Unknown Sites

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the 138th Infantry Regiment Armory in St. Louis MO. Completed in 1937, the armory building has been converted to office space. Excerpt from Missouri Armories: The Guard's Home in Architecture and History: "On May 15, 1934, the City of St. Louis approved a bond issue to fund improvements; $15 million of the bond issue, plus a 30 percent grant from the PWA, made construction of the $1,347,000 armory possible... This armory is a large two-story building with a monitor-type roof over a large parade hall." The Missouri National Guard declared the building...

Seventy-Fifth Street Elementary, which opened in 1922, was rebuilt with a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA). The work was done sometime in 1934-35. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Seventy-Fifth Street Elementary was one of three schools in the city to receive an outright grant.  It was awarded $24,000, while Huntington Park Elementary School received $7,000...

Abraham Lincoln High School, which opened in 1878, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. Architect Albert C. Martin designed the Moderne-style buildings, which feature murals and sculptures likely completed under the auspices of the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP). In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of...

The New Deal carried out reconstruction and ground improvements.

Ackerman Island was an island in the middle of the Arkansas River. In the early 1900s the land had been developed as an amusement park, but by the late 1920s it had fallen into disuse. Works Progress Administration workers widened the Arkansas River by removing the island and sculpting it in as part of the riverbank. According to visitwhichita.com, "The baseball field survived for a while after the closing of the amusement park. By the 1930s, flooding had become a problem along the river, causing the Works Progress Administration to recommend getting rid of the sandbar to widen the river. As...

Adams Elementary School was built in 1936 with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA). The design was by local architect K.C. Schaub. It is a long, single-story, brick Moderne structure with subtle bas-relief columns and minimal decoration. The Adams School is still in use today.

Designed by Edwall James Baume, the original five units and garden courts at Addams Elementary School were built in 1934 with Public Works Administration (PWA) funding. Addams is one of six LBUSD schools built in the aftermath of the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake that were designed in the Period Revival style instead of WPA/PWA Moderne. The 1933 earthquake destroyed hundreds of schools throughout Southern California. “On August 29, 1933, Long Beach citizens approved a $4,930,000 bond measure for the rebuilding of schools. Applications for approximately thirty-five schools were filed with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Public Works Administration (PWA); federal...

In 1938, under the auspices of the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP), artist Suzanne Miller completed the fresco "A Visit to the Jungle" for Jane Addams Elementary School library in Long Beach, CA. According to the Arts Council for Long Beach, "This story-telling mural illustrates an original children’s fable, written by the artist, where children encounter an assortment of wise and friendly animals. Contemporaneous accounts note that the artist wrote a story of children visiting the jungle specifically to accompany her mural at the Jane Addams School." Miller also completed murals at the old Lincoln Park Main Library and Franklin Classical...

A public swimming pool in Adel IA was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1935. One of the earliest municipal pools constructed in Iowa, the facility was around for a good share of historical events – war, environmental disasters, and cultural and economic changes. “When the pool was completed,” states Allison McNeal of the Dallas County News, “it was quite an attraction to residents including the fact that it had covered restrooms and a bathhouse, uncommon for the era.” The WPA project also provided unemployment relief for area residents. Over time, the pool faced a lack of upkeep as well as...

From 1933 to 1937, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) created a canoe route from east to west across Admiralty Island with multiple shelters, trails and a bear-watching tower at Pack Creek. The CCC Canoe Route is on the National Trust Registry of Historic Places.  The documentation form for the canoe route provides these details: "Work on Admiralty Island began in 1933, with three CCC crews totaling 23 men. By 1934 four shelter cabins had been constructed. In 1935 crews built the trails, more shelters, and installed a dam at the outlet of Beaver Lake to make it navigable to LakeAlexander. By 1936...

PWA approved project X1373 for a college dormitory for the HBCU Alcorn State University 9/16/1938. Construction began 12/18/1938 and was completed 8/19/1939. The Colonial Revival brick building is extant and remains in use. Architects Carl L. Olschner and Edgar Lucian Malvaney designed the dormitory and Flint-Jordan Construction Company erected the hall. The cost was $63,636.

In 1941, an unknown artist created a marble sculpture of Alexander Hamilton for Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, CA. Completed under the auspices of the Work Projects Administration Arts Project (WPAAP), the 6 foot 10 inch high sculpture depicts a young Alexander Hamilton dressed in knee breeches, a vest and a long coat. It is located in the main entrance foyer.

