Marked Sites

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Eden Grammar School in Eden, Concho County. The one-story building is a combination of brick and rock. The WPA plaque bears the date 1938-1940. The cornerstone above mentions the date 1941. A high school building next to the elementary school, and a rock wall around the schools, are unmarked.

The historic shelter building in Cincinnati's Eden Park is located behind PlayHouse in the Park with a playground, pool, and basketball court attached. It has some beautiful mural artwork as well.

Otherwise known as Centinela Park. The WPA built the park's water fountain and eight tennis courts in the 1930s. Other structures may have been built at that time too--more documentation is needed. From an article in Inglewood Today: "Archibald Garner was also  commissioned to create the water fountain monument at the outcropping of the springs in then Centinela Park, now Vincent Park.  The fountain was originally designed to provide water for adults, children, and dogs... Garner chose granite for his sculpture.  It is made of chunks of stone of various sizes, placed irregularly to form a low column with a polished...

Effingham, Illinois's historic junior high school building was originally constructed as the city's high school in 1939. Sometimes attributed to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the building was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The building bears a Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (PWA) plaque and a 1939 cornerstone. The building was designed by Royer, Danely, and Smith, and the general contractor was E. C. Childers Construction Co. PWA Project No. Ill. 1977

The El Dorado Springs "old" Gymnasium and a series of classrooms were completed in 1939 as a project of the Federal Works Agency of the Public Works Administration in 1939. The gym and attached classroom building is a red brick structure designed to harmonize with the old high school (destroyed by fire). The gym features a full stage complete with a second story property room and "crow's nest", as well as downstairs locker rooms. The lower walls of the gym and hallways are covered with pumpkin-colored oblong tiles, with plaster to the ceiling. Following several decades of few to no substantive...

Today this building is known as El Mercado, the home of the largest Mercado outside of Mexico. It was built as a WPA project during 1938-1939 after the existing municipal market house (known as the Giles building) was torn down. The new market was originally named the Municipal Truck Market because it was designed with a wide entry so farmers could drive their truck into the market and sell their produce direct from their truck. However, the market was commonly called the Farmer's Market. In 1975 the last produce was sold here and the market house underwent renovation to convert...

The old downtown post office – officially, the Federal Building – was built in 1933 by the Treasury Department in Modesto, California.  The project has a long pre-history and was to be built as part of a sweeping catalogue of federal buildings around the country in the 1920s.  It finally got underway in the early 1930s.  The design was drawn up in the Treasury Department in 1931 and bids for construction were advertised in late 1932.  The contract awarded to Murch Brothers Construction Company of St. Louis, a large firm that built several other post offices around the country. The project was continued as...

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Elk River Bridge, which carries Lee Street across the Elk River, in Charleston, Kanawha County. The structure is 500-feet long and is one of four bridges located at the point where Elk River meets Kanawha River. It was built between 1938 and 1939. Plaques installed on the pillars on each side of the northern end of the span read: “Lee Street - Fayette Street Connection and Elk River Bridge, Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, Project No. W. VA. 1218 F”

PWA funds contributed to the construction of this waterworks, designed by engineering firm W.A. Fuller, in 1940. It is a one-story rock building with a native rock façade and a garage opening, and was the city water works from 1940. It is presently privately owned, but they have retained the bronze plaques on the front of the structure.

In 1939-40, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) made substantial improvements to Ellis Lake Park, which was originally designed by landscape architect John McLaren in 1924 on an old slough of the Yuba River.  It is not clear how much of the park had been developed before the WPA came in to assist the city of Marysville.  The WPA workers dredged the lake, put cobblestone rip-rap on the banks, built rock lampposts for night illumination, and installed an ornamental fountain. They also added two tennis courts, a judging stand, a 20-ft. concrete and stone bridge to an island in the lake, and a...

The Works Progress Administration built the spillway at the Elm Lake Dam in Frederick SD between 1936 and 1938. The dam at Elm Lake was originally built both to provide a recreation destination and to create a water source for the city of Aberdeen, SD. It still serves this purpose today. The work on Elm Dam included an earthen embankment, low level outlet, concrete-lined primary spillway, and earth-cut auxiliary spillway. A ten-span bridge was also built over the approach channel to the primary spillway.

A state historical marker at Elmwood Cemetery notes that the native stone wall along the perimeter of the cemetery on Patterson and Nelson Streets was constructed by employees of the Civilian Conservation Corps between 1935 and 1937.

In 1938, the Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of a new grade school for Ely, Nevada. It was PWA project Nevada 1040-DS. The school building is a large, three-story, modern brick structure, with no decoration. It is has evidently been closed for some time, but still appears to be in good condition. It stands on the hillside just north of Main Street in the old downtown of Ely. The same cannot be said for the former playing fields behind the school, which have been abandoned. You can still see the stone and concrete retaining walls built to level the...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was present in Death Valley National Monument  from 1933 to 1942.  CCC 'boys' built erected dozens of buildings in the monument, including administrative, residential, maintenance and visitor facilities.  One important building is the Emigrant Junction ranger station, built in 1942 as one of the CCC's last projects in the monument.   The Emigrant Junction station, at the junction of the Towne Pass and Emigrant Pass roads, was the principal western entry point to Death Valley for decades.  The stone building seen here replaced a flimsier structure built in 1935.  It was  heavily modified in 1963, then restored...

