Unknown Sites

In 1937, Grace Clements adorned a 30-foot curved bench at Santa Monica High School with petrachrome mosaics depicting ocean life. Created under the auspices of the WPA Federal Arts Project (FAP), "Senior Bench" is located in a landscaped area south of the Greek Amphitheater. Clements used the petrachrome method "whereby tinted cement mortar mixed with crushed rock, glass, or tile is applied to the mural surface, with different colored sections delineated by strips of brass. Once hardened, the cement is polished to create a bold, striking appearance. This method was developed by Santa Monica artist Stanton Macdonald-Wright while he was serving...

Artist Stanton Macdonald-Wright designed two murals for Barnum Hall Theater at Santa Monica High School. The works were funded by the Federal Arts Project (FAP). In 1938, Macdonald-Wright completed a mural titled "Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla" upon Barnum Hall's asbestos stage curtain. The following year, he completed an 8x8-foot mosaic titled "Landing of the Vikings in Vinland" in the theater's foyer. Macdonald-Wright was supervisor for the Southern California division of the FAP from 1935 to 1943. He is considered "an important proponent of the nonrepresentational styles of art on the New Deal projects" (Kalfatovic, p. 370). His other New Deal–funded...

The petrachrome murals "Santa Paula" and "Youth" were created by Buckley MacGurrin with WPA Federal Art Project (FAP) funds for Santa Paula High School in Santa Paula, CA. MacGurrin also painted a pair of FAP murals for the former Hall of Records in Los Angeles, CA, which was demolished in 1971. The status of these murals is unknown.

Hill Classical Middle School (now Sato Academy of Mathematics and Science) was built in 1935, likely with New Deal funding. It is unclear if the 1935 structure(s) survived a 1957 addition/remodel. The 1933 Long Beach 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 grants up to thirty percent of labor and material costs were obtained. To minimize costs, building materials were salvaged from damaged buildings,...

Saturn Street Elementary School, which opened as Burnside Avenue Elementary School in 1924, 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...

The Works Progress Administration built the Saw Hill Park in St. Francis KS.      

Although Schermerhorn Park dates to the 1920s, Works Progress Administration workers made significant improvements in the 1930s and 1940s. including terraced walls and a nature center still in use.

The Corinth High School was constructed 1938-1939 by Wessell Construction Company as Public Works Administration project W1250. Architects were Stevens and Johnston. The Art Moderne two story brick building was approved 6/22/1938 for a grant of $65,454 toward estimated cost of $145,454. Construction began 11/28/1938 and was completed 11/14/1939. It was expanded in 1954 to add an additional classroom, cafeteria, and band room. It remains in use as the Corinth Middle School.

Pubic Works Administration project 2530 was approved 1/9/1934 for construction of a school in Houlka. The loan was $24,300 and grant $9306 for a total of $33,606. Construction began 6/16/1934 and was completed 1/191935 for a final total of $36,611. Edgar Lucian Malvaney was architect and the M. T. Reed Construction Company of Belzoni was the contractor. The one-story red brick Colonial Revival style building was undergoing renovation in July 2014 when it caught fire from a contractor’s spark and was destroyed.

The administration building/high school for Nettleton was constructed with Public Works Administration grant W1137. The loan of $18,000 and grant of $14,727 was approved 9/25/1935. Construction began 2/1/1936 and was completed 10/22/1936 for a total cost of $33,230. The architect was John McGaughey Feemster. The building is still extant and in use as the Upper Elementary School.

Raymond Consolidated School received a grant of $45,000 from PWA project W1172 to construct a new brick school building, approved 7/21/1936. The first contract was awarded 2/4/1937 and construction began February 10, completion October 16. The building contained a large auditorium, eight classrooms, and a heating plant. The architects were Hull & Drummond, with I. C. Garber constructing the new school. An addition was added, funded by PWA, for $20,000, March 1939. Originally constructed as Raymond High School, it remains in use as the elementary school.

Public Works Administration projects W1138 and W1222 were approved for a school and school addition in Thalia. A grant of $12,272 was approved toward the estimated $27,272 cost on 9/25/1935. Construction began 3/18/1936 and was completed 11/3/1936. Bids were advertised in November for the construction of auditorium, gymnasium, home economics and manual training building. A bond issue was passed 63-20 by the Thalia voters in August. The proposed building was to be built of brick and tile. The contract for construction was awarded to Naylor and Reid of Wichita Falls. O. R. Walker of Lubbock was the architect. The initial...

Utica High School was completed 1939 as part of Public Works Administration (PWA) project W1183 to construct new buildings and improvements for five Hinds County schools. A bond election for Utica was held October 29 and $27,000 were approved for issue to supplement the PWA funding to construct a new building and complete alterations on the old school. The total for all five projects was $337,746 with PWA contributing a loan of $151,986. The project was approved 6/22/1938, bids advertised in October, and the project completed 12/4/1939. The building was opened for dedication November 16, 1939. The Clarion-Ledger reported a...

