Unknown Sites

The B. and P.W. Club of Oxford, the National Youth Administration and local citizens funded the construction of a community house for the use of Lafayette County. Home Demonstration clubs solicited funds from county communities to assist. The house was proposed to be located on North Lamar street, one block north of the courthouse. W. P. 5160 #896 for Oxford Community House, Lafayette County was constructed of 8 inch stone veneer laid random ashlar. Stone was quarried by NYA and the cypress shingles were cut at the Longview NYA sawmill. It contained a woodwork shop in the basement and was...

In 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) converted Ross Field, a World War balloon training school for more than 3,500 military personnel located in Arcadia, CA, into a public park. They constructed a golf course, swimming pool, and tennis courts. "Before opening day Oct. 12, 1938, the WPA crew christened each golf hole: The fifth is 'Railroad' because it paralleled the Pacific Electric tracks; the 11th is 'Wind' because the prevailing wind blows in players' faces, and the 16th is 'Clubhouse Turn' because it was the first turn on pioneer Lucky Baldwin's original racetrack site. A plaque paying tribute to the...

From Missouri Armories: "This armory was built as a WPA project and incorporates many aspects of the WPA modern style inside and out, but the stylistic features are somewhat extreme and could not be considered typical of the are deco style. This is illustrated in the two pillars flanking the main entrance and the lack of geometric interpretation." Occupied 1939-ca. 2000.

The Works Progress Administration built the Company F, 140th Infantry Armory in Poplar Bluff MO. From "Missouri Armories": "By July 1940, forty-two men were employed on the armory project, building 6000 large blocks for the outside walls on the front lawn of the building site." Currently owned by the Poplar Bluff school district and used as a maintenance building.

The auditorium at Compton College (formerly Compton Junior College) in Compton, CA, was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) after the campus suffered damage in the devastating 1933 Long Beach earthquake. Construction of the auditorium had begun under the California State Relief Administration (SRA); it was completed by the WPA at a federal cost of $8,345 and $24,578 total. It is possible the WPA was also responsible for building the College's main building and women's gym. It is unclear if these structures have survived ongoing construction at Compton College funded by the November 2002 passage of Measure CC—which authorized the issuance...

Coolidge Senior High School in northwest Washington DC was built in 1938-40 with federal aid to the District of Columbia Education Department.   An appropriation of $350,000 was made by Congress in 1937 to the District Commissioners (the municipal government).  Since the full cost of the school building was $1,500,000, additional funds must have come from Congress, the District or the Public Works Administration (PWA).  More information is needed on this. Coolidge High School was built to relieve crowding at Theodore Roosevelt High School, on property that the District of Columbia had purchased five years before.  Some local citizens associations wanted to name the...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped construct the Cooper River Park in Pennsauken Township NJ in 1940. “A WPA project to give Pennsauken, N.J., its first public park and recreation facilities costing $350,000 has been approved,” a reporter for Parks & Recreation noted in March 1940. “Included in the plans are provisions for a swimming pool, wading pool, tennis, basketball, volleyball, handball, quoit and shuffleboard courts, picnic grounds, baseball diamonds and playground equipment for children. The Camden Park Commission is sponsoring the project.” According to the Cultural Landscape Foundation, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) work crews as well as the WPA “provided design...

The Works Progress Administration provided employment for workers to construct an athletic field at the Copiah-Lincoln Junior College.

The National Youth Administration (NYA) project provided work for boys to construct a brick field house to house visiting athletic teams, football lockers and showers, stock rooms and athletic offices. The one story structure was located east of the tennis courts. It is no longer extant.

Public Works Administration (PWA) project W1178 constructed the Faculty House (now used as the Girls Honor Dormitory), and the Chapel Building (now known as J. M. Ewing Administration Building), for Copiah-Lincoln Junior College, known locally as Co-Lin. A $36,000 grant toward total expenditures of $80,000 were approved 11/17/1936. Construction by the I. C. Garber and Son company began 2/15/1937. Architects for the project were Hull and Drummond. Construction was completed 10/14/1937. The Faculty House was first unit in the $80,000 building program for the college. Copiah and Lincoln Counties each appropriated $22,500 toward the cost. Members of faculty began moving in...

