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  • Lea Hall (ENMU) - Portales NM
    ENMU's Lea Hall was constructed as a New Deal project in 1936.  The Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) provided a $46,000 loan and $37,636 grant for the project, whose total cost was $85,034. P.W.A. Docket No. N.M. 7048
  • Lee School - Pauls Valley OK
    The Lee School is one of three schools built by the Works Progress Administration in Pauls Valley between 1939 and 1940. Contributor Note: "Lee Elementary School is located at 300 W. Bert at the corner of N. Ash Street, and is an active elementary school today. The streets in Pauls Valley run SE-NE/SW/NW. It has an Art Deco theme, which was rare for the architect Albert S. Ross. The school is a one story buff brick building constructed in an L-shape, with a flat roof. Additions added to each end later have been constructed to closely match the original. The windows are set...
  • Legation Street NW Construction - Washington DC
    In 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a new roadway at 30th Street, Military Road, and Legation Street in the district's northwest quadrant. It is not clear which road was new, but probably Legation Street.  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 invisible today beneath subsequent repavings.
  • Lehman Caves National Monument Improvements - 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. New Deal relief agencies came in to aid the Park Service in improving facilities at the park to make it more welcoming to the public. First to arrive was the Civil Works Administration (CWA) in the winter of 1933-34. Relief workers made repairs to the water line from Lehman Creek to the caves, the cave trail and the modest park buildings by the cave. In the summer of 1934, workers from the Transient Relief Camp at Lehman Creek did general clean-up...
  • Leland Street Sewer - Portland ME
    The Portland Department of Public Works rebuilt the sewer on Leland Street in Portland as part of a C.W.A Project No. 10-GG.
  • Lenexa Municipal Water System - Lenexa KS
    The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the Lenexa Municipal Water System in Lenexa KS. "Establishing a municipal water system occupied the mayor and council for sometime, and it was approved on October 1, 1935. A federal PWA project grant was received for $31,091 to help build the system." Long time Lenexa residents recall a water tower in what is now Old Town Lenexa that they believe was linked to this project. The water tower was dismantled in the 1970s or 80s.
  • Leo Petroglyphs and Nature Preserve - Leo OH
    The park features a Works Progress Administration (WPA) shelter protecting sandstone petroglyphs. The petroglyphs are thought to have been created by the Fort Ancient people. The WPA completed other work at the site.
  • Leon County Health Unit - Tallahassee FL
    The Leon County Health Unit was completed in 1940 as a $40,000 project jointly funded by Leon County, the City of Tallahassee, and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It was the first permanent home for the Leon County Health Unit, which was the oldest in the state and the first specially designed health unit built as a county WPA project in the state of Florida. The facility was a direct result of the Florida Health Unit Law of 1931, which authorized counties in Florida “to cooperate with the State Board of Health in the establishment and maintenance of full-time local health units...
  • Leon County Jail - Tallahassee FL
    The Leon County Jail was constructed in 1937 at a cost of $100,000, replacing an older jail located immediately adjacent. The new facility was segregated by gender, proving spaces for 72 men and 26 women. The jail featured common areas on the lower level, and included its own laundry, hospital ward, and living quarters for the jailer. The jail was designed by the prominent Tampa architect, Malachi Leo Elliot, working with contractor T. A. Monk. This same team concurrently designed and built the PWA-funded Leon High School, which was completed in early 1937. Today Leon High School, as well as several other...
  • Leonhardt Lagoon - Fair Park - Dallas TX
    The Leonhardt Lagoon was constructed with Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds in 1936. The lagoon named after philanthropist Dorothea Leonhardt and was built at the site of the Texas Centennial Exposition. "The man-made lagoon lies south of the Midway. It was constructed with funds from the WPA to serve as a peaceful, beautiful place to take a break from the bustle of the exposition exhibits. As part of the overall design, George Dahl placed it at the center of the civic section. Leonhardt Lagoon was surrounded by a science museum, an art museum, an aquarium, and a band shell. In 1981, Pat...
  • Letchworth State Park: Octagon Shelter - Castile NY
    The Octagon Shelter is one of two stone and wood shelters built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp SP-49 in Letchworth State Park. The shelter stands in the Lower Falls picnic area of Letchworth State Park.
