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  • Ice Arena (demolished) Improvements - Seattle WA
    Seattle's old Ice Arena, built in 1915, gained a number of improvements from the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938. A WPA press release from January 1938 detailed the nature of the works to be carried out: "Modernizing of the Seattle Civic Auditorium and Ice Arena by WPA workers will begin January 21 with the aid of $21,539 in Federal funds, it was announced today by Don G. Abel, state Works Progress Administrator. ...In the Ice Arena new bleacher seats are planned. New lockers and benches will be made for the dressing rooms, and the broadcasting house is slated for complete...
  • Idaho Falls Power Dam - Idaho Falls ID
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built or improved a power dam in the city of Idaho Falls, Idaho.  Judging from the photograph on the WPA record card in the National Archives, the dam is the one across the Snake River just above the Idaho Falls, which diverts part of the river into the hydroelectric power station run by Idaho Power Company. (The card gives the location as Briggs, Bonneville County, but there is no such place) The diversion from the falls to the power plant is obscured by a highway bridge and park in the middle of the river below the...
  • Idlewild Campground - Malheur National Forest OR
    The Canyon Creek Crier: 1940 provided the following description of work to be undertaken by CCC workers in the fall of 1940: "Tall, yellow pine timber stands like primeval cathedrals near the southern bounds of the Malheur National Forest and here we find Idlewild, a most ideal locality for an overnight camp. With this in mind the Forest Service plans the construciton of a camp site water system, outdoor kitchen stoves, picnic tables and benches and the customary sanitary facilities essential for a recreational campsite." The Idlewild Campground was the more ambitious of the two campgrounds built by members of Company 1231...
  • Illahee Flats CCC Camp - Umpqua National Forest OR
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) had a camp at Illahee Flats, in the North Umpqua River Valley in Oregon.  We do not know the exact years the camp was active, but enrollees from this camp almost certainly built the wooden Illahee lookout tower eight miles farther up FS-4760. The gazebo across the road from Illahee Flats is not CCC; it was built in 1928, burned in 1997 and rebuilt by the US Forest Service, along with a restroom and picnic tables. The main part of Illahee Flats is empty meadow.  There is no obvious trace of the CCC camp left nor of...
  • Independence Low Dam - Independence IA
    Just before the phase-out of the CWA began in January 1934, the City of Independence applied successfully for CWA funds to build a trio of small dams across the Wapsipinicon at Independence downstream from the city’s mill dam. On further investigation by the county engineer, the number of dams was reduced to two, and later to one. This dam, now known as the Independence Low Dam, spans the river at the northwest corner of Oak Grove Cemetery. The original plans called for multiple three-foot dams constructed of rock and other materials, but eventually a single four-foot dam was constructed of...
  • Indian Creek Treatment Plant - Cincinnati OH
    Several New Deal programs involved the development of sewer and water systems across the United States. The Cincinnati Indian Creek Water Waste Treatment Plant is one such example of New Deal-funded infrastructure upgrade. It was completed by the Works Progress Administration. The Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati (MSD) reports that the WPA constructed the plant in 1935, and that it remains operational today. Today the Cincinnati Indian Creek Water Waste Treatment Plant removes pollutants from industrial waste and processes more than 1 million gallons of water a day in the Cincinnati area.  
  • Infirmary Building, Missouri State Hospital Number 3 - Nevada MO
    The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction the Infirmary Building, Missouri State Hospital Number 3 in Nevada, Vernon County. The Infirmary was part of a larger program in the state of Missouri that sought to rehabilitate overcrowded healthcare and penal facilities. Funding for the program came from a state bond that was matched by a PWA grant of eight million dollars. The program employed 34 architectural firms. The building was designed by the Kansas City architecture firm Caroll and Dean. A plaque located at the entrance and bearing the date 1937 reads, “Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works Project Number 5131-1.”...
  • Infrastructure Improvements - Seabrook NH
    The New Deal provided much help in this small coastal community of 1,606 (1930 population). Between 1933 and 1939, the RFC, the WPA and the NYA undertook improvements in the town, including sewer maintenance, road work, surveying sidewalks and other improvements.
