Start Year: 1938

In 1938-9, the WPA built a new station house for the NYPD's 18th precinct on West 54th St. The building was designed to replace the older 18th precinct building on 47th St. The New Deal structure is still in use and is now known as the Midtown North Precinct. Construction of the four-story limestone and marble precinct building cost $558,233. Modern feature details were described in a New York Times article cited below.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States from France in 1886. It was administered by the United States Lighthouse Board until 1901 and then by the Department of War. In 1937, FDR proclaimed the entire island a National Monument administered by the National Park Service. From 1937-1941, the WPA and PWA carried out extensive renovations of the statue and Bedloe (now Liberty) island. In his history of the Statue of Liberty, Berenson (2012) elaborates on the federal government's role: "the NPS devised an ambitious plan to remove all structures save for the statue itself, shore up the...

Sometimes mis-attributed to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the historic former Central Fire Station in Saco, Maine was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The P.W.A. contributed a $27,000 grant toward the project, whose total cost was $60,928. Construction occurred between Aug. 1938 and Mar. 1939. PWA Docket No. ME W1022. "he Central Fire Station has been a significant landmark in the Saco community from the very beginning. The brick firehouse, designed to reflect an ongoing heritage from an earlier tradition of civic service and public safety, well served its role from its construction until January 2011, when a...

The post office contains a Section of Fine Arts mural entitled "Smoky River" painted by Birger Sandzen in 1938. Smoky River was painted close to Linsborg, KS with the style that he was well known for with strong brush strokes. At the time this work was completed, Sandzen was 67 years old and the brush strokes are not as energetic as his earlier work, but still have a similar quality. Birger Sandzen was born in Sweden and studied under Anders Zorn in Sweden at what became the Artists League. He studied in Paris under Aman-Jean, a contemporary of Seurat who introduced Sandzen...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was responsible for construction of the Board of Water and Light Dye Conditioning Plant in Lansing, Michigan. "The Dye Conditioning Plant at 148 South Cedar Street was designed by Lansing architects Lee and Kenneth Black and constructed in 1938-39 by the WPA in a severe, geometric style. It is decorated by WPA/FAP artworks in various media. Appropriate to the building's function, the theme of all of these works is water. This is the best local ensemble of government-sponsored art planned as a unity of architecture, sculpture and painting."

Henry Perrine Baldwin High School was built 1938-40 with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA).   The school received an initial PWA grant of about $300,000 and a supplemental grant of $25,000 to finish the job. “The main buildings of Henry Perrine Baldwin High School were built in Kahului between 1938 and 1940… "The school buildings were designed by Henry Stewart, the Department of Public Works architect (with assistance from architect Noboru Kobayashi), and are distinguished by their stucco walls, red tile roofs, and decorative details of both Asian and Moderne derivation…”  (NTHP Registration form)    

The CCC worked at what is now Denali National Park for two summers in 1938 and 1939. "The Mount McKinley National Park Headquarters District in what is now called Denali National Park was the original administrative center of the park. It contains an extensive collection of National Park Service Rustic structures, primarily designed by the National Park Service's Branch of Plans and Designs in the 1930s... As the hub of park administrative and management, the headquarters area expanded according to detailed plans provided by the Branch of Plans and Design. As in many of the national parks during the Depression, the Civilian...

Medium: Oil on canvas, size: 10' x 5'. "The Fertile Land Remembers", by Louise Emerson Ronnebeck (1901-1980) depicts a determined looking pioneer farming family in a Conestoga wagon pulled by oxen heading toward the viewer. In the background/sky are Indians riding horses chasing buffalo, executed in a translucent cloud-like manner. The Indians and the pioneer farming family were both historically dependent on the land and they are shown being displaced by the new, thriving and growing oil industry. The mural was originally installed in the Worland, Wyoming Post Office. It was later installed into the downtown Casper Wyoming Post Office, located...

At over 1,000 feet, Council Crest Park occupies the highest point in the City of Portland. From 1907 to 1929, an amusement park occupied that vantage point. Despite its superior position and streetcar access, it took eight years before the City of Portland could acquire it and another year before it could begin to be improved with WPA labor. The Oregonian, one of the city’s newspapers, announced in March 1938 that a crew of twenty-six WPA workers had started “clearing brush, grubbing undergrowth and opening trails through Council Crest Park” so that it might be available for use by summer. The...

The Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1938 by the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt for the protection of migratory birds and endemic species of the Basin and Range region.  It serves over 220 species of waterfowl and is the largest nesting area in the west for Canvasback ducks. The refuge covers about 38,000 acres, almost half of which consists of marshes created by springs drawing from aquifers coming out of the Ruby Mountains to the west.  The refuge lies at an elevation of 6,000 feet and mostly within Elko County NV, with the southern end in White...