  • Letchworth State Park: Stairway and Retaining Wall to Lower Falls - Castile NY
    Civilian Conservation Corps Company SP-49 built a stacked stone retaining way and stone staircase to allow visitors to Letchworth State Park access to the Lower Falls from the picnic area above the falls. Over 100 individual stone steps were installed and continue to be used.
  • Lewisport High School (former) - Lewisport KY
    The Works Progress Administration built the Lewisport High School in Lewisport, Hancock County, KY in 1938. The Lewisport High School was located on 2nd Street in Lewisport, KY from 1938-2018. In January 2018 it was demolished to be replaced with a new library.
  • Lewiston Pumping Station and Lighting Plant - Auburn ME
    In 1873, the Legislature granted permission to the cities of Lewiston and Auburn to take water from Wilson Pond (later renamed Lake Auburn). In 1880, the pump house to supply water to the city was built. By 1933/35 the annual address by the mayor mentioned that the condition of the pump was resulting in the danger of loss of water for the city. In 1934, a FERA project allowed for the painting of the interior of the pump station. In the 1937 town report, the Mayor's address noted “The modernization of the Pumping Station, with Federal assistance, was by far the largest...
  • Lexington State Historic Site: Anderson House Restoration - Lexington MO
    The Works Progress Administration restored the Anderson House at the Lexington State Historic Site. According to a storyboard (pictured below) in the museum at this site, "significant repairs and restoration were undertaken by the Works Progress Administration as part of the relief effort associated with the Great Depression."
  • Liberty School Improvements (demolished) - Murray UT
    Several school construction projects in Murray, Utah were undertaken during the New Deal with the help of the Public Works Administration (PWA). One was at the Liberty Elementary School, turning the basement into three new classrooms and constructing a kitchen and cafeteria.  These improvements were completed in Fall 1939. The school has since been replaced.
  • Library (demolished) - Columbiana OH
    The Public Works Administration contributed $7,605 towards the construction of a library in Columbiana. The building was designed by Frank Smith of Youngstown and built by J.G. Madden & Sons of East Palestine. The building has since been demolished.
  • Library Assistance - Belfast ME
    The 1933 town report mention a C. W. A. Project for the town library, a beautiful classic brick structure built in 1888. "The assistance for approximately twelve weeks of Miss Frances Busse and Miss Doris McMahan made it possible to accomplish some necessary work for which outside aid has been needed for some time. The first project was the moving of the card catalog into a larger cabinet, the old one being outgrown, and in a dilapidated state. As the cards were put into the new case any errors in filing were corrected. The catalog of juvenile books still remains in the...
  • Library of Congress Adams Building - Washington DC
    The John Adams Building is one of three buildings of the Library of Congress. Congress passed a bill to fund an annex to the library in 1930, but construction did not take place until the mid-1930s, making it a New Deal project.  The building opened in January 1939.  It was known as 'the Annex' until the 1970s. The original appropriation for the building was $6.5 million, which proved insufficient and an additional $2.8 million was added by the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1935.  The total cost, including land and equipment, was $9.3 million. The Adams Building was meant to supplement the Library's Main...
  • Library of Congress Adams Building: Lawrie Doors - Washington DC
    The doors at the main (west) entrance and side (south) entrances to the John Adams Building of the Library of Congress are magnificent cast bronze works by sculptor Lee Lawrie. Lawrie was probably America's foremost architectural sculptor of the time, with works at Rockefeller Center and across the country. The Lawrie Doors appear to have been commissioned by the Office of the Capitol along with the rest of the building and installed as the building was completed in 1939. The exact date of their casting is unknown to us. For the three front doors to the Adams Building, Lawrie cast three bas-relief...
  • Lily Ponds Houses - Washington DC
    The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the Lily Ponds Houses in Washington, DC, in 1943. It consisted of 500 living units and was built for national defense workers. In 2006, researcher Joe Lapp described the Lily Ponds Houses in a history brochure about the surrounding Kenilworth neighborhood: “The Alley Dwelling Authority noticed a large plot of unused farmland (once the David Miller farm) in the Kenilworth area, right next to the new national park, the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. In 1943 they built the Lily Ponds Houses, a complex of one-story red tile and cement...
