Marked Sites

The PWA constructed this school in 1938. It was a well-maintained large school project ($358,000 total for both this and the Garfield School) that is currently in use as Jefferson Elementary School. The school it is located on the north side of St. Louis, just south of Interstate 70 in a tree-lined residential area.

"Jelsma Stadium, constructed by the WPA, was selected by ESPN as No. 13 Best High School Stadium in the nation, in 2008. Lawrence Jelsma was a business and civic leader in Guthrie during the 1920s and 1930s. With his encouragement a $14,500 bond issue was passed and, together with funds from the WPA, this stadium was able to be built at a cost of $48,500. Unfortunately, Jelsma did not live to see the first game played here, as he passed away in 1934 at the age of 1941 from pneumonia. The amazing thing about this stadium is the 30-foot high native sandstone...

The Jerome County Courthouse in Jerome, Idaho was constructed with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1938-1939. Jerome County received a $39,150 dollar grant from the WPA regional office in Portland, Oregon toward an estimated cost of $87,000 for the project. The county had already passed a bond election to provide its part of the funds for construction. The modest sized courthouse features a relatively flamboyant Moderne (Art Deco) style on the facade.  The designers were Sundberg & Sundberg and the contractor was Paul Kartzke. The entrance lobby appears relatively unchanged. A new addition has been made to the east end...

In 1936, the PWA built Damel Hall, named after John W Damel, who taught at Lincoln University for more than 40 years. Damel Hall was built to house the “Mechanics Arts Department” and currently houses computer sciences and other technology specialties.

In 1936, artist Dorothy Jeakins completed an oil on canvas painting titled "White Pitcher" for Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. Middle School (formerly Mount Vernon Junior High School) in Los Angeles, CA. Located in the principal's office, the painting—a still life—depicts a white pitcher and green apples scattered on a table covered with a red cloth. It is framed in a gilded frame and the back is inscribed “Mt. Vernon JHS Student Body" with a partial Federal Art Project (FAP) label #6083 dated “10-7-36” affixed to the verso stretcher bar. A student of Stanton Macdonald-Wright, director of the Southern California division of the...

The Johnson County jail in Cleburne, Texas, was constructed in 1938 through the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works by the architectural firm W. G. Clarkson & Company.  

In 1934, with Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) funding, Sargent Johnson created an organ screen for the California School for the Blind in Berkeley. Today, the organ screen—a 22-foot-long redwood relief of musicians, animals, birds, and plants—is located at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, CA. Two years after creating the organ screen, Johnson was hired by the Works Progress Administration Federal Arts Project (WPA-FAP) as a senior sculptor; soon he was promoted to unit supervisor. Under the auspices of the FAP, Johnson completed a companion relief for the School for the Blind to be...

In 1938 the county commissioners condemned the existing courthouse as being unsafe. The replacement building was financed by $75,000 from the WPA and $30,000 in county bonds. The Colonial Revival building sheathed in Flemish bond brick was completed in 1939.

The old main post office in Arlington VA was constructed in 1937 by the Treasury Department to consolidate postal services in the surrounding area. "As the first federal building in the County, the post office provided a focal point for establishing the identity of Arlington and unifying the area’s disparate suburban villages into a single community." (Arlington webpage) The architecture is Federalist/Colonial/Georgian Revival – not unusual for East Coast post offices built during the New Deal – and was designed by the team under Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect of the Treasury. It features a central domed portico flanked by tripartite...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) built the Josey Boy Scout Lodge in Huntsville in 1934. Huntsville native and self made millionaire Robert A. Josey donated $5000 for the construction of a Boy Scout lodge in 1933. "The material for the construction was donated by J. P. Gibbs of Gibbs Brothers and Co. and included treated logs and stones from local forests and quarries. Lewis. E. Meekins of Austin was hired as contractor to build the log cabin style lodge. The structure was designed by architect Mike Mebane and based on a scale model made by the Scouts themselves." The lodge has five rooms,...

The newspapers of small, rural communities take us through the local debate behind New Deal projects. The Juab High gym and mechanical arts building was approved by the school board in Oct 1936 with three goals: 1) the old gym was "entirely inadequate" and would be turned over as a "ladies gym." The new one would be reserved for the men; 2) rural youth were graduating high school without skills for gainful employment, thus the mechanical arts classrooms; 3) it may be the "last opportunity to get P.W.A. funding." A series of "mass meetings" were held across the county in July...

Located at the southeast corner of Fourteenth Street and Magnolia Avenue in Riverside, California is the Juan Bautista De Anza statue, created by Sherry Peticolas with WPA support. The Riverside Art Association, which sponsored the project, donated $5,000 and the rest of the cost was paid for with federal funds. The space in Newman Park was provided by the city, and Riverside resident Ed J. Loustaunau, a great-great-great-great-grandnephew of De Anza posed for the statue, since he was thought to resemble an old portrait of De Anza himself. Because of the unstable nature of the land where it is located,...

