- City:
- New York City, Staten Island, NY
- Site Type:
- Military and Public Safety
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Description
The WPA worked during the late 1930s to improve “properties of the U.S. Maritime Commission on Hoffman and Swinburne Island in New York Bay” in New York City. Each island was previously artificially created and was, at the time, being used for the U.S. Merchant Marine as a training station.
WPA work on the islands included “reconditioning buildings, grounds, utilities and facilities; excavating; back-filling; draining; painting; improving roads and walks; installing electrical and heating facilities; grading and landscaping grounds; doing carpentry and demolition work …”
Approximately $210,000 was dedicated to these projects as well as work to “the Maritime Ship ‘Tusitala’ at Pier No, 6 on Staten Island, all within Richmond County.”
WPA Official Project No. 765-97-2-13.
Source notes
National Archives; Record Group 69: Records of the Work Projects Administration; Records of the Project Control Division; microfilm publication T936; roll 9.Site originally submitted by Evan Kalish on August 16, 2014.
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