Unmarked Sites

During the hard winter months of 1933-1934, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) was a work relief program that employed Portlanders on a variety of needed projects. Street repair work was one such project category. These men are shown on January 26, 1934 repairing a street damaged by the collapse of a retaining wall at the intersection of NW Maywood Drive and NW Melinda Avenue in Portland's West Hills. The CWA served as a federal relief program from November 8, 1933 through March 31, 1934.  When the CWA began, Oregon anticipated being able to put 21,000 men back to work on small...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) planted 10,000 street trees around Berkeley CA in 1933-34 and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) followed with 5,000 more, c. 1938-39.  (Gazette, 3/11/39) According to the city manager of Berkeley, 15,000 flowering fruit trees had been planted by April 1939 (Gazette, 4/4/1939) Street tree planting was a major, if unappreciated, aspect of the New Deal. Determining which trees were planted on which streets is impossible at this point, and most of the trees (particularly short-lived fruit trees) have passed on by this time.  Nevertheless, there are several streets, such as Hopkins Street, where elm, camphor and ash trees of...

Juneau’s streets, sidewalks and sewers were improved with the aid of New Deal federal funds during the Great Depression. A newspaper report in 1938 said that the Public Works Administration (PWA)  had allotted $170,000 for these purposes, but the 1940 Annual Report of the Governor of Alaska to the Secretary of the Interior puts the PWA contribution at approximately $75,000. The latter 1940 report also indicated that the Works Progress Administration (WPA) also contributed $5,790 to pay relief laborers to work on street improvements and $4,891 in relief labor toward the construction of the sewer system in 1939 and 1940. The locations of these improvements...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out general improvements around the city of Arcata, California, during the late 1930s and early 1940s.  Three separate projects were approved in 1937 and 1939 for street work, new water lines and new sewers. The only location specified in the WPA project cards is a sewer line at 11th and B Streets, which probably runs alongside Gannon Slough.  Locations of the others WPA works are unknown to us and further confirmation of these improvements is needed. Evidence for these New Deal works comes from WPA project cards in the National Archives.  These projects were proposed more...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did major work developing the former Patrick's Point (now Sue-Meg) State Park, which had just been purchased by the new State Parks Commission in 1929. The CCC work was carried out between 1933 and 1937 by the men of Company 1903 at Camp Prairie Creek. Engbeck reports that the CCC enrollees tore out an old road and reconfigured the entry road in a more naturalized fashion; constructed a campground and day-use picnic area, with combination restrooms, washrooms and laundry rooms; rehabilitated a staff residence; and cleared a protective firebreak around the perimeter of the park  (Engbeck, p. 24). The CCC...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did major work developing the former Patrick's Point (now Sue-Meg) State Park, which had just been purchase by the new State Parks Commission in 1929. The work was carried out between 1933 and 1937 by the men of Company 1903 at Camp Prairie Creek. Joseph Engbeck (2002) reports that the CCC enrollees carried out a number of basic improvements to the park, such as a new entry road, a campground and day-use picnic area, and a protective firebreak around the perimeter of the park  (Engbeck, p. 24). Evidently, the CCC crews did more than that, as rangers at the...

The Suitland Parkway is a 9-mile long, landscaped roadway running from Anacostia Park in Washington D.C. east through Prince George's County, MD.   It was conceived in 1937 and finally constructed in 1943-44 by the Public Roads Administration, a branch of the Federal Works Agency (FWA).  It can fairly be classified as a project from the tail end of the New Deal. A description from the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties explains that the Public Roads Administration, "Created the highway from scratch, via federal funding and private contractors, similar to PWA-type arrangements." The Parkway is still in use and maintained by the National...

Located in the Umatilla Forest of northeastern Oregon, the Summit Creek Guard Station provides an early example of the US Forest Service's development of such forest management complexes. Overtime, guard stations replaced lookout towers. Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees began construction of the complex in 1933. Other sources attribute development of the complex to work completed in 1938. The Depression-era bunkhouse and warehouse still stand. The bunkhouse is available for rental use.    

Federal Emergency Relief Administration crews built parking for Summit Park in Bangor ME. Excerpt from Bangor Daily News: "ERA Workers Building Parking Space Near Old Water Standpipe" "One of the new ERA projects now under way in Bangor is a large parking place being constructed at Summit Park. Those who have driven to the standpipe during summer nights for a view of the city, have found it impossible to get a good parking place, and it is believed that the new graveled area will be one of great convenience to those who wish to view the surrounding country from the top of Thomas Hill. At...

