Unknown Sites

The Astoria Health Playground was completed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938. The project was planned and inspected by the New York City Department of Parks. Located in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens next door to the Astoria Health Center (also a WPA project), the playground was "equipped with swings, see-saws, play houses, slide, sand pit and a portable shower. A brick comfort station with facilities for boys and girls, and permanent concrete benches are also provided. The perimeter of the entire playground is landscaped with shade trees" (Department of Parks Press Release, Jul. 2, 1938). The playground is still...

The Astoria Heights Playground was designed by the New York City Parks Department and built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in two stages 1937-39. It is located in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens. A playground for small children, as well as "handball courts for older children and benches for mothers and guardians," was first opened at the site in September 1937. Just over two years later, the Parks Department announced the completion of the rest of the playground: "he new 2.3 acre area supplements and includes the small recreational area opened in 1937, and rounds out the entire block, the southerly end...

In 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) made extensive improvements to Astoria Park, a 56-acre recreational area located in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens. The WPA constructed comfort stations and numerous playgrounds, including "an adult play area with handball, basketball, horseshoe and shuffleboard courts, horizontal bars and ladders" (Department of Parks Press Release, Nov. 7, 1936). The field house and running track pictured here were likely included in the project as well. In addition, the WPA built a "stunning pool complex hosted the swimming and diving trials for the U.S. Olympic Teams in 1936 and 1964" (NYC Parks). The 4.5-acre portion of...

Astoria Pool was the largest of eleven pools built in New York City by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1936. Located in Queens' Astoria Park, the pool was the site of the Olympic swimming and diving trials for the 1936 Olympics (just as Randall's Island Stadium was for track and field). WPA administrator Harry Hopkins described the Astoria Pool as, "The finest in the world." In fact, "Astoria Pool was a model for the other ten pools. It has been said that Moses intended it to be the grandest of the new pools because it had the best view...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to the Attica Armory in Attica, Indiana. The armory is presently vacant. The structure, built in 1939, was designed in a 'Moderne' style that is characteristic of many New Deal-era projects. A Department of Defense (DoD) WPA Inventory lists three projects involving the Attica armory, "armory improvements" and "repair, alter, and construct armories," project numbers 65-52-2352, 65-52-2369, 65-52-3726.

A civic auditorium in Onida, South Dakota was constructed with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $3,700 grant for the project, whose total cost was $14,571. Construction occurred between April and July 1936. The gorgeous multicolored brick building is located on the north side of Birch Ave. between S 7th St. and S 8th St., across from the post office. It is unclear how frequently the facility is used these days. As of 2025 there was no signage on the building. PWA Project No. 8581

Avalon Gardens was one of the developments in Los Angeles, CA completed under the city’s New Deal–era public housing program. In 1941-43, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) constructed 10 public housing developments for $16 million, funded 10% by city bonds and 90% by federal loans from the United States Housing Authority (USHA). Located on 14.9 acres of land in southeast Los Angeles, Avalon Gardens was constructed between November 1941 and April 1942. It received additional funding from the Federal Housing Authority (FHA). Avalon Gardens featured 62 frame-and-stucco bungalow-style residences, including apartment buildings, scattered single-family homes, and...

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.

In 1935, the Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of a post office in Whittier, CA.  Louis A. Simon designed the building, which stands out for its Art Deco style and pastel color. The post office formerly held a mural, titled "Boy with Sheep," painted by Thomas Laman in 1938, but it has since been painted over.  

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.” Used today by hikers and mountain bikers (the road has been long closed to vehicular traffic), 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...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the CCC Camp at the Bandelier National Monument in Los Alamos, NM. In 1933, there was no road into Frijoles Canyon, the eventual home of the Bandelier CCC camp, NM-1-N/NP-4-N.  A cable tram was used by the owner of a lodge in the canyon to transport luggage for lodge visitors, however.  This tram was used for the construction of the CCC camp to get equipment into the canyon in late 1933.  Equipment included a truck which was disassembled at the top and reassembled in the canyon, an electric light plant, camp tents, and all construction...