Public Works Administration (PWA) project W1178 constructed the Chapel Building (now known as J. M. Ewing Administration Building) and the Faculty House (now used as the Girls Honor Dormitory) for Copiah-Lincoln Junior College, known locally as Co-Lin. A $36,000 grant toward total expenditures of $80,000 were approved 11/17/1936. Construction by the I. C. Garber and Son company began 2/15/1937. Architects for the project were Hull and Drummond. Construction was completed 10/14/1937. The Faculty House was first unit in the $80,000 building program for the college. Copiah and Lincoln Counties each appropriated $22,500 toward the cost. Members of faculty began moving in...

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration funded the construction of the Corbett Field in Minot ND. Primarily a baseball stadium, although it has been used for football. Original cost was $60,000, of which $25-35,000 was borne by the city of Minot. Original capacity was 1500. Currently used as a home field for an assortment of high school, college, amateur, and minor league reams.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees constructed the Arboretum at Cornell University Arboretum in Ithaca, New York between 1935 and 1941.   “Before becoming an arboretum, the area was part of a working farm, and served as a pasture for the Cornell Department of Animal Science’s herd of Black Angus cattle. In 1935, 200 men from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up camp south of Cascadilla Creek and worked in what is now the arboretum for six years. Through all seasons, they cleared and graded the land, constructed stone walls, built roads, and planted trees. By 1941, they had built four...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) began improvements at Bellingham WA’s Cornwall Memorial Park in 1937. The WPA also allocated $29,000 for the construction of a state-of-the-art bowling green at the site. This was in addition to earlier improvements, which included recreation structures, playgrounds, and tennis courts as well as “the finest bowling green in the Pacific Northwest.” The work undertaken at Cornwall Memorial Park was one of a variety pursued in Washington State by New Deal agencies. The park continues to provide recreational and leisure outlets for area residents today. “Centrally located, the park offers opportunities to escape into nature with 70...

Corona Avenue Elementary School, which opened in 1926, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. Architect Richard Nuetra helped transform Corona into an “experimental” school by designing huge sliding glass patio walls. Corona Avenue Elementary has since become an historical landmark. 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...

This 59" high woven tapestry "Fruits of the Earth" was designed by Donal Hord, and woven by Marian Kendall, V. Kelley, and F. Manchester. It was created in 1939 with support from the WPA Federal Art Project. It originally hung at the San Diego Administration Center.

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...

According to the website of the General Services Administration "Young American Man and Young American Woman act as sentinels to the main courtrooms of the 1937 Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Erie, Pennsylvania. These two sculptures express the admirable qualities possessed by the young men and women of depression-era America. Kreis communicated the upstanding nature of the figures through his use of monumental, simple forms, and by leaving out any unessential or frivolous details. Further evidence of their moral rectitude is cleverly expressed by the inclusion of the man's faithful dog, which regards his human companion with complete devotion....

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a one-story frame and stucco music building at Covina High School in Covina, CA. "The school had been badly crowded, therefore, the Orchestra and Glee Club classes were held in the same building with other classes which was very disturbing to the rest of the school. Completion of this Music Hall corrected this condition by giving these music classes a building of their own, thereby improving the education facilities of the entire school" (Connolly & Farman, 1939).

The enormous Cow Palace—or, more formally, the Livestock Exhibition Building—was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds.  It was completed in early 1938 at a cost of $701,648. It lies just south of the San Francisco city/county line in what was long rural land, before the suburb of Daly City exploded in size in the 1940s and 1950s. The Cow Palace is approximately 250 by 130 feet is size and the steel truss roof soars 110 feet above the ground.   The arena accommodates 12,000 spectators.   The building is constructed of reinforced concrete. The roof is held up by cantilever...

Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery was established in 1889 to raise and stock juvenile Atlantic salmon for Maine waters. Craig Brook currently supports two Atlantic salmon programs. According to a 1937 CCC Yearbook, the Ellsworth-Bar Harbor Co 193, Camp Governor Brann were involved with construction "at the Federal Fish Hatchery at Orland, ten concrete pools of unique design will enable the hatchery to care for two hundred and fifty thousand more fish;" As part of the restoration program for the Penobscot River, Craig Brook receives sea-run adult Atlantic salmon trapped from the Penobscot River for use as broodstock. These adults are...

