Unmarked Sites

"In 1934 Federal CWA and ERA funds were used for bituminous treatment at Cutter Street."

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Dade County Courthouse in Greenfield. The courthouse was designed in Classical Revival Style by the architectural firm of Fred C. Bonsack and Harvey J. Pearce, from St. Louis. The contractor was C F Rinehart Construction Company of St. Louis. "The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $32,108 grant for construction of the Date County courthouse in Greenfield, Missouri. Total cost of the project was $117,960. Construction occurred between 1934 and 1936. PWA Docket No. MO 4610"  

In 1934, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers made repairs to the Dalecarlia Reservoir, the primary source of drinking water for Washington, DC. Work consisted of, “Reconstruction of two concrete spillways, replacing earth in embankments and a small dam, and cleaning silt deposits out of a water diversion channel” (Report of the Chief of Engineers, 1935). The Public Works Administration (PWA) supplied the $16,944 in funds for the project. The Corps of Engineers upgraded the Delacarlia Pumping Station, as well: “The construction of booster pumping station was continued, and at the end of the year was practically completed. Pumps, motors,...

The former Heber City library was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project during the latter years of the Great Depression. Construction occurred between August 1938 and May 1939. The PWA supplied a grant of $13,275 toward the project, whose total cost was $27,529.  It was PWA Project No. UT W1142. The building served as the community's library until construction of the new Wasatch County Library during the 2000s. The New Deal facility now houses the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum. National Register of Historic Places nomination for for Midvale Library notes that the architects Ashton & Evans designed Heber...

1 of 26 bridges that were rebuilt by the New Deal following a 500 year flood in March 1936. The bridge is a Concrete slab structure over the West Branch of the Cousins River. From the design of the guard rails, it looks as if the New Deal bridge was replaced recently. The abutments however look to be of an older design utilizing cut granite, possibly from 1917 when the state replaced an "extremely dangerous" bridge. According to a 2004 Maine DOT Historic Bridge Survey, Phase II Final Report & Historic Context, the "March 1936 flood was one of the most...

The Dead Indian Soda Springs Shelter was built in 1936 by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) on the Ashland Ranger District of the Rogue River National Forest. The structure is significant for its association with the CCC activities in recreational development in southwestern Oregon, as part of the federal government's response to the Great Depression. Submitted as part of a multiple property submission, "U.S. Forest Service Historic Structures on the Rogue River National Forest, Oregon," the Dead Indian Soda Springs Shelter represents its historic context, "CCC/FERA Recreation Development on the Rogue River National Forest 1933 to 1942." The building...

Deer Valley Resort near Park City UT is one of Utah's major ski areas, along with Park City, Alta and Snowbird.  It is ranked among the top ski resorts in the country, thanks to the quality of powder snow in the Wasatch Mountains. Skiing began at Deer Valley with the Park City Winter Carnivals of the 1930s and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built some of the first ski trails and other facilities during the winter of 1936-1937.   No clear trace of the WPA's work remains, given the massive enlargement of Deer Valley ski area and condominium complex in recent years.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a short bridge on North Main Street across Del Monte Wash in Cottonwood AZ.   The bridge is concrete dressed with the same river stone from the Verde River as the nearby Cottonwood Community Club building and was almost certainly built at the same time, 1938-39.  It is mentioned on the historical plaque in front of the Community Club.

The Works Progress Administration completed repairs at the Delanco school in Delanco NJ. "Just when things looked as if they might be getting better, they found in 1937 that the walls in the· auditorium were faulty and unsafe. They were rebuilt by the Works Projects Administration - more familiarly the WPA." The facility was located at Walnut, Hickory, Union and Chestnut St. It was removed circa 1962.

Delano Municipal Airport was built during the New Deal with funds budgeted for the Development of Landing Areas for National Defense. It was built by the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) with the aid of the Works Progress Administration or WPA. Local sources say the airport opened in April 1940, but the WPA project was approved in early 1941. It could be that the project was accelerated ahead of schedule, as was often  the case with military projects by 1939-40. The airport covers 546 acres and has one paved runway measuring 5,651 by 75 feet.   In late 1943, the airport was turned over...

