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  • Bonner County Courthouse Additions - Sandpoint ID
    The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of additions and alterations to the Bonner County Courthouse in Sandpoint in 1938-39. One source suggests that the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was involved with other related work at the building or grounds. The PWA provided a $37,650 grant for the project. The total construction cost was $83,521. PWA Docket No. ID 1178. In a piece about the history of the Bonner Courthouse, Bob Gunther recounts the story of a local who worked on the construction of the jail addition: "Nellie Garrison recalls, 'It was during the depression and people needed food. My father was caught poaching deer and since they...
  • Bonnyview School Addition and Remodeling (demolished) - Murray UT
    Several school building and renovation projects were undertaken in Murray, Utah during the 1930s, with the aid of the Public Works Administration (PWA): a new  Arlington School, a two classroom addition at Bonnyview, finishing the basement into classrooms at Liberty, and an addition to the high school gymnasium.  At Bonnyview School, a brick addition to the old building added two classroom, and restrooms were installed inside the building.  A separate building, formerly housing the first and second grades, was remodeled into a combined auditorium, playroom, and cafeteria. Bonnyview School served mostly families of industrial workers living near the railroad and families living on...
  • Bonnyview School Grounds and Rock Wall - Murray UT
    The Bonnyview School was expanded in the 1930s with the help of the Public Works Administration (PWA).  At the same time, the Bonnyview grounds were landscaped and   220 feet of rock retaining wall were built, along with entrance steps.  The school district furnished the materials at a cost of $980, while WPA provided the labor from the ranks of locally unemployed men (estimated at three months of work for twenty men). The school has since been demolished and the site left empty, but the elegant rock wall and entrance steps remain (though the concrete steps are deteriorating).
  • Bootjack CCC Camp Co. 1925 - Mariposa CA
    This camp operated out of the location of an abandoned hotel in the former mining town of Bootjack in the Mother Lode area of California. According to various articles written for the local newspaper by the camp members, tasks performed were road construction, water infrastructure, and fire fighting. In late 1936, the camp was transfered to Tehachapi. I haven't had the means of determining yet if they returned to the location, since that was hinted at in the newspaper articles by officials of the New Deal.
  • Borrego Palm Canyon Campground - Borrego Springs CA
    A multi purpose campground located in the Anza Borrego State Park on the outskirts of the small town of Borrego Springs. A timeline of the park and its development in an information kiosk at another campground says that Borrego Palm Canyon was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1936.
  • Bosque River Bridge - Meridian TX
    The Bosque River Bridge was constructed under a Works Progress Administration work-relief contract between 1940 and 1941. The bridge was as part of a larger project that created a new alignment of Texas State Highway 22 though Bosque County. The W.E. Worrell Company of Austin constructed the bridge and approaches, with work performed by WPA labor. Work began on the bridge in May of 1940 and finished the following December for the final cost of $98.002.88. This 566 long, steel I-beam bridge crosses the Bosque River west of Meridian, Texas. The bridge consists of a 265’ long four-span continuous span unit...
  • Boston & Maine Locomotive No. 3713 (“The Constitution”) – Scranton PA
    The Public Works Administration (PWA) lent $100,000 to the Boston & Maine Railroad company to purchase locomotive #3713, known as "The Constitution," built and delivered in 1934. On May 11, 1934, The Boston Globe reported a $2.5 million equipment purchase by the Boston & Maine Railroad: “The purchases include 21 suburban passenger coaches and 10 air-conditioned de luxe coaches, five Pacific-type passenger locomotives, five mountain-type freight and passenger locomotives, two Diesel electric locomotives, and two Diesel electric switching engines… Money for the purchases was provided by a loan from the Public Works Administration, on which the railroad pays 4 percent interest.” The...
  • Bourland Cemetery Gateway - Keller TX
    Text from the state historical marker reads: "Aurelius Delphus Bourland (1840-1904), a North Carolina native and a veteran of the Civil War, bought land here in 1873. A farmer and Primitive Baptist preacher, he first used this site as a family cemetery. The earliest marked grave is that of his grandson A. Delphus White, who died in 1886. In 1899 Bourland sold 2.5 acres, including the grave sites, to the residents of Keller (1.5 mi SW) for use as a public burial ground. Additional land was given by the families of Bourland in 1947 and A.B. Harmonson (1891-1967) in 1977. The...
  • Brazoria County Courthouse - Angleton TX
    The Brazoria County Courthouse had undergone much damage after the 1932 storm that hit the Houston and Galveston area, having also been used as a refugee site during the storm. After investigations about whether the courthouse should be renovated, in 1939, the Brazoria County officials and a grand jury finalized that a new courthouse would be constructed with Public Works Administration funding. The new building consisted of five stories with a county jail on the fifth floor. In addition, the project utilized $500,000 and around 100 workers. While there were countless applications sent for PWA funding, it seems that the...
