Unknown Sites

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...

Following the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, Corona Avenue Elementary School in Bell, CA was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA). In 1935, architect Richard Neutra helped transform Corona into an “experimental” school by designing huge sliding glass patio walls. Corona Avenue Elementary has since become an historical landmark. The six-unit building designed by Neutra was constructed by John W. Flanagan for $32,108. A 2014 LAUSD Historic Context Statement describes the addition as "a linear, one-story wing of single classrooms. On one side, covered passageways provide circulation corridors and, as Esther McCoy noted, evoke the arcades of Spanish Colonial...

The Corona Golf Playground was opened along with 12 others on May 4, 1936. At the time, it was part of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, site of the 1939 World's Fair. Although the press release does not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that almost all New York City Parks Department projects between 1934 and 1943 were accomplished with New Deal funds and/or labor, and that after April 1935, the WPA quickly became the main source of this support. NYC Parks recounts: "The land that is now Corona Golf Playground was previously a strip of...

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.

The Cotaco School Library building started its life as a vocational building for the Cotaco High School. It was built by the New Deal’s National Youth Administration (NYA) in 1941-1942. In February 1941, The Decatur Daily newspaper reported: “The National Youth Administration has opened a resident project at Cold Spring camp near Falkville with 50 boys in residence and the youths are to be employed soon in erection of vocational buildings at two of the country high schools… The first building will be at Cotaco High School and will be of stone veneer, 100 feet long by 55 feet wide. The...

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...

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...

Crocheron Park in the Bayside neighborhood of Queens was created with Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor in 1936-37. In addition to "picnic grounds, winding walks, an enlarged lake for wintertime skating, and thousands of trees," today's Buz O'Rourke Playground was completed in June 1936 and a field house at 33rd Rd. and 215th Pl. in April 1937. A couple of weeks later, the Parks Department announced: "Crocheron Park has been completely redesigned and reconstructed. The entire 44 acres have been regraded and landscaped. New walks, benches, drainage and irrigation systems have been installed." Although these sources do not mention the WPA or...

In June 1936, a new playground (now named for Buz O'Rourke) was opened at Crocheron Park in the Bayside neighborhood of Queens. The Parks Department press release described the playground as "a large central grass panel surrounded by play apparatus for small children." Although the 1936 press release does not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, researcher Frank da Cruz explains that almost all New York City Parks Department projects between 1934 and 1943 were carried out with New Deal funds and/or labor, and that after April 1935, the WPA quickly became the main source of this support. Today, the playground...

The field house at Crocheron Park was completed in April 1937, presumably by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The structure housed "a comfort station, a large lounge, locker rooms and shower baths." Although these sources do not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, researcher Frank da Cruz explains that almost all New York City Parks Department projects between 1934 and 1943 were carried out with New Deal funds and/or labor, and that after April 1935, the WPA quickly became the main source of this support.

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.

In 1942-43, the federal government constructed five temporary wartime defense housing projects with the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) under the Lanham Act of 1940 for $13.5 million. Built by the Federal Works Agency (FWA) in Wilmington for shipyard and production workers of the Los Angeles harbor, Dana Strand Village was the second of the Lanham Act projects completed in 1942. The 21.17-acre, garden-style development occupied five blocks of housing and an additional block for a nursery school. Built between February and July 1942, the project consisted of 68 two-story stucco with redwood sidings and concrete foundations....

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...

Dayton Heights Elementary School in Los Angeles, CA was renovated with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1936. The PWA Moderne school building, which features Tudor Revival elements, was designed by architect J. A. Larralde and built by contractor Peter P. Shelby for $35,854. 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 and 1935-37. The first cycle began...

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.

Beginning in 1934, eight debris basins and conduits were constructed in La Crescenta, CA under the direction of Army Corps of Engineers. The basins and conduits are on Shields and Eagle Canyon Wash, Dunsmuir Wash, Blanchard Canyon, Snover Canyon, Hay wash, Winery Canyon wash, Sycamore Wash, and Pickens Canyon.  Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) provided funding for the labor needed to excavate the 300 foot wide debris basin at Pickens Canyon. The basin is located a quarter mile north of Foothill Blvd. The total cost of the project was ~$50,000. These basins and conduits were constructed in response to a devastating flood...

Decatur Homesteads is a housing project designed for part-time workers and their families on 79 acres on the southern outskirts of town. The original division was 48 tracts of 1 acre each designed so that the families could grow subsistence gardens. According to Max Miller of the the Adams County museum, a couple of the houses remain as they were built but most have been modified to some extent. The design of the houses was described thus: "Each of the 48 tracts contains a 5 room house and garage. These houses are 1 1/2 or 2 story frame structures with...

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.

A new building at Denker Avenue Elementary School in Gardena, CA, was constructed in 1935. Construction totaled $42,780 and was partially funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA). Built by N. A. Anderson, the utilitarian single-story structure is located on the campus' southeast corner. 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 and 1935-37. The first cycle began in Spring...

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...

This fireproof structure replaced makeshift quarters previously occupied and that had been subjected to much criticism. Here the impounded animals could be kept in comfort until humanly destroyed or claimed (from Jessen). The local Civil Works Administration contributed $2206.10 against a total project estimate of $4627.30. The building has since been demolished.

Dominguez Elementary School in Carson, CA was rebuilt following the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. Reconstruction in 1935-36 totaled $31,926 and was partially funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA). In 1935, Johnson, Hansen & Izer reconstructed the school's main building. A. S. Nibecker Jr was the architect. In addition, contractors Jacobson & Jacobson built five classroom bungalows. The main building is designed in a basic PWA Moderne style with Mission Revival elements (note the grilles over the doors as well as the tile roof). The bungalows do not appear to be extant. The reconstruction and renovation of Los Angeles schools damaged by...

When the Civil Works Administration (CWA) was launched in November 1933, the Old Dover Village Cemetery received improvements. According to community notes in the Bangor Daily News, "road grading and widening at the Dover Cemetery, and construction of a new piece of road leading to the Bassett section."

In 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to Downey Park (today's Downey Recreation Center) in Los Angeles, CA. The project included improvements to fencing and swimming pool bathhouses, as well as additions to the filter houses. As of 2024, all Recreation Center structures appear to have been replaced. Downey Recreation Center was one of 43 public parks in Los Angeles improved by the WPA under a project approved in February 1936. The others included Jackie Tatum/Harvard Recreation Center, Highland Park Recreation Center, Evergreen Recreation Center, and Algin Sutton Recreation Center.