  • Lily Ponds Houses Administration and Community Building - Washington DC
    The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of an administration and community building for the Lily Ponds Houses and surrounding community, ca. 1943-1944. 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 Lily Ponds Houses Administration and...
  • Lincoln County Courthouse - Libby MT
    The Lincoln County Courthouse (is) truly a story of two buildings in one as the mid-1930s Art Deco-styled courthouse received a totally new front, in a contemporary style, in the 1970s as the town and county expanded in the wake of the federal spending in constructing Libby Dam. The rectangular blockiness, flat roof, and band of windows set within a symmetrical facade makes the courthouse one of the state’s best designs for a rural public building in the late 20th century. Sometimes misattributed to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the project was enabled by Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA provided a...
  • Lincoln Elementary School (demolished) - Compton CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed an office wing for a school on Tamarind Ave. in Compton, CA. The school was likely Lincoln Elementary School, which closed in 1989 and has since been demolished.
  • Lincoln Memorial: Repairs and Snow Removal - Washington DC
    On May 26, 1933, Lieutenant Colonel U.S. Grant III, grandson of President Ulysses Grant and director of the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks of the National Capital, presented a large public works program for Washington, DC, “in anticipation of the early passage of the national industrial recovery act.” In the report, a request was made for $6,890, “For cleaning and pointing up interior stonework at the Lincoln Memorial… to prevent further deterioration” (Evening Star, 1933).  Ultimately, the Public Works Administration (PWA), created as part of the NIRA in 1933, allotted $3,465 for the job (about $69,000 in 2019 dollars)...
  • Lincoln Park Gateway and Improvements - Los Angeles CA
    Improvements to Lincoln Park (Los Angeles, CA) were carried out by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) in 1932-33. According to the 1932-33 Annual Report of the Los Angeles Board of Park Commissioners, "Two hundred lineal feet of walks were built, and 5,075 feet of redwood curbing used to define the older walks. A fire break, 1,500 feet long and 30 feet wide, was built along the north end and east side of the park, protecting the grounds from fires from adjacent vacant land. Catch basins were installed to control the water from rains that wash down from the hills surrounding the...
  • Lincoln Park Trails - Seattle WA
    In 1933-34, New Deal relief workers built trails in Lincoln Park. We do not know exactly which ones, but the work almost certainly included the stone-lined steps down to the beach – which are classic New Deal stonework -- and the picnic shelter looks typical of that era, as well (but may well have been rebuilt over time). A photo from the University of Washington digital collections shows workmen constructing a trail along a steep hillside (see below). The caption on the photo says, "State of Wash., E.R.A. K.C.D., Proj. 509, Dec. 26, 1933, Neg. No. 19; Lincoln Park."   ERA refers...
  • Lithia Park Improvements - Ashland OR
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made extensive improvements to Lithia Park, a 100-acre park at the heart of Ashland OR, from 1935 to 1938. Lithia Park was established in the early 20th century along Ashland Creek above the main town plaza, next to a small Chautauqua Park (added to Lithia Park in 1917).  A duck pond with waterfall was built on the site of an old flour mill in 1910 and then John McLaren, the designer of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, was invited to landscape the park in 1914-15.  McLaren transformed the little valley around the creek into a romantic...
  • Llano County Public Library (former) - Llano TX
    The Works Progress Administration and the Llano Women's Culture Club teamed together to build a library on the southwest corner of the courthouse square in Llano, Texas in 1939. The WPA provided 70% of the resources for the one-story native flagstone veneered building, and the literary club provided the other 30%. The building is currently used as the Llano County Clerk's office.
  • Logan Academy of Global Ecology - Los Angeles CA
    Logan Academy of Global Ecology (formerly Logan Street Elementary School), which opened in 1888, 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...
  • Lord Bridge - Frankfort ME
    The Lord Bridge is a 92 foot steel and concrete stringer bridge that carries the Loggin Rd. over Marsh Stream. It was one of 26 bridges badly damaged or destroyed by a 500 year flood in March 1936. A state highway commission report notes that the reconstruction of these bridges were U.S. Works Program Flood Relief projects and were handled under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Public Roads, U.S. Department of Agriculture. The design is standard for Maine State bridges of the era and was resurfaced recently in 2019. The concrete posts show signs of wear.