Juanita Jewel Craft Park was originally called Wahoo Park and was purchased by the City of Dallas in1924. A Works Progress Administration (WPA) community building, retaining wall, landscaping, planting, walks and other improvements were executed 1936-38. The park was renamed for civil rights activist, civic leader, and Dallas City Council member Craft in 1974.

A coed high school in Julian CA, a former gold rush mining town. Surviving New Deal projects are two rubble wall pillars with bronze plaques at the entrance to the campus, a long rubble wall facing the street, a rubble wall school sign base, a circular flagpole rubble wall base, an athletic field and concrete bleachers with small US WPA 1941 date stamps in them. The school building itself appears to be of recent construction.

Kanawha Boulevard is the modern term for a route that was part of the original James River& Kanawha Turnpike, and previously known as First Street, Water Street, and Kanawha Street. This route was renamed in the 1920s as Kanawha Boulevard. In the 1930s, the Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the four lane Kanawha Boulevard that runs approximately 4.6 miles along the north bank of the Kanawha River, from 35th street to the Elk River. At this point, the boulevard crosses a bridge, also a New Deal Project, and continues along Columbia Boulevard to Patrick Street. Once connected by the bridge, Coleman Boulevard...

In November 1937, the State Board of Control decided to proceed with construction of a new men’s hospital building at the State Tuberculosis Hospital in Kearney. The building was estimated to cost $125,000.00, the bulk of which would be funded out of the unicameral’s “building fund” for state institutions. Officials were hopeful that they building could be completed by the fall of 1938. John Latenser and Sons, Omaha architects, were selected to prepare the plans for the building. The Latensers had experience in designing hospitals, including the University Hospital, the Douglas County Hospital, Clarkson Hospital, Lord Lister Hospital, Clearview Home...

Chicago's Kedzie-Grace Post Office (also known as the Daniel J. Doffyn Station) was constructed by the Treasury in 1936.

The Keller Recreation Center, also referred to as the Rock Gym, was constructed in 1933-34 by the Civil Works Administration. The structure is made of native sandstone and petrified wood, and cost $16,000. It included meeting rooms, locker rooms, two basketball courts, a stage and a fireplace for heat. The building was given a new purpose when bond issues in 1992 and 1995 included $3.2 million for renovations for the gym and adjoining Keller Elementary School. The campus became the Keller Independent School District Education Center. The building still hosts a variety of district and community events.

The University of Southern Mississippi's library, now known as Kennard-Washington Hall and serving as administrative offices, was constructed as PWA project x1370. The Georgian Revival style building was approved in September 1938 and construction began 12/19/1938. A grant of $38,863 was received toward the total cost of $86,363. Construction was completed November 10, 1939. "The two-story brick building has a hipped roof with a balustraded widow's walk, and was originally cross-shaped, but the northeast quadrant was infilled with a one-story brick addition" (Gatlin, 2010, p. .18). The interior features a two-story rotunda with dome, supported by columns. The building is...

From the summer of 1938 to early 1942, Civilian Conservation Corps Camp NP-4 provided improvements to the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. During its operation, the camp's enrollees cut trails and roads, implemented fire suppression measures, improved erosion control at the site, planted tress, and constructed the park's first headquarters building. The camp contained barracks, a recreation center and library, a mess hall, and several vocational education buildings. Though much of the physical campsite was disassembled and re-used for the war effort, the landscape constructed by the CCC is still extant.

41.15059302281331, -81.35105749394626The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Science classroom building for Kent State University. "A federal grant, coupled with a $650,000 appropriation from the state, led to approval of plans for a new science building in 1938."

Kershaw Bridge, which spans the South Canal in Lawrence, Massachusetts, carrying the traffic of Broadway, was one of multiple bridges in the city constructed with the assistance of a federal Public Works Administration grant, completed in 1939. PWA Docket No. MA 1562.

The Texas Highway Department and the United States Bureau of Public Roads built an underpass in 1935 to separate the grade between the Texas & New Orleans Railroad tracks and U. S. Highway 77 in Schulenburg, Texas.

The CWA built the famous Key West Aquarium in 1934, amid a flurry of relief work by the FERA and the WPA on the island.

In 1933-1935, Alfred Crimi was one of several artists to be employed to create murals for the Key West Aquarium. The murals were begun under the CWA and completed under FERA. The Crimi murals were later destroyed, but modern day reproductions were later installed. The status of the murals by other artists is not known to the Living New Deal.

Keyworth Stadium was opened in 1936 and was dedicated by FDR himself. After many years of use by Hamtramck High School, in 2016 the newly-formed Detroit City Football Club secured funding to renovate the stadium for soccer matches. From the Detroit News: "Roosevelt, a few weeks shy of his landslide re-election, was on his way to a ribbon-cutting ceremony to dedicate the new Keyworth Stadium. It was one of the first Work Projects Administration projects in Michigan, a promise in the midst of the Great Depression of better days ahead, and FDR was here to trumpet its arrival, telling the crowd...

