- State:
- WASHINGTON-DC
- Site Type:
- Parks and Recreation
- New Deal Agencies:
- Federal Works Agency (FWA), Conservation and Public Lands, Public Works Funding, National Park Service (NPS)
- Quality of Information:
- Moderate
- Marked:
- No
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
The New Deal carried out a major renovation of the National Mall, the green centerpiece of Washington DC. Funding was provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and labor power by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). As of 1939, the PWA had expended $1,050,000 on redeveloping the Mall.
Work began in 1934 under the direction of the Superintendent of the National Capital Parks, which had become a branch of the National Park Service when the park system was taken over by the Interior Department under Harold Ickes in August 1933.
One element of the reconstruction of the National Mall was to move and upgrade the United States Botanic Garden at its east end, near the Capitol. The Botanic Garden, which had stood on the former sites of Union Square, was moved across Maryland Avenue into a modern structure and the old greenhouses were demolished.
Meanwhile, several old trees were transplanted to the former Union Square site west of the reflecting pool, including the Rutherford B. Hayes memorial oak and the ‘Oak of Confucius,’ grown from an acorn taken from the philosopher’s grave.
Source notes
C. W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown, Public Buildings: A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental Bodies Between the Years 1933 and 1939 with the Assistance of the Public Works Administration. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1939.
Newspaper clippings file, 1935-1942. Record Group 69, Records of the Work Projects Administration. National Archives and Records Administration.
“New Deal Projects Aid Many Park Developments in Capital,” Washington Daily News, July 23, 1936.
“600 Relief Workers To Get Park Places,” Washington Star, May 23, 1937.
“Work on Million Dollar Mall is Now 90 Percent Completed,” Washington Post, October 4, 1936, p. 15.
“1,000 From PWA Assigned To Work On Park System,” Washington Star, November 14, 1936.
Site originally submitted by Brent McKee on December 19, 2019.
Additional contributions by Richard A Walker.
At this Location:
- National Mall: Reconstruction - Washington DC
- National Mall: Navy and Munitions Buildings Repairs (demolished) - Washington DC
- National Mall: Roadways and Lighting - Washington DC
- National Mall: Landscaping and Footpaths - Washington DC
- National Mall: Tennis Courts (former) - Washington DC
- National Mall: Bathhouse Reconstruction (former) - Washington DC
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