Unmarked Sites

From 1936 to 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) did renovations and upgrades to Fort Baker, an Army base on the north side of the Golden Gate dating from the early 1900s. One project included renewal of the storm water drainage system, repair of the electric and water distribution system, and three new fire hydrants. It also included installation of a steam heating system in Barracks No. 1 (structure no. 602), which had been heated by fireplaces. (Thompson, p. 59) Most of the buildings got a new coat of paint, inside and out. Latrines, kitchens, and mess halls received two coats of paint.  Later,...

Fort Bunker Hill was a part of the Civil War ring of forts defending the capital. The site was transformed into a park in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as a park for a recently built suburban neighborhood. Sadly, it has been abandonned by the city park authorities and left in an overgrown and dilapidated condition. A HABS report details the CCC development of the park: “By the end of 1935, CCC work had begun at the site with Camp NP-11-DC planting trees and constructing walks.  Work at the site continued into at least early 1937.  This Camp and...

Fort Douglas was expanded during the New Deal, including several buildings and improvements to the water and street systems.  The CCC took over a warehouse (building 101) and added stables and quarters along both sides.  The PWA funded the construction of large new barracks (building 100). The WPA added several homes for senior officers (buildings 621-625 on the central parade grounds, along De Trobriand Street) and non-commissioned officers (buildings 658, 600, 664, 665, 666 on Connor Road), along with entrance columns.  The WPA also built a recreation building and swimming pool (no longer extant), bath house and a gas station (modified from...

Fort Douglas was expanded during the New Deal, including several buildings and improvements to the water and street systems.   The PWA funded the construction of large new barracks (building 100).   The CCC also took over a warehouse (building 101) and added stables and quarters along both sides. The WPA added several homes for senior officers (buildings 621-625 on the central parade grounds, along De Trobriand Street) and non-commissioned officers (buildings 658, 600, 664, 665, 666 on Connor Road), along with entrance columns, and other improvements. More photos of WPA work during the 1930s are in the archives of the library at the University of...

Fort Douglas was expanded during the New Deal, including several buildings and improvements to the water and street systems.  The CCC took over a warehouse (building 101) and added stables and quarters along both sides.   In addition, the PWA funded the construction of large new barracks (building 100) and the WPA added several homes for senior officers (buildings 621-625 on the central parade grounds, along De Trobriand Street) and non-commissioned officers (buildings 658, 600, 664, 665, 666 on Connor Road), along with other improvements. More photos taken by the WPA during the 1930s are in the archives of the library at the University of...

According to Work: A Journal of Progress, Works Progress Administration (WPA) crews did roadway excavation and other work on Fort Drive in Fort Reno Park, in front of the Alice Deal School, as well as landscaping the slopes of nearby Reno Road  in 1936.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out pavement repair and other, unspecified improvements to a segment of Fort Drive NW, near Nebraska Avenue, in 1935-36. The work was part of the $949,496 WPA allotment for DC roadwork for fiscal year 1936.   The work is likely still extant, but invisible beneath subsequent repairs and paving.    

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of a community building for the Fort Dupont Dwellings and surrounding area, ca. 1939-1941. It is unknown to the Living New Deal if this building still exists. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced unsafe alley dwellings in Washington, DC with more modern and affordable houses and apartments. The ADA existed from 1934-1943 as a federally controlled special authority. It then slowly evolved into today’s DC Housing Authority, an independent agency of the DC Government. The Fort Dupont Dwellings Community Building was part...

Fort Knox is a massive granite fort built to protect the Penobscot river in the aftermath of the failure of the US to protect river towns and the valuable lumber trade from British depredations during the Revolution, the War of 1812, and northern border tensions around 1838-39. Construction began in 1844 and continued until 1869. It was used intermittently and never saw action. In 1923, the US military sold it as surplus to the State of Maine for $2,121. During 1935-1936, a work crew from the Ellsworth CCC Co. 159 helped transform the fort into a major tourist destination. According to...

Fort Mahan, in NE Washington DC, was a part of the Civil War defensive ring of forts circling the capital. The site was transformed into a park in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  The CCC tasked Camp NP-11-DC (National Arboretum) with transforming a hillside site into a picnic grounds.  A HABS Survey Report provides details on the CCC improvements to the park and their current condition: “... In creating the grounds, the enrollees filled a borrow pit dug to provide fill for other area projects, channeled a spring, cleared trash and dead trees and brush, and graded the entire...

