Unmarked Sites

In 1939, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped carry out improvements at 109th St Pool in Los Angeles, CA. Sixty-six people were employed for 53,300 man hours total. The pool was extensively renovated circa 2015.

Following the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, 15th Street Elementary School in San Pedro, CA was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA). Reconstruction of the main school building—which combines elements of PWA Moderne and Mission Revival styles—was completed in 1935 and totaled $68,305. 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...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved many roads in San Francisco, California, including widening a 1,655 foot stretch of 18th Street between 3rd and Missouri Streets (between Potrero Point and the crest of Potrero Hill).    

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the 21st Street Houses in Washington, DC in 1943. This development of 36 living units was built for African American national defense workers (Washington, DC was highly segregated at the time). It is unknown to the Living New Deal if any of the structures still exist, but it is not likely since these homes were classified as “demountable,” i.e., intended to be taken down and salvaged sometime after the war. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the 25th Street Houses in Washington, DC in 1944. This development of 40 living units was built for white national defense workers (Washington, DC was highly segregated at the time). It is unknown to the Living New Deal if any of the structures still exist, but it is not likely since these homes were classified as “demountable,” i.e., intended to be taken down and salvaged sometime after the war. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the 35th Street Houses in Washington, DC in 1943. This development of 75 living units was built for white national defense workers (Washington, DC was highly segregated at the time). It is unknown to the Living New Deal if any of the structures still exist, but it is not likely since these homes were classified as “demountable,” i.e., intended to be taken down and salvaged sometime after the war. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced...

In July 1935, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) landscaped on 4th Street between Montana Ave. and Adelaide Place in Santa Monica, CA. Fourth Street Parkway was created by WPA workers using sod from the Clover Field Golf Course. Santa Monica Evening Outlook reported that the local community was appreciative of the beautifying project. Fourth Street Parkway’s 1935 landscaping is partially extant, as Fourth Street Parkway contains the original palm trees planted during the New Deal. The total expenses for this project were $2,496, with $1,980 funded by the WPA and $516 by the City of Santa Monica.

 In 1934, the Public Works Administration (PWA) made repairs and improvements to the sewer on Fifty-fifth street from Central avenue to Alameda street in Los Angeles, CA.

Multiple New Deal agencies supported the construction of retaining Walls in Morgantown, WV. The agencies that contributed to these works include: the Works Progress Administration, the Public Works Administration, the Civil Works Administration, National Youth Administration and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. The walls have the following characteristics, typical of New Deal construction techniques: ashlar stone, approximately 8-12 inches tall, made of sandstone, with caps or coping stones. Examples can be found on 8th Street and The Richwood Avenue.  

The Works Progress Administration conducted restoration work at historic Abbot Hall in Marblehead MA in 1937. The structure is still in use and continues to serve as the Marblehead Town Hall. Abbot Hall underwent restoration work in 2019-2020.

The Abingdon Plantation Historic Site is the birthplace of Nellie Custis (1779-1852), granddaughter of Martha Washington and step-granddaughter of George Washington. Following the death of her father (John Parke Custis) in 1781, Nelly and her brother, George Washington Parke Custis, moved to Mount Vernon and were raised by their grandparents. The historic site is located between the two large parking garages at Washington National Airport, in between Thomas Avenue and West Entrance Road, Arlington, Virginia. A Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) report describes the restoration work of the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934-35: “They landscaped the grounds and built a twenty-car parking...

One of many campgrounds the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed in Maine, this one is located in Baxter State Park. "Set in a northern hardwood forest near the base of Abol Slide, Abol is the closest campground to Togue Pond Gate and a trailhead for Katahdin hiking."

In 1935, improvements were made with Public Works Administration (PWA) funding to Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in Pasadena, CA. The construction work included replacing exterior brick walls with reinforced gunite, reinforced concrete columns, and structural steel. The school closed in 1989 and was subsequently demolished. The site is now home to a post office. The 1933 Long Beach earthquake necessitated the rehabilitation of 27 schools in the Pasadena Unified School District at a total cost of ~$3.3 million. Grants from the PWA financed 27% (~$900,000) of the rehabilitation; the sale of school bonds covered 40% (~$1.3 million); and Pasadena tax revenues made...

