Unmarked Sites

The East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) was formed in 1934 and acquired land for parks from the East Bay Municipal Water District in 1936.  The first parks were Tilden, Sibley, Temescal and Redwood in the East Bay Hills behind Berkeley and Oakland CA.   The New Deal provided extensive aid towards improving the new parks for public recreation, working with the Parks District's first general manager, Elbert Vail. Overall, the New Deal agencies spent roughly $3 million on the East Bay parks, about double the tax funds available to the EBRPD over the same period  (Stein 1984, p. 18) Even before the parks...

The East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) was formed in 1934 and acquired land for parks from the East Bay Municipal Water District.  The first parks were Tilden, Sibley, Temescal and Redwood in the East Bay Hills behind Berkeley and Oakland CA.   Even before the parks were acquired, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up camps in the hills and operated in the parks for the entire New Deal decade, 1933-42. The first camp was in Wildcat Canyon at the present site of the Nature Center. The first road built by CCC work crews was the Loop Road at the center...

In 1938-1939, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed a new Water Main on East Capitol Street, between 59th and 61st Streets NW. The Annual Report of the DC government provide details: “Undertaken with W. P.A. labor, a 20-inch main, totaling 685 linear feet, was laid in East Capitol Street between Fifty-ninth and Sixty first Streets, to serve new houses under construction. This main will eventually be extended to intercept a proposed 30-inch main in Minnesota Avenue and will extend from Minnesota Avenue and East Capitol Street to the east most extremity of the Anacostia first high service, completing a major trunk main through...

The CCC performed forestation work that included the “development of approximately 4,000 acres at the east end of St. Croix as a mahogany forest.”

East Potomac Park rests on an artificial peninsula created with dredge spoils from the Potomac River by the Corps of Engineers.  The park opened to the public in 1912 and was largely developed in the 1920s. A swimming pool had been contracted for in 1927 but never built.  So, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) stepped up in 1935 to take on the project – which was begun in 1936, interrupted by the Potomac flood that year, and completed afterward. The pool was located at the north end of the golf course and for three-quarters of a century it was a "favorite for...

East Potomac Park rests on an artificial peninsula created with dredge spoils from the Potomac River by the Corps of Engineers.  The park opened to the public in 1912 and was largely developed in the 1920s. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) both made improvements in East Potomac Park.  CCC work at the park featured the construction of twelve tennis courts surrounded by a 10-foot chain link fence. A HABS report provides the details: "The CCC constructed the tennis courts, and by extension the chain link fence, between 1938 and 1942.  Fieldwork conducted in 2004 found an extant, though...

The first East Shore highway along the Berkeley waterfront was built by the New Deal in 1933-34, with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) and relief labor from the Civil Works Administration (CWA). The PWA had financed the Bay Bridge and provide addition funds for access roads to the bridge from the East Bay, including the East Shore Highway. It was "one of the major arterials connecting with the San Francisco-East Bay Bridge," according to a Berkeley Civic Affairs Report of 1933. The WPA built the Berkeley Aquatic Park, which is formed by the causeway carrying the East Shore highway.  A...

The CCC built a set of three debris catchment basins below Eaton Canyon in 1940.

Eau Claire Senior High School was constructed in 1925-1926 to replace an aging structure on Lake and 4th St. The new high school had extensive basement renovation in the summer of 1938 carried out by the National Youth Administration (NYA), part of the Works Progress Administration. The work done to the structure allowed for a 20X60-foot room to be made to show films and slides. A steel backstop was added as well to create an indoor firing range for the High School .22 Rifle Club. The building now serves as the Eau Claire School District administrative offices.

Ecola State Park offers one of the most widely recognized views of the Pacific on the Oregon Coast. Development of the four miles of coastline for park began in 1934 with the work of CCC enrollees from CCC Camp Saddle Mountain (#1258). A number of CCC workers from Company #1258 were located in the 450-acre park from fall 1934 through the spring of 1936. During that time, under the direction of the National Park Service, they completed improvements including an access road, a water system, and a picnic area. They also constructed new trails through rugged terrain and engaged in forest...