A new Mechanical Arts building was constructed for Delta High School, in Delta, Utah in 1935-36 with funding from the federal Public Works Administration (PWA).   It was part of a larger project for the Millard County School District that included a gymnasium for Hinckley High School in Hinckley and a gymnasium at Millard High School in Fillmore.  Total cost for the three buildings was $130,000.  The architects of all three were Carl W. Scott and George W. Welch. The contractors were Talboe and Litchfield. Delta High School was torn down and replaced by a new school complex in the early 2000s....

The Works Progress Administration made a number of improvements to the original 1919 city park, including stone drinking fountains, walls and entrance gates, and a stone bridge that are identifiable in 2023.

Originally named the Wolf Creek Tunnel, construction on this 800-foot long tunnel began in 1940 as one of the final steps in completion of the Wolf Creek Highway's path through the Coast Range linking the Portland area with northern Oregon coastal communities. Kibbe and Kearn, a Portland firm, cut the tunnel's bore. Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers completed the stone masonry veneer on the tunnel's east and west portals. The project was completed in 1941. Oregon State Highway engineers designed the rustic-style tunnel portals. The plans were reviewed by National Park Service landscape architects and carried out by WPA masons under...

In 1937, the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) provided a grant to contractor, G. Clay Gates, to build a metal guardrail on part of the Cameron-Desert View approach road to Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. "G. Clay Gates, Thermopolis, Wyo., $18,122 low to Bureau of Public Roads, Phoenix, Arizona, for performing the work for placing metal plate guardrail on Sections A, B, C, D, and E of the Cameron-Desert View Approach Road to Grand Canyon National Park, Coconino County, Arizona."  Western Construction News. There are still guard rails along much of Desert View Road, but the road has pretty clearly been...

In the 1934, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed the Devil's Punchbowl day-use area for public use.  The improvements included picnic tables, fireplaces, restroom, drinking fountain, water supply, a foot trail and steps to the beach. The majority of these improvements have been repaired or changed over the years, but the popularity of this distinctive viewpoint remains. Visitors are drawn for whale watching and views of its distinctive geology.

In 1934-1935, the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania built a differential analyzer, an early type of computer. Designed by Oscar Schuck, it was the second of its kind – the first differential analyzer was constructed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1931. Funds and skilled labor (for example, electricians and instrument makers) came from the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). A government report from Pennsylvania described the differential analyzer: “The machine weighs 3-1/2 tons. It is approximately 30 feet long, 10 feet wide and 5 feet high. It contains...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the impressive Recreation Area in Dimond Park at the foot of the Sausal Creek canyon in East Oakland in 1936. In late 1935, the WPA approved $38,000 in grants for this project out of over $1 million allotted for various works in the city of Oakland. WPA workers laid out a recreation area where the Sausal Creek flood plain widens as it exits the canyon, laying out fields, picnic areas, amphitheater seating, benches and retaining walls.   There is a lovely redwood grove where the two main picnic clusters (with BBQ pits) are located, and...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) prepared the way for Dimond Park in 1936, in coordination with the Oakland Parks Department.  The relief workers cleared trees and brush from the steep Sausal Creek Canyon before constructing the Recreation Area, reworking the creek bed and building trails. In late 1935, the WPA approved $38,000 for this project out of over $1 million allotted for various works in the city of Oakland. There are trails running up the canyon on both sides of Sausal Creek from the Recreation Area to just beyond the Leimert Street bridge, which then join and soon climb up the south...

The availability of was key in reshaping the Dinkey Creek area. Fresno County was realigning State Route 168, and subsequently the Sierra National Forest would reconstruct the Dinkey Road from Shaver Lake with CCC labor. By 1936 the road was extended beyond Dinkey Creek. This reconstruction required a new motor vehicle bridge and by 1938, the new Dinkey Creek Bridge was built by the , and the pattern of traffic had changed from the earlier days. With the change in the road, a change in location of the Forest Service site made sense, and a new ranger station was built...

According to the Washington Post, the Public Works Administration (PWA) paid for additions to the District Jail, first built in 1876.  In 1938, four new cell blocks, two connecting wings, a new powerhouse, and a new laundry facility were proposed. In 1940, the Post listed unspecified "remodeling operations" as part of the work on the jail. According to The Hill Is Home (blog), by 1983 the jail had been razed and its functions performed by the new jail just to the south, at 19th and D streets SE. The site of the former jail is now the St.Coletta of Greater Washington...

