Marked Sites

Originally the Lucy F. Simms School, the Lucy F. Simms Continuing Education Center in Harrisonburg, Virginia was constructed with the aid of a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) grant. Construction occurred between July 1938 and June 1939; the grant supplied $45,000 toward the building's $98,870 total cost. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

Lunken Airport houses murals that were painted by William Harry Gothard and commissioned by the WPA's Federal Art Project (FAP). The murals were moved to be completed at Union Terminal in 1937 when a flood covered the airfield and terminal but were returned later. These murals are still on display at Lunken Airport. In the early 20s, Edmund P. Lunken purchased an airport built by ex-army pilots, and on September 5, 1928, he leased the property to the City of Cincinnati. The city purchased additional land, creating the Lunken Airport on 2,000 acres. In 1937, William Harry Gothard painted the murals...

The utilities building in Lyons, Nebraska located at the northeast corner of Main St. and 1st St. was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project. It was originally built as a water treatment facility. The structure is currently still used as a utility shed for the City of Lyons.

Mackenzie Field is located in Holyoke, Massachusetts, next to Holyoke High School. In 1938, the concrete bleachers on the 1st base side of the field are a WPA project done at a cost of $35,392.

The Madera Approach Road was built to provide access to the Friant Dam on the San Joaquin River above Fresno CA, built by the Bureau of Reclamation and completed in 1940. It was built with a combination of state, local and federal funds, using Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor and completed in 1940.  The work covered about 15 miles of roadway, to wit: "The first fifteen miles of the twenty mile Madera approach road to the Friant Dam is the portion of State Highway Route 126 between Madera and the Fresno-Yosemite Highway . The Division of Highways, in cooperation with the...

Originally the high school gymnasium, built in 1924, now a city recreation facility. Improved by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), including extensive repairs after the disastrous flood of 1937.

The historic Madison County Courthouse at 100 E Main St. in Jackson, Tennessee was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project during the Great Depression. "This project consisted of a building 160 by 65 feet in plan and 4 stories and a basement in height. The basement contains offices for the county agent, farm welfare, the Red Cross, the health department, and a receiving room for the jail. On the first floor are the offices for the county clerk, registrar, county superintendent, tax assessor, sheriff, and county judge. The second floor is occupied by 2 courtrooms each 35 by...

The PWA provided funds for the construction of Lincoln School in 1940. From Wikipedia: In addition to Lincoln, the new elementary schools included Monroe, Madison, Washington, Jefferson, and McKinley. Lincoln was the only new facility to be built on the location of one of the older buildings. The floor plans for all six school buildings was designed by the Chicago architectural firm of Smith & Childs, and they are all similar in layout. Local architects were employed to design the stylistic features for each building.  

Magnolia Elementary school (originally called the Oakdale Union School) was constructed in 1938 with funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA). There is a PWA plaque by the entrance door.   The school building is single-story with one long classroom wing.  Behind the main building is a two-story auditorium.  The architecture is streamline Moderne, which was nicely highlighted in blue trim when we visited in 2023.  There is a 1938 New Deal mural by Herman Struck in the school.  

The combination Fire Hall and City Hall in Mahnomen was built in 1937 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The structure was designed by George H. Carter and Company in WPA moderne style and built out of field stone hand-cut by WPA crews. It was listed in the National Register in 1988.

Two-story neo-classical building of granite and limestone was built by the Algeron Blair Construction Company of Montgomery, Alabama out of thirty bids placed for the project. The building features six over six double hung windows sash windows, pedimental entrance, Greek keys on the lintels. A 1974 brick expansion was built to the east. The Algeron Blair Construction Company also built the low-cost housing project called Littlepage Terrace in west Charleston. The construction began in November 1940. The building opened on 22 June 1942. It was limited in height to two stories because of war-time restrictions, but designed to have three additional...

Dedicated in 1933.=, the historic main post office in Redlands, California was constructed with federal funds.

The main post office in Santa Barbara was constructed by the Treasury Department in 1936. The lobby contains a set of bas-relief murals and remains in its original condition.  

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built steps and sidewalk on Main Street in Superior AZ.   The sidewalk WPA stamps are undated.

From a Department of Land and Natural Resources calendar: "The Makiki-Manoa Pumping Station (1935), designed by architect Hart Wood and the landscape architecture firm of Thompson & Thompson, was one of a number of Honolulu Board of Water Supply improvements funded by the WPA."

In 1941, workers with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Malaga School and the sidewalk in front.

