Unmarked Sites

In 1934, the Public Works Administration (PWA) loaned the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company $7 million for equipment repair, new track installation, and new equipment purchases.  Among the new purchases was the $250,000 Comet, a streamlined Diesel-electric train. The Comet was built in 1935 by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation of Akron, Ohio. “The Aluminum Co. of America furnished the aluminum alloy sheets and castings. The Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co. made the Diesel engines and electrical equipment” (The Indianapolis Times, 9-7-1935). It began service that same year, running a regular route between Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. The blue,...

Commercial Pier No. 5 was part of a large-scale New Deal redevelopment program for the Washington Channel and Southwest Waterfront area. Construction of the pier began in 1940, by the Penker Construction Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, and was completed in 1941. The Army Corps of Engineers supervised the project and the total cost was about $270,000 (about $5 million in 2020 dollars). About 3,000 cypress and pine logs from Virginia were used to create the pier. Commercial Pier No. 5 permitted a greater exchange of goods in the nation’s capital, and was the result of “many years of agitation” from the business...

The structure initially housed community activities for the resettlement community in Eleanor. This is a long U-shaped side gable building designed in a roadside colonial design. It features double chimneys and had a center light tower that no longer exists.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) conducted extensive development work at Grand Canyon Village, including construction of the Community Building, with funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA) and under the direction of the National Park Service (NPS). The NPS CCC Walking Tour says this: "The two-story wooden building just to the west of the corral is the Community Building. The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Community Building, while the CCC and the National Park Service provided the labor. Begun in 1934 and completed in 1935, it replaced a structure in another location that had burned the year...

This stone building was erected in 1936 with WPA funds as the local community center. It currently serves as the local library and sits next to the police station on Main Street.

Three different community gardens were built under one State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA) project in the cities of Alhambra (at Orange & Fremont streets), Pomona, and Arcadia. The gardens are no longer extant.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed a series of improvements and construction projects at Compton High School in Compton, CA. WPA laborers constructed the school auditorium; the women's gymnasium; and a 50' x 100' pool and bath house with showers, toilets, dressing rooms, etc. Compton High School was demolished in 2021 to allow for the construction of a modern campus, scheduled to open in 2025.

Receiving a grant of $9,000 from the Public Works Administration (PWA), the City of Condon announced in 1937 that they would proceed with construction of the new city hall. The city hall design provided room for the fire department and city offices as well as space for the local Masonic Lodge. The Portland architect C. N. Freeman provided the initial design for the building but it changed substantially with construction. The Portland contractor H. J. Settergren built the Colonial Revival style structure with a cupola on the hip roof, a stuccoed first floor and a red brick second floor. A clock-face...

In 1942, the Washington Post reported the approval of funds for the Federal Works Administration (FWA) to construct more than two miles of water mains in the Congress Heights neighborhood in SE Washington DC.  While there is currently no evidence that funds were cancelled, we have not been able to verify the completion of the work.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to a roughly four mile segment of Connecticut Avenue NW from Calvert Street to Chevy Chase Circle, in 1935-36. “The repaving of the roadway in Connecticut Avenue NW, from Calvert Street to District of Columbia line (Chevy Chase Circle), was started last year and is now completed. The street-railway tracks were removed in advance of street paving and the space thus abandoned was paved with standard asphalt pavement. Traffic headers were installed on both sides of the old railway area. The entire project was 17,500 feet long.” This work was part of the $949,496 WPA allotment...

In 1933, the Washington Post announced the approval of several road surfacing projects funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA) : "Among projects approved here are paving of Sixteenth street, Constitution Avenue, Michigan Avenue, Columbia Road, Foxhall Road, Good Hope Road, New Hampshire Avenue, Benning Road and Conduit Road, widening of E Street back of the White House and widening of Thirteenth Street" (October 9, 1933). Records at the National Archives indicate that the Works Progress Administration (WPA) had approved the widening and paving of Constitution Avenue from Virginia Avenue to the Arlington Bridge approach. New Deal workers were also to...

Monument The writers of the first Indiana State Constitution are said to have worked in the shade of a large elm tree because of the hot weather in June 1816. The Constitution Elm is a five-minute walk from the original state capitol building in Corydon that was the official site of the convention. Dutch Elm Disease killed the tree in 1925 but the stump was preserved with creosote. In 1937, the Works Progress Administration built a shelter for the stump using local sandstone cut by Civilian Conservation Corps laborers. The history of the site is commemorated with a bronze tablet provided...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) built Cony Park in Eastport ME in 1934. "Cony Park, located adjacent to Shackford Head State Park, boasts beautiful views of Cobscook Bay, a large pavilion with picnic tables, outdoor musical instruments, and 3 horseshoe pits. A porta-potty is provided during the summer months. The park is great for picnics, parties, and many other gatherings and events. There is also a hand carry boat launch." According to the Community Notes in the Bangor Daily News of January 12 1934, " So with 100 men employed at times since last November, seventeen local women now on the payroll...