On October 14, 1938, the Daily Pacific Builder reported that a PWA contract of $63,840 had been awarded for the construction of a boys' gym at Alhambra City High School. The plans had been prepared by architect John Walker Smart, and Steed Bros. won the construction contract.

The science building at Alhambra High School was renovated in 1935 with New Deal funding, including from the Los Angeles County Relief Administration. Twenty-five laborers and 12 skilled tradesmen were employed on the project.

Alta Loma Elementary School, which opened in 1915, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure that every member of the board agrees with...

Anacostia Park is one of Washington DC's two largest parks and recreation areas, along with Rock Creek Park.  It covers over 1200 acres along the Anacostia River from South Capitol Street SE to the Maryland boundary in NE.  The New Deal improved the park in major ways, after the Capital Parks system was put under the control of the National Park Service (NPS) by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. New Deal public works agencies developed such key features of the park as Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, Langston Golf Course and Anacostia Pool (see linked pages). Besides those major elements, improvements included,...

In 1936, the Public Works Administration (PWA) provided $69,036 for the construction of a swimming pool in Anacostia Park (about $1.3 million in 2020 dollars). The pool was built by the BZ Contracting Company of New York and completed in early 1937. It was reported that, “The new pool will accommodate about 500 swimmers” (Evening Star, January 24, 1937). In 1949, Anacostia Pool was the scene of fighting when black youths attempted to use the facility, which was formally not segregated but, in practice, used exclusively by whites. A pro-segregation group was irritated when white members of the “Young Progressives” handed...

Andrew Jackson Elementary School was rebuilt by the Public Works Administration in 1935. It was one of 27 schools in the Pasadena Unified School District to be either rebuilt, demolished, or reinforced by the PWA or the Works Progress Administration (WPA) following the 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  

Angeles Mesa Elementary School, which opened in 1917, was renovated with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure that every member of the board agrees with...

Artist Adrien Machefert painted a mural, "Pilgrim's Harvest Festival," at Ann Street Elementary School in Los Angeles, CA. He was funded by the Federal Arts Project (FAP). "Adrien Machefert, a man past fifty, was born in San Jose, California, and started drawing for San Francisco newspapers at the age of seventeen. Following fourteen years doing portrait and landscape painting on the Island of Majorca, Mr. Machefert returned two and a half years ago to California and has since been working for FAP most of the time" (Wells, p. 22). Machefert's other New Deal–funded murals in the region include "All Nations" at Ninth...

The Arkport Central School in Arkport NY is a K-12 public school that is still in use. The Public Works Administration made two grants, of $63,000 and $9,654, against a planned cost of approximately $192,000.

Built 1938-39 under the Flood Control Act of 1936, following catastrophic local floods in 1935, and still in use. Federal cost was $1,910,000. C.C.C. built a camp nearby for the construction workers,

The W.P.A. constructed an armory in Chinook, Montana. Official Project Number 65-91-1602. According to local newspaper articles, the new armory was initial used as a civic center for various community events, as well as a jail, and office space for the neighboring Blaine County Courthouse. Today the building still serves at the Blaine County Courthouse Annex as well as the Chinook ambulance barn.  

The city of Columbus approved a bond issue to construct the city's portion of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) financed armory. The architect was R. T. Smith. Columbus purchased a site for the new armory and civic center in the business district. By summer of 1941, the armory was under construction. The Works Progress Administration supplied $45,000 toward the $65,000 building. The armory was a 4-story Art Deco building completed 1041-1942. It has been in use as a convention center since 1987.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) allotted $30,379 to construct a new National Guard Armory in 1938. N. W. Overstreet and A. H. Town were architects for the two-story, reinforced concrete Art Deco style building. The lower floor was devoted to Battery A of the 114th Field Artillery and regimental headquarters, battalion headquarters, instructors’ office, classroom, caretakers’ office and other rooms occupied the second floor. Work began in December 1938 and required seven months of construction. WPA workers also had to demolish two buildings at the site prior to construction beginning. The total cost was $38,453.17, with costs above the WPA allotment...

In 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed an auditorium for Central School in Baldwin Park, CA. With over 600 seats, the auditorium was used for both school and civic activities. The Moderne (Art Deco) structure is simple and unadorned, its concrete facade suggestive of early Brutalism. The auditorium served as an auxiliary meeting space after Central School was converted into Baldwin Park's first city hall in 1958, and as a storage facility after city hall was relocated in 1978. Since 2007, the renovated auditorium structure has served as Baldwin Park's Arts and Recreation Center (ARC). In addition to a dance studio, arts...