Then known as the Lincoln School, this school was improved by the WPA in 1937-1938. In his book on Berkeley and the New Deal, Harvey Smith reports that "Research has not yet revealed what improvements were made, but earthquake safety was undoubtedly on the minds of school administrators" (p. 53).

In 1935, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a clubhouse and tennis court at Mallows Park in Claremont, CA. The club house survives in near original condition; the tennis court has been updated over the years.

According to National Archive files, between 1935 and 1938 WPA crews "landscaped the battleground, installed drains and built drives through the historic site."

A bridge over Barnagat Bay connecting Mantoloking NJ and Brick NJ was built in 1938 by the Works Progress Administration. It was made of concrete and wood and was used for almost seventy years before being replaced in 2006. The western section of the bridge was repurposed as a fishing pier and is still used. A perfect example of the Living New Deal!

This school is also known locally as “the little school” and although the façade is predominately native rock, the entry has a more “modern” appearance with concrete and the rock work is rather spare as compared with the more elaborate rock work at the Scopus school. The entry goes into the school between the 2 floors with the whole school below the level of the street. It is one of many stone schoolhouses in Bollinger County and the largest along with the Lutesville school.

CCC crews built Marcoot Fire Lookout tower in what would become Mark Twain National Forest in 1936. The tower is on Route 72 and consists of the tower and outbuildings, some of which appear to be from the original project.  It currently is not in use. Interestingly, this tower is located on the original route of the Trail of Tears, the forced expulsion of the Cherokees from their native home in the east to what became Oklahoma.

In 1934, Frank Long completed two murals, entitled "Labor" and "Recreation," for the browsing room of the University of Kentucky library, with funding from the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). The above photo depicts "Labor," in situ, in 1939. From contributor Charles Swaney: "The murals consist of 2 ten foot tall panels, oil on canvas, that are in arched alcoves. The thrust of both murals is upwards and towards the center of the murals.  There is a strong component of rounded upwards that is complimentary for both of them.  They are presently in the special collections center of the library,...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Marine Corps League building in Scranton in 1936. WPA crews also completed several small projects on the grounds of the property. The work included an arched, stone gateway leading to the main building, stone fences, retaining walls, and a creek bed. The stone imprint stamps bear the date of 1936. Today the building serves as the Marine Corps Historical Museum and Detachment Headquarters.

The National Youth Administration built the Marion County Roadside Park near Jefferson, Texas between 1935 and 1938. The park serves the same function as of 2019. A state historical marker at the site reads: "This roadside park was constructed by the National Youth Administration (NYA) with the support of President Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression. Development began in 1935, after the Mary Louise Hussey family conveyed the land upon which the park would be located. Following its completion in 1938, the park provided residents and travelers a pleasant venue for resting and picnicking. The park eventually fell in...

Alexander Rummler painted these two murals for the Norwalk High School cafeteria: "Shucking Oysters" and "Day's End." The murals were funded by the WPA's Federal Art Project. They were restored in 1986 and are now located in Norwalk's Maritime Aquarium.

The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park was originally the San Francisco Aquatic Park, created by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1936-1939. The 32 acre park included a lagoon and a bathhouse. The lagoon was ringed by breakwaters, with three small towers, a promenade and grandstand.  The bathhouse was built in the distinctive Streamline Moderne style of the late 1930s and originally housed a restaurant above and showers and dressing rooms in the basement.  The Aquatic Park was an extremely popular swimming spot for San Franciscans when it was built.   A contemporary description: "... A water park, par excellence. ......

The park has Works Progress Administration-built stone benches and a waterfall that connects Cottonwood Creek in Beaconsfield Canyon to Cobbledick Creek and eventually Sausal Creek in Dimond Park.

The former Mark Twain Memorial Bridge, spanning the Mississippi River between Hannibal, Missouri and Illinois, was constructed as a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project. The P.W.A. supplied a $357,000 loan and $169,507 grant for the project, whose total cost was $721,505. Construction occurred between Oct. 1934 and Jul. 1936. A preserved portion of the old Mark Twain Memorial Bridge remains on the west bank of the Mississippi River in the Cardiff Hill Overlook Park, A plaque exists in some concrete railing preserved in place and notes its Federal Emergency funding and was Project No. 3624. The bridge was formally dedicated by...

"The Marlow High School stadium was completed by the WPA in 1936. Unfortunately, most of the construction no longer remains, with the exception of four arches which still stand at the entrance. The original stone marker shows "BUILT BY WPA 1936." Two granite markers have been laid in the wall which read "W.P.A. 1936" and "PARK BOARD J.E. SHIELDS / CLYDE FERGUSON / JOHN C. FISHER" The four original arches have wood fencing installed in them, to form a wall at the entrance of the stadium. The Marlow High School "Outlaws" play their Division 3A football here on Friday evenings during the school...

