Start Year: 1936

Sayville's Suffolk County News reported in 1936: "The men of the WPA are at work laying a cement sidewalk along the north side of Merrick road** between Sylvan and Snedecor avenues. This is a much needed improvement, several people have been hurt while walking in the street there." **The road in question, given the cross streets, is most likely what is now known as Middle Road.

A sanitary sewer construction project in Riverhead, New York was undertaken during the Great Depression with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $64,517 grant; the total cost of the project was $146,887. Work occurred between February and October 1936. After the project was originally approved Sayville’s Suffolk County News mistakenly reported: "... the WPA has granted the village of Riverhead the sum of $66,191 as its contribution toward the building of a municipal sewer system," about 45% of the total cost of the project.

Five Suffolk County highway beautification projects, directed by the WPA, put approximately 1,000 men to work for seven months beginning April 1936. The projects included "the Sunrise highway from the Nassau line at Amityville to its terminus at Great River."

Five Suffolk County highway beautification projects, directed by the WPA, put approximately 1,000 men to work for seven months beginning April 1936. The projects included "the Farmingdale-Hempstead turnpike from Babylon to Hempstead."

Five Suffolk County highway beautification projects, directed by the WPA, put approximately 1,000 men to work for seven months beginning April 1936. The projects included "the Broad Hollow road from Huntington to Amityville."

Five Suffolk County highway beautification projects, directed by the WPA, put approximately 1,000 men to work for seven months beginning April 1936. The projects included "the Smithtown-Coram road." It is probable that Smithtown-Coram road is the former name for what is now termed Middle Country Road.

Sayville's Suffolk County News reported in 1936 that the WPA had allocated $20,248.50 for "landscaping the Copiague school grounds and laying out a baseball diamond, tennis and badminton courts, at a cost of $20,248.50." Living New Deal believes the school in question to be what is now known as the Great Neck Road Elementary School.

WPA labor worked to renovate the old Vitagraph Building, a former movie studio located at 94 4th Avenue in Bay Shore, NY, for the purpose of utilizing the structure as a "sewing room, the Old Age Security offices and other home relief offices." The building is now a residential complex.

The WPA approved funds for the construction of a municipal airport in East Hampton, NY in 1936. Work on the airport began Oct. 1936 and was completed by mid-1937. The project, as reported by Sayville's Suffolk County News, "will employ more than a hundred men seven months." Three runways were built as part of the project. The airport is still in use today.

Amagansett, New York's then-new school building was constructed in 1936 with the aid of a $76,000 PWA grant. The building opened Jan. 1937 and it is still in use today.