Bellevue Magazine: Buildings and Roadway – Washington DC

Description

In 1940, the Washington Post reported allocation of funding to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for improvements to naval facilities in the city’s southeast quadrant: “A group of 685 men working on an additional ammunition depot and buildings for the United States Naval Research Laboratory at Bellevue, a naval torpedo station in Alexandria, Va., and storage facilities at the Navy Yard proper for ordnance and improvement of all utility facilities. Cost, $400,000.”

In 1942, the Washington Post reported on cuts to WPA funding that were affecting military projects, but noted roadway improvements and new building construction at the Bellevue Magazine naval facility among projects that would be completed before cuts took effect.  It is unknown if work at the Naval Research Laboratory was completed.

Bellevue Magazine was incorporated into the neighboring Naval Research Laboratory in 1962, but buildings constructed by WPA crews likely remain extant at the site.