Efforts to improve the school in Vancleave began in February 1936 when the new teacher’s home and addition to the agricultural building and general school repairs were undertaken by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for a cost of $7000. JohnT. Collins was the architect. In August, WPA employees used salvaged materials to rebuild the school. In 1939, application was filed for a PWA grant and a bond election called to finance the remainder of the cost of constructing a new school with light and water system. Architects were Carl Oschner and L. C. Winterton of New Orleans, and constractor was...

Public Works Administration project 4838 was approved 2/21/1934 for the construction of a school in Poplarville. The city received a loan of $14,100 and a grant of $5906. Construction began 6/18/1934 and was completed 12/14/1934 for a total of $19,891. The exact location of the school building is not specified. A number of Pearl River County schools were destroyed or badly damaged in Hurricane Camille in 1969, and there is no indication a school from that time period is still extant in Poplarville.

Public Works Administration project 5288 funded the Woodland school with a loan of $8700 and grant of $3300, approved 3/21/1934. Construction of the one-story, brick building began 10/29/1934 and was completed 3/9/1935. The school closed in 1986 and sold the building and property. It was purchased by a local family and since then has been in use as the Woodland Furniture Store.

Public Works Administration project 3003 was approved 12/28/1933 for a new home economics building, annex to the existing building, and alterations to the existing building in the Savannah community of Pearl River County. A loan of $10,000 and grant of $4,182 was awarded. Vinson Smith, Jr. served as architect. A. Ziegenfelder was the contractor for the one-story brick and stone trim annex and the construction of a brick veneer home economics building. Plumbing, heating, roofing and sheet metal contract was awarded to Hamilton Brothers in the amount of $2,167 and Clark and Griffith received $304.74 for the electrical work. Construction...

WPA school auditorium in Willowbrook, CA. Exact address and current status unknown, but this may be the same Willowbrook school listed in the 1939 WPA Accomplishment Report for Southern California.

Terry planned a bond issue vote in the amount of $25,000 to supplement a $40,000 allotment from the Works Progress Administration to construct new school buildings. The new buildings were needed as a result of the Rural Settlement Administration project established at Terry, which increased the number of students for the school. Citizens voted 167 to 0 to issue $25,000 to match a federal grant to erect a new school building. The buildings included auditorium, gymnasium, elementary, and high school. The gymnasium was opened January 4, 1940 and the new buildings were dedicated in September 1940. The buildings were destroyed...

In 1935 the county commissioners of Marshall County, KS approved the construction of a school playground at Waterville, financed with $4492.80 in Kansas Emergency Relief Committee (KERC) grant in aid and $968.50 from the KERC material fund. It is unclear whether this funding was for the one grade school in Waterville, or if this funded playgrounds at various one-room schools in the area. The KERC was an arm of the Reconstruction Finance Corp.

Public Works Administration project 1313 for Sharkey County school was approved 11/14/1933 for a new gymnasium at the Cary Line Consolidated School. The county received a loan of $5096 and grant of $1730 for a total of $6230 toward the completion cost of $7182. Construction began 5/11/1934 and was completed on 8/7/1934. The school complex was abandoned in 1961, damaged in a tornado in 1971, and has since been demolished.

The School Gymnasium in Schoenchen KSLimestone gymnasium built by the Works Progress Administration in 1938. It is currently owned by a private company and in use as an office building.

Public Works Administration project w1218 for $28,635 loan and $28,635 grant was approved 6/22/1938. Construction started 9/14/1938 and was completed 5/10/1939 for a total of $63,968. The citizens voted approval of $55,000 in bonds toward the project with a vote of 84-1 to construct a new auditorium and gymnasium. The “modern gymnasium” (Remodeling, p. 10) was “62x85 with maple flooring” and could seat 400. Several classrooms were enlarged and four new classrooms constructed. The auditorium seated 500 and featured a stage, scenery, and blinds. A loud speaker system was added with the improvements. Architect was James Manly Spain and construction...

Works Progress Administration (WPA) employees dug a 1001 foot well for the Macedonia school when the former drinking supply was condemned by the health department.

Public Works Administration project 4592 was approved 2/21/1934 for a $22,500 loan and $7,719 grant for additions to the Moorhead consolidated school. Construction started 6/8/1934 and was completed 10/10/1934. The project included the construction of a six-room addition and other repairs. Three rooms were constructed on the east side and three on the west side of the existing building. The school opened in September 1934 following the completion of the new building, one of the first of new school buildings in Mississippi to be built under PWA. The school is no longer extant.

Public Works Administration project 4592 was approved 2/21/1934 for a $22,500 loan and $7,719 grant for additions to the Moorhead consolidated school. Construction started 6/8/1934 and was completed 10/10/1934. The project included the construction of a six-room addition and other repairs. Three rooms were constructed on the east side and three on the west side of the existing building. The school opened in September 1934 following the completion of the new building, one of the first of new school buildings in Mississippi to be built under PWA.