The Ashland Elementary School in Ashland KS is an elementary school built in 1937 with Public Works Administration funding. This is a two story red brick building with a flat roof and parapet. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and it is still in use.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to the Attica Armory in Attica IN. The armory is presently vacant. The structure is designed in the Art Deco style that is characteristic of New Deal era projects.  The DOD WPA Inventory lists 3 projects involving the Attica armory, "armory improvements" and "repair, alter, and construct armories."

We often think of New Projects as going smoothly, but Avalon School is an exception. The educational situation in the Ouray Valley had stuggled: schools and boarding schools had been built beginning in 1885 for the Uncompahgre Ute people but they were consistently consolidated, closed, and reopened. In 1905 homesteading was allowed in the valley. By 1928 Avalon had been settled and only a few years later (1934) the school board was entertaining a FERA-funded school. Construction began with brick being formed and burned near the property, and men going via sleigh 'to the mountains' to get lumber. In Feb 1935...

The 1933 Long Beach Earthquake destroyed hundreds of schools throughout Southern California. Originally built in 1924, Avalon School on Catalina Island—a part of the Long Beach Unified School District—was rehabilitated by Harold C. Wildman in 1935/36 with New Deal funding. Classes were held in tents while construction was underway. “On August 29, 1933, Long Beach citizens approved a $4,930,000 bond measure for the rebuilding of schools. Applications for approximately thirty-five schools were filed with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Public Works Administration (PWA); federal grants up to thirty percent of labor and material costs were obtained. To minimize costs, building...

Works Progress Administration (WPA) project No. 3544 started 10/05/1935 included 3 additional fire stations. WPA funding supplied $13,495.01 and the sponsor $9,513.78 for payroll, materials, and equipment. Ground was broken for the new Back Bay fire station on the north side of Elder Street between Lameuse and Reynoir Street. The Back Bay station was expected to take 90 days and cost about $5,000. It contained a one engine garage, bed room, bath, kitchen and breakfast room, with a 20 by 30 foot assembly room. The brick and concrete block building was designed in Colonial Style by architect John T. Collins....

The Winooski River Local Protection Project in Vermont, a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) undertaking, entailed "replacing an old timber dam at Montpelier by a small concrete dam (now called Bailey Dam) with tainter gates." The project is located on the Winooski River west of Main Street.  It was built sometime between 1934 and 1938.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved the grounds at Balboa Elementary School in Glendale, CA.

Two oil on canvas murals, entitled "Farm Landscape" and "Point Loma," were painted by Charles Reiffel on a commission from the WPA Federal Art Project in 1937. They were originally installed at Memorial Junior High School and now hang in the San Diego History Center downstairs at the Casa de Balboa. Each mural measures 10' x 10'. Some contemporary critics called Reiffel "America's Van Gogh" (Balboa Park Beat, October 2012).

Built by the WPA.  Originally called the Federal Building and then the Hall of Champions.

With funding from the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and, later, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the City of New Haven CT was able to construct a parkway from West Rock Park to a location six miles away known as Bethany Gap. According to the New Haven Museum, funds appropriated for the construction of the parkway helped “put unemployed persons to work during a period of record unemployment in the nation and state.” Baldwin Drive continues to serve residents today. 

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded and provided labor for an improvement and beautification program in Norfolk’s Ballentine Park in 1937. The WPA allocated $12, 836 for the project with the city adding an additional $4,884. “The project call for the extension of drains, building of a culvert, excavation for a lake, the grading and building of walkways and the planting of shrubs and trees.” The efforts of WPA work crews resulted in a beautiful park that shared property with the old Ballentine School. In recent years, the vacant school building was demolished and replaced by new townhouses and lofts. Nonetheless, the...

Bandini Street Elementary School, which opened in 1923, was renovated with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure that every member of the board agrees with...

Built by the Works Progress Administration in 1936, Barnett Field hosted the Fargo-Morehead Twins minor league baseball team until 1960. Barnett Field was demolished in 1963.

A Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp was established west of the Baker-Barry tunnel on the Marin Headlands, probably in 1934. Enrollees from this camp built the Baker-Barry Tunnel, a single-lane passage under the Marin Headlands, in 1935. The CCC camp closed in 1936, but the tunnel remains on Bunker Road in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.  It was extensively renovated by the National Park Service in 2016-17.