Start Year: 1939

In 1939, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) approved several improvements at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds on the north edge of Ferndale CA. According to the WPA project card, the work entailed moving the pavilion and stock buildings, improving the grandstand and other miscellaneous tasks. In 1941, the WPA returned to build an exhibition hall. We could not confirm which buildings at the fairgrounds today are the ones worked on by the WPA relief teams, there are several likely candidates for the pavilion, stock buildings and exhibition hall that appear to date from the mid 20th century. Further information is needed.

Grenada County was approved for WPA project 40079 for rehabilitation of the 1885 courthouse. The project was allotted $11,308 to include improving the boiler room, plastering, painting, and improving floors along with rearranging office space. The Grenada County Board of Supervisors sponsored the WPA project to repair the county court house. The project began January 13 and used an average 34 WPA workers for six months. The state legislature passed legislation for $6,000 county bonds to cover the sponsor portion of the work. The House passed the measure January 18 for funds to be used in match to the federal...

The Civilian Conservation Corps built the Kerwin Brook CCC Camp in the unincorporated area T36 MD BPP, in the vicinity of Wesley ME. 160th Company Kerwin Brook Camp (Wesley, Maine) October 1939 – June 1942 Excerpt from “In The Public Interest – The Civilian Conservation Corps In Maine” by Jon A. Schlenker, Norman A. Wetherington, Austin H. Wilkins. In October 1939, the 160th Company moved from Stow, Maine to Wesley Maine to establish the Kerwin Brook Camp. During the months from July to August, the cadre erected four barracks, a kitchen and mess hall, officers' and foreman's quarters, washrooms and toilets, a classroom building,...

The Atlantic Highlands municipal harbor was constructed 1939-1941. Of its nearly $1,000,000 cost, the WPA paid most of it. The Army Corps of Engineers built a 4,000 foot breakwater to protect the harbor.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) approved an allotment of $18,317 for a new jail and office building for Prentiss and Jefferson Davis County December 1938. The WPA project employed 25-30 men. The new jail adjoined the courthouse and was a two-story concrete and steel building 32 by 53 feet. The first floor included five offices, vault, juvenile cell, and rest rooms. The second floor was for the jury dormitory, cells, and a “death cell.” Bids for materials for construction of the new jail building were advertised in August 1939. By January, the jail was in process of rebuilding. The jail...

The Lafayette Building was the home of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), an important funding agency created by Herbert Hoover in 1932 and then greatly expanded by Franklin Roosevelt during the New Deal years.  The RFC held an important financial role in America all the way through World War II The Lafayette Building was built in 1939-1940 with private funding, through a newly-created Lafayette Building Corporation (LBC). However, the RFC “was directly involved in planning the building that would be their headquarters… The RFC Mortgage Company purchased the Lafayette Building Corporation's outstanding stock on April 16, 1941, and a month...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of a community building for the Fort Dupont Dwellings and surrounding area, ca. 1939-1941. It is unknown to the Living New Deal if this building still exists. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced unsafe alley dwellings in Washington, DC with more modern and affordable houses and apartments. The ADA existed from 1934-1943 as a federally controlled special authority. It then slowly evolved into today’s DC Housing Authority, an independent agency of the DC Government. The Fort Dupont Dwellings Community Building was part...

Work Projects Administration approved funding for construction of a new school building in Bruce. The poured-in-place concrete building was designed by E. L. Malvaney in his monolithic concrete trademark, International design, and two stories. The school district pledged $22,072 toward the project that employed approximately 75 men for almost a year. The combined gymnasium and auditorium and classrooms for the Bruce High School cost $60,518 with work scheduled for November 2 construction. A destroyed the front entrance and a portion of the auditorium in the 1970s and that section of the building was rebuilt with brick, in contrast to the...

After the Public Works Administration (PWA) financed the construction of Lake Anza  in Tilden Park by damming Wildcat Creek, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the Bath House and ancillary buildings, c 1940.   This work was part of a major New Deal effort to aid the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) in improving its four original parks and making them available for public recreation in the 1930s.  The Bath House has been demolished and replaced by a newer and larger structure.     

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the United States Housing Authority (USHA) funded the construction of Fort Dupont Dwellings in Washington, DC between 1939 and 1941. The land had been acquired earlier, by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced unsafe alley dwellings in Washington, DC with more modern and affordable houses and apartments. The ADA existed from 1934-1943 as a federally controlled special authority. It then slowly evolved into today’s DC Housing Authority, an independent agency of the DC Government.