The Civil Works Administration of Jefferson County employed women in a school clean up project 37-C-348-2. Excerpts from the Report on Civil Works Administration of Alabama Jefferson County Division: "The clean-up of Birmingham Public Schools and Public Buildings enabled the employment of white and colored unskilled women, and constituted cleaning of walls, dusting of walls, polishing furniture and brass, washing windows and woodwork, and various duties the principals of the schools could outline in order to create cleaner, healthier and more attractive schools, not conflicting in any way with any of the work outlined for the janitor or maid, such as mopping...

Public Works Administration project W1012 was approved 9/25/1935 to construct unspecified schools in Juneau. The project provided a loan of $26,351 and grant of $26, 351. The project began construction 4/20/1936 and was completed 9/12/1936 for a total of $58,776. Exact location is unknown.

Mobile, AZ was settled by African-Americans, but by the 1930s there was also a substantial white population. Town population was apparently only about 40, although there seems to have been about 100 homesteaders. The Works Progress Administration dealt with the racial tensions by repairing the established one-room school (presumably for Blacks) at a cost of $3178. They also built a second school (presumably for Whites) at a cost of $10,266. That's a big expenditure for only a handful of children-- but by the 1950s the population had grown substantially.

The Works Progress Administration made an allotment for a "new, modernistic school building" for Byram Elementary School, completed in October 1938. The Public Works Administration (PWA) W1183 funded construction for new buildings and improvements for five Hinds County schools 1938-1939, including Byram. Bond election was held October 18, 1938 for Byram to issue $33,000 for a new auditorium, gymnasium, and additional classrooms. PWA W1183 funded school buildings in Hinds County with a loan of 151,986 toward estimated cost of 337,746, approved 6/22/1938. Construction began 11/14/1938; completed 12/4/1939 for a total of 322,153 for all projects. Architects were N. W. Overstreet...

Second Street Elementary School, which opened in 1895, 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...

The Sepulveda Dam in Van Nuys, California (in the San Fernando Valley) was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1941 as part of an enormous flood-control project on the Los Angeles River, following the latest major flood on the river in January 1934.  The work was done under the auspices of a general flood risk management plan and contract between the Army Corps of Engineers, the Los Angeles County Flood Control District (LACFCD), and the WPA to deal with flooding on the three main rivers in Los Angeles County. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, "The flood of...

The Works Progress Administration funded improvements at the Seventh and H Streets SW Playground in Washington DC between 1935 and 1936. The crews graded 1,000 cubic yards.

The Treasury Department funded the construction of the New Deal-era Sevierville post office in Sevierville, TN. The post office has since relocated, and the early-'40s building currently serves as the Sevier County Heritage Museum.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) constructed a sewage disposal plant in El Monte, CA. In 1935, the Department of the Interior’s newly created Department of Subsistence Homesteads (DSH) established a community of 100 “small farms” and “rurban homes” in El Monte. "As a result, so much interest was aroused in the development of subsistence farms that approximately 2,000 acres of farmland was subdivided and settled by residents of the metropolitan area of Los Angeles, who built their homes along the banks of the Rio Hondo River which was badly polluted by the existing El Monte sewage system. To overcome this condition,...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) extended the sewer system in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, the winter of 1933-34. We have no further details as to the what, when and where of the project.

Public Works Administration grant W1024 approved a grant of $13,167 toward a sanitary sewer for the city of Sitka. The project was approved 6/22/1938 and construction began 8/23/1938. The project was completed 12/2/1938.

Public Works Administration project 4653 approved the construction of an extension to the Raymond sewerage system 2/28/1934. A loan of $21,750 and grant of $8,250 was awarded. Construction began June 29, 1934 and was completed October 31, 1934. The project laid approximately 22,000 feet of pipe. The sewer pipe contract was awarded to the Cannelston Sewer Pipe company of Indiana and the cast iron pipe contract to McWain Cast Iron Pipe company of Birmingham. Engineer Peter O’Brien of Jackson designed the layout, and the government engineer was E. D. Sloan. The project called for sewer pipe from 4-12 inches in...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), working for the US Forest Service, constructed four fire lookout towers around Rocky Mountain National Park.  The one on the summit of Shadow Mountain, overlooking Grand Lake CO in the southwest corner of the park, is the last survivor of the four. Completed in 1933, the three-story lookout was built in the classic Rustic style favored by the US Forest Service and National Park Service at the time.  It consists of a concrete foundation, two stories of stone masonry, and a wooden upper story. It remained in use until 1968 and is today a scenic destination for...

The Works Progress Administration built the Shelly School in Shelly MN in 1938. According to Docomomo, the structure is a "andsome schoolhouse built in Art Deco style with Streamline Moderne elements such as rounded corners and ample glass block. Build under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the federal New Deal, replacing a two-story wooden school. The brick structure cost approximately $46,000. Closed in 1993, reopened in 2000 as the Red River History Museum and Norman County Historical Society."