Per a historical account of Fort McCoy, written as a result of the base's 100th anniversary, it was mentioned that the WPA worked on post during the construction of Highway 21 near the Fort. This construction resulted in many buildings and two stone gates. Per the 2009 report, the two stone gates were the only structures that remained. This stone gate is located on Ginger Road just off of Highway 21 going into South Post. This gate is still standing but it has degraded with time. Ginger Road leads to the current base housing unit for permanent Soldiers and families.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted restoration and preservation work at Fort Sewall in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

In 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted cleanup efforts at Fort Slocum Park, on the site of a Civil War-era fort, in the district's northeastern quadrant. Crews removed underbrush, poisonous plants, and dead trees to make the rustic park more salubrious for public use. The outline of the old earthworks of Fort Slocum are clearly visible in satellite view.

In 1934, Coconino county used federal funds to help widen, surface and oil three miles of dirt road from the north end of Beaver Street in Flagstaff to the city's reservoirs.  This was the first county road to be paved.  It fostered bigger ideas from Flagstaff's city fathers, who had long wanted a more direct route to the Grand Canyon around the west side of the San Francisco Peaks. In 1936, county engineer Clyde Etter proposed improving the old forest road through Fort Valley and extending it 50 miles to the Williams-Grand Canyon road (today's Highway 64).  The Works Progress Administration (WPA) agreed to...

In 1936, Work: A Journal of Progress reported the completion of a project by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to extend 44th Street NW,  from Dexter Street to W Street.  Today, 44th Street extends 1/4 mile south of Dexter, after which it becomes an unpaved walking path joining W Street in Grover Archbold Park.

Development of a "truck trail," as fire roads were called, was the first priority of the members of #2908 at Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp Nehalem when the camp opened in 1935. The camp was located on the edge of the Tillamook Burn. The Tillamook Burn of 1933 was the first of four successive, large forest fires in the northern Oregon Coast Range (1933; 1939; 1945; 1951) that destroyed thousands of acres of what was then private forest land. The 1933 fire burned through 240,000 acres, creating conditions that fueled future fires. At the time of the first fire, vehicle access...

Park Rustic-style pavilion constructed by the WPA in 1938. Rectangular in plan, the building is constructed of rustic stone with chamfered timber beams and has the form of an open pavilion with enclosed ends. The roof is covered with wood shingles and is hipped on the north end, while the south end has a parapetted gable with a massive stone chimney. There were two outdoor fire places on the south and one on the interior that have been infilled with stone. Flooring is stone and concrete. A former kitchen is located at the north end with two arched windows and a door....

Kalamazoo's Bronson Park featured an Art Deco-style fountain built with help from the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The fountain was located toward the east side of the park. Kalamazoo Business and Professional Women's Club held a competition, awarding the first place $250 prize to Marcelline Gougler, University of Illinois art instructor who had studied under well-known sculptor Alfonso Iannelli, designer of Pavilions at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair Center of Progress and student of Gutzon Borglum, Mount Rushmore sculptor. Iannelli was brought in to provide engineering and later Gougler, ceded the project to him. The fountain depicts a westward facing settler standing...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) lay a water main along Fourth Street SW in 1934.  At the time, the street was known as 4 1/2 street.  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.

According to a 1935 report of the New Hampshire Forestry Commission, the New Deal assisted in the initial development of the Caroline A. Fox Research and Demonstration Forest (Fox Forest) which has been the State of New Hampshire’s forest research station since 1933. The forest was a gift to New Hampshire from Miss Caroline Fox of Arlington, Massachusetts. Miss Fox spent her summers on the property and had an interest in forest management issues. Presently the forest contains 1,445 acres, the Henry I. Baldwin Forestry Education Center and a farm house/office. Fox Forest Research Research has been focused in two...