The history of Craighead Forest Park portraits a close collaboration between the local community and federal government during the Great Depression “to stave off the ravages of poverty, misery and human degradation.” (1) It dates to 1937 when the Young Men’s Civic Club of Jonesboro (YMCC) started working on the project of a community recreational park for locals to enjoy. Through the help of Mr. H.E Remsburg, the areas supervisor for the WPA program, and US Senator Hattie W. Caraway, a $100,000 park development program was granted through the WPA. (2) The Civilian Conservation Corps also worked with the Forestry...

The DC Armory was paid for by a congressional appropriation (part of the District’s general funding bill for fiscal year 1940), and probably also through local revenue sources such as real estate taxes and parking fees. The DC Municipal Architect’s Office was responsible for planning and supervising the construction. The Armory was completed in 1941 at a total cost of about $1.5 to $2.5 million. One year after the Armory opened, the New Deal’s Federal Works Agency (FWA) approved funding for a recreation area in the “stadium-armory area at the end of East Capitol Street” (Evening Star, 1942). It was reported...

The Civil Works Administration and the Public Works Administration (PWA) completed improvements at the District of Columbia Reformatory and Workhouse (today’s “D.C. Workhouse and Reformatory Historic District”) between 1933 and 1940. “During the latter part of December 1933 an appropriation was obtained from the Civil Works Administration for the construction of 4 dormitory buildings and 2 buildings for officers' quarters. This work was handled as a Virginia project through the Fairfax County administrator. Work was started January 2, 1934, and when work was terminated on March 31, 1934, the 4 dormitories were about 90 percent complete, and the 2 buildings for officers' quarters...

Dana Middle School in San Pedro, CA, is home to two oil-on-canvas murals entitled "Life and Travels of Richard Henry Dana, Jr." The murals, by Adrien Machefert, were funded by the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP) in 1938. They hang on the north and south ends of the school's cafeteria and depict scenes of early San Pedro inspired by Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast," the account of an upper class New Englander's life as a seaman on a voyage to California in the 1830s.

The Daniel Boone Homestead is a 579-acre park with multiple historic structures including the birthplace of famed pioneer Daniel Boone. The site is owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The National Youth Administration (NYA) played a key role in the development of the site. Over 100 NYA workers graded the landscape, built roads, trails, fences, and campsites, installed picnic tables and planted trees. They excavated the Daniel Boone Lake, constructed the Wayside Lodge, and a few of the most skilled workers assisted in the restoration of the homestead. Architect G. Edwin Brumbaugh and landscape architect Markley...

The Seattle Park Department utilized funds and labor from the Civil Works Administration and the Works Progress Administration, as well as the state-based Washington Emergency Relief Administration, to complete a series of maintenance and improvement projects at David Rodgers Park. The 8.5-acre park occupies a steep and heavily wooded hillside in Seattle's North Queen Anne neighborhood. The city was gifted the northern half of the park in 1883 and purchased the southern half of the park in 1909. In 1910, the city constructed a couple of paths through the park, followed by the installation of a small wood-frame comfort station...

In 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed improvements at, and helped beautify, De Mores Memorial Park in downtown Medora ND. The city park improvement project was one of several beautification initiatives around Medora that depended on WPA work crews. “WPA labor is being used with Ben Lantz acting as landscape architect,” a journalistic commentator remarked at the time. “Scoria walks are being built through the park. A fountain will be constructed and the whole area nclosed with a stone wall fence, surmounted by iron grill work.” The park remains an attraction and site of leisure and recreation for town residents.

Several New Deal agencies contributed to the construction of the Deerfield Dam in the vicinity of Hill City and the Black Hills National Forest, SD. Construction began before the Roosevelt Administration, continued during the New Deal, and finished after World War II. According to the Bureau of Reclamation, "Construction was started on July 7, 1942, by the Farm Security Administration and was later continued by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Civilian Public Service Camp under the Works Projects Administration during World War II. The facilities were completed by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1947."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed recreational facilities for Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, near Crescent City, California.  Del Norte Park was one of the newly-formed State Park Commission's first acquisitions c. 1930.   According to Engbeck, "CCC Company 1903, working out of Camp Prairie Creek, built a park entrance road, a campground and day-use picnic area, and coastal access trails." While Engbeck doesn't specify, the only campground in Del Norte Coast Redwoods is at Mill Creek, east of Highway 101 and it has a two-mile entrance road; both are surely the work of the CCC. It was closed when we...

