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  • Sidewalks and Driveways, 56th Street - Oakland CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built sidewalks and driveways on 56th Street in Oakland, California in 1940-41.  The work was marked with typical WPA date stamps in the concrete in the 700 and 800-850 blocks of 56th Street. This work was part of a much larger program of improving streets, curbs and sidewalks throughout Oakland in those years.
  • CalFire Humboldt-Del Norte Unit - Fortuna CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built an administration and residence building for the fire-fighting arm of the California Division of Forestry in Humboldt County in 1941.  This is now a unit of Cal-Fire, the statewide forest and wildfire agency. The four or five building complex appears to have been constructed all at the same time and in the same style.  It is not clear if the WPA work went beyond a single building or the Division of Forestry added the rest of the structures.
  • Rohner Park Improvements - Fortuna CA
    In 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), in concert with the city, developed the Municipal Park of Fortuna – now known as Rohner Park.  By 1940, the WPA was part of the reorganized Federal Works Agency (later to become the General Services Administration). The WPA project card indicates that relief workers were supposed to build baseball dugouts, restrooms, picnic tables and fireplaces, as well as a water and sewer system and hiking trails. A plaque in the park credits the WPA and city with developing the entire park.   There have been many additions and renovations since 1940. The restrooms, picnic area...
  • Rohner Park Rodeo Grounds - Fortuna CA
    In 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed the rodeo grounds at the Municipal Park, now Rohner Park, in Fortuna.  WPA relief workers built the grandstand, judges stand, concession stands, restrooms and more – most of which appear to still be in place.   Next to the rodeo grounds is a large building called "Firemen's Hall", which may well be the barn  indicated in the original WPA work order (see image). At the entrance to the rodeo grounds, there is a marker crediting the WPA and the city of Fortuna with creating the Municipal Park.
  • Commercial Pier No. 5 (former) - Washington DC
    Commercial Pier No. 5 was part of a large-scale New Deal redevelopment program for the Washington Channel and Southwest Waterfront area. Construction of the pier began in 1940, by the Penker Construction Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, and was completed in 1941. The Army Corps of Engineers supervised the project and the total cost was about $270,000 (about $5 million in 2020 dollars). About 3,000 cypress and pine logs from Virginia were used to create the pier. Commercial Pier No. 5 permitted a greater exchange of goods in the nation’s capital, and was the result of “many years of agitation” from the business...
  • Stone Culverts on State Highway 58 - Santa Marguerita CA
    In 1940-41, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built several stone-lined culverts for drainage on California state highway 58 – also known as Calf Canyon Road – east of the intersection with route 229, roughly 5-10 miles east of Santa Marguerita CA. These are unusually elegant drainage works, since most culverts do not have rock walls above ground and WPA stamps in the stones.  They were effectively small bridges over gullies, where previously the road dipped and could be flooded in winter. These culverts were part of a program of WPA road work all over San Luis Obispo County during the 1930s,...
  • Post Office (former) - Roanoke AL
    The former post office building, at the northwest corner of Main St. and Trammell St., was constructed in 1940 as a Federal Works Agency project with Treasury Department funds. The building is now privately owned.
  • La Purisima Mission State Historic Park: Painting and Sculpture - Lompoc CA
    As part of the New Deal reconstruction of Mission La Purisima, the Federal Arts Project (FAP) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was asked to send in professional painters to finish the interior of the buildings. In 1938, FAP artists were employed in painting the pulpit and railing in the chapel of the padres' residence building, under the supervision of Douglas Parshall of Santa Barbara (Savage, p. 151).  in 1940, artist Harry Hemle got the job of decorating the interior of the completed church.  Hemle painted the walls, alter decorations and pulpit, with the assistance of two Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees...
  • Sidewalks, Driveways and Gutters, Clifton Street - Oakland CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built sidewalks, curbs and gutters on Clifton Street, from Boyd to Manila Street, in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland, California.   There are several WPA date stamps in the gutters and driveways on this stretch of Clifton.  Stamps indicating the paving company were common practice in the first half of the 20th century. This work was part of a much larger WPA program of street and sidewalk improvements all over Oakland in those years.
  • Eagle Bend School - Eagle Bend MN
    In December 1939 the Eagle Bend School burned down, causing $110,000 in damage and destroying a gymnasium constructed by the Public Works Administration in 1934. While deliberating on new construction on January 31, 1940, the members of the Eagle Bend School Board applied for $52,000 of Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) funding to complete the rebuilding of the school. Blueprints were drawn by architect, E.F. Broomhall from Duluth, MN., and A.C. Dunn was the W.P.A. area engineer. The project employed a variety of local laborers and businesses to supplement W.P.A. labor. Carpenters Gust Berggren and Olof Edmonds received an additional 50-cent per...
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