- City:
- Downey, CA
- Site Type:
- Hospitals and Clinics, Education and Health
- New Deal Agencies:
- Works Progress Administration (WPA), Work Relief Programs
- Completed:
- 1939
- Quality of Information:
- Moderate
- Marked:
- No
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was involved with four improvement projects at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey, CA.
Rancho Los Amigos dates to 1888, when indigent patients from the Los Angeles County Hospital were relocated to what was then the County Poor Farm. The campus subsequently evolved into a treatment center for patients with chronic illnesses, including mental illness and diseases such as tuberculosis and polio.
As of 1939, the WPA had completed two projects at the Rancho. Ground improvements (Proj. 6958) employed 42 men for six months; painting (Proj. 6959) employed 29 men for four months. Two improvement projects were ongoing, with one (Proj. 9630) anticipated to employ 159 men and the other (Proj. 11006) 59 men, each for six months.
Today, Rancho Los Amigos is one of the largest comprehensive medical rehabilitation centers in the U.S.
Source notes
Rancho Los Amigos, Los Angeles Conservancy (accessed Mar. 31, 2023)
Donald H. Connolly and G. I. Farman, Report of Accomplishment of the Operations Division, Works Progress Administration, Southern California, Jan. 1, 1939.
Site originally submitted by Andrew Laverdiere on April 13, 2017.
Site Details
| Site #s |
|---|
| Proj. 6958 Fed. Cost $13,409, Sponsor Cost $887; Proj. 6959 Fed. Cost $12,281, Sponsor Cost $2,407; Proj. 9630 Est. Fed. Costs $51,623; Proj 11006 Est. Fed. Costs $39,339 |
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