Pearl City was an area of Vincennes that was described by the newspapers in the 1930's at the time as an area next to the Wabash River that was filled with hovels made of crates and tin and occupied by barely recognizable humans living in squalid conditions after shell fishing by squaters declined. With labor supplied by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), 20 houses were constructed in a 4 acre area called Sunset Court. From the look of the photograph, the small houses can be compared to the popular tiny houses today. Still, considering that the people who moved...

The Sunset Pier was built on Venice Beach in 1921 as a typical entertainment pier with dancing hall that was very common on the beach at the time. After various bankruptcies and owners, "he city took possession of the Sunset Pier during spring 1929 after the lease was canceled with the Electric Pier Company for non-payment of rent... However, in June the Parks and Recreation Commission decided to build a 64 x 160 foot municipal bathing pavilion on the pier. The pool, costing $20,000, could accommodate 3000 people and would have large sun rooms. Construction began by the end of...

Sutton State Forest is located in Sutton, Massachusetts. Portions of the forest area were owned by the state of Massachusetts prior to the creation of the New Deal programs, but the Civilian Conservation Corps made large scale improvements to it. Sutton State Forest is most well-known for Purgatory Chasm, a natural rock feature, and Purgatory Chasm State Reservation is located within the boundaries of Sutton State Forest. However, Purgatory Chasm had already been transformed into a sightseeing destination in the early 1900s, so the CCC did not work on that attraction. CCC Camp S-84 came to the forest in the fall...

The Physical Science Building (now Swain Hall West) houses Indiana University's Physics and Astronomy departments. Estimates for building construction began in 1938, and the building was completed in 1940 by the Federal Works Agency (FWA).

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built an athletic complex for the high schools in Butte, Montana, The complex included a football field, quarter mile running track and tennis courts, which can still be seen in the satellite photo. The football field is now called Swede Dahlberg Field, next to West Elementary School (we are unsure if the tennis courts come under that designation). The WPA contributed almost $60,000 in relief labor for the athletic fields. Given the high unemployment in the mining district of Butte, WPA jobs were vital for the survival of workers in the Great Depression.

The Sweetwater Hospital in Nolan County, eventually renamed Simmons Memorial Hospital, was the first official hospital in Sweetwater, Texas. The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the SweetWater Memorial Hospital in 1936. Sweetwater Hospital was an L-shaped one-story brick hospital, which cost around $85,000 in bond issues. The PWA funded the construction of  a hospital with the most "modern practices'' and hospital designs. The vicinity could accommodate up to 34 patients, which was enough for the small town, and included medical rooms, maternity wards, operating rooms, and air conditioning. However, the city needed to solicit bids in January for...

Per the Odessa American, 1939, the Public Works Administration (PWA) supported the financing of the construction of the former public swimming pool in McCamey, Texas: The new swimming pool at McCamey opened June 2, 1939. The new $50,000 swimming pool was built by Upton County as a PWA project. The new pool, recently completed, is one of the finest of its kind in this section of the state. It Is modern in every detail, and is now open to the public free of charge. It is equipped with the latest filtration system that will assure swimmers of pure water at all...

A new swimming pool and municipal park were built in 1934 using Civil Works Administration funds. The school playground was furnished, athletic field improved with grading and concrete seats, teacher's home renovated, and repairs made to the high school. Dedication ceremonies were held May 4, 1934.

The Mary E. Switzer Building was originally built for the Railroad Retirement Board in 1940. The building was constructed in conjunction with the original Social Security headquarters, now the Wilbur J. Cohen building.  The two stand across C street from each other.  They were the first federal buildings constructed south of the Mall.   The Railroad Retirement Board (RBB), formed in 1934, was a precursor to the Social Security Act in 1935.  Its responsibilities and funds grew with additional legislation in 1935 and 1937, providing taxes to support railway worker pensions. As plans were underway for the headquarters of Social Security, the...

The Mary E. Switzer Building was originally built for the Railroad Retirement Board in 1940. The building was constructed in conjunction with the original Social Security headquarters, now the Wilbur J. Cohen building.  The two stand across C street from each other.   The RRB/Switzer building is smaller and its ornamentation is simpler than that of the SSA/Cohen building.  Its only artworks are the granite bas-reliefs over the entrances by Robert Kittredge, "Railroad Employment" and "Railroad Retirement" (both 1941).  These works were commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. Both the Social Security Administration and the Railroad Retirement Board had to give...