"The Enid Armory, located at 600 E. Elm Avenue is a two-story red brick building, constructed as a WPA project in 1936. At the time, it was the third largest armory in Oklahoma. It is the only armory built using red brick. This building has been used to train soldiers for World War II and Korea. It was targeted by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission in 2005, as one of the 58 armories to be closed within the next five years. Currently, a new Armed Forces Reserve Center is being built at Vance Air Force Base in Enid. This Center...

The CCC did extensive work to build Erving State Forest. From Wikipedia: “The property is largely wooded and hilly with an extensive network of park roads and hiking trails, the majority of which were created by the Civilian Conservation Corps.”    

The large Eureka Municipal Auditorium was built with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1935-36.  While it retains the old name, etched in bas-relief above the entrance, the building now appears to be used as a gymnasium for youth basketball (2023). The building's design is Classical Moderne, with Art Deco touches.  The classical element is given by the two-story entrance with its 4 full and 2 half-columns (all fluted) and wide stairway.  Flanking the entrance are full-length, recessed vertical bas-reliefs in  abstract Art Deco style.  Two similar bas-relief columns appear on each side of the building.  The effect of...

At Evans Park the WPA and the City of Reno built a circular cement wading pool fifty feet in diameter. A sprinkling system was installed and gravel walks laid out. Today the park which sits just to the south of the University of Nevada, Reno is a grassy lawn with horseshoe pits. Students are found there enjoying the space.

Large building along HWY-183 in Coryell County town of Evant. It is located next to a modern school building. Building is mainly rubble rock construction with brick accents. Has Evant engraved above the entrance. Has an outside metal staircase to a second floor.

Archaeological excavation and restoration of the prehistoric settlement at Wupatki began in 1933 under the guidance of Harold Colton, founder and director of the Museum of Northern Arizona.  In the winter of 1933-34 Civil Works Administration (CWA) provided the relief labor to continue excavation and restoration.  Next came a Navajo Indian CCC mobile unit formed under a joint program between the Park Service and the Indian Service (later the Bureau of Indian Affairs) to do stabilization work on indigenous ruins in Chaco Canyon, Navajo, Tonto, Aztec Ruins, Montezuma Castle, and Gran Quivira national monuments, as well as Wupatki (Paige 1985, Ch...

In 1943, the Washington Post reported the planned construction of the former Birney Elementary School by the Federal Works Agency (FWA) with appropriations under the Lanham Act. The building is now the Excel Academy Public Charter School.

The F. Edward Hebert Federal Building was built from 1935 to 1939 and is still in use. At the time it was built, the Treasury Department was responsible for all federal buildings. Formerly home to the New Orleans Main Post Office, the building still houses a post office station inside.  It is decorated by three groups of New Deal era sculptures on the exterior. The state of the interior of the building is unknown to us.

F. D. Roosevelt State Park is the largest state park in Georgia: "Many facilities within the park were built by FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression, including stone cabins overlooking the mountain, a Liberty Bell-shaped swimming pool, and the arched bridge at Hwys. 190 and 354. A small lake is open to fishing and canoeing, and picnic shelters are available for group gatherings."   (www.pinemountain.org)

National Youth Administration (NYA) completed improvements at Fair Park in Childress TX. A small marker on the lake next to picnic table says "1937 NYA." On site are several picnic tables, a small amphitheater, and a fountain with a lighthouse in the middle. All items that appear to be created by the NYA.

The National Youth Administration built a rock wall and bleachers at baseball/softball field in Fair Park. The work was done in 1937-1938.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped create the old Forest Dale city park in the Sugarhouse section of southern Salt Lake City UT in 1935-37. The name was later changed to Fairmont Park (the adjoining Forest Dale golf course kept the old name). The park has been renovated and altered in recent years, especially the addition of a pond create on the little creek that runs through it (a branch of Parlays Creek), new pickleball courts, a skate park and a modern aquatic center.  But elements of the WPA-built park remain, including, no doubt, many of the old trees. At the northeast...

Cabin housed CCC wild-land firefighters. "Fall River Guard Station is situated beneath a canopy of lodgepole pine on the banks of the Fall River in Deschutes National Forest. Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930's, the cabin was originally used as an outpost to fight forest fires. The cabin is an ideal setting for relaxation and recreation, and is available for reservation from April to October."

This PWA building is the "large arena" just off Cameron St. in the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center. "The new arena is of sufficient size to accommodate all livestock judging, with several classes being judged at the same time. The building is 346 by 230 feet in plan and the arena is 240 by 120 feet, with semicircular ends. The permanent seating, which rises in an unbroken ring around the arena, accommodates 8,250. The arena itself, when the hall is being used for conventions, seats 4,250 in temporary seats, thus providing a maximum capacity of 12,500. When the hall...

