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  • Rosewood Park Improvements - Austin TX
    Rosewood Park is a 13.9-acre neighborhood park in East Austin. The land for Rosewood Park was purchased by the City of Austin in 1929 and developed as the first African-American park in Austin. The Civil Works Administration helped make improvements to the park which included stone entry columns, a bandstand, and a sports field flanked by stone retaining walls.
  • School Athletic Field - Madison ME
    An article dated Jan. 11, 1934 speaks of New Deal assistance for the town, including the construction of a new athletic field: “Madison High School is to have one of the finest athletic fields in the state of Maine, thanks to the personal efforts of First Selectman James H. Thorne. Mr. Thorne saw the need of a modern athletic park at the local high school and through his efforts the Government has consented to forward more CWA funds to this town for the purpose of improving Alumni field. Several thousand dollars will be expended and about fifty men will be employed...
  • School Athletic Stadium - Clinton OK
    The Works Progress Administration built a school athletic stadium in Clinton, OK. Contributor note: "The original WPA school was razed due to deterioration. This field was originally given to the town for use as a Little League field in the 1980's, however today, the remaining stone wall encircles a playground area at Nance Elementary School. The wall and bleachers appear to be in fairly good shape. The roughly laid native sandstone wall is stepped with a concrete cap, and encircles a two-block area between Hayes and Court. The west end along S. 13th Street is curved. On the north and south sides of...
  • Sedgwick School Athletic Area - West Hartford CT
    In 1933/4 the federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) furnished the labor toward the development of an athletic area / playground at Sedgwick Middle School in West Hartford—specifically the planting of elm trees at the northern and western sides of the grounds.
  • Selke Field - St. Cloud MN
    The Selke Field Stone Wall was built in 1937 and was funded by the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A) during the Great Depression. Chris Tessari, the construction crew foreman, and Harry Phinney, the W.P.A representative, both played a large role in the erection of the wall. By 1946, the field was officially renamed Selke Field, after George A. Selke, a 1913 graduate and former President of St. Cloud State University (1927-1947). The granite used to build the wall was quarried out of St. Cloud State’s nearby quarries. The 3,510-foot wall’s estimated cost was $40,000-$50,000. With inflation calculated in, today’s (2020) cost would...
  • Seth Low Playground - Brooklyn NY
    This five-acre playground in Brooklyn was first established in 1924. In 1941 the WPA completed an extensive reconstruction of the main area of the park as well as the addition of a new 1/4 acre sitting area (Bealin Triangle) separated from the rest of the park by Stillwell Ave. The Department of Parks press release announcing the opening described the WPA's work: "The kindergarten area has been reduced in size and resurfaced. The existing seesaws and swings were relocated and... the school has been provided with new swings, slides and an exercise unit. The wading pool and comfort station area required minor...
  • Seward Park - New York NY
    When the recreation area in Seward Park first opened in 1903, it was "the first permanent, municipally built playground in the United States" (NYC Parks). The park was significantly redeveloped during the New Deal. In April 1935, relief workers completed the reconstruction of the section of the park as a setting for the Jacob H. Schiff fountain, which had formerly been located in Rutgers Park. On November 26, 1940, Parks announced the completion of a good deal of this work: "This recreation area, one of the oldest and most extensively used in Manhattan, has been redesigned, reconstructed, and landscaped to provide wider all...
  • Sgt. William Dougherty Playground - Brooklyn NY
    This modest playground near the Northern edge of Brooklyn was developed under the New Deal. A Department of Parks press release from April 1, 1935 announced the opening of this playground "constructed with Work Relief Funds" and went on to describe the park's development and new facilities: "The playground at Vandervoort Avenue and Cherry Street has an area of nearly an acre. The land was acquired by the Sinking Fund Commission by purchase at a cost of £22,500 and it was turned over to the Department of Parks on April 3, 1924, for development as a playground, but the land lay...
  • Sharpe Memorial Park Arena - Purcell OK
    The Works Progress Administration built the Sharpe Memorial Park Arena in Purcell OK. Contributor note: "The building of these grandstands showed the openness the WPA had to building items which were of particular interest to the local community - hence a rodeo arena. The grandstands are constructed of poured concrete and are located at the north end of 2nd Street, north of Van Buren. They run north-south with a large area to the east. During our visit in the fall of 2018, dirt work was underway. This area appears to have previously been a baseball field. (Two baseball fields have now been built to...
  • Shaw Park - Clayton MO
    Shaw Park was developed by the WPA in 1935-1936 and formally dedicated in 1937. The park is 30 acres total and is on land donated by the Shaw family. The total cost for the project was $280,000 - a $250,000 federal contribution and $30,000 bond from the city of Clayton. The park is just west of the St. Louis County courthouse and is adjacent to the Clayton High School (constructed later). The largest part of the project is the olympic swimming pool that was the only pool in the midwest meeting requirements for Olympic competition. It has since been modified...