A wintertime employment project by the CWA in February 1934 employed 204 men in Acadia National Park and 30 employed in Mt. Desert Island. The sum of $70,380 was distributed amongst the towns of Schoodic, Bar Harbor, Mt. Desert, Southwest Harbor, and Tremont. In a speech to the Chamber of Commerce on Feb 3rd, B. L. Hadley, then acting superintendent of Acadia National Park, the projects consisted of "the cleaning of over 225 acres of slash and dead trees on Ocean Drive (now Park Loop Road from Schooner Head Road to Otter Cliff Road) {marker A}; clearing up the woods...

The New Deal built the first campus for Boise State University from 1940 to 1942.  Established in 1932, Boise Junior College lacked a permanent home until the the move to the present campus.  The centerpiece of the project was the Administration Building, constructed in 1940 with Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The building housed almost all academic and administrative functions of the college, including offices, classrooms and library.  Interior spaces have acquired new uses as the campus has grown but much of the interior is intact and the exterior is generally unaltered. The structure is two stories tall, clad in red brick with...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was present in Death Valley National Monument  from 1933 to 1942. CCC 'boys' built erected a total of 76 buildings in the monument, including administrative, residential, maintenance & visitor facilities.   The main CCC camp was at Cow Creek, built in 1933 and rebuilt after a fire in 1936.   The original park headquarters was at Cow Creek, as well, and now serves as a Research Center.  Some of the old camp buildings at Cow Creek still stand and are in use as support facilities for park administration: warehouses, a carpenter shop, trades shop, radio building and...

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation authorized construction of the Agency Valley Dam, on the North Fork of the Malheur River, in 1933. The Hinman Brothers, of Denver, began work on the 110 foot high, earthen structure in March 1934 and the project was completed in December 1935. The reservoir capacity of the dam project is 59,200 acre-feet. Authorization of the dam was based on the needs of the Vale Project, an irrigation and water control plan serving the Malheur River area. It is the second of three dams serving the project and the only one constructed during the Depression. The Warm...

In 1933, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees from Camp Agness began construction of a road between Gold Beach and Agness, following the south bank of the Rogue River. Forest management work in what was then the Rogue River National Forest (now the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest) required such extensive road building efforts. Before construction of the Agness Road (NF-33), all access to the forest came via the river. To begin building, a Clectrac tractor, trucks, compressors, graders, lumber, pipe and other supplies needed to be brought up river by boat. The 35-miles of National Forest #33 between Gold Beach and Agness...

From The Fur Farms of Alaska: Two Centuries of History and a Forgotten Stampede: "In 1937, the legislature responded by appropriating $20,000 to establish an experimental fur station near Petersburg on land to be selected by a committee of three— Governor John Troy, B. Frank Heintzelman from the Forest Service (which contributed thirty-five acres of land), and Frank Dufresne of the Biological Survey (which granted $4,000 for research equipment)... The site chosen by the committee was cleared of trees by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The Public Works Administration awarded a building grant and oversaw the building contractor. The new farm...

Aimee Gorham created a large wooden marquetry at the rear of Ainsworth auditorium. The piece is usually hidden behind band equipment and room dividers. In danger of damage unless acknowledged as US property, not Portland Public School property. According to Barry N. Ball (2004) "During the WPA period, Gorham did a large number of documented marquetry projects, actually starting in 1933 under the short-lived Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) when she demonstrated her sculptural skills with a bas relief of Abigail Scott Duniway, shown at the Portland Art Museum in 1934. She also did watercolors of fairy tales and prints of civilian...

During 1935, Civilian Conservation Corps workers made improvements to Ainsworth State Park, thirty-six miles east of Portland on the Columbia River Highway. John C. Ainsworth, former chairman of the State Highway Commission (1931-1932) donated the original forty acres for the park in 1933. CCC enrollees worked on picnic facilities and trails in the park. Perhaps the most distinctive improvement made by CCC workers involved the stone work steps and fountain that provided public drinking access to the park's spring.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) paid for a grade-separation underpass on the Bayshore Highway under the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks in South San Francisco.  The project cost $200,000. The underpass, completed in 1936, doubled the width of an earlier structure built in 1927 and increased its capacity from 4 to 8 lanes (lanes were narrower at the time). This was much desired by the local Chamber of Commerce and, no doubt, by travelers on the Bayshore Highway, the main route south from San Francisco to San Jose. It also  improved access to the San Francisco Airport, which was benefitting from New Deal...