  • Ingleside State Hospital - Hastings NE
    In November 1935, federal Public Works Administration (PWA) Administrator Harold Ickes allotted $237,200.00 to the Hastings State Hospital for three units in the institution’s building plans. Together with the $290,000.00 provided by the state legislature, the allotment raised the total amount of funds to be spent to $527,200.00 for the construction of a new hospital building, a building for the night watch, and a sewage disposal plant. Kenneth Gedney was hired to be the architect for these improvements. Bids were called in December 1935. The bid for excavating the basement of the night watch building was given to F. C. Hageman...
  • Interstate 70 - Glenwood Canyon CO
    Interstate 70 travels through Glenwood Canyon, east of Glenwood Springs, Colorado.  The highway follows the route of the first road through the canyon, constructed under the Federal Bureau of Public Roads during the New Deal.
  • Irion County Courthouse - Mertzon TX
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided funding and labor toward the development of the Irion County Courthouse in Mertzon, Texas. It is unclear whether the WPA was directly involved in the building's construction or if it undertook landscaping efforts around the courthouse square. Per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "total cost of the building and landscaping will be $110,000." Irion County Seat Moved In Election By a vote of 453 to 222 nine more than a two-thirds majority, Irion county voted today to move its county seat from Sherwood to Mertzon. A $90.000 bond issue was voted in June and a $40.000 grant from...
  • Island Campground - Umpqua National Forest OR
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) had a camp at Steamboat Creek from 1933 to 1941.  The enrollees made many improvements around area in Umpqua National Forest, working under the US Forest Service, including campgrounds, trails and bridges. One of the campgrounds developed by the CCC was Island Campground along the North Umpqua River and Highway 138.  It is a small, plain campground without special features.
  • Iverson Park - Stevens Point WI
    Jules Iverson Memorial Park in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, named for a local philanthropist, is at 121 acres the city's largest park and its most heavily used. It is located in a basin created by the shallow, meandering Plover River, which provides the park with its swimming hole, and its lovely water landscape. In 1935 the City Council designated the City Manager to apply for Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds to improve the park after about half the land had been donated by Mr. Iverson. Between 1935 and 1940, 395 local men were employed by the WPA to drain swampy areas,...
  • Jack Peters Creek Bridge - Mendocino CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) played an important role in the construction of highway 1 along the California coast during the 1930s – most famously along the Big Sur coastline. WPA crews also worked on highway 1 in Mendocino County, where they built three new bridges  — Jack Peters Creek bridge, Russian Gulch bridge and Jug Handle Creek bridge. Jack Peters Creek bridge, completed in 1939, is a concrete stringer bridge, 223 feet long with a central span of 90 feet. Like the others, Jack Peters Creek bridge has a date stamp but no other marking as to its origins with the WPA. According...
  • Jackson Barracks Improvements - New Orleans LA
    Jackson Barracks was established in the early 19th century. It was transferred from the US Army to the state National Guard in the 1920s. "From 1936 to 1940, Louisiana adjutant general Raymond H. Fleming utilized the federal Works Progress Administration to provide renovation and new construction to the post. Included in the WPA project was a new headquarters building, later dedicated to the Louisiana commander... Fleming Hall served as the Guard's state headquarters until Hurricane Katrina. Just prior to the storm, it suffered a fire. It has since been restored and is in use as a conference building."   (https://neworleanshistorical.org) "In August 2005,...
  • Jackson Park Improvements - San Francisco CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) gave Jackson Park a facelift during the 1930s, or what the City Engineer called "General repairs and dressing up" (Healy, p. 58). We have no evidence on what, if any, traces remain of the WPA work. The park's recreation hall and ballfields were created by the SF Parks and Recreation Commission many year earlier and Jackson Park is where Major League baseball star Tony Lazzeri practiced as a kid. The WPA worked on many of the city's parks and playgrounds during the New Deal.
