Start Year: 1939

Virginia Tech's Smyth Hall, originally known as the Natural Science Building, "was built in 1939 at a cost of $127,650," and was constructed as part of a larger Public Works Administration (PWA) project on the campus. It was part of a broader development of several buildings on its corner of campus that involved both the PWA and the Work Projects Administration (PWA). The building was sometimes referred to as "agricultural unit two," and has since been extended.

In the spring of 1940, Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees from CCC Camp Applegate planted 1200 ponderosa pines in an acre of land south of Ashland's Lithia Park on behalf of a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). The DAR's leadership chose participation in the "Penny Pine" program as one of the organization's Golden Jubilee National Projects and encouraged such groves across the country. With the help of the CCC, the National Forest Service had started growing pines in nurseries for replanting as a means of revitalizing the nation's forests. Selling them to organizations for a penny a...

During the Great Depression the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and Work Projects Administration (WPA) helped to develop and complete the old Watauga County Hospital, whose construction had begun at the beginning of the 1930s. The building was later known at Appalachian State University's Founders Hall, and was dedicated as Watson-Brumit Hall on Sept. 18, 2021.

In 1939-1940 the Work Projects Administration (WPA) constructed faculty homes at what was then known as Appalachian State Teachers College (A.S.T.C.). The homes were constructed of brick or native stone. Per the university's website, the buildings were "converted later for departmental use and gradually demolished during 1990s." Also known as Faculty Row, the "series of small stone and brick houses built as faculty residences" once lined "Faculty and River Streets."

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a grant for the construction of a new science building: Smith-Wright Hall at what was then known as Appalachian State Teachers College in Boone, North Carolina. The cornerstone identifies 1939 as the year construction started, as well as the PWA project number and notable figures. The building was completed in 1940. PWA Project No. N.C. 1473-F

The Doctors Park Bathhouse in Bayside, Wisconsin, a northern suburb of Milwaukee, is adjacent to Tietjen Beach on Lake Michigan and within 75 feet of the shoreline. This former bathhouse was constructed as a Work Projects Administration (WPA) project in 1939-1940, part of a far broader county-wide park improvement program undertaken by the New Deal agency. While the park straddles Bayside and Fox Point, the bathhouse is located north of the border, in Bayside. For many decades the bathhouse provided a place to change into a swimsuit and shower off sand before heading for home. the building housed lifeguards to...

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Republic County Courthouse in Belleville KS. According to the Society of Architectural Historians, "The Commissioners of Republic County prepared plans for a replacement courthouse and received funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA). The PWA’s hope was to support important public projects and to relieve the employment crisis of the Depression years. The relatively labor-intensive process and durable nature of reinforced concrete made it a favored building material for many federally supported projects."

In 1939, the Works Progress Administration (WPA)began improvements at Turtle Creek Park in Dallas TX.  The project was one of many undertaken in the area by the WPA and other New Deal agencies. “Widespread park improvements costing $34,000 have been announced at Dallas, Texas,” a writer for Parks & Recreation reported in January of 1939. “Included in the developments will be a new South Dallas community center, a golf course for Negroes and additional work in Robert E. Lee Park and also on the White Rock beautification program.” Dallas’s Robert E. Lee Park was renamed Turtle Creek Park after a vote by...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped construct Salem-Winston’s Reynolds Park and Recreation Center between 1939 and 1940. “A $300,000 proposed municipal park and recreation center at Winston-Salem, N.C., has received final approval in Washington,” a journalist for Park & Recreation magazine reported. “The development, to be known as Reynolds Park, will be located two miles east of the courthouse square…Within the area will be an 18-hole golf course, a large swimming pool, tennis courts, an athletic field and wooded area for walking and picnicking.” The fruits of this WPA-funded project can still be enjoyed today.

In 1939 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped build the Pebble Lake Golf Course in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. “Through the assistance of a grant by WPA of $61,587,” a writer for Parks & Recreation reported in January of 1939, “construction of a municipal golf course will soon be under way at Pebble Lake, Fergus Falls, Minn.” City boosters and businessmen led the charge to locate a new golf course within the municipality of Fergus Falls. After much legal and political wrangling, WPA laborers eventually began constructing the course. “The 20 WPA workers” assigned to the project, historian Randy LaFoy documents, “used stones...