Bandini Street Elementary School, which opened in 1923, was renovated with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. Built by Arthur Pinner Jr, the two-story building faces onto N Bandini St and combines elements of PWA Moderne and Spanish Revival styles (note the tile roof and half-moon windows). The reconstruction and renovation of Los Angeles schools damaged by the 1933 Long Beach earthquake was the single largest PWA funded program in the country, totaling ~$34.7 million (LA Times, May 23, 1937).  It was overseen by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and proceeded in two cycles, 1934-35...

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.    

This school was built as an elementary school with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1938.  It later became a junior high school and was named for William Pitt Bartlett, a Porterville benefactor. The building is single-story and the design by W.D. Coates is Moderne (Art Deco). The main building front still looked unchanged as of 2009, except for probable window replacement. There are new aluminum windows on the small building on the south, and new aluminum doors on the back side. There have been at least 2 additions for new classrooms since it was built.

Barton Hill Elementary School in San Pedro, CA was rebuilt following the 1933 Long Beach earthquake with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA). In 1936, the two-story PWA Moderne structures on N Pacific Ave and W Oliver St were built for a total of $104,928. They were designed by architect Clement B. Lewis and built by Pacific Realty & Building Company. In addition, the pedestrian tunnel beneath N Pacific Ave was likely constructed with New Deal funding. The first of the city's 200-plus pedestrian tunnels were built in the 1920s to prevent traffic violence by providing children with safe access...

The Rock Valley Baseball Park was built in 1937, and the Works Progress Administration built the grandstand several years later. 

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Bath V.A. Hospital in Bath NY. Created as the hospital for Bath V.A., replacing the 1870s facility at what had been the New York State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home. The oldest resident Civil War veteran broke the ground in 1936. The hospital was dedicated May 12, 1938 with 409 beds and two operating rooms. This is still the hospital for what is now the Bath VA Medical Center.

Bayless HIgh School in St. Louis, Missouri was built in 1935 with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA).  The design is Federalist, with red brick with white wood windows. The central entrance projects forward and there is a short cupola behind that. The columns on the entrance are limestone. The volume of the building is 573,780 cubic feet. It was completed in October 1935 at a construction cost of $133,818 and a project cost of $144,915." The PWA report by Short & Stanley-Brown elaborates: "This high school is planned so that when the need arises additions may be made. The present building...

Bayside High School in the Bayside neighborhood of Queens was constructed with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1935-36. The PWA allocated $2,067,274 for the construction of the facility—$1,480,000 as a loan and $587,274 as a grant. The PWA docket number for this project was NY-2735.

In 1941, the Work Projects Administration (WPA) undertook a storm sewer construction project in the Rockaway Park neighborhood of Queens. One of six sewers was installed at Beach 120th St between Newport Ave and Rockaway Beach Blvd. According to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the other five sewers were located at “at Beach 147th St. between Newport Ave. and Jamaica Bay, Beach 141st St. between Cronston Ave. and Beach Channel Drive, Rockaway Beach Boulevard north and south from Beach 120th to Beach 121st Sts., an overflow arrangement at Beach Channel Drive and Beach 117th St., and Rockaway Beach Boulevard from...

In 1941, the Work Projects Administration (WPA) undertook a storm sewer construction project in the Rockaway Park neighborhood of Queens. One of six sewers was installed at Beach 141st St between Cronston Ave and Beach Channel Dr. According to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the other five sewers were located at "Beach 147th St. between Newport Ave. and Jamaica Bay, Beach 120th St. between Newport Ave. and Rockaway Beach Boulevard, Rockaway Beach Boulevard north and south from Beach 120th to Beach 121st Sts., an overflow arrangement at Beach Channel Drive and Beach 117th St., and Rockaway Beach Boulevard from Beach...

In 1941, the Work Projects Administration (WPA) undertook a storm sewer construction project in the Rockaway Park neighborhood of Queens. One of six sewers was installed at Beach 147th St between Newport Ave and Jamaica Bay. According to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the other five sewers were located at “Beach 141st St. between Cronston Ave. and Beach Channel Drive, Beach 120th St. between Newport Ave. and Rockaway Beach Boulevard, Rockaway Beach Boulevard north and south from Beach 120th to Beach 121st Sts., an overflow arrangement at Beach Channel Drive and Beach 117th St., and Rockaway Beach Boulevard from Beach 117th...

Beginning in 1939, the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a sewer line along Beach 87th St in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of Queens. The line stretched 1,345 feet from a road then known as Bruce Pl to Jamaica Bay.