From contributor Charles Swaney: "This single story elementary school with 2-story gymnasium was constructed with local bluestone as were 2 other schools constructed at the same time.  The date of construction is well seen above the entry.  Currently, the school houses an antique mall."

Farnsworth Park is a Los Angeles County park established in Altadena, CA, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, 4 miles north of Pasadena in 1934. Its 15 acres contain covered and open picnic tables, barbecue pits, baseball diamonds, a basketball court, tennis (now pickle ball) courts, a bocce ball area and a children's playground. The park's northeast corner features its original 1934 recreation building and a wooden bench amphitheater added in 1938; both are still actively in use. After serving first as a reforestation nursery run by the LA County Forestry Dept. from 1916 until 1929, the Altadena Citizens'...

John Palo-Kangas created a 14-foot concrete sculpture of Father Junipero Serra in 1937 for the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The sculpture stood for more than 50 years until it was replaced in 1989. Wilbur Robottom created a 3,000-pound bronze copy to take the place of the decaying concrete original. Originally located in a place of prominence in park triangle in front of Ventura's city hall, the statue was removed in July 2020 and placed by the Mission Basilica San Buenaventura in downtown Ventura in February 2024. It is located by the southeast corner of the elementary...

The Price UT Municipal Building contains an exceptional cycle of New Deal murals in the foyer of the public auditorium. The murals are four feet high and circle around the upper wall for about 200 feet  (800 square feet of painting).   Lynn Fausett, a well-known Utah artist and native of Price, was commissioned by the Works Progress Administration's Federal Arts Project (FAP) to paint the murals, starting in 1938. It took him three years to complete the work. Fausett painted other New Deal murals around Utah, including those in the State Capitol. The murals depict the history and industry of Carbon...

"Constructed almost twenty years before Alaska became the forty-ninth state, the Federal Building in Anchorage symbolized the U.S. government's commitment to the economic growth and development of the territory. Providing residents with a post office, courthouse, and other federal services, it was the first large federal building constructed in Anchorage." (U.S. General Services Administration) "The building housed every federal agency with an office in Anchorage, and tenants included the Civilian Conservation Corps, the United States Department of the Interior, the Signal Corps, and the Alaska Railroad. In order to accommodate all of them, the building expanded several times. The first wing...

The Federal Building in downtown Flagstaff was constructed as the city's main post office in 1935-1937. Plans had originally called for a combination Post Office and Federal Building, but they were dropped in 1931 by the Hoover Administration for lack of funds (Cline, p 311). When the New Deal came in, funding was restored in 1934. The Federal Building is a gem of Moderne/Deco style architecture of the period. The basic form is a simple, two-story, rectangular box, but the facade is exceptional, consisting of three tall vertical openings (entrance and flanking windows) featuring gleaming copper panels and vertical bands. The...

This neoclassical style building was competed in 1939 and housed the U.S. Court House and Post Office. Today, it is owned by the Hammond Baptist Church and is used as their main office.

The Federal Building and Post Office in San Pedro, CA was built in 1936 by the Treasury Department.  It also formerly served as a U.S. Customs Office. The design is a good example of the Moderne style of architecture.   The extensive use of marble, bronze and milk glass are typical of the Art Deco style of decoration of the time. The basket weave pattern of floor tile surrounded by black marble gives the effect of rugs on a marble floor. Some of the original bronze lamps and ink wells survive at the public writing desks. The mural over the wall at...

The United States Courthouse in Columbia, TN, formerly the post office, is home to Sidney Waugh's 1941 limestone sculpture, entitled "American Eagle," and Henry Billings's 1942 oil on canvas mural, entitled "Maury County Landscape." Both were completed with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

Today this building is known as the Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building, but a small post office branch is still operating in the building. The building was completed in 1936 and opened in 1937. It was built under the auspices of the Federal Works Program with Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funding; the design process was under the direction of the Office of the Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury Department. "Its construction accomplished several goals--generating employment, housing all federal agencies in a single building, and streamlining San Antonio's quickly expanding postal needs. A skillful example of Beaux-Arts classicism, the U.S. Post Office...

On August 31, 1935, the county superintendent for Valencia County prepared a WPA project proposal for two, two-room schoolhouses in Fence Lake and Liberty. The schools were to be constructed of logs cut from nearby forests and were to be designed to adhere to the WPA “school house standards” of the day (WPA OP 65-85-466). Added on to the project was a two-room community building in Trechado, an ephemeral community that no longer exists. The supervisor estimated all three buildings would cost $3,737.50, with the WPA providing $2,911.50. During the Great Depression, Fence Lake, a once cattle-raising area, became overwhelmed with refugees fleeing the...

The Works Progress Administration built the Ferris School between 1938 and 1940 under official project number 65-1-66-287. The brick building had 33 rooms. The former school is currently the Ferris Independent School District Administrative Services building.