Stadiums Sites

This Works Progress Administration velodrome was constructed in the 1930s for bicycle racing. It has since been transformed into a stadium for Lincoln High School.  

The WPA built this baseball stadium for San Jose in the early 40s: "In the late 30s the City of San Jose decided that for professional baseball to stay, they needed a permanent stadium. After applying and some lobbying a grant for $80,000 was procured. Construction started in spring 1941, and despite the outbreak of war was completed a year later. The war did mean that the local team folded after the 1942 season, but when another was founded in 1947, baseball was here to stay. What the city got for the money was a single level arc, in a slight art-deco...

This stone stadium was built by the WPA in 1942. The stadium hosts school sports and community events. The Lamar School District wants to demolish and replace the structure, due to the cost it would take to restore the existing Savage Stadium.

SERA began constructing the Aztec Bowl in 1933, spending $260,000 on excavating, filling, leveling, and removing rock. The WPA provided another $216,863 for the labor for filling in the canyon, seating for 10,000 people, as well as a flood lightening system, turfed playing field, a press box, and restrooms on either sides of the stadium. The stadium was dedicated on October 3, 1936, right before a football game against Occidental College (San Diego State won the game).

Shakamak is an attractive site today, but in 1930 when it opened as a state park, much of the parcel was a wasteland of abandoned strip mines. Shakamak State Park entered a new phase of development during the Great Depression. In the winter of 1933-34, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) employed hundreds of local men to build trails, shelters, and a new lake. The dam was completed by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) which also constructed fish ponds and pens for exotic animals. In 1937, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) finished the projects. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed...

Sirrine Stadium, in Greenville, South Carolina, was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds in 1936. The stadium, as of 2014, was last renovated in 2002. Greenville schools: "Sirrine Stadium has a long and rich history of tradition in the Greenville Community. Once the home of the Furman University Paladins, it also supported the Greenville Senior High School Raiders. Fall weekend nights and afternoons around Sirrine Stadium have been filled with the noise and hoopla of football for generations of Greenvillians. The efforts to preserve this center of cultural and athletic tradition have culminated in a outstanding center...

This stone stadium, primarily designed for high school football, was constructed with funds and labor provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938-39.

"Along the Upper Mississippi, WPA employees built ... Municipal Stadium (now Modern Woodman Park) in Davenport, Iowa ..."

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) constructed a "concrete stadium" in Ridgefield Park.

In 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) received funding for a $66,000 project to build a high school athletic field and stadium for the Watertown school district. The construction was completed in 1941, and the site included a baseball field, football field, running track, and seats for up to 5000 spectators. After completion, the stadium hosted the majority of football games played by the Watertown Arrows. The site is still used today by the Watertown Arrows. The site has also been used for hosting musical concerts, and for launching fireworks for Fourth of July celebrations. In 2000, the site was registered...

Stolte Memorial Field was constructed in 1939-1940 with labor provided by the W.P.A. Funding was provided by the Alumni Association and private donations. Town reports describe the project as follows: 1939: "The project has been carried on with W.P.A. labor. The splendid co-operation of the town officials has made it possible to push forward this work. Incidentally, this has given employment to many men who would otherwise have gone on the relief rolls and the material used has been furnished without cost to the town. Many citizens have been much interested in this project and it is planned, this spring,...

Constructed in 1935-37 with WPA labor, the 26,500-seat stadium came as part of a massive New Deal project to expand New Orleans’s City Park. Richard Koch, an architect on the park board and the architectural firm of Weiss, Dreyfous and Seifert, designed the stadium. The architectural firm had reached national exposure after Governor P. Huey Long selected it in 1934 to design the new Art Deco State Capitol in Baton Rouge. Built of poured reinforced concrete, the stadium’s upper seating rests on a series of stout columns arranged in an oval, allowing for curved seating. The space between the terrace seating and...

“Taft Stadium in Oklahoma City was one of the largest high school football stadiums built as a WPA project in Oklahoma. In fact, it took several approved projects to complete the facility.”  (Barton) A waymarking submitter describes the stadium as follows: "Facing May Avenue, this is a native rock wall, approximately three stories high. It is immediately recognizable as a WPA project with its distinctive look. High above the center of the wall, in stone is a circular monogram reading TAFT and beneath that STADIUM. There are six large, arched entries, and six ticket windows. All are filled with wood. High on...

