Start Year: 1936

A high school in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania was constructed between March 1936 and April 1937, enabled by the provision of a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) grant. The New Deal grant amounted to $144,855 toward the $322,230 eventual total cost of the project. The location of the building is unknown to Living New Deal, though we suspect it has since been demolished. PWA Docket No. Penn. 1171

The Works Progress Administration built the spillway at the Elm Lake Dam in Frederick SD between 1936 and 1938. The dam at Elm Lake was originally built both to provide a recreation destination and to create a water source for the city of Aberdeen, SD. It still serves this purpose today. The work on Elm Dam included an earthen embankment, low level outlet, concrete-lined primary spillway, and earth-cut auxiliary spillway. A ten-span bridge was also built over the approach channel to the primary spillway.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development work at Point Lobos State Reserve in the late 1930s. The CCC enrollees worked out of a camp at Pfeiffer-Big Sur State Park Because Point Lobos is  meant to guard the environment in a relatively natural state, the CCC work here was minimal, including an access road, a few picnic areas, small parking areas, overlooks and paths (with some stone steps and retaining walls).   The CCC built and renovated a handful of rustic buildings for ranger residences and park maintenance.  Some appear to be the original if modified structures, but public access...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development work at Point Lobos State Reserve in the late 1930s. The CCC enrollees worked out of a camp at Pfeiffer-Big Sur State Park Because Point Lobos is  meant to guard the environment in a relatively natural state, the CCC work here was minimal, including an access road, a few picnic areas, small parking areas, overlooks and paths (with some stone steps and retaining walls).  

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development work at Point Lobos State Reserve in the late 1930s. The CCC enrollees worked out of a camp at Pfeiffer-Big Sur State Park Because Point Lobos is  meant to guard the environment in a relatively natural state, the CCC work here was minimal, including an access road, a few picnic areas, small parking areas, coastal paths (with stone steps and bracing), and a couple ranger residences.    

The Works Progress Administration built the  Tarrant City Library in Tarrant AL.  The original construction on the Tarrant City Library began in 1936, and was completed in 1937. Today, the former library is the Tarrant Senior Citizen Center.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development work at Point Lobos State Reserve in the late 1930s. The CCC enrollees worked out of a camp at Pfeiffer-Big Sur State Park. Point Lobos was acquired by the state in 1932 after a major mobilization of local citizenry in Carmel and a national fund-raising effort.  Because the site and its seashore wildlife are so spectacular, F.L. Olmsted, Jr. was brought in to draw up a plan for restricted development that would preserve the place while allowing for limited public use.  That plan was adopted by the State Parks Commission in 1936...

The Works Progress Administration built the Poteau School Gymnasium in Poteau OK. Built in 1936-37, primarily to accommodate basketball, but could also be used as an auditorium. Two stories, 100'x78', sandstone.

In 1936, Myer Shaffer painted a mural, "The Social Aspects of Tuberculosis," for the Los Angeles Tubercular Sanatorium in Duarte, CA, the site of today's City of Hope. The 7 by 18 foot mural received funding from the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP), the American Artists' Congress, and the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Shaffer was a 23-year-old student of Mexican social realist artist David Alfaro Siqueiros at the Chouinard Institute in Los Angeles, CA, when he was hired. "Unlike many WPA muralists who painted anonymous subjects or imagined suitable subject matter without doing the research to support their choices,...

Althea Ulber painted a mural, "Youth and Democracy," at Jordan High School in Los Angeles, CA. The 4 x 30 foot mural is located in the school library. Completed in 1937, it was funded by the Federal Art Project (FAP). The mural depicts fifteen figures of different ethnicities, with an older man at the center. A ribbon painted across the mural reads "Confucius, Good Relationship, Music, Industry, Language, Law, Literature, BROTHERHOOD, Dignity, Love for Nature, Courtesy, Fine Taste." Born in Los Angeles, Ulber studied with artists including Stanton Macdonald-Wright, the director of the FAP's Southern California division. From 1921 to 1941, Ulber...