  • Loring House Apartment improvements - Portland ME
    "The Public Works Administration funded the construction of buildings for Federal, State, and local government. Portland was granted 45 percent of the cost of a new boiler house, heating plant, laundry, and additional housing for the nurses at the city home and hospital." The City Home and hospital refers to todays Barron Center "The origins of today’s Barron Center date back to the early 1800s when the City of Portland established an “Alms House” on Portland Street. Its purpose was for the care of the City’s poor, elderly and mentally disabled. By 1870 the Alms House was replaced with the Greely...
  • Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center Improvements - Los Angeles CA
    The Los Angeles County General Hospital (today's Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center) was constructed between 1927 and 1933. By 1939, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) had carried out improvements to the iconic Art Deco hospital in Los Angeles, CA. The hospital's construction was funded by a bond measure and voluntary tax increase. "In December 1933, the new concrete monument to public health opened to the public. The 1,680-bed facility had cost the County $12 million and encompassed more than one million square feet. The USC Keck School of Medicine, which had partnered with the County since its founding in 1885, would...
  • Los Angeles Department of Water and Power: Mojave District Headquarters - Mojave CA
    The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Office and Warehouse for Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's Mojave District Headquarters. The DWP's Mojave District was responsible for operations and maintenance of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in the Mojave desert area, between Los Angeles and the Owens Valley. The building is a fine example of the "PWA Moderne" style.
  • Los Angeles Post Office Terminal Annex Murals - Los Angeles CA
    This fresco in the Post Office Terminal Annex lobby consists of eleven semi-circular, tempera on plaster "lunettes" by Boris Deutsch depicting "Cultural Contributions of North, South and Central America." The murals were funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and completed in 1944. "The mural series entitled “The Cultural Contributions of North, South and Central America” in the Los Angeles Terminal Annex Post Office was painted in the early 1940s by Boris Deutsch. While the murals depict a number of indigenous North and South Americans, Mr. Deutsch himself was originally from Lithuania... In 1939, he received a commission from the United...
  • Los Prietos CCC Camp (former) - Santa Barbara CA
    The former Los Prietos Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp was located in the Los Padres National Forest in the mountains behind Santa Barbara CA. Today, it serves as a juvenile correctional camp for boys.
  • Lovelock Valley Water Distribution Improvements - Lovelock NV
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) carried out improvements on the irrigation water distribution system in Lovelock Valley, c. 1936-38.  The canals and drainage ditches serving the irrigated farms of the valley were largely in place by the time the Rye Patch Dam was built by the Bureau of Reclamation to increase storage capacity.  They had been built by six private companies earlier in the 20th century.  The CCC men cleaned and improved 110 miles of canals, laterals, and drains in Lovelock Valley that supplied irrigation water to 20,000 acres of farmland.  They also replaced worn-out water-control structures and flumes. Kolvet (2006) notes the pride...
  • Luttrell Street Bridge over First Creek (demolished) - Knoxville TN
    The bridge was built by the Works Progress Administration. It was demolished at an unknown date and replaced with a pedestrian bridge.
  • Lynn Woods Reservation: Stone Tower - Lynn MA
    Lynn Woods Reservation was founded in 1881 by local residents and remains under jurisdiction of the city of Lynn. Lynn Woods contains over 30 miles of trails for hiking, biking, running, and horseback riding. Three active reservoirs exist in the forest and create pond-like scenery and a nice feel for those looking to enjoy the outdoors. It is the second largest municipal park in the United States, with over 2,200 acres of forest. In the center of the park, Burrill Hill is elevated at 285 feet above sea level and Stone Tower sits on top of the hill at 48...
  • MacArthur Boulevard NW - Washington DC
    In 1935-36, Works Progress Administration (WPA) relief crews built a new roadway in the district's northwestern quadrant, west of Glover Park. Based on the description from the National Archives, this was most like an extension and expansion of  Conduit Road, now MacArthur Boulevard: "West of Glover Park, on the heights overlooking the Potomac, WPA workers completed a task which involved real pioneering, even though it was carried on within a few miles of the Capitol of the Nation. A labor battalion there cut through a literal wilderness on the very outskirts of the Capitol. Several weeks afterwards a broad city thoroughfare...
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