Edmondson Hall, originally the west wing of the Men's Dorm, is now part of Collins Living-Learning Center, a dorm and classroom building for undergraduate students at Indiana University. It was constructed by the Federal Works Agency (FWA) in 1940.

A September 17, 1936 article in the Washington Post reported that Public Works Administration (PWA) funds had been allocated for roadway improvements in the city's southeastern quadrant: "The program calls for the widening and repaving of Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets between C and E streets and the north and south sections of E Street between Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets. Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets will be widened to 56 feet, or about 20 feet broader than at present."  This project was part of a massive New Deal program of street paving and upgrades around the city of Washington DC.  Most such work is...

Eighth Lake is one of the Fulton chain of lakes in the southwestern portion of the Adirondack Park in  upstate New York.  State route 28 passes along the lakes as it crosses the park.  The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established a camp between 7th and 8th Lakes in 1933 – named Eighth Lake camp (S-58), and started on forest clearance and navigation improvement projects between the lakes. The CCC 'boys' also started work on the 8th Lake Campground (which abuts 7th Lake, in fact) in 1933; but they had to leave for less harsh climes as winter set in. The next...

In 1933, the Washington Post reported the appropriation of $2,000 for unspecified repairs and $5,000 for removing old chimneys to the former State, War, and Navy Building – now known as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.    The 1888 building was supplanted by a new War Department building in 1941, which the War Department quickly left to occupy The Pentagon.  That building passed to the State Department and is still part of the Truman State Department complex.

Two separate WPA projects were initiated at this school that was built in 1930. Sponsor: El Portal Grammar School District WPA Proj. No. 65-3-3769, December 12, 1935, $2,567 "Painting inside walls, etc., on El Portal Grammar School." WPA Proj. No. 165-3-2074, December 11, 1936, $1,287, "Paint walls, window casings and make minor repairs to El Portal Grammar School, in El Portal, Mariposa County; also excavate and level school yard, repair road entrance and other work incidental thereto. In addition to projects specifically approved. El Portal Grammar School Dist. owned property." In 1963, a new school was constructed further down the road in a...

The 1936 elementary school was Pubic Works Administration project 1002. Total cost of the school with the auditorium and gymnasium was $61,631. Architects Overstreet and Town designed the facility in an Art Deco style and Joe Barras provided a bas relief sculpture for the building. M. T. Reed Construction Company won the general construction bid, and plumbing was done by Davis Plumbing with Joe Williams Electric providing the electrical wiring. The elementary school was destroyed by fire in 1954. The one-story concrete building containing six classrooms, auditorium, and gymnasium were all destroyed.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to Santa Marguerita Elementary School – then part of the Park Hill School District and now in the Atascadero Unified School District.  Only traces of the WPA work remain at the site. The work included repairing brick chimneys, moving a garage, and repairing school desks. The main improvements were to the site:  build a concrete retaining wall & backfill, level the ground around 'the teacherage' (school building?), and grade and level the playground, as well as build and repair play equipment. WPA project cards in the National Archives show that this work was originally approved...

Elephant Butte Tunnel is one of three tunnels blasted through granite by Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers along the Feather River Highway (present highway 70) in northeast California.  The tunnels were the final pieces in the construction of the Feather River highway by the State of California (1928-37). There is a curious discrepancy in the signs on the two entrances to the tunnel: one dates it to 1936 and the other to 1937. Both are likely true, in that the tunnel was probably begun in 1936 and finished a year later. Elephant Butte tunnel is the northern-most tunnel of the three. The...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to a lengthy segment of Eleventh Street SE, from Pennsylvania Avenue to Anacostia Bridge, in 1935-36. "Eleventh Street SE, from Pennsylvania Avenue to Anacostia Bridge, was widened and repaved with sheet asphalt pavement and a sharp curve at the approach to the bridge was eliminated. This roadway also carried car tracks, which were removed, and the pavement that was replaced consisted of granite block laid in 1889.” This work was part of the $949,496 WPA allotment for DC roadwork for fiscal year 1936. This WPA roadwork is probably not discernible today due to subsequent road maintenance,...

