Start Year: 1936

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the Atalanta Lake Park in 1937. Located in Rogers AR, the park and lake development secured recreational opportunities for area residents for years to come. The Fort Smith office of the WPA notified the town officials in Rogers that funds for the project were approved in 1936. Its total cost was estimated at $53,667 and sought to improve approximately one hundred acres. The original project “contained a restaurant, swimming pool, ice skating rink, boat rentals, a tennis course, miniature golf and more. It was not only a city park, but a destination for tourists.” Due to...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) refurbished an old factory and turned it into a neighborhood center, primarily serving impoverished children. The idle Muchenberger Center resides at what had been the corner of 5th Street and Sycamore Street before highway development in the area. News Express Now: "Between 1936 and 1938 Works Progress Administration workers worked with a local architect to modify the building and grounds to turn it from a factory into a recreational center." Today, the building is barely noticeable, tucked at the end of a long driveway north of Hickory Street between a highway interchange cloverleaf and the train tracks.

A school construction project in Barnhart, Texas was undertaken with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $20,665 grant toward the $45,928 eventual total cost of the project. Construction occurred between Feb. and Aug. 1936. There is no longer any school active in Barnhart, and Living New Deal believes the PWA school to be demolished. PWA Docket No. TX 1202

A high school building in Monahans, Texas was constructed with Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA provided a $57,043 grant for the project, whose total cost was $127,845. Construction began in April 1936 and was completed in March 1937. The school, which was located on the west side of what was then known as S. Guadalupe (now S. Betty Ave.), south of W. Hayes (W. 6th St.), has since been demolished. The site is now occupied by the Jerry Larned Sports Center. PWA Docket No. 1203

Construction of Shenandoah PA’s Girard Park began in September of 1936 with the support of funds from the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA allocated $93,000 for the development of the sixteen-acre park, with the rest of the cost to be shared with the city of Shenandoah. According to a contemporary report in Parks & Recreation magazine, Girard Park “was first designed for a bandstand but the newest plans call for children’s playground equipment, which will probably place the park cost at more than the anticipated $134,000.” The public park has played a central role in the community life of Shenandoah since...

The Paterson Courts is a 158 unit housing complex that was one of 50 slum clearance and low income housing projects the PWA was tasked with in the 1935-36 period. Its one and two story group houses, covers 7 acres, and cost $472,000. Its named after William Burns Paterson, a Scottish immigrant that spent 45 years from 1870 in efforts at negro education. The sponsor of the project was the Montgomery Advisory Committee on Housing. It was launched to replace an "objectionable slum area" and was designed with 14 two room, 89 three room, 40 four room, and 15 5 room...

A school for "Mexican-American children" was constructed with Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA provided a $13,091 grant for the project, whose total cost was $29,215. Construction began in January and was completed in July 1936. The school was later known as the Earl Bell School. It was demolished in 1979 after abandonment. A 1963 USGS map places the Earl Bell School on the south side of E 5th Street between Peach St. and Sycamore St. PWA Docket No. 1177.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees from Camp Nehalem were charged with constructing a truck trail, or fire road, along the lower Nehalem River to create greater access to the forested land in that part of Tillamook County. One of the first requirements involved building a bridge to cross the Nehalem River just north of their camp. Construction of the bridge near Camp Nehalem drew attention since it was judged to be one of the largest bridges in the northwest built as a CCC project. The Oregon Journal reported: ". . . the boys cut the trees, hewed the timbers, mixed and 'applied' the...

Newtowne Court is a 294 units apartment complex located in the town of Cambridge, MA. There are eight three-story walk-up buildings; most entrances serve six to nine apartments. Includes 6 units for households with vision impairments. This was one of 50 slum clearance or low income housing development projects financed by the Public Works Administration. The cost was $2,500,000.

In 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) extended Berrellessa Street several blocks into the waterfront on the west end of town, which was the long-time neighborhood of Italian/Sicilian fishermen plying their trade on the Sacramento River and San Francisco Bay.   The neighborhood had housing, warehouses, a wharf and processing operations. Some of these remain, but not the wharf. There is a memorial to the Italian fisherman of Martinez over by the public marina, but not here (see below for link to local fishermen singing folk songs, 1939). The WPA project included considerable rock and soil fill over former wetlands into the...