The Works Progress Administration built the Delbert J Haff Circle Fountain in Kansas City MO, in 1940.

In 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed living quarters, roads, fences and a well at the Desert Experimental Range Station in Pine Valley UT. The station was established in 1933 by President Herbert Hoover, who set aside an 87-square-mile area of high desert in the Great Basin.  The CCC improvements made the range station functional. The Desert Experimental Range focuses on cold desert rangeland research. In 1976, it was designated a world biosphere reserve by UNESCO, the only cold desert reserve in the Western Hemisphere.  It is administered by the US Forest Service. 

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) was developed and improved during the Great Depression with New Deal work relief funds and labor. The groundbreaking for Wayne County Airport occurred April 1929. On September 4, 1930, Wayne County Airport opens at the corner of Middlebelt Road and Wick Road in Romulus, Michigan. The Detroit City Airport improvement project began under the Civil Works Administration (CWA). "With a total appropriation of $160,000.00 the entire interior of the huge hangar was painted; underground gasoline tanks were removed to less hazardous locations; obstructions bordering on the field were repainted to conform with Bureau of Aeronautics...

New Deal agencies undertook a variety of improvements at the Detroit Zoological Park in Royal Oak, Michigan. Between 1933 and 1937, the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded and built exhibits, service facilities, and buildings at the park. “The Federal Government, as means of alleviating the distressful unemployment condition in Detroit, appropriated funds in 1933-1934 under the CWA and the FERA for construction work at the Detroit Zoological Park. As a result, an extensive program was carried out which practically completed the western end of the park and comprised the...

New Deal agencies undertook a variety of improvements at the Detroit Zoological Park in Royal Oak, Michigan. Between 1933 and 1937, the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded and built exhibits, service facilities, and buildings at the park. The WPA carried out construction and landscaping in the park between 1935 and 1937. This investment resulted in the completion of an animal hospital and administration building.  (Detroit Zoo website)  

The visitor center at Diamond Lake, across from the campground, was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1938. It is a typical rustic-style building of the northwest forests, with stone foundation and stairs, wood siding, and tree designs cut into the shutters. It was probably originally built as a Forest Service ranger station or office. The whole Diamond Lake recreation area was still closed for winter when we visited in May 2022.  That meant that the sign and all information panels were still covered in black plastic and we could not see if the site is marked as CCC.

The Public Works Administration project 1408 provided a grant of $20,250 for disposal plant for the city of Corinth. The project was approved 10/2/1936, construction started 1/18/1937, and was completed 6/12/1937 for a total cost of $46,505. WPA provided an additional $1,104 for a sludge bed and grading on site in September 1937 following the June completion of the sewage plant. The Corinth treatment plant was abandoned when the city built a new one in 1972.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a community center for the Dixie Pine community in 1936. Dixie Pine had 1000 residents and no public building for social activity. The center hosted many dances for the Camp Shelby soldiers through the WPA Recreation Project. The center was in use occasionally as a polling location for elections in 1977 when it was destroyed by fire.

The Dixie Springs Lake was one of the first projects initiated in Pike County by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Work began in early November 1935 when 20 men began clearing the site. Efforts were made for early completion of the Dixie Springs Lake project, which was also sponsored by the State Game and Fish Commission and would serve as a refuge for waterfowl and for fish breeding. Engineer J. Wesley Brown completed the survey and plans for the Dixie Springs dam and lake project. After a number of delays, the spillway was almost completed by 1939. Dixie Springs Lake...

A chain of lakes for the hill counties of Mississippi was proposed in 1936 by Si Corley, director of conservation of the State Game and Fish commission. Funds from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in concert with the sponsorship of the Game and Fish commission began the construction of a series of lakes adjacent to cities including Dockery Lake near Byram. Dockery Lake completed an earthen dam by April 1937 and began sodding it. Corley pointed out that in addition to providing sites for outdoor sports, when fully stocked, the lakes could produce 2,000 pounds of fish per acre each...