Marked Sites

Sitka, Alaska's City Hall was originally constructed as the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse. Constructed during the Great Depression, the concrete-construction federal building was completed to replace a wooden frame structure that had burned in 1936. The two-story building was designed in the prevailing Moderne style with simple Art Deco details and was constructed for $168,000. It has been used as Sitka's city hall since 1993.

The Treasury Department funded the construction of the Post Office in Belmont, NC. The structure was built in 1939 and today serves as the city hall. A mural titled "Mayor Chronicle's South Fork Boys" was painted by Peter DeAnna in 1940 for the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. In 1973, the building use changed and the facility became the Belmont City Hall. The structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

Tillamook City Hall was originally constructed as Tillamook's post office. The building was completed in 1942 and houses a New Deal mural inside. The site for the new federal post office, located across from the Tillamook County Courthouse, was acquired in 1940. As such, it contributed to a civic center within the community. The State Historic Preservation Office's evaluation of the building and its significance describes it in the following way: "It represents the federal presence in the community and was the community's first federally constructed post office. The building is of standardized design, typical of the era. The design exhibits the...

The old Winnemucca Post Office was built by the Treasury Department in the 1910s, when William McAdoo was Secretary of the Treasury. Curiously, the date and other information has been erased from the bottom of the cornerstone.  The building was reconstructed and expanded in 1940 by the Federal Works Agency (responsibility for federal buildings had been transferred from the Treasury Department in 1939). Judging from photographs on display in the New Post Office, the building was gutted and the interior entirely rebuilt. Some of the 1940 interior, with its Art Deco curves and glass-block wall, appears to have survived the subsequent conversion...

"This Art Deco-style building smack-dab in the middle of the state was originally a Water Treatment Facility built in 1937 by the Works Progress Administration. When a new water treatment facility was built across the street in the 1970’s, the structure was converted to the City Hall building."

Kearney made an application for funding for a city hall in 1935, however the bond issue failed and the Public Works Administration (PWA) money was never allocated at that time. In 1938, Kearney was given a grant from the PWA for the construction of a new city hall, however the project would once again have to undergo a bond issue election, which meant that a political campaign was quickly initiated by the proponents of the project. Petitions for the special election were submitted within two weeks of notification of the grant, signatures having been largely obtained by Kearney firemen who...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Karnes City City Hall and Auditorium between 1938-1941. The one-story, brick building was designed in Art Deco Style typical of that era and WPA-built structures. The City Hall is at the front, and the auditorium is behind it, featuring an entrance flanked by columns. The City Hall entrance is covered with an awning above which is a "City Hall" hall sign built out of metal. The top plaque reads: Work Projects Administration 1938-1940. The bottom plaque reads: City Hall / Built 1941 / J.O. Faith, Mayor / S. G. Kendrick / H.W. Isensee / Commissioners / Alvin...

Between 1938 in 1940 the Works Progress Administration awarded a marching grant to the City of Holland for a Municipal Builing and Community Center. Today, while City Hall has moved into a connercial building across the street, the Kuhlmann Civic Center in downtown Holland TX still serves the folks of this small town

In 1902 Mineola's city hall burned. For over 20 year they operated out of rental property. In 1929 the city bought this property and in 1929 the city started to build a combination fire house/city hall. The fire house was completed in 1931 but then the city ran out of money. According to a newspaper article, in August of 1940 the city applied for WPA funds to complete the city hall. Other sources say the city hall was completed in 1939.

The city hall auditorium in Salem was constructed in 1940 as a PWA project, designed by architect Ernest Friton. This 3-story building includes office space and a city auditorium, and is presently in use.

"North Platte Country against the Mountains" was painted by John H. Fraser in 1940 for the Littleton post office, commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Art. It currently hangs in the City Hall.  "When the post office underwent renovations in 1962, the mural was removed, rolled up and stuck in a corner in the post office. It was discovered in the 70s, restored and installed in 1985 in the Littleton City Hall." ( Jimmy Emerson, here)

Two large petrachrome murals by Stanton Macdonald-Wright flank the entrance to Santa Monica City Hall. Each one is two-stories high and wraps around a corner of the lobby. The murals would have been funded by the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP), since Macdonald-Wright was supervisor for the FAP's Southern California division from 1935 to 1943. Macdonald-Wright pioneered the petrachrome method, whereby a mural is painted with a liquid mixture of materials including crushed tile, marble and granite. The mural on the south side of the lobby is entitled "Recreation in Santa Monica" and represents popular spectator sports of the time, such as...