In 1942, the Oakland Recreation Department dedicated the newly renovated Recreation House at Park Boulevard and Newton Street – now the Recreation Center at Francis Marion Smith Park – which was completely remodeled with the help of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) (under the Federal Works Administration). The brick structure contains a large, open hall in Craftsman style and a kitchen on the first floor; there are play and club rooms in the basement (Oakland Tribune 1942).  It had previously been known as the Park Boulevard Clubhouse, a popular site for weddings, meetings, lectures and entertainments.   It remains in good condition. A...

From 1913 to 1917, while FDR was Assistant Secretary of the Navy, the Roosevelts lived at 1733 N Street, NW.  They rented this home from Anna Roosevelt Cowles, or “Auntie Bye,” who was Teddy Roosevelt’s sister. It appears the house is no longer extant.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the Franklin Senior High School in Franklin IN. The architects of record were McGuire and Shook. Currently the Alva Neal Community Office Building, served as the high school until 1960.

The University of Mississippi made application to the Public Works Administration September 7, 1935 for grants to help construct five fraternity houses and two sorority houses. Funds in the amount of $2,000 for each structure were requested from PWA, and the university would fund the remaining $3,000 per building.The university requested $45,454 for fraternity and sorority houses according to a separate Clarion-Ledger article.Architects began drawing up plans for the first of ten sorority and fraternity houses, and the establishment of “fraternity row” after being notified funds had been obtained reported architect E. L. Malvaney. Work was ordered to begin on...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of the Douglas Court Garages in Washington, DC between 1935 and 1936. This project consisted of sixteen 1-car garages (as well as a workshop) located on what is now Frederick Douglas Court NE. It appears that at least nine of the sixteen garages still exist. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced unsafe alley dwellings in Washington, DC with more modern and affordable houses and apartments. The ADA existed from 1934-1943 as a federally controlled special authority. It then slowly evolved into today’s...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of an administration and community building for the Frederick Douglass Dwellings and surrounding community, ca. 1940-1942. It is unknown to the Living New Deal if this building still exists. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It replaced unsafe alley dwellings in Washington, DC with more modern and affordable houses and apartments. The ADA existed from 1934-1943 as a federally controlled special authority. It then slowly evolved into today’s DC Housing Authority, an independent agency of the DC Government. The Frederick Douglass Dwellings Administration and...

In 1938, the Washington Post reported that the Public Works Administration (PWA) had funds to build a new tuberculosis unit with 150 additional beds at the Freedman's Hospital site. The same year, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) also did repairs at the former Freedman's Hospital in Washington DC.  WPA project cards in the National Archives state that the work to be done was to, "Clean and renovate Freedmen's Hospital buildings, including cleaning windows, washing walls, floors, woodwork, furnishings and small equipment". Freedmen's Hospital was established in 1862 to serve the thousands of African Americans who came to Washington during the Civil War, seeking their...

A $40,000 building was built at Fremont Elementary School under the WPA, the most extensive work done on any Riverside school. In the field of education, WPA relief was limited to repair and construction work. The WPA did work on seventeen Riverside area schools, with such tasks as painting Lincoln Elementary School, improving the Bryant Elementary School playgrounds, and rebuilding the Riverside City College chemistry lab. It appears from Google photos that the building constructed by the WPA is no longer extant. Newer looking buildings comprise the elementary school today.

Oakland's Fremont High School was destroyed by arson in 1930 and rebuilt in 1931. A new gymnasium for the school was financed with a 45% Public Works Administration (PWA) grant in 1938 and completed in 1939. The total cost was $192,000. The 1939 gym was built in a rather stern Moderne style.  It had collapsable bleachers so that it could serve both for sporting events and as an auditorium.  Carl N. Swenson Company was the builder. No trace of the old gym remains, as Fremont High is undergoing a complete renovation in 2020.    

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided the funds for the restoration and expansion of the historic French market along the waterfront of the Vieux Carré of New Orleans.  Short and Brown's 1939 compilation of important PWA projects has the following to say: "Along the Mississippi River water front in New Orleans is located a group of buildings comprising the old French market, which is one of the largest public markets in the United States. One of the buildings was erected during the Spanish domination in the eighteenth century, and it has been an object of interest to tourists for the past...