With the provision of Public Works Administration (PWA) funding, the City of Marshfield, Oregon replaced its crowded, thirty-year-old high school in 1939-1940 on the same site. Local funds covered 55% of project costs. The New Deal era campus construction included the main classroom building, an auditorium, and a new gym. At the time, the new gym was referred to as the west gym. Portland architect Francis Marion Stokes designed the concrete Art Deco structure. Additional buildings were added later to accommodate the high school's growth and changing needs but the Marshfield classroom building and Auditorium still dominate the eastern facade. Residents voted...

As noted on a history plaque at the Marshfield IOOF Cemetery: "The Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds improvements to Ingersoll Avenue, including a 490-foot-long rock wall at the southern end of the cemetery." The WPA improvements occurred in 1938 and represent a significant improvement in shoring up the steep slope bordering Ingersoll Avenue.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Building was originally constructed for the federal Farm Credit Administration, an agency created by the early New Deal to provide credit to farmers in difficulty and to stimulate investment in the farm sector. It was built between 1938 and 194o, hence started by the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department (which handled federal buildings at the time) and completed by the Public Buildings Administration in the reorganized Federal Works Administration (most of the same staff transferred over to the new administration in the 1939 federal reorganization). The six-story Moderne-style building was designed by noted Berkeley architect,...

Presently known as Martin Luther King, Jr. Magnet High School, Nashville's historic Pearl High School was built in 1936-37 with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. Pearl High School was built expressly to serve Nashville's African American community (which was wholly segregated at the time).  It was described at the time as the finest school for Blacks in the South, according to the University of South Carolina Museum of Education. Designed by the nation's first African American architecture firm of McKissack & McKissack, the school features a "stripped classicism highlighted by creative, abstract grillwork in an Art Deco manner above the central entrance"...

Community center, formerly an elementary school. Rebuilt in 2012 after tornado damage. The building is identical to the former New Market School, also in Oregon Township, Clark County.

Many of the projects of the New Deal involved large scale public works projects that required hundreds of workers. While this type of project was incredibly important to help alleviate widespread unemployment, there was also a belief that the United States should not forsake its cultural heritage. As such, Federal Project Number One was formed as a division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to give work to so-called "starving artists," as well as musicians, playwrights, and writers. The Federal Art Project is particularly well known for creating murals in public places across the country. In 1937, artist Umberto Romano...

Mattamuskeet Migratory Bird (later Wildlife) Refuge was established in 1934, primarily as a refuge for migratory birds along the Atlantic flyway.  It was one of the first refuges created under President Franklin Roosevelt, an ardent bird fancier and conservationist, and was assembled and administered by the Bureau of Biological Survey (reorganized into the Fish and Wildlife Service in 1940). The refuge is covers 50,000 acres on the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula in Hyde County, North Carolina.  It encompasses Mattamuskeet Lake, the largest natural lake in North Carolina, measuring 18 miles by 7 miles, but only 2-3 feet deep. The Mattamuskeet pumping station at the...

"The Mauldin Cultural Center, on the same grounds as the Gosnell cabin, is also historical. The building, built between 1935 and 1937 by the Works Progress Administration, was a high school until 1957, then an elementary school until 2002. The City of Mauldin has owned the property since 2005." (blogspot)

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out improvements at the Maypearl Intermediate School in Maypearl TX. Except from Waxahachie Daily Light dated 4/17/1941: "The project covering improvements at the Maypearl School reopened April 11 after having been suspended since Oct. 1940 waiting for delivery of materials. The Maypearl School improvement project is set for a total expenditure of $74,396.40, the Federal Government to furnish $51,395, and the sponsor, the Maypearl Independent School District, to furnish $23,000. This project will employ an average of 42 workers for approximately another month at which time it is expected the new building and all ground improvements will be...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Federal Emergency Relief Admn (FERA), and the Civil Works Admn (CWA) built multiple facilities in McClain Rogers Park in Clinton OK. The Amphitheater and Bandstand was one of the structures built with New Deal help. Contributor note: "The amphitheater seats 400 on curved native sandstone benches topped with smooth concrete. They form a semi-circle, sloping down to the southwest to the bandstand. This is an eye-opening amphitheater that remains in use today. Between the rows of seating, narrow areas of grass add to the comfort and acoustics of the arena. Each row of seats has a dedication plaque which...