The WPA approved $8,089 toward the construction of the $18,000 city market. The building was constructed of native stone, 80x120 feet, with 18 foot walls, concrete floor, and metal roof. The purpose was to provide space for the fall fair, storage space for peanuts, and a public market for farmers' produce. The building is currently used for community events.

One of several fire stations built in the New Deal in Charleston West Virginia. This station was listed on as contributing on the Elk City Historic District (08000392). The building is no longer used for a fire station but remains in use for businesses. The bay doors are infilled. The immediate building to the northeast is connected to the firehouse but is unclear if it an older building attached to the firehouse or part of the entire project. The NRHP nomination states: KA-4883. 601 TENNESSEE AVENUE commercial BB&T Carson Insurance Services Fire House date: 1939 Kanawha County, WV County and State Page 9 description: Very...

One of several fire stations built in the City of Charleston under the New Deal.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) began work on the development of a city park, swimming pool, and golf course in January 1939. Bath houses, seats, wading pool, bandstand, rock veneer golf house with showers, and picnic tables of rock veneer and concrete were also constructed. The WPA provided a grant of approximately $45,000 and the city voted $12,000 in bonds to construct the swimming pool and municipal park. Engineer Cecil Hauk drew plans for the project. Frank H. Spicer of the WPA was in charge. The project was estimated to take ten months and initially employed 54 men. The park...

A social club formed by German immigrants called the Bellville Turnverein Gut Heil built a 12-sided social hall in 1897 on about 15 acres of land in Bellville, Texas. The City of Bellville purchased the land and pavilion in 1937. The city hosted a design competition among students from Texas A&M University to design a park. The Works Progress Adminstration assisted the city in updating the pavilion and building new facilities. The pavilion was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1996.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built park facilities in the Hearne City Park. The WPA contributed $44,000 for materials and labor, and the City of Hearne spent 22,000. First unit of the park completed was the swimming pool and bath house. (Bath house has the only WPA plaque). Also constructed was a rock entrance, a clubhouse, picnic tables and barbecue pits. There was a sunken garden (apparently now gone, as I didn't find it). They also built a nine-hole golf course with water lines to keep the grass watered. All the structures are built of native rock. The club house has...

After the discovery of oil here in the 1930s, this site was transformed into a makeshift tent city by thousands of people displaced by a deepening national depression. In an effort to control growth, city officials chose this site as the focus of an ambitious public works program in 1934. The park project, which included extensive rock work, was influenced by the planning and foresight of other Federal "New Deal" projects underway in Kilgore at the time (Kilgore Public Library and Kilgore College Administration Building). The park project was finished about 1936.

The Works Progress Administration built a city park and amphitheater in Memphis TX. The amphitheater has seating for around 2000 people and excellent acoustics. The semi-circular concrete stand is perfectly paced to fit the contours of a high bluff it faces and serves equally well for singing events, plays, band concerts, and other entertainments. Picnic facilities included in the park project converted a tree lined park into a popular recreation center.

This beautiful circular pool was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938.

The Helper Civic Auditorium was built with Public Works Administration (PWA) funding in 1937.  It is an outstanding example of New Deal public architecture and still the finest building to grace Helper, a small coal mining town in central Utah (there is a giant sculpture of a coal miner next to the building to remind everyone of the town's origins). A National Register of Historic Places plaque at the site says this: “Built in 1937, the Helper Civic Auditorium was designed by Salt Lake City architects Carl W. Scott and George W. Welch. The building is an excellent example of the Art...

Civilian Conservation Camp SP-55-TX is the main encampment that was the headquarters for the CCC's Dallas operations. A historical marker can be found at the location of the camp. Excerpt from Steven Butler's From Water Supply to Urban Oasis: A History of White Rock Lake Park (Richardson, Texas: Poor Scholar Publications, 2004: "The Dallas-area camp, designated SP-55-TX, was originally intended for Bachman Lake but in mid-July 1935 the National Park Service decided to place it at White Rock instead, "in order to get sanitary sewage and other facilities more suited to the project." On July 10, 1935, work on the barracks and other...