The Works Progress Administration made improvements to the road system in Dallas County. "Improve county-owned road from Orrville to the Wilcox County line in Dallas County, including excavating; clearing and grubbing; grading; draining; dressing shoulders and slopes; constructing base; surfacing; and performing appurtenant and incidental work. Project also includes the operation of borrow pits to produce materials for use on this project. This road is a part of the Federal Aid Highway System. In addition to projects specifically approved." According to a WPA job card, the application was November 1, 1938, approved Nov. 17th, federal manhours added up to 267,120,...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) installed a 16-inch water main along Alabama Avenue SE in 1933-4. This was at the beginning of an extensive program of building new water mains and sewers all across the District of Columbia by New Deal agencies.

The former main entrance on the east side of the Alameda County Courthouse leads to an elegant lobby flanked by stairways and two large murals made of inlaid marble backed with gold and silver leaf. The murals, which measure 10 x 30 feet, were designed by Marian Simpson and sculpted by Gaetano Duccini.  They were paid for by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). "Exploration" depicts the Native American and Hispanic history of Alameda County.  "Settling of California" portrays the arrival of Anglo frontier settlers. That entrance and lobby is presently closed to the public.

This sub-station of the Municipal Power and Light System of the City of Alameda was constructed with the aid of the Public Works Administration (PWA). The exact date is unknown to us. The old power plant has been demolished and replaced by a housing complex (c. 1970s).  Two auxiliary buildings remain, which appear to be empty and unused.  One can be seen to the left of the former power plant in the photos from the 1930s.

The 1,300+ mile Alaska Highway was constructed in 1942 and opened in 1943.  It was built to provide an alternate supply line to Alaska during World War II.   The origins of the highway go back to 1936, when President Roosevelt proposed the idea to the Canadian government as a joint project. The Canadians demurred. So, although the road goes through Canadian Territory, the cost was entirely borne by the United States.   The Alaska Highway was a joint effort of the U.S. Army (Corps of Engineers) and the Public Roads Administration (PRA)—a sub-agency of the New Deal's Federal Works Agency that replaced the...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to a segment of Albemarle Street NW, between Reno Road and Thirty-Eighth Street, in 1938-39.    The WPA graded the road and prepared it for paving with a foundation of salvaged material: “The old material is obtained from old roadways which have deteriorated due to the strain of heavy later-day traffic and were replaced by new standard type pavements.”   “The improvement of this roadway opened up traffic eastward to the new boulevard at Forty-sixth Street NW, between Massachusetts Avenue and River Road, and also served as an entrance to the new private developments in this vicinity.”   This...

Several years after the State purchased land from Lane County, Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees improved the Alderwood State Wayside. The work was conducted in 1935. As noted in the Oregon State Park's 1965 publication: "The facilities at Alderwood are not extensive, being a small area for parking cars, two foot-bridges, trails, tables and sanitary facilities, all constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps." Necessary maintenance at the wayside has resulted in replacement of some of the improvements but the basic lay-out remains the same.

On September 17, 1935, the Bernalillo Board of Education made a project proposal to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for an addition to an the elementary school in the village of Algodones, a rural farming community north of Albuquerque. The project, which was carried out in 1936, also included “leveling and straightining of the school grounds” (WPA OP 65-85-492: 7158). The Board estimated that the work would cost the school district $2,768.00, with the WPA contributing another $3,168.00. The WPA played an important role in developing school infrastructure in New Mexico during the Great Depression. Prior to the New Deal, New...

The Alice Keith Park Swimming Pool in Beaumont, TX was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938. A ten-acre municipal tract, Alice Keith Park was constructed in 1932 to help alleviate unemployment and provide a recreational space in the southeastern section of the city. The Superintendent of Parks and Recreation remarked after the pool’s completion: “As a WPA project, which included sewer lines, sidewalks, and other park improvements, the pool was constructed and landscaped in about six months and was opened May 28 , designated as city-wide ‘Splash Day.’ The pool is the last word in modern appearance,...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Alice Whitney Park Dam on the Sauk River in St. Cloud MN in 1938.  WPA workers also built steps going down the riverbank to the dam and a path along the river.  The dam was  meant to provide a swimming hole for park users. The dam was about 4 feet tall and provided a walking path to get across the river, connecting Whitney Park and Sauk River Park.  All of the stone and wood was cut by WPA workers.  The dam’s purpose was to raise the water level of the Sauk River to create a...

