- City:
- Los Angeles, CA
- Site Type:
- Infrastructure and Utilities, Flood and Erosion Control
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Federal & Military Operations, Army Corps of Engineers, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Completed:
- 1938
- Quality of Information:
- Moderate
- Marked:
- Unknown
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
In 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Army Corps of Engineers constructed a concrete wall channel in the Los Angeles River between Soto St. and Washington Blvd. in Los Angeles, CA.
The Los Angeles Times reported that “2400 WPA workers . . . deepened the bed of the river from eight to ten feet, paved a channel 270 feet in width, and constructed thirty-feet reinforced concrete walls on each side.”
This project was part of a larger flood control project on the Los Angeles River in response to damaging flooding throughout the 1930s.
Source notes
Number 1371; Project Applications, Reports, and Related Records; Records of the Work Projects Administration, Record Group 69; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD [online version available at www.catalog.archives.gov (NAID: 509993686); July 14th, 2025]
"Engineers Build Trap for Next Flood's Fury,"Â Los Angeles Times, July 18, 1938.
Site originally submitted by Joshua Segura on September 13, 2025.
Additional contributions by Lauren Davies.
Site last updated on August 6, 2026.
Site Details
| Total Cost |
|---|
| $1,750,000 |
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