The Clark Creek Organization Camp is a group campground constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps with the US Forest Service in the late 1930s. As noted on the onsite commemorative plaque: "Clark Creek Organization Camp was built by Company 965 of the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936 and 1937. Company 965 was organized in 1933 and located about ten miles west on Fall Creek. One of only four organizaiton camps in the Pacific Northwest, Clark Creek was designed by William Parke, Forest Service Recreation planner, in the "Rustic Design" them of CCC era architecture." The National Association of CCC Alumni, Chapter...

Company 4701 of the CCC built the Bluff Creek Dam in 1936-37 as a Soil Conservation Service project, SCS-28. The body of water created was to later be called Clark State Fishing Lake. Lt. John A.H. Miller was the Commanding Officer of Co. 4701 Lt. G.R. Grimes was the Adjutant R.H. Pennartz was the Project Superintendent J.M. Collie was the educational advisor

The Clarksdale Civic Auditorium was designed by Jackson architect E. L. Malvaney and built as a WPA project in 1939. The auditorium is a 1500 seating capacity designed in the Art Moderne style. A rear addition for the National Guard Armory was added in 1944. The walls are "poured concrete" and the front facade includes a bas relief "above a ribbon of 2/2 horizontal awning metal windows (Wright, Baughn, & Gatline, 2009). The two front entrances (one at each end of the building) are on canted walls, have rounded corners and fluted columns typical of Art Moderne. A band of glass...

Annex 1 was added to the Belzoni school for African American students in 1938. It was constructed by the National Youth Administration. It is currently in use as part of the O. M. McNair Elementary School in Belzoni.

During the summer and fall of 1937, Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees from CCC camps Belknap and Cascadia/Marys Creek developed recreational facilities at Clear Lake. Improvements at the time provided opportunities for camping, picnicking and hiking. Today, the site operates as a day use area only with trails and picnic sites available for use. The CCC laid out campsites with attached picnic facilities above the Clear Lake/Belknap Springs road that are still visible but camping is no longer permitted there. Significant CCC constructed structures that do remain in the Day Use Area include the Clear Lake Picnic shelter and Information Booth. Both...

Excerpt from okhistory.org Delaware WPA Properties 1985: "This essentially "L" shaped structure (188' x 156 on the exterior sides) is constructed of rusticated and random laid limestone. It has a flat roof and parapets capped with concrete. Recessed entryways have paired doors with transcoms framed by poured concrete columns with entablature and squared cornices. The large wood sash windows are framed by pilasters and have continuous concrete sills and lintels. Continous friezes above and below the windows and curved corners give this building an art deco appearance."

The felony division courthouse for Clermont County, Ohio, was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1935 and 1936. The original Clermont County courthouse was built in 1829 by Arch/Contr- Ezekiel Dimmit. The new one that still stands today was built 1936 by Arch-Hunt & Allen. It was dedicated on December 19, 1936 at a Erected cost of $115,000. It replaced the oldest court building in State of Ohio.

The Clifton School is an Art Deco style building constructed in 1940. The structure is brick with pre-cast white stone ornamentation (made on the job site). The entrance has two stories, the second story being reserved for administrative space. Two one-story wings extend from the entrance. The school had a total of 32 rooms (eighteen of which were classrooms) and had wood floors. The interior cafeteria food service was part of the WPA lunch project. The school was demolished in 2019.

The Works Progress Administration built the Exhibit & Auction Building at the Clinton Fairgrounds in Clinton OK. Contributor note: "This is a two-story building, with randomly laid native sandstone walls. The roof is flat and the windows are casement units with stone sills and lintels. At the south end, the main entrance is a one-story projected entry foyer, with three single doors and sidelights. Above this entrance is a frieze which reads: "19 EXHIBIT & AUCTION BUILDING 41". The building was begun is 1940 as shown on the bronze WPA shield mounted to the right of the entrances. The building is located at N. 6th Street...