Aliso Village was the tenth and final development in Los Angeles, CA to be completed under the city’s New Deal–era public housing program. In 1941-43, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) constructed 10 public housing developments for $16 million, funded 10% by city bonds and 90% by federal loans from the United States Housing Authority (USHA). Located in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, Aliso Village was the largest housing project west of the Mississippi upon its completion in 1943. In 1941, HACLA cleared 417 structures in an area of Boyle Heights known as “the Flats” or “Russia Town.”...

In 1934-35, the Public Works Administration (PWA) provided ~$56,000 for the construction of a new building at at Alma Fuerte Public School (formerly Grover Cleveland Elementary School) in Pasadena, CA. Built of reinforced concrete, this building included eight classrooms, an office, a nurse’s office and clinic, a teachers’ room, lavatories, and a basement. The PWA Moderne style structure, which features Art Deco detailing on the facade, is extant on Palisade St. The 1933 Long Beach earthquake necessitated the rehabilitation of 27 schools in the Pasadena Unified School District at a total cost of ~$3.3 million. Grants from the PWA financed 27%...

Alta Loma Elementary School in Los Angeles, CA was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1935-36. It appears that the single-story PWA Moderne buildings on Vineyard Ave and Saturn St were either built or renovated in 1935. The following year, the auditorium on St Elmo Dr was constructed. Designed by architect Charles M. Hutchison and built by the Jones Brothers, the single-story PWA Moderne auditorium cost $29,980. 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...

The New Deal gave a huge boost to the development of Alta Ski Resort in the 1930s and early 1940s.  The work involved the US Forest Service, the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration. Alta is the second or third oldest downhill ski resort in the United States. It began when the last silver mine closed in the Great Depression and the bankrupt owner deeded land to the U.S. Forest Service in lieu of back taxes. It is not clear who thought of creating a ski resort there, since miners had been skiing the canyon for years. In 1935, the Forest Service hired...

The Amador County courthouse and Hall of Records in Jackson CA was rebuilt in 1939-40 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).  The previous courthouse and Hall of Records on the site, built side by side in 1863, were completely remodeled and joined into a single building.   The architect was George Sellon, who turned brick Romanesque structures into a fine example of Art Moderne design.  There is a plaque in the foyer that credits everyone but the WPA for the 1940 remodel. This courthouse was replaced by a new superior court building across town in 2007 and has been sitting empty ever...

Mississippi’s oldest courthouse was enlarged, modernized and renovated with a Works Progress Administration project of more than $30,000. The red brick two-story Federal style building was originally constructed 1839-1840. The project added two-story wings on the east and west ends of the building, and two-story porches across the back and front elevations, adding six new offices to the existing building. Indoor lavatories and rest rooms were installed for the first time, and a steel fire-proof records vault installed. The remodeling and repair was authorized as a Civil Works Administration project in February, 1934, however, was discontinued prior to completion. An...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was very active in the Coronado National Forest during the 1930s. Coronado National Forest is discontinuous across southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico because the forested areas occur only on isolated mountain ranges called "Sky Islands" – a type of landscape similar to the Basin and Range in Nevada. CCC camp F-30 was located in Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains (we are not sure exactly where or for how long).  The CCC 'boys' (enrollees) did extensive work in the canyon, including a campground, picnic area, amphitheater, trails and erosion works. The amphitheater is located about...

In 1937, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built an amphitheater as a recreational facility for the old Utah State Training School for the Disabled.  The school has grown and changed its name to the Utah State Development Center and the part of the grounds  with the amphitheater have passed to the City of American Fork as Quail Cove Park. The magnificent amphitheater, built of local stone (no doubt from Rock Canyon), is banked into a hillside landscaped with pines. In front of the amphitheater are a stone wall and graceful curved steps leading to a large lawn bordered with trees and...