AN IMPORTANT 3-C ROAD "A small road project which is going to mean a lot to Mariposa, is the proposed state fire road from the Pine Tree mine around the northwest end of Mt. Bullion, up to the mouth of Sherlock creek. It is generally understood that this project will be carried out this year under the plans of R. H. Browne, working crews from Bootjack CCC camp. In addition to the original purpose of serving as a fire break in a hazardous section of the country, such a road would lead through and open up one of the most promising and least...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the Youngs Creek Bridge No. 1541 in Nallen WV. Excerpt from Legal Advertisement, Notice to Contractors, The Charleston (WV) Gazette, March 18, 1939, p. 11.: "Public Works Administration Project Docket 1197-F-- PWA 3163-B. Tyler Count. Frew Bridge No. 1538 & Approaches. One 20 Ft. Span Reinforced Concrete Arch and Grading, Draining, Macadam Base and Surface Treatment. Certified Check $2,400.00, W. Wa. State Employment Service, Parkersburg, W.Va."

Friendly Plaza is a small park in front of historic Colton Hall and the city hall of Monterey, California.  The brick courtyard of Friendly Plaza was a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project (Owens et al., 2004, p. 139).  The decorative stone wall around the plaza was probably also by the WPA, although Dennis Copeland, archivist and historian for the City of Monterey in the early 2000s, claimed that it was partly funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA).   Given the common confusion between PWA and WPA, both then and now, our guess is that both projects were undertaken by the WPA...

The Civilian Conservation Corps Veteran's Camp 1778 comprised of World War I Veterans constructed a state park on the former grounds of the Fort Hays Military Reservation in Hays, Kansas. The camp was located along the banks of Big Creek and the enrollees occupied buildings the present-day Fort Hays State University campus. The veterans constructed roads, bridges, and picnic areas that included limestone shelters and fire pits. The campers built a small dam in Big Creek to create a recreation area for fishing and boating. Some of these projects including the shelters were completed or maintained by the National Youth Administration. In...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a small museum for the town of Fruita, Colorado, in 1938-39. It is constructed in rustic style using large stones and timber gathered from the surrounding area. The building housed the Fruita Times in 1945 to 1948, then served as the Fruita Library from 1948 to 1996.  It is now home to the town's Chamber of Commerce. The Fruita Museum building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

The original Gallinger Hospital dates back to 1846, when the hospital was first located on the banks of the Anacostia River. The hospital moved to this site during the Civil War, with frame buildings meant to house wounded soldiers and more structures were added in 1923.  The hospital was abandoned in 1929, but the Works Progress Administration (WPA) rehabilitated the old complex in 1935-1936 for use as tuberculosis, child disability, psychiatric, and venereal disease wards. Work: A Journal of Progress reported: "The 45 buildings at Gallinger Hospital cover 65 acres. Under current appropriations funds have been allotted to permit the hiring of...

This PWA-constructed school is a combination of classrooms and an auditorium that is just south of the high school building.  It has a dark brick façade with the name and date clearly carved into the cornerstone. It is now Grundy County Middle School.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made extensive improvements around Mt. Tamalpais – a favorite hiking spot for San Franciscans all the way back to the Gold Rush era (1850s). A major feature of this work was a new fire lookout tower on the east peak of the mountain, which is in the Marin Municipal Water District area.  Built of native stone and wood,  the tower still stands.   As the plaque notes, the tower was renamed in 1937 in honor of the chief warden of Tamalpais Forest Fire District, who led the fight against a major fire in 1929 and died July 13,...

According to the community notes of April 25, 1935 Garrat Schenck School “During the vacation the FERA workers finished several very much needed bits of work for the school. A table for library use has been made for grade eight and a splendid cabinet has been constructed for scientific apparatus. Shelves have been placed in grades 3 and 4. Scrap lumber left by FERA workers will be utilized by the manual training department in their next project.”

The school is a brick building erected in 1924. There is a rubble rock retaining wall on two sides and a rubble rock stairway. An article entitled "Smith County WPA Projects Get Approval" from Tyler (Texas) Daily Courier Times dated 8/5/1935. "One project of considerable interest to Tyler provides for the landscaping and improvements of the Gary school ground on South Chilton, at approximate cost of $10,000 to $12,000. The plans provide for making the grounds one of the most beautiful in Texas, according to Superintendent J.M. Hodges. They call for a retaining wall around sections washed away, shrubbery around the...