  • James A. Redden Federal Courthouse Extension - Medford OR
    The Medford OR post office and courthouse was originally constructed in 1916. An extension was added by the Treasury Department in 1940.  Treasury's Procurement Division was responsible for all federal buildings at the time and Louis A. Simon was the supervising architect. The extension was designed to match the original building, but it is clearly visible from the side wall joint, change in the bricks used and the plain roof line. The building is still in use by the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. It was renamed the James A. Redden Federal Courthouse in 1996.
  • James F. Doughty School - Bangor ME
    Original name was the Fifth Street Junior High School "The two new junior high schools in Bangor were built and equipped at the cost of $740,000. Every cent of this was paid by the W.P.A. (Works Projects Administration) City Manager Wallace designed the two school grounds. The new Fifth Street Junior High School is surrounded by walks, a cyclone fence, shrubs, vines, and trees. Approximately 2,000 feet of concrete walks were constructed in front of the both new Junior High Schools in Bangor. There is a tarred driveway encircling the building with a parking area at each end. Over 1 1/3 miles...
  • James J. Hill Statue Parkway and Base - St. Cloud MN
    A Works Progress Administration (WPA) group laid the parkway and constructed the base for a monument to James J. Hill on the banks of Lake George in Saint Cloud's Eastman Park. Hill, historian Bill Morgan noted, had established the Great Northern Car Shops in the neighboring city of Waite Park and “made enemies among his competitors and employees during his 60-year career,” but remained “a mythic hero to the Great Northern shopworkers of St. Cloud and Waite Park.” While an earlier submission by a former Great Northern carshop employee, Jacob L. Hohman, had been rejected in the 1920s, progress toward...
  • James M. Shields Memorial Gymnasium - Seymour IN
    The Works Progress Administration built the James M. Shields Memorial Gymnasium in Seymour IN. Former high school gymnasium, now (February 2023) all but abandoned by a private owner. Perennial presence on Indiana Landmarks' Ten Most Endangered list.
  • James T. Saban Lookout - Bighorn National Forest WY
    Company 1811 of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the High Park Fire Lookout in 1942. It is a typical Forest Service design of the time, made of stone and wood. The lookout was staffed with paid fire watchers until the late 1970s, but is no longer in active use. It is today a popular recreation spot for visitors to Bighorn National Forest. The High Park Fire Lookout was renamed after James Torrey Saban in 2015 to commemorate his service as a Forest Ranger and foreman in the CCC. He died while fighting the 1937 Blackwater Fire. The lookout was placed on the National...
  • Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park: Amphitheater - Crescent City CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in the 1930s.  The major CCC contribution was the Jedediah Smith campground, which is just off state highway 199 west of the village of Hiouchi. The campground includes an amphitheater (called the Campfire Center) for ranger presentations to visitors.  It sits next to the small visitors' center in the campground. The Campfire Center contains a dozen or so banks of seats, carved from whole redwood logs and arranged in a semi-circle. It has a stone campfire pit, a modern chalkboard/screen, and a stone drinking fountain.  Because...
  • Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park: Campground - Crescent City CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in the 1930s.  The major CCC contribution was the Jedediah Smith campground, which is just off state highway 199 west of the village of Hiouchi. Engbeck (2002) notes that, "CCC Company 1903, of Camp Prairie Creek, built a new entrance road and a park custodian's residence. They built a campground near the Smith River with a footbridge over the river, connecting the campground with the ancient redwoods of the Stout Grove. The campground included tables, stoves, cupboards, and restrooms." The large campground is still there and in...
  • Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park: Development - Crescent City CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the initial development of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in the 1930s. The area where the CCC did its work is along state highway 199, just west of the village of Hiouchi and a few miles east of Crescent City, California.  This remains the only significantly developed part of this large park, with its many groves of enormous, first-growth redwoods, such as Stout Grove. Engbeck (2002) notes that, "CCC Company 1903, of Camp Prairie Creek, built a new entrance road and a park custodian's residence. They built a campground near the Smith River with a...