In 1941, the Work Projects Administration (WPA) undertook a storm sewer construction project in the Rockaway Park neighborhood of Queens. One of six sewers, described by The Brooklyn Daily Eagle as "an overflow arrangement," was installed at Beach Channel Dr and Beach 117th St. The other five sewers were located at “Beach 147th St. between Newport Ave. and Jamaica Bay, Beach 141st St. between Cronston Ave. and Beach Channel Drive, Beach 120th St. between Newport Ave. and Rockaway Beach Boulevard, Rockaway Beach Boulevard north and south from Beach 120th to Beach 121st Sts., and Rockaway Beach Boulevard from Beach...

Built in 1936-37, occupied for school use on September 7, 1937. In 1875, the school district built a wood frame schoolhouse near the center of town. In 1903, the board built a masonry building to replace the frame school. In 1935, a fire destroyed the school. The building was insured for $35,000, but the estimated loss was $100.000. The new school served the entire township, since Indiana officials had been encouraging public school consolidation since the 1890s. Public Works Administration awarded a grant for $57, 348 to fill the gap. Additionally, the town sold bonds to fund the school. The...

Bear Creek Canyon Scenic Mountain Drive is a 2-mile stretch of Colorado Highway 74 between the towns of Morrison and Idledale, just west of Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre. The route is noted for its enclosing granite cliffs and diverse vegetation. During the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) raised the bed of the road, which had originally been built by the Denver Motor Club. The project involved the construction of six 20-foot retaining walls along the edge of Bear Creek.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was very active in Rocky Mountain National Park during the 1930s. The Bear Lake Comfort Station, located on the Bear Lake trail, is one of the many structures in the park built by CCC enrollees.   The rubblestone construction is typical of national park Rustic Style of the first half of the 20th century.  The building now serves to house a generator.  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

The Belasco Theatre, in Los Angeles, CA, hosted several Federal Theatre Projects (FTP) such as: Alien Corn by Sidney Howard, Birds of Paradise by R. W. Tully, Excursion by V. Wolfson, High Tor by Maxwell Anderson, Day is Darkness, a famous anti-Nazi play, by George Fess, and Volpone by B. Jonson.  One particularly notable production, Volpone, centered on the downfall of a corrupt man driven by greed. The play featured an original musical score by Enda Rosalyne Heard, the only woman composer actively creating original compositions for the West Coast branch of the Federal Theatre Project. Heard’s work stood out for...

Bell High School in Bell, CA was rebuilt following the 1933 Long Beach earthquake with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA). In 1935, the main building's brick walls were replaced with reinforced concrete. The following year, a PWA Moderne gym designed by architects Train & Cressey was built for a total of $30,425. The single-story structure appears to survive as the "small gym" at the rear of a since-expanded physical education building located between the tennis and basketball courts. The reconstruction and renovation of Los Angeles schools damaged by the 1933 Long Beach earthquake was the single largest PWA funded...

In 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a sewer on Belle Porte Ave. and 253rd St. in an effort to combat flooding in Harbor City, CA. The WPA allocated $390,951 towards the project. 

In 1937, Raymond Noble painted a mural for Belmont High School in Los Angeles, CA. He received funding from the Federal Art Project (FAP).

Artist Stanley Spohn designed a tile mosaic for a drinking fountain at Belmont High School in Los Angeles, CA. He received funding from the Federal Arts Project (FAP). Spohn described the mosaic as being "handled in a manner reminiscent of the Persian rather than the Italian School, which conforms with Umbrian type of architecture in color and in its vertical and horizontal arrangement of the tessera method of making mosaic. "It portrays four of the intellectual achievements. Science is shown by a conventionalized microscope on the observation platform of which there is a crystal, suggestive of the polarization of light. Behind the...

In 1936, Belvedere Middle School (formerly Junior High School) in Los Angeles, CA was rebuilt with partial funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA). The school's main and home economics buildings were remodeled by architect C. E. Noerenberg and contractor H. B. Nicholson for $139,000. Both PWA Moderne structures were demolished and replaced in 2023. The reconstruction and renovation of Los Angeles schools damaged by the 1933 Long Beach earthquake was the single largest PWA funded program in the country, totaling ~$34.7 million (LA Times, May 23, 1937).  It was overseen by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and proceeded...