The district wharf on the Potomac River near Maine Avenue on the southwest waterfront, as well as the original "engine building" (white structure ), was built under the New Deal. The wharf is the site of the rebuilt Maine Avenue Fish Market. Apparently, the funding came from the Public Works Administration (PWA).  Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees participated the construction – and it seems likely the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was also involved, given the nearby work by the WPA along the southwestern waterfront. The brief history on the DC wharf's website calls it the "30s Renaissance": "During the 1930s, the Southwest Waterfront underwent...

The Doctors Park Bathhouse in Bayside, Wisconsin, a northern suburb of Milwaukee, is adjacent to Tietjen Beach on Lake Michigan and within 75 feet of the shoreline. This former bathhouse was constructed as a Work Projects Administration (WPA) project in 1939-1940, part of a far broader county-wide park improvement program undertaken by the New Deal agency. While the park straddles Bayside and Fox Point, the bathhouse is located north of the border, in Bayside. For many decades the bathhouse provided a place to change into a swimsuit and shower off sand before heading for home. the building housed lifeguards to...

This city hall resides in the heart of downtown Dorris and along Hwy 97. It is a stone structure built in 1935 with funds provided by the WPA. The city hall was built for $20,000. No noticeable plaque was located on the outside of the building. There may be a plaque inside.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded a major rebuild of the former Patrick Henry Elementary School (now the Downtown High School) in San Francisco, California. In December 1933, the San Francisco Board of Education decided to remodel the 3-story, wooden Patrick Henry Elementary School for seismic reasons and the work was carried out in 1935-36, replacing much of the old school with an elegant Moderne structure. In the 1950s, the rest of the old school was torn down and rebuilt to match the 1930s additions. According to Verplanck & Graves (p. 109): "The remodel, designed by architects Gardner A. Dailey and Wilbur...

Doyle Field is a football & softball field next to a PWA built auditorium. An article in the Bangor Daily News November 14, 1933 has an article about City Manager F. D. Farnsworth submitting a request for Federal assistance to help improve the Brewer Athletic field which was then called Legion Park. Original design was for the building of a cinder track, an extensive drainage system and the leveling of the football field. The Feb. 22nd issue said that 61 men were employed, however due to cuts, hours were reduced from 24 to 40 and hourly pay cut from 50...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) prepared Dry Lagoon State Park for public use. The work was carried out between 1933 and 1937 by Company 1903 at Camp Prairie Creek, from where the CCC worked on state parks all along the north coast of California. The CCC enrollees built a park boundary fence and demolished the remains of the derelict Dry Lagoon Farm (Dry Lagoon had become a meadow and marsh after being drained for farming in the 19th century). They returned the area to a more native landscape by planting rhododendrons, ceanothus and other coastal vegetation and clearing the beach of...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established a camp 23 miles north of Monticello  in San Juan County, in the southeast corner of Utah. CCC teams worked around Dry Valley, Indian Creek, Blanding, Monticello and La Sal, building fences and corrals; flood control and erosion works, including reseeding, revegetation and cultivation; telephone lines; and  campgrounds.  The CCC men also built the road through the Abajo Mountains from Monticello to Blanding.  Nothing remains of the camp except ruins of the camp gate, building foundations, the access road and an old Pontiac -- all of which are well documented by Mary Cokenour on her blog site...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded a new Duchesne High School in 1936, near an earlier structure built in 1907 that the school had outgrown. It was expanded in 1965 and then demolished in 1980, to be replaced by the present structure.

The town's annual report from 1934 reports that: "The Federal Emergency Relief Administration aided greatly in improving our school buildings and grounds... The Duck Cove building was painted inside and outside and the roof shingled." The Duck Cove school building still stands: "Built in 1895, this wood frame one-room schoolhouse served as a school until 1943, and been owned by a local community organization since. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993... It was transferred to the Duck Cove Community Club , which has maintained it and used it has a clubhouse since then."  (Wikipedia)

The Civil Workers Administration (CWA) improved a road into Clifton Basin located above the town about 4 miles. The overall length of the improved route was about a mile long and allowed a smoother, less steep, and less dangerous route into the National Forest lands of Clifton Basin and beyond. Presumably, part of the reason for the improved route was to make the harvesting of fuel for homes in the form of trees much more convenient. This project was awarded via the CWA as Clifton Wood Road Project 21 B1-15 in 1933.  