  • Jefferson Field - Washington DC
    In October 1942, the Washington Post reported the allocation of $19,627 to the Federal Works Agency (FWA) for new construction and improvements at the Jefferson Recreation Center adjacent to Jefferson Middle School in the city's southwest quadrant.  In a previous article in July 1942, the paper reported the allocation of five acres for a Southwest Sports Area at the same site, which must have become the Jefferson Recreation Center.  The site is now called simply "Jefferson Field".  Jefferson Field includes a baseball diamond, soccer field and tennis courts, plus what appears to be the original field house (with a modern ramp).  The Jefferson...
  • Jefferson Nickel – Washington DC
    The Jefferson nickel, an essential coin in Americans' pockets for over fifty years, was designed and first minted during the New Deal. On March 6, 1938, The Sunday Star newspaper (Washington, DC) reported that, “The Section of Painting and Sculpture, Procurement Division, Treasury Department, announces a competition for a design for a new 5-cent coin, to be known as the ‘Jefferson Nickel.’” The award was $1,000 (about $20,000 in 2021 dollars). The judges of the competition were: Nellie Tayloe Ross, director of the U.S. Mint; Sidney Waugh, creator of several New Deal artworks; Albert Stewart, whose sculptures adorn the San Francisco Mint;...
  • Jepson Brook Sewer - Lewiston ME
    "ERA BUILDS A SEWER SYSTEM by Frank Gibson The City of Lewiston has been confronted with a serious situation caused by a stagnant and disease-ridden brook which flowed through the sub-urban section of the city. Valuable land was going to waste as people did not care to build in this section on account of the oder that arose from this brook during the summer months. Money was appropriated by the city officials to put in a drainage system, but due to the fact that only small amounts could be appropriated yearly it would have taken twenty years to complete this sewer...
  • Jersey Island Levee Development - Oakley CA
    Jersey Island sits right on the outskirts of Oakley, California and consists of approximately 3,200 acres and 16 miles of levees located in Contra Costa County in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region. Jersey Island is owned and operated by Ironhouse Sanitary District. Ironhouse's recycled water is sent to Jersey Island to 450 acres of irrigated field that grows 2,000 tons of hay per year. Part of the hay is fed to approximately 2,200 head of cattle owned by Ironhouse. The rest is sold to feed lots in the Central Valley and local ranches. Ironhouse leases property on Jersey Island for...
  • John Day Highway Improvements - Fossil OR
    A late 1936 public announcement indicated that a contract had been awarded to Fisher Bros. of Oregon City to grade and resurface 4.1 miles of the Fossil-Kinzua junction of the John Day Highway during the following year. The Oregon State Highway Commission announced that the 1937 road maintenance budget topped $3,000,000, an increase of $150,000 due to the state's growing highway miles. Reflecting the Public Works Administration's (PWA) contribution to the state's transportation infrastructure, projects could be completed in counties throughout the state. That included this important section of roadway between Fossil, Wheeler County's county seat, and Kinzua, the site of...
  • John Henry Kirby Memorial State Forest - Warren TX
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) completed reforestation and improvement work at the John Henry Kirby Memorial State Forest. The work included tree planting and timber stand improvement—a forest management method that supports tree growth. The CCC also built a residence, park roads and bridges, fire breaks, and a fire lookout tower. The John Henry Kirby Memorial State Forest was founded in 1929, when lumber baron John Henry Kirby donated 639 acres of land to the Texas Forest Service. When the land was deeded to the State of Texas, the forest on the property had been cut off. The CCC's work sought to remedy the impact of intensive...
  • Johnson County Fairground - Franklin IN
    The Works Progress Administration built the Johnson County Fairground in Franklin IN.
  • Johnson Lake Trail - Great Basin National Park NV
    Lehman Caves National Monument was established in 1922 and put under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service in 1933. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) arrived in 1934, setting up a camp and going to work on improvements to make the monument more welcoming for visitors. One of their tasks was to construct part of the Johnson Lake Trail.  We have no information on what other trails the CCC enrollees built in the park. The monument was incorporated into a new Great Basin National Park in 1986.  