Elysian Heights Elementary School (today an Arts Magnet), which opened in 1915, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure that every member of...

As part of a grant to the Pueblo before it became the City of Los Angeles, Elysian Park is the oldest and second largest park in Los Angeles at 600 acres. A section of the park Montecillo De Leo Politi is a limited use area available by reservation. In 1936, the WPA constructed two tennis courts and two comfort stations there. Under project number 9907, it was sponsored by the City of Los Angeles, the cost was $211,942, and provided 358 men on average per month with employment for 9 months.

Located between Pendleton and La Grande, Oregon, near the summit of the Blue Mountains along Interstate -84, Emigrant Springs State Heritage Area offers an interpretation of the significance of this location on the Oregon Trail as it provides camping, picnicking, and hiking opportunities. While land acquisition for the park area began in 1925 and continued for nearly fifty years, significant improvement of the park for day use activities took place in the mid-1930s. A Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp was located at the site and assigned to the State Park Commission. From 1935 to 1937, CCC enrollees improved the area...

The original Eola School was built in 1928. In 1939, a five-room addition, a gym/auditorium, a rock wall, and two water towers were added with the help of Work Projects Administration (WPA) funds and labor. In 1983, the school closed. In 2005 the school was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is currently the Eola School Restaurant and Brewery. The five-room addition was added to the west side of the original building. It is constructed of rough faced limestone with brick trim. The gym/auditorium extends off the rear or north side. It is spanned by a barrel vault...

Until World War II, the site of present-day Camp Bowie was privately owned agricultural land. It is presently the site of Camp Bowie, a military installation owned by the Texas Military Department. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp 3818(V), active in Brown County from 1935 to 1936, was composed of 250 local veterans (hence the “V”) and was tasked with erosion control and drainage projects on privately owned land around Brown County. A few structures (now in ruins) likely built by CCC Camp 3818(V) remain on what became part of Camp Bowie, a military installation, at the start of World War...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the old Eureka Grade School in Eureka, Utah. The school was probably completed in 1939. The main two-story building and accompanying single story structure were designed by the architecture firm of Scott and Welch. The contractor of record was Tolboe & Tolboe. The style is brick Moderne, with a curved front on the smaller of the two buildings. The old grade school has been supplanted by a new Eureka Elementary School next door.  The main building of the old school is still being used for Adult School classes in 2023. The smaller building...

Portland's "Evergreen Cemetery" was improved by the WPA: "In 1936, the Public Works and Park Departments received $86,875 in WPA funds for engineering, supervision, a portion of the wages of skilled labor, equipment hire, and some materials. The Park Department used workers for grading and improvements at athletic fields, the golf course, and the city cemetery, and for pruning and spraying of trees along city streets."   (Conforti) The 140-acre (57 ha) historical portion of the cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

The WPA contributed $1,511 toward improvements for the Exchequer Grammar School. The work included the following tasks: "Improve school building lighting, leveling playground & building wall & frame." WPA Proj. No. 65-3-4630, February 8, 1936. Exchequer no longer exists. It was a mining town for the nearby Exchequer Mine and was serviced by the former Yosemite Valley Railroad. When the New Exchequer Dams height was raised in 1967 to increase the reservoir's capacity to 1,032,000 acre⋅ft, the town was inundated.

This limestone sculpture "Flood Control" by Karl Lang was created for the F. Edward Herbert Federal Building with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds.  It still graces the southeastern corner of the building.

This marble eagle statue  -- one of four at the entrances to the F. Edward Herbert Federal Building -- was produced with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds by Gifford Proctor.

This limestone sculpture "Harvesting Sugar Cane" by Armin Scheler was created for the F. Edward Hebert Federal Building and paid for with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds. It still graces the northeastern flank of the building.

