Tennis Courts Sites

According to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, “After the state acquired the land, it was reforested with groves of pines which were planted by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The CCC also built the first campground sites in the area.”  

Palisades Playground and Park was developed by New Deal agencies in the mid-1930s. The field house was built with Public Works Administration (PWA) funds in 1936. That same year, the Washington Post reported that Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers had been hired by the District for rehabilitation and improvement of the park. In addition, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) also did work on Palisades Playground, according tothe Historic American Buildings Survey of CCC activity around Washington.  Palisades Playground and Park contains tennis courts, a soccer field, basketball court, skate spot, baseball field, and play areas, plus a notable field house on the...

The municipal park at the end of Mill Street, alongside Parkside Terrace, in Barre, Vermont, was developed and improved with the assistance of federal funds and labor in 1934. According to a town report work attributable in part to the Federal/Vermont Emergency Relief Administration included: n addition to the cement pier being built at the swimming pool, the construction of a third tennis court, equipping same, and painting the bath houses. ... rom V. E. R. A. funds, the City Street Department greatly improved the approach to the field by working and graveling Mill Street, thus making easy and safe access...

1933 Mayor Alvin Lucier in his inaugural address listed 4 major projects done in cooperation with Federal Relief agencies. 3. PARKS AND COMMONS AND RECREATION FACILITIES. This project was designed to further develop the Artillery Pond project and includes some building. This would bring nearer to realization a well thought out plan for the development of an area particularly well suited by nature for a recreational center. It also includes work to be done at the South Common and at the swimming pool at Field's Grove. 1934 Mayor Lucier in his annual report wrote: "No less than seven Federal programs have directly affected our people. During...

WPA Proj. No. 605-06-2-80. Total funds $1,480, September 10, 1938. "Improve grounds of the Parlier Union High School in Parlier, Fresno County, including constructing tennis courts, erecting fencing, and performing incidental and appurtenant work. Parlier Union High School District owned property. In addition to projects specifically approved. Average employed 24. Total Federal and Sponsor funds $3,794. Speaking with a facility member, he regretfully informed this researcher that the tennis courts had been removed about 9 years ago for the building of a new gymnasium.

"ith federal WPA funds in 1935, a tennis court and shuffle board facilities were erected" at Phoenix Park in Delavan.

"At Pioneer Park, a Works Progress Administration crew created tennis courts north of the wading pool in 1935."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a playground "at the corner of Route 29 and Park Avenue" in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, 1936, near Diamond Hill Road. Two tennis courts and bocce courts were built. "Stone walls 16 inches thick have been constructed along each side of the brook, which runs through the playground." A 25-by-35-foot stone shelter was constructed as well. The approximate location of the facilities is shown on the map below.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved San Francisco's Potrero Hill Playground (the present Potrero Hill Recreation Center) in the late 1930s, when WPA relief workers built the children's play area, tennis courts and a restroom (Healy, p. 66). Both the playground and the tennis courts are still there, but have been completely redone in recent years. We did not find the restroom. It is possible that the quonset hut-style Recreation Center Field House is a later New Deal project, but we do not have confirmation of that.

A description of Works Progress Administration (WPA) work: "Potsdam Normal School was given a modern athletic field, with a baseball field, tennis courts, etc." What was then Potsdam Normal School now comprises part of SUNY Potsdam.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor conducted water system expansion work in Dracut, Mass. WPA Bulletin: If you were asked to locate an additional water supply for your community probably the last place you would look would be a shaded, waterless forest. Engineers, generally a contrary lot, don't care for the obvious and a dry forest on such a quest wouldn't automatically be overlooked. Evidence of all this may be found in Dracut where, since its settlement in 1630, the town has been handicapped during dry summer weather by an inadequate water supply. When Federal funds became available a program to find...

Multiple New Deal agencies: the Public Works Administration (P.W.A.), Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.), Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), and National Youth Administration (N.Y.A.) left an indelible imprint on Purdue University with many notable construction and improvement projects. Robert Topping: Elliott once summarized federal grants and expenditures made since 1933, pat of the national effort to shore up the United States economy. The PWA, for example, had spent $700,000 toward construction of five new buildings—two units of the women's residence halls (Windsor Halls), the Executive Building (Hovde Hall of Administration), a fieldhouse and gymnasium (Lambert Fieldhouse), and an addition to the Purdue Memorial...

The federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) and, later, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted substantial construction and improvement work at Queen City Park in Tuscaloosa, Alabama during the 1930s. CWA labor constructed roads and tennis courts, and drained fields for baseball diamonds. WPA labor constructed nature walks featuring stone walkways and bridges. The Queen City Park Pool was a WPA project as well.

Parks acquired this land to the West and the South of the WPA's Queensbridge Housing development in 1939. The press release announcing the completion of a WPA playground on the site in July 1941 explained: "The southerly section lying alongside and under the bridge structure has been developed for specialized intensive forms of recreation adapted to the needs of various age groups. Central to this section is a new comfort station located on the line of 10 Street and surrounded by play apparatus for small children: sand pit, wading pool, swings, etc., and extending to the east a series of game...

A 1938 report from the Los Angeles Department of Playground and Recreation describes the WPA's role in creating the Rancho Cienega recreation area: "Forerunner of the great regional recreation centers of the future, the Rancho Cienega Playground was the outstanding addition to the Los Angeles recreation system in 1938. The area comprises thirty acres in the southwest section of the city, along Exposition Boulevard near La Brea Avenue. It is the largest municipal playground devoted exclusively to sports and recreation within the city. The site was donated by Mrs. Anita M. Baldwin in response to a request made by the Los...