  • Sijan Field - Milwaukee WI
    The Works Progress Administration built Sijan Field in Milwaukee WI in 1937. Today, the facility serves as the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) Recreation Division Playfield. It is used for baseball and soccer.
  • Simonds Park Development - Burlington MA
    The F.E.R.A. and W.P.A. conducted development and improvement work at Simonds Park in Burlington, Mass. Work included the construction of tennis courts, the grading of land, and work on baseball fields.
  • South Pacific Playground - Brooklyn NY
    On July 28, 1937, the Department of Parks announced the opening of "five playgrounds, constructed by the Department of Parks with relief labor and funds," noting that "These playgrounds are five of the twenty-four sites in neglected areas selected by the Commissioner of Parks and acquired by condemnation after authorization by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment on July 15, 1936." One of these five playgrounds was the South Pacific Playground. It is still extant. Although the 1937 press release does not mention which New Deal agencies were involved, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that almost all New York City Parks...
  • Southern Field - South Ozone Park NY
    On June 18, 1941, the Department of Parks announced the completion a large recreation area stretching from 114th to 121st Streets along the Southern Parkway (part of the Belt Parkway): "At the 114th to 121st location the construction of five softball diamonds, chain link fence enclosures, grading and seeding is completed. Separating the two ballfields opposite 114th Place and again, the two opposite 116th Street, sets of three-tier concrete bleachers have been constructed in a double or back-to-back arrangement, so that each of the four ballfields is provided with spectator accommodations. The diamonds all have hooded backstops. An irrigation system has...
  • Spencer High School Bleachers - Spencer WV
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built concrete bleachers for the Spencer High School near in Spencer, Roane County.
  • Springfield Park - Springfield Gardens NY
    Springfield Park was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and were "turned over to the Park Department" on August 18, 1939. "A three-acre lake, once a mosquito-breeding swamp, is the center of the Springfield Gardens development," wrote The New York Times, "which embraces seventeen and one-half acres and includes an athletic field, a football gridiron, two basketball courts, two softball diamonds and more than 100 shade trees."
  • St. Albans Park Playground - Jamaica NY
    The land for St. Albans Memorial Park in Queens was first acquired by Parks in 1914 and received its current name in 1932. A Department of Parks press release announced the opening of a new playground in St. Albans Park on July 17, 1934. At that time, the playground contained "facilities for softball and basketball, besides see-saws, swings, horizontal bars and ladders. Here too, benches and shade trees are part of the layout." Although the release does not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that almost all New York City Parks Department projects...
  • St. Catherine's Park - New York NY
    In June 1941, the Department of Parks announced the completion of the reconstruction of the St. Catherine's Park playground in Manhattan: "This 1 1/3 acre recreation area is fenced in with a 6' chain link fence and bordered with rows of benches and shade trees. The easterly half of the area has been set aside for children and besides a large wading pool which can also be used as a volley ball court, it contains a sand pit, see saws, slides, swings, and a small sitting area for guardians of children. The westerly portion adjacent to the High School has two soft...
  • St. Mary's Playground - Brooklyn NY
    St. Mary's Playground in stretches along Smith St. between Huntington St. and Nelson St., and Nelson St. and Luquer St. in Brooklyn. It sits at the border of three neighborhoods: Gowanus, Red Hook and Carroll Gardens. The NYC Parks site explains the origin of the playground: "The two parcels of land for this park were acquired by the New York Department of Transportation in 1934 as part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s (1882-1945) Works Progress Administration’s urban revitalization initiative. Originally they were to be utilized for the new Gowanus Expressway (1941), but many in the community thought the land straddling...
  • Stone Bleachers and Perimeter Wall - Fredericktown MO
    The CCC built bleachers and a surrounding rock wall for Fredericktown's high school baseball diamond. The project features a tall rock wall with periodic columns for strength that is capped with concrete. It surrounds 3 sides of a large baseball field. One of the corners has a curved façade.
  • Stone Park - Ashland MA
    Multiple New Deal agencies worked to develop Ashland, Massachusetts's Stone Park. The Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) constructed toilet facilities and bleachers in 1934. The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) continued work in 1935. Federally funded labor also improved the park's drainage and conducted other repairs.
  • Stribley Park Improvements - Stockton CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided labor to improve Stockton’s Stribley Park in 1938. The improvement project was one of several WPA efforts in the City. “It is reported that $21,903 will be spent in a city-wide improvement program of municipal playground facilities at Stockton, Calif., which is under way as a WPA project,” a contemporary journalist reported in June 1938. “Two tennis courts will be constructed at Stribley Park and two at the Municipal Baths.” The park still exists today. Facilities include baseball diamonds and picnic areas. It appears as though the tennis courts mentioned above were refurbished as handball courts.