An Annual Report from 1932-33 of the Los Angeles Board of Park Commissioners described early New Deal work in the park: "This is one of the most important parks in Los Angeles to picnickers. Practically all State Societies and other large groups hold their picnics here as there are ample facilities in the way of accommodating crowds, speaker platforms, and a public address system. In the Arroyo, east of the park, 15,840 lineal feet of new roads were constructed, with the help of Reconstruction Finance corporation and County Welfare workmen, which caused the removal of 73,500 cubic yards of dirt. Rip-rap...

Sycamore Pool is a large, beautiful, outdoor swimming facility built on Big Chico Creek at the One-Mile Recreation Area of Bidwell Park in Chico California.  Hence, the pool is also known as One-Mile Pool. he creek was dammed by the city in the 1920s, but the pool was cemented and finished out by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s, as part of several WPA improvements to Bidwell Park.   There are tile depth markers every six feet or so along the pool's edge. The lifeguard chairs look original, but that is uncertain. A bridge across the dam was built later using state Land & Water...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the Syphax Houses in Washington, DC in 1942. The Syphax Houses were located at 1st and R streets SW, and it does not appear that any of the original homes still exist. Today, the DC Housing Authority operates “Syphax Gardens” at P and Half streets SW, one block northeast from where the original Syphax homes were located. (“Syphax” is the surname of a prominent African American family from Virginia, with family ties to Martha Washington.) The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better...

The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) funded the construction of a community building for the Syphax Houses and surrounding area, ca. 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 Syphax Houses Community Building was part of the...

In 1935, the City of McMinnville applied for a Public Works Administration (PWA) grant to construct a public library on the grounds of Linfield College. As explained in the region's major newspaper, the Oregonian, the library was to be built by the city with a local bond ($36,000) and the PWA grant ($29,250). In this unusual arrangement, the City leased the library to Linfield, making the college responsible for its maintenance and operation. Initially, the public could use the library by paying the same fee for access required of the students. Located on the northwest edge of campus, the Linfield-McMinnville Library...

Constructed in 1935-37 with WPA labor, the 26,500-seat stadium came as part of a massive New Deal project to expand New Orleans’s City Park. Richard Koch, an architect on the park board and the architectural firm of Weiss, Dreyfous and Seifert, designed the stadium. The architectural firm had reached national exposure after Governor P. Huey Long selected it in 1934 to design the new Art Deco State Capitol in Baton Rouge. Built of poured reinforced concrete, the stadium’s upper seating rests on a series of stout columns arranged in an oval, allowing for curved seating. The space between the terrace seating and...

Taft Union High School's main building was constructed with federal help under the New Deal.  It is an elegant Art Moderne (Art Deco) facility with lovely decorative elements, particularly the colored bas-reliefs (probably terra cotta). The original Taft Union HS had been built in 1917 with local funds, but the state declared it unsafe in 1934 – most likely because of the great Long Beach earthquake in 1933.  It was not torn down entirely, but reconstructed and expanded. The federal government offered a grant of $51,000 in 1935 – almost surely from the Public Works Administration (PWA).   The county passed a...

The Works Progress Administration completed land improvements in the Tahoe National Forest in 1936. "Forest Rd. Improvement & development - Installation of Communication System. Alder Creek to Crystal Peak, Nevada & Sierra Counties. Clear & brush 51 acres of land adjacent to highways and roads for a distance of 14 miles with a Federal cost of $3440. Clear & brush 22 acres of land through forests for future road construction for a distance of 6 miles with a Federal cost of $1556. Install a communication system for a distance of 20 miles with a Federal cost of $844. All roads are...

Takoma Recreation Center is a large public recreational facility in Washington D.C., containing buildings, swimming pool, tennis courts and other facilities. New Deal agencies did extensive work on the site, 1933-36, as part of a larger Capital Parks improvement program assisted by the Civil Work Adminstration (CWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA), and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The WPA alone undertook a million dollar program of improvements to district parks in 1935-36. The work at Takoma Recreation Center included: "Swimming pools and field house constructed; baseball diamonds, athletic fields graded and equipment installed; landscaping and lawn area at field house constructed; parking areas...