The Log Cabin Inn was originally built and used by the Civilian Conservation Corps as living quarters. Later it was used as a restaurant. Today the park uses the building as a museum and education center. The Log Cabin Inn near to several popular trails, the Memorial Fountain and the Forest Cathedral Natural Area.

In 1939, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) erected a school in Coolidge. However, all the remains is the plaque which is at the Coolidge City Hall/Museum. While other Limestone county schools were opening either last Monday or planned to open next Monday, the opening of the Coolidge school was being delayed awaiting the completion of the new school building. The building is expected to be completed by Oct. 1, and the school will likely open on Oct. 2. Last year after the old building had been razed and construction was underway on the new structure, classes were conducted in the abandoned C.C.C. camp...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) helped fund the former Coolidge Union High School, now the school district administration building. Ground was broken on April 4, 1936 and the school opened in 1939.  The project cost of $150,000 was divided between a PWA grant and local bonds. This large and handsome building is a melange of Neoclassical and Southwest Pueblo styles.  It is still probably the largest and the most elegant building in the city of Coolidge.  Ironically, the town, founded in 1925, was named after President Calvin Coolidge; it was not incorporated until 1945. The plaque by the front entrance indicates that...

As recorded in a discussion of the Mount Hood National Forest in the US Forest Service publication  The Forest Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps: 1933-1942: "The Cooper Spur Trail Shelter was one of several shelters built by the CCC along the Timberline Trail. It was probably built by the Cooper Spur Camp, a side camp of Camp Wyeth at Cascade Locks. The native stone shclter is located on the Hood River Ranger District, about 1 mile south of theCloud Cap Inn and 50 yards from the intersection of the Timberline Trail and Trail 600-A. The 12 x 12-foot shelter was built...

The Coos Art Museum in Coos Bay was originally constructed in 1936 as the post office for what was then Marshfield, Oregon. Marshfield changed name to Coos Bay on Feb. 15, 1945. The Coos Art Museum (CAM) acquired the building in the 1970s and after fund-raising and renovation work moved the CAM collections. Public Works Administration (PWA) Federal Project No. 324.

In 1937, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees constructed four buildings to serve the Oregon Forestry Department and its work in nearby forests. The buildings associated with the State Forestry Complex, as it was known at the time, included a warehouse building, a crew quarters building, a gas house and a residence. As is the case with other structures built by CCC workers, the buildings are simple wood structures with limited decoration. The cedar lap siding and board and batten gables provide some texture and definition. Only the "pine tree" logo cutout provides ornamentation. The pine tree became a symbol of CCC...

The Cotton auditorium stands adjacent to the Fort Bragg Middle School (formerly Fort Bragg High School).  It was completed in 1938 with Public Works Administration (PWA) funding and named after Principal Joel Cotton in 1939. It was restored in 2006. The style of Cotton Auditorium, which is rather unusual for New Deal era civic structures, is typical of lumber towns like Fort Bragg in the redwood country of California's North Coast.  

The Works Progress Administration built a farm-to-market road connecting Cotton with Amma, in Roane County. Also known at the time as the Left Hand Run Road.

"On the west side of the historic downtown area of Guthrie, this two-level viaduct takes W. Noble Avenue (State Highway 33) across the often-raging Cottonwood Creek. The upper level is one-lane each way, beginning at N. 2nd Street and ending at N. 5th Street. The viaduct is constructed of concrete and crosses several railroad tracks, as well as the Creek. A lower level is barricaded and no longer in use. It has a concrete roadbed and appears to only be a single lane, however, in the 1930s it was most likely a two-lane access. A pedestrian walkway runs along the north side...

The Works progress Administration (WPA) installed a new vault and made other  improvements to the Contra Costa County Finance Building in 1935-36, and perhaps later. According to WPA Project Cards from the National Archives, the vault was to be built of reinforced concrete and lined with steel and additional work was to be done to partition off additional space for the Treasurer's office.  The total amount allocated for the project was around $5,000. We know that improvement work was done because of reports in the Contra Costa Gazette.  One notes that additional painting was done on the county assessor and school administration...

In 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to the former Contra Costa County jail, which stands just behind the old courthouse (the present Finance Building) at 625 Court Street.  According to a WPA Project Card from the National Archives, the work involved painting the interior and exterior of the jail and the project was approved for $14,888; but because the card appears to combine painting work at the jail with painting the Hall of Records (in the present Taylor courthouse), it is unclear how much was allocated to the jail. The jail was constructed in 1901 and had its entrance...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided the funding for the Visalia branch public library, built in 1936. The design is Mission Revival, with tile roof, stucco walls and exposed beams. It has four wings extending from a central entrance with a raised roof. In 1926 the city of Visalia offered to furnish a site and pay one-half the cost of a new library branch, but the county declined the offer. Then the PWA stepped in and the building was constructed as a city library.  In 1961, an addition was made to the south wing. In 1976, a new joint Tulare County/Visalia City...