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...

The Stone Castle (Bristol Municipal Stadium) at Tennessee High School in Bristol, Tennessee was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds between 1934 and 1936. Limestome for the stadium was locally quarried for Bristol's flood control project, undertaken by the Civil Works Administration (CWA). The stadium, designed by architect R. V. Arnold, seats 6,000.

" Tingley was first elected to the City Commission on April 4, 1922, and served continuously until his resignation on January 14, 1935 to begin his term as Governor. He returned to the Commission on October 11, 1939. He served ten years as chairman of the City Commission and in his capacity as chairman was the unofficial mayor of Albuquerque. Tingley reveled in his role as mayor of the city. He did little to reform his colorful, ungrammatical speech and gloried in the limelight. When Hollywood stars passed through Albuquerque, Tingley often met them at the train station where photographers...

This stadium built or red iron ore rock was started with funds from the WPA in 1938. It is still home to the Jacksonville High School football and soccer teams.

Multiple substantial building projects were undertaken on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville during the Great Depression. The federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) was responsible for an enormous amount of that new development at the time. However, the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) contributed as well. The W.P.A. built a new stadium for the fledgling institution. Now known as Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, the venue has served as the home for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks since its opening in 1938. A 1940 W.P.A. document described the need and benefits of the new stadium: Because of the suddenly acquired national fame...

Taylor Stadium, also known as Rollie Greeno Track and Al Cassel Field, was built in 1934-35 by the CWA: "The stadium was originally named Roosevelt Stadium, but later re-named for Frank B. Taylor, long time Dean of the College and a sports enthusiast. It was a Civilian Works Administration project of the depression years." The stadium was renovated in 1985 and again in 1999.

At the University of Mississippi, "...funds from New Deal agencies were also used for improvements in the university's athletic facilities. The baseball field was graded and enhanced and a new grandstand was added. The golf course was also enlarged and reconstructed, with new grass greens replacing the sand greens" (Sansing, 1999, p. 254).

The concrete structure football stadium was begun in 1937 with a capacity for 18,000 (Sansing) or 24,000 (Oxford Campus and University Buildings). The new stadium was proposed as a WPA project in 1936, and completed in 1941. The west side was completed in 1938 (Walton).

"The recreational area known as Lewis Fields at the University of New Hampshire was begun in December of 1933 and finished in September of 1936. It was named for President Edward M. Lewis. The facility was built using funds from the various federal relief agencies set up to help alleviate unemployment during the Great Depression of the 1930's."  (https://www.izaak.unh.edu) Lewis Fields includes "six fields for football, soccer, and lacrosse, four baseball diamonds, a cinder track with a 220-yard straightaway, pits and runways for jumping and vaulting, fourteen composition and six clay tennis courts, concrete bleachers seating 1,750 spectators at baseball games...

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...

"Fans still fill the wooden benches of Vargas Stadium to watch baseball games on the community athletic field. The clubhouse and the stadium were constructed in 1937 and funded by the WPA."

"In Pottsville, WPA workers built Veterans Memorial Stadium ..."

Two plaques at the entrance gate explain the heritage of Veterans Memorial Stadium: Northerly plaque: "This site is part of the grant known as Merrymount Park / Given to the People of Quincy by Charles Francis Adams In the Year 1885 - The Football Field and the Stadium known as Pfaffman Oval was Built at the time when George E. Pfaffman was Chairman of Quincy Park Board." Southerly plaque: "Quincy Municipal Stadium / Dedicated to the Youth of Quincy / As a Memorial to War Veterans / 1937 Erected 1938 - Thomas S. Burgin Mayor - Designed and Constructed under the Direction...

Duluth, Minnesota's Wade Municipal Stadium was constructed with federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) funds/labor between 1940 and 1941. The 4,200-seat stadium is still in use today.

"Mayor George Walker: In the 1930's, Winter Garden, Florida, was struggling economically along with the rest of the nation. The Great Depression left growers without markets, consumers without spending money, and many without work. It was Winter Garden's fortune to have George Walker as its mayor during this difficult period. Mr. Walker, a native of Savannah, Georgia, came to Winter Garden in 1919, and in the following year opened Walker Electric Company and Appliance Store. An avid sportsman, Walker was the director of the Lake-Orange County semi-pro baseball league and served as the manager of the Winter Garden League in...

