Start Year: 1937

Peter Kostrometinoff was the supervisor of construction for the new Sitka gymnasium and Ross Gridley was the state Public Works Administration (PWA) inspector engineer for project W1004. The community was awarded a $12,500 grant towards the $27,000 cost approved 10/20/1936. Construction began 2/25/1937 and was completed 9/2/1937 for a total cost of $29,179. Peterman Construction Company of Juneau won the contract for the new gymnasium with a bid of $28,200. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Sitka also received a loan of $14,850 toward the gymnasium, but that does not appear in the official PWA report. The current status and exact...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the Centennial Building in Port St. Joe FL. Past Use: Auditorium/Gymnasium. Present Use: Civic Center. The 1996 National Register documentation notes that the Centennial Building has been the site of centennial celebration of the signing of Florida's first constitution, which ran from December 7th to December 10th, 1938. The building was dedicated on December 7, 1938. It was also used for other political events and civic functions. Also fund raising events, such as the Fireman's Ball and the March of Dimes President's Ball, have been held in the building. It has sometimes been used for community Fourth of July and...

The history of Craighead Forest Park portraits a close collaboration between the local community and federal government during the Great Depression “to stave off the ravages of poverty, misery and human degradation.” (1) It dates to 1937 when the Young Men’s Civic Club of Jonesboro (YMCC) started working on the project of a community recreational park for locals to enjoy. Through the help of Mr. H.E Remsburg, the areas supervisor for the WPA program, and US Senator Hattie W. Caraway, a $100,000 park development program was granted through the WPA. (2) The Civilian Conservation Corps also worked with the Forestry...

Receiving a grant of $9,000 from the Public Works Administration (PWA), the City of Condon announced in 1937 that they would proceed with construction of the new city hall. The city hall design provided room for the fire department and city offices as well as space for the local Masonic Lodge. The Portland architect C. N. Freeman provided the initial design for the building but it changed substantially with construction. The Portland contractor H. J. Settergren built the Colonial Revival style structure with a cupola on the hip roof, a stuccoed first floor and a red brick second floor. A clock-face...

A Public Works Administration (PWA) grant provided approximately forty-four percent of the cost of constructing Milwaukie's City Hall in 1938. The simple Moderne style structure included space for the city's fire department as well as meeting the city's need for administrative office space. The red brick building was designed by Portland architect Walter E. Kelly with embellishment primarily at the entrance. The rounded arch entrance is decorated with four pilasters above the arch that have cast stone capitals. A few Art Deco features such as brass light fixtures at the entry complete the facade. The contractor Joseph H. Anderson built the...

Raymond Consolidated School received a grant of $45,000 from PWA project W1172 to construct a new brick school building, approved 7/21/1936. The first contract was awarded 2/4/1937 and construction began February 10, completion October 16. The building contained a large auditorium, eight classrooms, and a heating plant. The architects were Hull & Drummond, with I. C. Garber constructing the new school. An addition was added, funded by PWA, for $20,000, March 1939. Originally constructed as Raymond High School, it remains in use as the elementary school.

The St. Cloud Historical Marker in St. Cloud MN is a site that was constructed in 1937, by the NYA, a sub-unit of the WPA. The site was designed by A. R. Nichols and is a historical marker that commemorates the first commercial granite quarry in Minnesota, opened by Breen and Young in 1868, that was very important for the growth of St. Cloud. It was built from granite stones from the quarries located nearby, with rough and pointed rocks, unlike other markers and monuments with their more formal designs. It was placed on the side of highway 10 just...

Originally a gym for Cranberry High School. Now owned by an alumni group and used for various functions. The WPA began building the gymnasium on January 27, 1937. The construction employed sixty workers and cost $12,000. On the cusp of its construction, a Johnson City, Tennessee newspaper described the planned 80’ by 120’ building as having a coach’s office, dressing rooms for girls and boys. Native stone formed the foundation and basement and stained shingles sheathed the exterior. The gymnasium was one of 277 recreational buildings constructed in North Carolina by the WPA by the spring of 1942. One year later,...

Appleton (West) High School has served as a high school in Appleton, WI since September, 1938. It was built by the Works Progress Administration.

The Palisades Interstate Park system, a major beneficiary of New Deal public works projects, spans New York and New Jersey and stretches from The Palisades--cliffs overlooking the Hudson River in sight of Manhattan--to forested hills dotted with lakes in the western Hudson Highlands. The park system was founded in 1900 through the activism of women’s clubs that fought to protect the Palisades
from quarrying. They were aided by some of the richest men in America, among them J.P. Morgan, the Rockefellers and the Harriman family. Mixing civic idealism and the desire to preserve the beauty of their own region, they purchased or...