Although Duniway Park was founded in 1918 to serve residents in south Portland, improvements had been limited and those who used it complained of the odors associated with the landfill that originally established the playground area. In 1934, the Oregon's State Emergency Relief Agency (SERA) authorized funds to improve the park. SERA was funded by the Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA) during 1934-1935. FERA operated from May 12, 1933 through 1935 when it was replaced by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as the New Deal's primary work relief program. One of the city's major newspapers, The Oregonian, reported that the SERA funded...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a shop building, incinerator plant, and remodeled the bus stop at Durham High School.  It appears that the shop building still stands, if considerably altered.  There is no sign of the incinerator and the bus stop could not be located.

On August 22, 1935, the Grant County Board of Education submitted a WPA proposal to build a new school in Dwyer, a homesteading community straddling the Mimbres River, 40 miles southeast of the county seat in Silver City. The board had been busy the summer and into the fall, preparing similar project proposals for far-flung rural school districts in the county. It justified the need for the Dwyer school, stating in the application that the original adobe schoolhouse, constructed 30 years prior, “is unsafe and is beyond repair. It is poorly lighted and hard to heat sufficiently for pupils’ needs,” concluding, “a...

In 1941, the Washington Post reported the start of a $1,158,000 road paving program carried out by the Public Roads Administration division of the Federal Works Administration (FWA). One of the streets slated to be paved was E Street between 21st and 22nd Streets, NW. That stretch of E Street has been modified by subsequent construction of the E Street Expressway.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built sewer lines in front of the Washington Auditorium in Washington DC. Pictured are work crews building the sewer lines in 1936. The Washington Auditorium, built in the 1920s and demolished in 1964, was located on E Street NW.  The site is now an extension of Rawlins Park. Washington Auditorium hosted the inaugural ball of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration leased the entire building in 1935 – which may be why a new sewer was put in place in front.  It subsequently held the US Geological Survey and other federal offices.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) had a camp at Steamboat Creek from 1933 to 1941. It was a US Forest Service camp serving Umpqua National Forest.  The enrollees made many improvements along the North Umpqua River, including campgrounds, trails and bridges. One of the campgrounds developed by the CCC was at Eagle Rock along Highway 138.

WPA Proj. No. 646-02-2-300, $2,200, June 7, 1938. "Make improvements to the City Park in the city of Parlier, Fresno County, including constructing restroom with utility connections, wading pool, swings, sand boxes, and other recreational facilities; grading and oiling roads; landscaping; removing and transplanting trees; and performing appurtenant and incidental work. City-owned property. In addition to projects specifically approved." Total Federal and sponsor funds $3,100, average employed 19. During a February 2018 site visit, the WPA built toilets appeared to be non functional. Newer toilets were located on the other side of the park. There was no wading pool and swings. Most likely,...

One of the original program markers from 1937, installed by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. The West Virginia historical marker program began in 1934 with the beginning research for the markers with the intention of placing markers around the state to encourage tourism. Dr. Roy Bird Cook, a Charleston druggist, a longtime commission member, and avocational historian worked on the project. 5,000 sites were collected with 440 markers selected by the commission for placement. Most of these along 44 state and federal highways. The money came from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). In addition to the markers,...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up five camps in the East Bay hills, starting in 1933-34 and carrying on until 1942.  From those camps, the "CCC boys" set out into the newly-created East Bay regional parks to do a wide range of improvements, such as clearing brush, planting trees, building roads and trails, and laying out picnic areas. The first camp was set up at Wildcat Canyon at the present site of the Tilden Environmental Education (Nature) Center.  About 3,500 young men rotated through Camp Wildcat Canyon.  As Eugene Swartling, who supervised the camp, recalls, "these young men were not being...

New Deal work relief and conservation crews cleared hundreds of acres of trees and brush and planted hundreds of thousands of trees and shrubs in three of the original units of the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD):  Tilden, Temescal, and Redwood Regional Parks.   This work was part of a major New Deal effort to aid the newly-created Parks District (1934) in improving  its parks for public recreation, direct by the Parks District's first general manager, Elbert Vail.  The natural landscape of the Oakland-Berkeley hills was mostly grassland, with some oak-chaparral woodlands, riparian vegetation and patches of redwood (all of which had...