Randall's Island Park cover more than 400 acres of the 500+ acre island.  It contains dozens of tennis courts, baseball diamonds, soccer fields, playgrounds and other recreational facilities, as well as paths, greenways and a marsh.  Frank da Cruz summarizes the extensive New Deal renovation and expansion of Randall's Island Park: "Randall's Island itself, which (with neighboring Ward's Island, now joined to it) lies in the East River between East Harlem, the South Bronx, and Astoria, Queens... Prior to the New Deal it housed institutions such as an orphanage, a poor house, a reform school, a potters field, a refuge for sick and/or...

Graded and constructed 4 tennis courts 150 feet x 240 feet, convenience station and concrete retaining walls. Form a sand lot, it is now a community asset for the Richmond District.--Healy, p. 63. This park is now known as the Margaret O. Dupont Park.

Montpelier's Recreation Field was developed as a New Deal project in 1938-9. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $45,000 grant for the project, whose total cost was listed as $100,052. PWA Docket No. Vt. 1088-F. The facility was described in Annual Reports of the City of Montpelier. The 1939 report , detailed the park development's progress at that date: The Recreational Field ... is located on the Worcester Branch road, 1 2/5 miles from the corner of Main and State Street. The project consists of a Swimming Pool approximately 350 feet long, 150 feet wide and about 11 1/2 feet deep in the...

The WPA allocated $15,508 in late 1938 to "reconstruct and improve municipal golf course and tennis courts" in Glasgow, Montana. The precise location of these projects is unknown to Living New Deal.

On December 4, 1941, the NYC Department of Parks announced the start of construction on two new playgrounds in the Bronx, including what is now known as Rienzi Playground. The release explains that the WPA was removing sixteen 1-3 story brick buildings in preparation for the WPA construction of the play area, which would include: volleyball, basketball, tennis, handball and shuffleboard courts; a wading pool; a brick comfort station; slides, swings, seesaws, a sandpit and an exercise unit; and a softball diamond. Though begun by the WPA, however, the work was only completed later. The NYC Parks Department website, as well...

According to Big Timber Pioneer newspaper, Sacajawea Park in the town of Livingston, MT was one of 55 public parks 'built or improved' by the WPA in Montana between fall 1935 and Sept. 1938. The construction of Sacajawea Park involved a diversion of the Yellowstone River, creating a lake "that provide habitat for waterfowl. An arched stone bridge built by the WPA separates two of the ponds creating Sacajawea Lake." In addition to other "extensive improvements," WPA labor built a "lighted turf athletic field; and a spacious hard-surface tennis court area." Swimming and boating facilities were also provided.

WPA tennis courts in San Diego County.

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...

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...

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.

Among other work at Simonds Park, in Burlington, Mass., the F.E.R.A contributed to the construction of tennis courts in 1934. The foundation of the tennis courts was broken stone, acquired from the "blasting and moving of a great quantity of ledge" while expanding the park's ball field. The W.P.A. continued work at the site.

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...

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...

According to one comment on an article regarding New Deal work in this part of Massachusetts, "In Wrentham the tennis courts in Wm. H. Sweat Park, in the center were built with WPA funds and labor after filling in a small pond and the original spring. The walls along Bank St. for the park along with the masonry walls around the thn Town Offices/Center School lot were also reconstructed at that time."

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.

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...

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...

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 Works Progress Administration built public tennis courts in Cokeville, Lincoln County. The exact location and condition of this facility is unknown to the Living New Deal.

The federal Civil Works Administration constructed public tennis courts in Georgetown, South Carolina, ca. 1934. The exact location and status of the project is unknown to Living New Deal. A photo of the work is available at the source link below.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor constructed more than two dozen tennis courts in Malden, Mass. WPA Bulletin: Your observer always believed that rock salt was something used in hand-turned ice cream freezers or on street car tracks on icy days. Recently he came across another and most unusual use for the product when he investigated reports that rock salt had been used successfully on a WPA constructed tennis court in Maiden. The report was correct, so correct in fact that the mixture is to be used on 28 other courts in the city. The salt mixture gives a hard, even surface,...

"In 1934 Federal CWA and ERA funds were used for construction of 2 tennis courts, constructed with a 3 layer bituminous construction, new to northern New England, with a tile underdrain and surrounded by heavy wire fence. This made a total of 3 tennis courts on Eastern Promenade. The current 3 courts were renovated in 2000 with a new surface and perimeter fence. They are in excellent condition and heavily used."

These tennis courts in Schuylerville were constructed by the WPA.

Works Progress Administration (WPA) project cards at the National Archives show that the WPA was charged with another round of improvement of recreational facilities in the city of Washington, DC in the early 1940s.  This followed on a major program of parks improvement by the WPA in 1935-36. The approved works included: building tennis courts at Palisades Playground, Edgewood Playground, and Reservation "C" on the Mall; grading, filling, and constructing tennis courts at Turkey Thicket playground; excavating cinders from west parking area and surfacing east parking lot at Takoma Recreation Center; spreading topsoil on south field at Banneker Recreation Center; and...

The W.P.A. worked to improve the former U.S. Naval Direction Finder Station, by Schoodic Point, south of Winter Harbor, Maine. W.P.A. project information: “Construct garage, tennis courts, and roadways” Official Project Number: 109‐3‐11‐24 Total project cost: $17,673.00 Sponsor: Commandant, 1st Naval District, U.S. Navy