The Skowhegan State Fair is “The Nations Oldest Consecutively Running Agricultural Fair” Celebrating 197 Years. During the Great Depression, various public works projects were initiated in town, including the construction of a grandstand for the racetrack. According to the Independent Reporter, "The Grandstand project which includes the construction of a ticket office and other improvements calls for four carpenters and two laborers. The amount appropriated in ERA funds is $891" A later article reports "The carpenter-foreman at the Fairgrounds is Ralph Buxton. At the time a crew is engaged in building a ticket office as part of the new grandstand equipment. "The Grandstand,...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the National Youth Administration (NYA) completed work for the Fair Park in Tyler TX. This is the location where the East Texas State Fair is held. In 1940 many old buildings were demolished and replaced by WPA workmen, including the headquarters building. Ornamental fence set around the pavilion and ornamental spiral staircases was made by NYA shops in Marshall.

In 1939, Rex Sorenson sculpted two 12-foot stone sculptures of Theodore Roosevelt and George Washington for Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, CA. Each was mounted on a three-to-four foot pedestal. Both sculptures were subsequently destroyed.

The Works Progress Administration built a two-room schoolhouse in the Fairland community near Marble Falls, Texas. The rock masonry building was completed by February 1940 under official project number 665-66-2-485. The building is currently a private residence.

Other small improvements were made by the WPA in Riverside in the area of culture and recreation. The zoo and tennis courts which had been built at Fairmount Park by the Emergency Relief Appropriations (ERA) in 1933 were supplemented in 1938 by the WPA’s construction of a Masonry Club House and a pistol range, both of which were to be available for public use. The zoo was removed in the 1950s. It is not known whether the current tennis courts are at the original site or relocated. The status of the Masonry club house is not known nor the pistol range.

In 1936, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed three buildings for what was then called the Bighorn Ranger Station at the east entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park – which was the original entrance on this side of the park. The group included a ranger office with garage, a ranger residence and secondary residence/utility building. The three structures were designed by Edward Nickel of the park service in the classic National Park rustic style popular in the first half of the 20th century. "The residence building particularly reflects the design characteristics of the style with its uncoursed native stone foundation, log...

A 2.1 mile segment of road was built in 1933-34 between the Fall River Road entrance and the junction with Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, completing a key link in the park's highway system.  The work was performed by the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) with financing by the Public Works Administration (PWA) in the amount of $32,000 and incidental labor by relief workers from the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  Fall River Road was the original entrance on the park's eastern boundary for access to Horseshoe Park.  Fall River Road was extended by...

Federal funds supported the construction of the Falls County Roadside Park in Marlin TX, on highway No. 6, south of Big Creek.  They most likely came from the Bureau of Public Roads to the Texas Highway Department, but that needs to be verified. "Shrubs, ornamental bushes and flowers will be placed along the highway for almost a quarter of a mile in the vicinity of the park, according to present plans. The park is being put in by the highway department with funds allotted by the federal government. The ground for the park was donated by J. G Bargnier, owner of...

Multiple New Deal work relief agencies were involved with developing the Farm Pond in Sherborn, Massachusetts, conducting work on the following: Bath House Recreational bath house facility designed and built by WPA/ERA. One-story cobblestone building with center gabled porch, shingled hipped roof, and secondary entries on east and west sides. This style reflects the WPA’s design concepts for natural recreation areas. Retaining Wall, Beach Enlargement & Landscaping WPA projects used local labor to enlarge the beach, construct the stone retaining wall along the back of the beach, remove stumps, and surface walks and driveways.

This section of Farm to Market Road (FM) 45 is a 4.6 mile two-lane paved road running in an east-west direction below the south corporate city limits of Brownwood. The Works Progress Administration constructed the road in 1941 as a new access road to Camp Bowie. The military reservation had been established a year earlier in September of 1940 as a training center for the Thirty-sixth Infantry Division, Texas National Guard. The camp expanded rapidly during the early years of World War II, increasing form its original 2,000 acres to 120,000 by October of 1942. As part of the expansion,...