- City:
- Portland, OR
- Site Type:
- Infrastructure and Utilities, Airports
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Completed:
- 1941
- Quality of Information:
- Minimal
- Marked:
- No
- Site Survival:
- Unknown
Description
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the original Portland Airport (now Portland International, PDX) in the late 1930s.
“The present PDX site was purchased by the Portland City Council in 1936. At the time it was 700 acres (280 ha) bordered by the Columbia River in the north and the Columbia Slough in the south. The city council issued $300,000 and asked the Port of Portland to sponsor a $1.3 million Works Progress Administration (WPA) grant to develop the site into a ‘super airport’. The project provided badly needed Great Depression-era jobs and was completed in 1940.” (Wikipedia)
Given subsequent enlargements and improvements of the airport, it is unlikely that any of the original runways or structures built by the WPA remain.
Source notes
Site originally submitted by Shaina Potts on June 14, 2012.
Additional contributions by Richard A Walker.
Site Details
| Federal Cost |
|---|
| $1,300,000.00 |
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