The CWA was involved in repairs to the aging county courthouse which had been built in 1874 to replace an 1836 building. A few years later in 1939, a new county courthouse was built by the PWA in Hope Arkansas when the county seat was moved. Both the original 1836 and 1874 courthouses (which is the visitor center) can be visited at Historic Washington State Park.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) was involved in fixing up the Lake Village County Courthouse, likely repairing the damage from a bad Mississippi River flood in 1927 that had caused massive damage to Arkansas. The original courthouse was constructed in 1857 when the county seat was moved to Lake Village and replaced in 1907 with a neoclassical design building. Foundation problems caused the replacing of the court with the current art deco style of building in 1956.

The CWA did repairs to the Garland County courthouse in Hot Springs. The Garland County Courthouse is located at Ouachita Avenue and Hawthorne Street in Hot Springs (Garland County). The four-story brick building is recognized by the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program to be both architecturally and historically significant, with one source calling it perhaps the finest example of Renaissance Revival–style architecture in the state. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The Garland County Courthouse was constructed as a rectangular building with central bays projecting from its northern and southern sides. It featured a domed...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) was involved in minor repairs and upgrading of the White County courthouse in Searcy. The present White County Courthouse, completed in 1871 and remodeled in 1912, is the oldest Arkansas courthouse still being used for its original purpose. The first story is constructed of cut stone, while brick is used on the second floor. The circuit/chancery courtroom has been restored to its original condition. The large clock tower includes an 1855 bell which resembles the Liberty Bell.

This utilitarian yellow brick structure with subtle Art-Deco touches was a Public Works Administration project. Completed in 1939, the jail replaced the old Jonesboro jail located at Madison and Monroe streets. This building remained in use as Craighead County's jail until a new state of the art detention facility was built on the western outskirts of Jonesboro in 1989. Afterward, the old jail became a part of the Craighead County Courthouse Annex, and is now used for storage of county records and as office space for an appraisal company that works with the county assessors office.

Originally a gym for Cranberry High School. Now owned by an alumni group and used for various functions. The WPA began building the gymnasium on January 27, 1937. The construction employed sixty workers and cost $12,000. On the cusp of its construction, a Johnson City, Tennessee newspaper described the planned 80’ by 120’ building as having a coach’s office, dressing rooms for girls and boys. Native stone formed the foundation and basement and stained shingles sheathed the exterior. The gymnasium was one of 277 recreational buildings constructed in North Carolina by the WPA by the spring of 1942. One year later,...

Cravens, originally the north wing of an all-men's dorm, is now part of Collins Living-Learning Center, an undergraduate community at Indian University. It was constructed by the Federal Works Agency (FWA) in 1940.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) built the curving bridge over the Creosote Wash on North Main Street in Cottonwood AZ in the winter of 1933-34. The bridge is built of reinforced concrete with river stone cladding. The upstream side features a handsome arch, while the downstream side reveals the underlying concrete substructure. Creosote Wash is an episodic creek that is dry much of the year.  It used to be called Blowout Wash (and is still marked as such on some online maps).

The WPA constructed stairs at the south end of Crescent Beach. The stairs display "19 WPA 39" on the top step and bottom slab along with 48 star stone mosaic U.S. flags. The stairs are edged with field stone. Fossils are mounted on the entrance pillars. The stairs begin at the top of a grassy bluff and end in a cedar lined path that leads to the sandy shore of Lake Michigan.

Built by the Works Progress Administration used to hold high school games and major football games, such as Memphis State Tiger games. It was an estimated to hold 28,000 spectators before it downsizes in 2006.

Crystal Lake Recreation Area (Azusa, CA) in the Angeles National Forest was improved by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). In addition to a stone bridge and several trail walls, it appears that the CCC constructed the Yerba Santa Amphitheater. The camp grounds were among approximately twenty built by the CCC in the Angeles National Forest.

Prior to the construction of I-94, Crystal Springs North Dakota was a mandatory stop for many early motorists traveling down old U.S. Highway 10, the state’s first Highway. The Crystal Springs Fountain is located about one mile northeast of Crystal Springs. Motorists could not only find a place to stretch their legs but could also dip into the cool clear water of the springs to quench their thirst and cool their radiators. The fountain was fed by an artesian well. The water would collect in the top part of the structure and trickle down to an open drinking fountain. The...

Established as the Cuivre River Recreation Demonstration Area in 1934 by the National Park Service. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 3771 built roads and structures throughout the park. The park was turned over to the state of Missouri in 1946 to become Cuivre River State Park. The park features many CCC structures still in use such as a one-lane stone bridge, a stone picnic shelter, and group camps. The structures are included in 2 National Historic Districts.

The Civilian Conservation Corps built a small shelter above the Eagle Falls Trail (Trail #9) overlooking Cumberland Falls and the gorge downstream.

The CCC-built Pinnacle Knob Fire Tower was originally a lookout tower for forest fires. Decommissioned in 1976, the tower was restored in 2008 and listed on the National Historic Lookout Register.