  • Joyce Kilmer Memorial Fireplace - St. Paul MN
    The Joyce Kilmer Memorial Fireplace is a unique New Deal project located in Como Park in St. Paul. Saint Paul Almanac: "Labor for the fireplace was provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a federal relief program that provided jobs for unemployed workers during the Great Depression. An old newspaper article said that the stone used to build the fireplace came from the Saint Paul City Hall, which had been demolished three years earlier in 1933."
  • Jug Handle Creek Bridge - Mendocino CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) played an important role in the construction of highway 1 along the California coast during the 1930s – most famously along the Big Sur coastline. WPA crews also worked on highway 1 in Mendocino County, where they built three new bridges  — Jack Peters Creek bridge, Russian Gulch bridge and Jughandle Creek bridge.  Jughandle Creek bridge, completed in 1938, is 388 feet long, with a central span of 210 feet.  It is a concrete open-spandrel arch design. It was renovated in 1966. Like the others, Russian Gulch bridge has a date stamp but no other marking as to...
  • Juniata Park - Juniata NE
    The city of Juniata was given a Works Progress Administration (WPA) grant in the amount of $8,014.00 for park improvements.
  • Junior High School (former) Addition - Corsicana TX
    The Frank N. Drane school was erected in 1930, though it received an east wing addition built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938. A plaque in the front hallway says, "This school is dedicated to the enrichment of life, the spirit of youth measured by progress, activity, friendliness, co-operation, idealism, and character and good citizenship." This school is now known as "Sam Houston Elementary," although the engraved former name still resides above the entrance. Formal Approval of WPA Project Received here late Tuesday / A crew of forty workmen began early Wednesday morning removing fixtures from the old junior...
  • Junipero Serra Statue - Carmel CA
    In 1937, Remo Scardigli created a redwood sculpture of Father Junipero Serra, the founder of the Spanish Mission system in 18th century Alta California.  Scardigli's work was sponsored by the Federal Art Project (FAP).  The sculpture stood for 50 years in Devendorf Park in the center of Carmel, but was removed sometime around 2015 when passions flared over the beatification of Father Serra by Pope John-Paul II and another statue of Serra at Carmel Mission was damaged. The Scardigli sculpture is reportedly in storage with the city Public Works department, as of 2023. Father Serra's remains are buried at the foot of...
  • Justice Wakefield Taylor Courthouse Improvements - Martinez CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out improvements on the county Hall of Records building in Martinez CA, constructed in 1932, which is now known as the Justice Wakefield Taylor Courthouse (California State Superior Court). There were three different projects approved for the Hall of Records, in 1935, 1936 and 1937, for a total of over $28,000, according to WPA Project Cards in the National Archives.  The work specified included partitions of work areas, wiring, fixtures, and heating in the courts and painting, wiring and a burglar alarm system in the Hall of Records. The Taylor Courthouse (originally the county Hall of...
  • K Street NW Water Main - Washington DC
    In 1938-1939, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed a new Water Main on K Street, between 27th and 29th Streets NW.  The Annual Report of the DC government provide details:  “A 24-inch steel main, totaling 530 linear feet in K Street between Twenty-seventh and Twenty-ninth Streets NW. This main, under taken as a W. P. A. project, is an extension of the Washington Circle contract, and is a major link in the work necessary to change the 30-inch main in M Street from gravity to first high service.”  The main may still be in place, but would be invisible to everyone but the...
  • Kansas School for the Deaf: Dormitory - Olathe KS
    Still an integral part of the Kansas School for the Deaf campus, this building, originally built as a dormitory, was constructed as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project. The core of the building is now known as the Stanley D. Roth Administration Building, and is flanked by residences on either side. Based on a 2023 visit, the building bears no cornerstone or PWA plaque. It is across the street from the Museum of Deaf History, Arts and Culture. Short and Stanley-Brown: This new dormitory for the State School for the Deaf replaces old buildings constructed more than 60 years ago which were...
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