The Tall Peak Fire Tower is located southeast of Mena on Forest Service Road No. 38A in Polk County in Ouachita National Forest. The tower is a two story, field stone and wood structure built on a continuous stone foundation. The first level is made of field stone and each comer has the distinctive inward-sloping corners peculiar to Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) construction. The fist level consists of a single room that has two small, stationary windows on the west and south sides and a single door on the east side. The north side of the structure has an external...

"The CCC crews cut trails, built shelters on Bald Rock and down on the shore across from the old Sagamore site. Eventually, that would become the entrance to the new Camden Hills State Park. At Camp Tanglewood they constructed cabins, a dining hall, staff quarters, sewer and water systems and an infirmary using locally-purchased materials. After it was completed the Bangor YWCA contracted to use the new facility for a summer camp. Once the park, including Camp Tanglewood, was finished it was turned over to the state of Maine to administer as a state park."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped develop Tautphaus Park and Zoo in Idaho Falls, Idaho around 1935-36. A 2015 Idaho Falls city press release states: "In 1934, the city of Idaho Falls purchased land in Tautphaus Park, then called 'City Park,' and in 1935 the first zoo animals were brought to the park. Log buildings were erected throughout the park and financed as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project.  Some of these buildings can still be seen on zoo grounds and now serve as an education center and a storage barn." The rustic style buildings are still in the park, though the...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped develop the 67 acres of Tayman in Healdsburg CA and the municipal golf course in the park. We cannot be sure of what parts of the golf course were done by the WPA.  Tne rock walls around the entry gate, clubhouse and parking lot look typical of WPA relief workers' handiwork.

One of two teacherages constructed for the Hickory Flat school district, this building is no longer extant. It was probably demolished to allow the construction of the new gymnasium, as its former location was where the gymnasium parking lot is currently located.

Housing of teachers had been a long-term problem at Bingham High School in the remote mining town of Copperton, Utah. School district policy required teachers live within the boundaries of the school at which they taught and teachers could not rent the company homes in Copperton which were reserved for copper miners. A small apartment building had been previously built next to the high school, but the three-room units were inadequate for teachers with families. Thus in 1939 two duplex houses ($21,000 total) were funded as part of a $151,000 WPA application for improvements to the Jordan School District buildings....

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the elegant stone Beach House at Lake Temescal Park, now known as Temescal Regional Recreation Area, part of the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD).  When the EBRPD was created in 1934, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and WPA were called upon to improve the first parks of the system, making them ready for public use.  Temescal Park opened to the public in 1936. The Beach House includes rest rooms and changing rooms on the ground floor and a large hall and offices above, plus a flagstone terrace and terraced garden behind. The WPA also...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved Lake Temescal Park, now known as Temescal Regional Recreation Area, one of the original units of the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD). When the EBRPD was created in 1934, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and WPA were called upon to make the first parks of the system ready for public use.  Temescal Park opened to the public in 1936. Along with the well-known beach house and cascade (see separate pages) at Lake Temescal, WPA workers made several other improvements to the park – not all of which can be pin-pointed.  They created a large...

Tenison Park is in the divide of East and West Grand Avenue. On the site there is a rock bathroom (in need or restoration), a rock trash container, and a small rock bridge, as well as rock-lined drainage ditches.

"In 1934 Federal CWA and ERA funds were used for construction of 2 tennis courts, constructed with a 3 layer bituminous construction, new to northern New England, with a tile underdrain and surrounded by heavy wire fence. This made a total of 3 tennis courts on Eastern Promenade. The current 3 courts were renovated in 2000 with a new surface and perimeter fence. They are in excellent condition and heavily used."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out pavement repair and other, unspecified improvements to a segment of Tenth Street NW, from Constitution Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue, in 1935-36.   The road was “widened to conform with the design of the Triangle area, and repaved with sheet asphalt pavement.”   The work was part of a $949,496 WPA allotment for DC roadwork for fiscal year 1936.   The work is likely still extant, but invisible beneath subsequent paving.    

President of the City Council Pomeroy Powers, persuaded the city in 1904 to construct a park along Alvarado Terrace. Originally called Summerland Park, the park was soon renamed Terrace Park. The park included a fish pond, rosebeds, an underground tool shed, and a full-time gardener. The park was later remodeled with only grass and trees. There is a small strip of brick-paved street at the north end of the park known as "Powers Place" that holds the distinction as the "shortest street in Los Angeles." The park and brick-paved street were declared a Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM #210) in February 1979....