  • Sul Ross State University - Alpine TX
    The campus of Sul Ross State University was greatly developed during the 1930s as a result of efforts on the part of several New Deal agencies, including the Public Works Administration (PWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA), Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). Per the El Paso Herald-Post: A modern state institution of higher learning in the far-western "Big Bend of Texas,” Sul Ross State College faces its 20th anniversary in 1940 with a college plant and campus of first rank among state educational centers Opening of a new $150,000 PWA dormitory for women this year has brought...
  • Sulphur Athletic Field and Stadium - Sulphur OK
    Athletic field and stadium for the Sulphur Bulldogs and still use practice field for the High School team The stadium located on West Wynnewood Ave, Sulphur is a rectangular 139 x 38 foot building made of native stone and pre-formed concrete slab blocks. Considered Art Deco in design it provides stadium seating for approximately 500 people. The original press box with a concrete roof stands on top of the stadium and two small ticket booths were placed east and west of the stadium building. A rock fence runs east of the stadium. Of all the stadiums built by Works Progress Administration in...
  • Sunset Park Playground - San Francisco CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped build the Sunset Playground in 1937-1940, working with the San Francisco Recreation Department.  The playground included a field house plus volleyball, basketball and tennis courts. "In 1937, the three-acre site at 29th Avenue and Lawton Street was bought for $50,676 and began as a playground. Built by the Recreation Department and the W.P.A. (Works Progress Administration), Sunset Playground opened in 1940 with a small field house, volleyball, basketball and tennis courts." (ParkScan) We believe that the WPA relief workers developed the entire playground and not just the grading of the site, as indicated by Healy.  "Like...
  • Swede Dahlberg Field - Butte MT
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built an athletic complex for the high schools in Butte, Montana, The complex included a football field, quarter mile running track and tennis courts, which can still be seen in the satellite photo. The football field is now called Swede Dahlberg Field, next to West Elementary School (we are unsure if the tennis courts come under that designation). The WPA contributed almost $60,000 in relief labor for the athletic fields. Given the high unemployment in the mining district of Butte, WPA jobs were vital for the survival of workers in the Great Depression.
  • Szot Park - Chicopee MA
    WPA Bulletin, 1937: "On a misty, dismal day last April, a WPA crew started work on the wild and undeveloped 70-acre Bemis tract of land in the rear of the Chicopee High School, which is being converted into the city's first public recreational field. Today the physical change of a large part of the land is decidedly noticeable. Here workmen have graded, leveled and filled this area into a huge flat field which will contain a football and baseball field, a running track, eight tennis courts, three basketball courts, a field house and service building, a grandstand and a parking...
  • Taaffe Playground - Brooklyn NY
    This park in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn was built by the Department of Parks in 1934. The press release announcing its opening described the facilities as including "a general girls' play field a boys' play field, a wading pool, basketball court, and an area for outdoor playground apparatus. Handball courts are also provided for boys. A brick recreation building with toilet facilities and indoor playrooms is being constructed.” The NYC Parks site also says that several Pin oaks were planted "in the hope that they might provide much needed areas of shade in the future." Although these sources do not...
  • Takoma Recreation Center Development - Washington DC
    Takoma Recreation Center is a large public recreational facility in Washington D.C., containing buildings, swimming pool, tennis courts and other facilities. New Deal agencies did extensive work on the site, 1933-36, as part of a larger Capital Parks improvement program assisted by the Civil Work Adminstration (CWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA), and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The WPA alone undertook a million dollar program of improvements to district parks in 1935-36. The work at Takoma Recreation Center included: "Swimming pools and field house constructed; baseball diamonds, athletic fields graded and equipment installed; landscaping and lawn area at field house constructed; parking areas...
  • Tallman Mountain State Park Improvements - Sparkill NY
    "In 1933, thanks to labor provided by the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration, PIPC was able to transform the former quarry site into a popular recreation center, with a swimming pool, picnic areas, and facilities for field and court games."
  • Tashmoo Baseball Field - Tisbury MA
    WPA project photo caption: "Exciting moment at Tashmoo Baseball Field, built by WPA at Tisbury." The location and status of this facility is presently unknown to Living New Deal.
  • Tennessee State University Improvements - Nashville TN
    Tennessee State University was established in 1909 as Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State College, a land-grant college.  It is the only state-funded historically Black college or university in Tennessee. The New Deal helped a great deal to  build up the Tennessee A & I College campus in the 1930s. Early in 1935, the college announced the opening of six new buildings on campus: Practice Hall, Administration and Health, Men’s Hall (East), Hale Hall, Wilson Hall, and Science Hall (Harned). These were almost certainly funded by the New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA).  It is hard to imagine the college having the...