The Works Progress Administration built the Kimball Elementary School in National City CA in 1941. It is still used as an elementary school.  

This is a one-story tan brick building, with a flat roof, constructed by the WPA in 1940. A bronze shield is attached to the building documenting this. The building is located at the corner of E. Bowman and S. 5th. The entrance is a single pedestrian door, flanked by columns of standing brick for decoration. Four rows of darker brick run horizontally between the windows. The windows are four-pane casement, set in doubles and triples. Three overhead doors are located on the east side, with one on the rear. The building is an actively used shop, and there were many vehicles and...

Kingfisher Park is a large city park on the east side of Kingfisher, along Highway 33. The park was constructed with a WPA allocation of $11,000 - year unknown. This park is listed as a WPA project in the Oklahoma Landmark Inventory database. Remnants of WPA construction were noted in the native stone picnic tables and a suspension footbridge which has masonry support pillars at each end.

In 1940, Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt created a new national park to include the glacially-formed splendor of Kings Canyon.  Kings Canyon National Park subsumed the former, smaller General Grant National Park.  Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park are contiguous. Since the Second World War, Kings Canyon and Sequoia have been administered jointly. They are administered by the National Park Service together as the Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks.    

Kinston High School, located in Kinston, Alabama (Southwest Coffee County) was built by the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1939.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Kiowa County Jail in Hobart, OK. Contributor note: "he Kiowa County Jail is still in operation as a jail, and also houses the Kiowa County Sheriff's Office. It was built in 1905 and is a two story brick building, with an exposed basement. The windows are multi-paned casement units, with the windows at the rear having arches. The building is a Contributing Building to the Hobart Historic Business District (Property No. 13). In 1936, a $15,506 appropriation was made for refurbishing of the jail. The building was renovated and enlarged. Originally the building was styled as...

In 1939, Robert Kittredge was commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Section of Fine Arts to create artwork for the newly-completed Flagstaff post office (later known as the Federal Building). He created a wooden bas-relief, "Arizona Logging," which was installed in 1940. The sculpture speaks to the logging industry, which was a critical part of Flagstaff's economy for decades. Three loggers are depicted putting logs onto a wagon using a "cant dog" poll. When the old post office/federal building was sold in 1983, the bas-relief was moved to the stairwell of the new wing of the Coconino County Courthouse, one-half block north.  

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) relief workers and Public Works Administration (PWA) funds contributed to construction of the Klamath Fish Hatchery during the 1930s and early 1940s.  It was originally owned and run by the Klamath tribe but was bought by the US Fish and Wildlife Service after the Second World War, when it was further expanded. "The fish hatchery we see wasn't begun until 1929, and from then on it slowly grew in size.  The first major improvements were made during the 1930s by men who came up from the Klamath Falls camp of the Civilian Conservation Corps. They constructed the...

From the Arkansas Times: “Originally developed in the 1930s as a Works Progress Administration project, Knoop Park offers visitors hiking trails and picnic tables. The park is known for its striking vistas.”

The Kofa Refuge is named for the King of Arizona mine. It includes 666,641 acres of protected land. Kofa Refuge literature notes that the Kofa Cabin and upland water tanks for wildlife were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). In 1939, a CCC side camp was set up at the Kofa Refuge. CCC enrollees, most of them of Native American descent, worked to develop high mountain waterholes for the bighorn sheep. This work was part of a statewide conservation effort to save the bighorn sheep. The refuge is managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and is currently used for camping and hunting.

The work relief division of the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) conducted "extensive repairs to the patio" of La Fortaleza, the 16th Century governor's mansion in San Juan, capitol of the territory of Puerto Rico, ca. 1937. In 1940-1 the Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) conducted extensive restoration work on La Fortaleza. Improvements included utilities upgrades, new roof, replacement of floor and ceiling beams, elevator installation, modern bathtubs & showers installation, and more.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) carried out a complete restoration of the  Mission La Purisima in Lompoc CA, 1934-41.  It was an astonishing achievement, given the ruined state of the Mission and scarce historic sources to guide the work. The CCC agree to do the restoration if land could be secured to turn the site into a State Historical Park.  Donations of land by the Catholic Church and Union Oil Company did the trick, and the CCC went to work. From 1934 to 1941 CCC crews uncovered, restored and rebuilt 13 separate structures at the Mission.  The State Historical Park was...

La Salle Place is a 210 unit low income housing project that was one of 50 slum clearance and low income housing projects nationwide. It covers over 14 acres, cost $1,200,000 and was built on empty land. It was built for unskilled workers of nearby tobacco and motor factories of Louisville. The buildings were designed to be oriented away from the industries to the north toward the prevailing winds from the southwest. The facility is heated by a central unit. Each came with electric light, refrigeration, gas for cooking, and a rear-yard garden. E. T. Hutchings was the chief architect, The...

The Civilian Conservation Corps built a viewpoint and picnic spot for travelers along Ruta Panoramica over the central mountains, in the vicinity of Maricao, PR.