The local high school received a $15,000 CWA football stadium in 1934. The stadium is not located on the school property, but rather a few blocks away in Wallace Park. While the site no longer functions as a football stadium, the stone bleachers are still standing, and now overlook two baseball diamonds.

"The Stadium at Cary Field was constructed in 1935 at a cost of $138,395 under a grant from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Public Works Administration. The namesakes of the stadium are Walter (W&M class of 1937) and Betty Zable (class of 1940), who made a $10 million contribution to William & Mary in 1990, adding the Zable moniker to the existing Cary Field. The construction of the stadium is distinct in that the primary entrance to the stadium is at the 50 yard line on one side, eliminating prime midfield seating locations. In order to secure the stadium, college officials...

A WPA stadium originally completed in 1937, War Memorial Stadium (a.k.a. the Rockpile, or Best Street Stadium) housed the Buffalo Bills before falling into disuse. Though the stadium itself was demolished in 1988, its northeast and southeast entrances have been preserved. A 1940 WPA write-up detailed the project: "Like Bleecker Stadium in Albany, Best Street stadium was an abandoned reservoir, destined to become a city eyesore. Forming a natural amphitheatre the site was converted into a stadium, with concrete stands and walls, seating 38,000 persons. As a result many sports events which the city could not otherwise have accommodated, have been...

The Works Progress Administration  (WPA) built grandstands for the Warren Ballpark in Bisbee. The stadium was built by the C&A Mining Co. in 1909. By the 1930s, the Phelps Dodge Corporation had purchased the C&A Mining Co. and had inherited the Warren Ballpark complete with old wooden grandstands that needed to be replaced. In 1936, the Bisbee Unified School District purchased the ballpark from the mining company for $10. It turned the ballpark into public property eligible for WPA improvements. The superintendent of the Bisbee Unified School District was R.E. Souers. In addition to being the superintendent, he was also the president of the...

An inventory of WPA project photographs compiled by Becky Jordan at Iowa State University includes reference to numerous public works projects undertaken by the agency in Iowa between 1935 and 1940. The collection of 1,271 photographs documents the variety and extent of New Deal related efforts undertaken in the Hawkeye State. Included among the many WPA projects described in the collection is the West High School stadium (Project 1055) in Waterloo, Blackhawk County.

The Works Progress Administration built walls around Wheeling Stadium in Wheeling, Ohio County. The WPA-built structure replaced the old wall damaged by the 1936 spring flood.

Municipal reports for the town of Concord document extensive New Deal improvements in White Park. In 1935, the entrance to White Park at the corner of Center and High streets was remodeled. In 1936, the PWA completed a cement bathing pool in White Park. In June of 1937, the WPA completed a new administration building for the park, "furnished and equipped so at the end of the year the City of Concord has the foundation for one of the best service bureaus in tree surgery, insect control, tree and flower preservation and propagation in this section of the country. The new...

The massive Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina was originally constructed as the 17,600-seat Columbia Municipal Stadium in 1934. Sources claim that the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided significant funds / labor for the project's construction; however, as the WPA was not officially established until 1935 further research is needed to validate the federal program that was responsible for this project.

This sports arena was constructed in 1938 by the WPA. "When opened, the facility accommodated the local hockey program and meeting spaces for community groups. The arena continued in that fashion for many years, but by mid-century, growth in the hockey program required use of all spaces for the sport alone and eventually the construction of the new arena to the east."   (https://www.akayconsulting.com) The arena's final season was held in winter of 2009. The building was demolished in 2011.

By the time Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated president in 1933, the United States was suffering the worst economic collapse in its history. In order to stimulate the economy and lessen unemployment, Roosevelt started the Public Works Administration (PWA) and, eventually, the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA completed a wide variety of public works projects, ranging from building sidewalks to painting public murals. One of the most significant WPA projects in Newburyport was the World War Memorial Stadium built in 1938-39. Large portions of the stadium still exist, and it stands as an excellent example of the living New...

Text on Historical Marker at Yellow jacket Stadium: "In 1939, work began to replace Rhome Field, where Cleburne high played home football games for twenty years. The works projects administration (WPA) provided most of the funding for the new $80,000 stadium built from concrete and rough cut Somervell county limestone. It opened in fall 1941, with ivy-covered stands, pilasters, seating for 3800, ticket windows, and dressing rooms. The stadium has hosted football games, other sports, and community events."