  • Texas A&M University: Athletic Field Improvements - Kingsville TX
    In 1938, when it was still called Texas A&I College the WPA provided funds and workers to reconstruct bleachers and fence at the athletic field, construct dressing rooms, pave campus drives and beautify grounds. Texas A&M University-Kingsville grew out of the teacher college or "normal school" movement that swept Texas and the nation in the early 1900s. Chartered in 1917 but not opened until 1925 because of America's entry into World War I, the University is the oldest continuously operating public institution of higher learning in South Texas. Shortly after beginning life as South Texas State Teachers College, its role was...
  • The Spruces Campground - Big Cottonwood Canyon UT
    The Utah Outdoor Association, working with the local Forest Service office in the Wasatch National Forest, created the Community Camp in 1921.  It was built on the site of a former tree nursery put there c. 1900 to reforest Big Cottonwood Canyon, which had been completely denuded of trees in the 19th century to build early Salt Lake City.  In 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) added many new facilities to the Community Camp, including more campsites, tent platforms, baseball fields, horseshoe pitches and a volleyball court. A ski jump and toboggan slide were added in 1936-37 at the mouth of Day's Fork,...
  • Thomas Greene Playground - Brooklyn NY
    When the Department of Parks first developed a playground at Degraw and 3rd Ave. in 1935, it was leasing the property from a private owner. A press release announced the 1935 opening along with the opening of six other playgrounds, one of which was attended by WPA administrator Harry Hopkins. The City of New York formally acquired the property in 1938 and soon opened a larger, more developed playground on the site "occupying the entire block bounded by Douglass Street, DeGraw Street, Nevins Street and Third Avenue." The press release announcing the opening on October 8, 1939 explained: "This playground, planned to accommodate...
  • Thomas Jefferson Park - New York NY
    The land for Thomas Jefferson Park park was first purchased in 1897, but was greatly expanded in the 1930s under Commissioner Robert Moses. In September 1935, Moses and Mayor LaGuardia oversaw the opening of the north playground, "equipped with a wading pool, two soft ball diamonds, a roller skating track, play houses, seesaws, jungle gyms, etc."  The south portion of the park opened two months later, including at least some of the following: baseball, basketball, bocci, handball or horse shoe courts, and jungle gyms, swings, slides, playhouses, sand tables, see-saws, shuffle board courts, and  wading pools. In December 1936, Parks...
  • Thomas P. Noonan Playground - Woodside NY
    This small park in Queens was acquired by the City in December 1936. Less than a year later, in October 1937, Parks announced the opening of a new playground on the site: "he new playground is equipped with swings, see-saws, slides; playhouses, horizontal bars and ladders. A rectangular wading pool which is encircled by an oval shaped roller skating track, handball courts and a large play area for soft ball games, have also been provided. Shade trees which have been planted around the perimeter of the entire area and permanent concrete benches complete the design." Although the 1937 press release does not...
  • Tompkins Square Park - New York NY
    This sizeable Manhattan park has served as a recreational space since the early 19th century. In the 1930s it was redesigned under Parks commissioner Robert Moses. On October 1, 1936 Parks announced that the: "north half of the park from Ninth to Tenth Streets between Avenues A and B has been redesigned and reconstructed and includes basket ball, volley ball, shuffle board, paddle tennis and horse-shoe pitching courts; complete play apparatus and e wading pool." Although the press release announcing the completion of this work does not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that...
  • Van Cortlandt Park, Parade Ground - Bronx NY
    The Van Cortlandt Park Parade Ground is a 43-acre field on the southwest edge of Van Cortlandt Park. Researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that it "was built in 1901 as a training area for the New York National Guard. In the 1930s, Robert Moses, New York City's first citywide parks commissioner, redesigned the Parade Ground as athletic fields. Today it is a large flat area where every conceivable kind of game is played, from Irish football to bocce ball to cricket, not to mention (American) football and soccer (fútbol)." Three baseball fields were opened on the Parade Grounds in May,...
  • Van Cortlandt Stadium - Bronx NY
    The NY Parks Department website explains: "Constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Van Cortlandt Stadium opened on September 22, 1939. New York City, under the direction of Moses and Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia (1882-1947), was able to secure a great deal of WPA funding. Park construction was one of the many projects undertaken by the WPA, an unprecedented federal program initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) as a component of the New Deal. Mayor La Guardia and Parks Commissioner Moses conducted the opening ceremonies with an exhibition football game between Manhattan College and Fordham University." The 1939 press release...
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