool in 1937 in Greenville OH. The Athletic field has recently undergone renovations and is still in use by the Greenville High School in Greenville, Ohio. In 2017, the original… read more
In 1942, the Washington Post reported the allocation of $21,390 to the Federal Works Agency (FWA) for new construction and/or improvements to what was then the Eckington Recreation Center, now known as the Harry Thomas Sr. Recreation Center, in the… read more
Today’s NYC Parks website explains that the village of Whitestone (now the neighborhood of Whitestone in Queens) acquired this land in 1892. Parks took over the 21 acre site in 1936 in conjunction with the construction of the Whitestone Parkway. … read more
The former high school in Auburn, Massachusetts was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. “For the past two decades, the increasing cost of tuition and transportation of pupils to Worcester caused agitation for an Auburn… read more
The Civil Works Administration (CWA) “added a practice field newly leveled and landscaped” at the since-demolished high school in Sheridan, Wyoming in 1933/4. The school, which was dedicated in 1926, served as the high school until 1987. It later became… read more
The Works Progress Administration built a new high school and athletic field in Griswold CT. The school was built in Moderne style with brick veneer walls. Pictured is a football game in progress, circa 1937. The exact location and condition of… read more
The WPA photo pictured here shows an athletic field constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for West Rutland High School. The photo is dated to 1937. The Living New Deal does not know the current status of the athletic… read more
The Works Progress Administration built a high school athletic field and grandstand in Worland, Washakie County. The exact location and condition of this facility are unknown to the Living New Deal.
The city of Greenville sponsored the Works Progress Administration project to improve the high school athletic field. The field was graded and bleachers added with a capacity to seat 2,000. The cost of the project was $2,122 and employed fifteen men…. read more
An application for the erection of a stadium grandstand at the Natchez High School was submitted September 7, 1935 to the Brookhaven WPA office. City bonds were used in addition to WPA labor to construct the grandstand on the west… read more
Work consisted of excavation and building masonry rubble walls, 3,000 feet of red rock paths, 600 lineal feet of sewer, a standard convenience station and general renovation of an existing court surrounded by walls of natural floral beauty. This improvement… read more
Description of a 1937 W.P.A. project: “Blue Hills Reservation; two baseball diamonds and four tennis courts were built in the sports area south of Hoosicwhisick Pond in Milton.” Hoosicwhisick Pond is also known as Houghton’s Pond.
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed two parks in El Cerrito, Poinsett and Huber. WPA improvements at 2.6-acre Huber park include leveling portions of the hillside site, building extensive rubble stone support walls, and constructing recreational facilities. The latter include… read more
The Works Progress Administration built bleachers for a baseball diamond in Cleburne. Corsicana Daily Sun mentioned the construction of the bleaches in 1938: “Cleburne, Johnson county—Con- truct soft ball field, bleachers, bowling green, walks and parkway and landscape in city park; federal… read more
During the Great Depression, the WPA radically transformed this large park at the Northwest tip of Manhattan, making accessible what is now the only largely non-landscaped park in all of Manhattan. WPA workers built roads, trails and overlooks throughout the… read more
A January 26, 1939 press release by the Department of Parks announced that, “The WPA is at present constructing a boat basin in the Harlem Ship Canal which utilizes the old channel bordering Inwood Hill and Isham Parks [that is] no… read more
Before the 1930s, the large area of Inwood Hill Park north of Dyckman Street, between the New York Central Railroad tracks and the Hudson River was a literally a dump. Through the efforts of the Henry Hudson Parkway Authority, the… read more
This sizable park on Manhattan’s west side includes vistas of the Hudson River and of the George Washington Bridge. It was acquired by the city in 1925, and opened by the Department of Parks in 1935. The press release announcing… read more
Now known as the J. J. Byrne Playground, this was one of five “model playgrounds” designed as templates for further playground development by Robert Moses and his team after Moses assumed control of the New York City Parks Department in… read more
The spacious Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem, originally called Colonial Park and known for many years as Bradhurst Park, first opened in 1911, but was only fully developed under the New Deal. When the Department of Parks announced the planned… read more
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) gave Jackson Park a facelift during the 1930s, or what the City Engineer called “General repairs and dressing up” (Healy, p. 58). We have no evidence on what, if any, traces remain of the WPA… read more
The New York City Parks Department website provides a brief history of Jacob Riis Park: “260-acre Riis Park, stretching over a mile on the western section of the Rockaway Peninsula, was acquired by the city in 1913. In 1914, the… read more
In early 1942, the WPA began work on a new park and playground to be operated jointly by the adjacent P.S. 40 (Samuel Huntington School) and the Department of Parks. A press release announcing the start of construction described the… read more
In October 1942, the Washington Post reported the allocation of $19,627 to the Federal Works Agency (FWA) for new construction and improvements at the Jefferson Recreation Center adjacent to Jefferson Middle School in the city’s southwest quadrant. In a previous… read more
The land for what is now the John Allen Payne Park was acquired in 1940. “It is one of more than a dozen parks and playgrounds that line the highway now known as the Gowanus Expressway” (NYC Parks). The WPA… read more
The sign on this park says Josephine Caminiti Playground. The NYC Parks website also refers to it as Alstyne Playground and notes that it was formerly known as Corona Playground. The land for this park was purchased by the City… read more
This large park in the Middle Village neighborhood of Queens provides a wealth of leisure and recreational attractions to local residents. Before it became a park, “it was used variously as a farm, a cemetery, a source for peat moss,… read more
NYC Parks describes the history of this park: “The property on which the park is located was acquired by Parks from the Sinking Fund in two parcels. The first parcel was assigned on July 11, 1934, the second on June… read more
This park area consists of Kelly Park to the West of the BMT Brighton Beach transit line and the smaller Kelly Playground to the East of the line. Both were developed by the WPA in 1940. Kelly Park was first… read more
The former City Park and Athletic Field (now the Ken Lindley Park) originated in 1908, but major improvements were made with relief labor provided by the Civil Works Administration (CWA) in the winter of 1933-34. It is likely that after… read more
The Works Progress Administration built the Ken Locke Athletic Field (previously called the called Knoxville WPA Athletic Field) in Knoxville IA.
The extensive Kissena Park was first established in the early 1900s and now forms part of the “Queens Corridor” park system. In addition to building a golf course at the east end of the park in the mid 1930s, in… read more
Birmingham’s Lane Park was the site of substantial work relief efforts on the part of multiple New Deal agencies: the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Historical marker: “The land was also used for the Allen… read more
In July 1935, the Laurel School Board sponsored a proposal for a new athletic field adjacent to the school grounds. The land had been used as a school “park”, but since the school had no athletic field to speak of,… read more
“Early projects proposed by the town [of Jamestown, R.I.] and paid for by the WPA included … new athletic fields on Lawn Avenue …”
This outdoor amphitheater was built into a hillside of a city park so the sounds from summer concerts and other events could easily project up through the audience. This popular gathering spot was renovated in 2009, with $220,000 covering improvements… read more
Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor constructed numerous facilities at Bridgewater’s Legions Field. The facility was located at WPA Bulletin: WPA is completing construction of a Playground and Athletic Field, Bed- ford Street, Bridgewater. Work includes the building of a football… read more
In 1939, the Works Progress Administration built the Lincoln fieldhouse in Lincoln Field, Milwaukee WI.