The Clinton Federal Building (north) was originally the US Post Office Department headquarters, completed under the New Deal in 1934.  It contains a wealth of New Deal artworks commissioned and paid for by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts: 25 murals and 22 sculptural elements (12 bas-reliefs, 2 statues, 8 wood medallions). Alexander Brook painted two murals, "Writing the Family Letter" and "Reading the Letter".  The letter is from the family of a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) recruit to the young man in his camp and is meant to show  "the mail's role in helping to alleviate the loneliness and homesickness...

Alexander Stirling Calder was commissioned by the New Deal’s Treasury Section of Fine Arts to create the sculpture “Continental Post Rider, 1775-1789.” The sculpture was made out of an aluminum alloy, and Calder was paid $3,000 for the job. When this artwork was created, the present-day Clinton Federal Building was the headquarters of the U.S. Post Office Department. The Treasury Section of Fine Arts existed from 1934 to 1943. It was initially called the “Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture”; then the “Treasury Section of Fine Arts”; and finally just “Section of Fine Arts” when it was moved under the jurisdiction...

Gleb Derujinksy was commissioned by the New Deal’s Treasury Section of Fine Arts to create eight sculptures of previous Postmasters General. The sculptures were made out of wood, and Derujinsky was paid $2,800 for the job. When this artwork was created, the present-day Clinton Federal Building was the headquarters of the U.S. Post Office Department. The Treasury Section of Fine Arts existed from 1934 to 1943. It was initially called the “Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture”; then the “Treasury Section of Fine Arts”; and finally just “Section of Fine Arts” when it was moved under the jurisdiction of the newly-created...

The Clinton Federal Building (north) was originally the US Post Office Department headquarters, completed under the New Deal in 1934.  It contains a wealth of New Deal artworks commissioned and paid for by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts – 25 murals and 22 sculptural elements (12 bas-reliefs, 2 statues, 8 wood medallions) – featuring postal themes. Karl Free painted two large (7' x 13.5') murals for the former Post Office Building: "French Hugenots in Florida" and "Arrival of Mail in New Amsterdam".  Painted in 1938, they are located on the 7th floor of the south wing of the building. The building...

Chaim Gross was commissioned by the New Deal’s Treasury Section of Fine Arts to create the sculpture “Alaska Snowshoe Mail Carrier.” It is made out of an aluminum alloy, and Gross was paid $3,000 for the job. When this artwork was created, the present-day Clinton Federal Building was the headquarters of the U.S. Post Office Department. The Treasury Section of Fine Arts existed from 1934 to 1943. It was initially called the “Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture”; then the “Treasury Section of Fine Arts”; and finally just “Section of Fine Arts” when it was moved under the jurisdiction of the...

The Clinton Federal Building (north) was originally the US Post Office Department headquarters, completed under the New Deal in 1934.  It contains a wealth of New Deal artworks commissioned and paid for by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts – 25 murals and 22 sculptural elements (12 bas-reliefs, 2 statues, 8 wood medallions) – featuring postal themes. George Harding painted two large (6.5' x 13.5') murals for the former Post Office Building:  "Post Dispatch Rider" and "Ben Franklin, Colonial Postmaster" (1938). Gordon comments that, "George Matthews Harding was born, raised, and educated in Philadelphia and developed an early interest in the founding fathers,...

The Clinton Federal Building (north) was originally the US Post Office Department headquarters, completed under the New Deal in 1934.  It contains a wealth of New Deal artworks commissioned and paid for by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts – 25 murals and 22 sculptural elements (12 bas-reliefs, 2 statues, 8 wood medallions) – featuring postal themes. Rockwell Kent painted two large (7' x 13.5') murals for the Post Office building:  "Mail Service in the Tropics" and "Mail Service in the Arctic"  (1937).   At the time, Alaska and Puerto Rico represented the northernmost and southernmost territories serviced by the U.S. Post Office...

The Clinton Federal Building (north) was originally the US Post Office Department headquarters, completed under the New Deal in 1934.  It contains a wealth of New Deal artworks commissioned and paid for by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts – 25 murals and 22 sculptural elements (12 bas-reliefs, 2 statues, 8 wood medallions) – featuring postal themes. In 1940, Vahe Kirishjian painted 8 ceiling panels for the Law Library in the Post Office Department, four large (13 x 21') and four smaller, called "The Four Seasons and Signs of the Zodiac." The Kirishjian murals cover the ceiling of the Law Library. The Clinton...