  • Briceburg Bridge - Midpines CA
    The U.S. Forest Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps built the Briceburg Bridge in Midpines CA. "FOREST SERVICE PLANS BRIDGE AT BULL CREEK Work is being rushed on the new bridge across the Merced River at Briceburg which is being built by the U.S. Forest Service. J. W. Nute, forest service engineer, is here from San Francisco and is in charge of the construction. The bridge is a 160-foot span supported by four one and a fourth inch cables and hangers of iron. Two 25-foot towers support the cables. An interesting feature of this new bridge is the use of steel beams instead of trusses...
  • Brickett Place Garage - Stow ME
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built a garage at the historic Brickett Place house in Stow. The structure still stands on the property. According to a 1982 Nomination Form of the National Register of Historic Places, "a garage, of CCC construction is located about 75 feet from the house." The house itself was used by the CCC in the 1930s.    
  • Bridge - Clarendon TX
    A city sponsored Works Progress Administration (WPA) project (14752) dismantled a hazardous steel truss bridge crossing a drainage ditch in Clarendon. The WPA then excavated and widened the channel and built a new reinforced concrete slab over masonry substructure bridge. The construction of the bridge employed a number of skilled masons and cost a total of $12,050 to erect. The four span slab rests on stone piers, abutments and wing walls composed of rubble laid in irregular courses bonded with thick mortar joints. The bridge is in use and in good condition.
  • Bridgton Academy - Bridgton ME
    Bridgton Academy is an all-male college preparatory in Bridgton, Maine. Founded in 1808, the school sits at the northern tip of Long Lake in North Bridgton, Maine. The school has been NEASC accredited since 1934, making it one of the oldest accredited schools in the country. In 1933, the Civil Works Administration was involved in "repairs and redecorating at the Academy buildings." according to the town selectmen in the annual report. In the 1934 report it was noted that "Some of the projects at Bridgton Academy are completed while others are in the air and the probability is that a continuance...
  • Bridgton CCC Camp Co. 1124 - Bridgton ME
    The Civilian Conservation Corps built the Bridgton CCC Camp Co. 1124 in Bridgton ME. "History of the 1124th Company. Civilian Conservation Corps. On June 1st, 1935, Lt. J. L. Fearer arrived in Bridgton with a cadre of 23 men from the Rangeley Camp No. 2107, and Bridgton Camp No. 11005 was officially begun. For a time the Cadre was quartered in the "Exposition Building" of the Bridgton Agricultural Association. The members of the cadre worked diligently, and under Lt. Fearer' s direction civilian carpenters rushed the construction of the buildings. Lt. F. R. Blaisdell, Jr. was assigned to the Company on June 23,...
  • Bright Angel Trail and Shelters - Grand Canyon National Park AZ
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) conducted development work at Grand Canyon National Park, 1933-42, including extensive reconstruction work on the Bright Angel Trail, completed in 1939. The National Park Service's CCC Walking Tour says that: " began a major reconstruction of the trail. With help from the CCC, the NPS completed the work in 1939. The early trail was only two to three feet (less than one meter) wide in spots. With pick, shovel, drill, and dynamite contractors and the CCC boys rerouted and reconstructed the trail to its present four to six foot (1.2 – 2 m) width. During the same...
  • Broadway Terrace Sewer Extension - Oakland CA
    In 1937, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built an extension of the sanitary sewer up Broadway Terrace from Harbord Drive to Sheridan Road (just below the brow of the hills near Lake Temescal).  (Oakland Tribune 1937) The current state of the sewer line is unknown. Broadway Terrace is a major artery with water, gas, telephone and internet lines, and the concrete roadbed has been repeatedly cut through and repaired.   Judging from the placement of manhole covers, there appears to be two sewer lines running parallel along this stretch of road and another, probably older, line in the old Broadway Terrace...
  • Bronco Sports Stadium Relief - International Falls MN
    The front of the High School Sports Stadium in International Falls, MN, features a bold, concrete relief sculpture of 1940's-era athletes created by a Minnesota-born sculptor named Evelyn Raymond. Raymond created the sculpture through the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project.
  • Brook Field Park Swimming Pool - Richmond VA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed Richmond’s Brook Field Park Swimming Pool in 1938. The pool was a segregated one, operating exclusively for the African American people of the city, as was normal practice in the Jim Crow era.   Made out of concrete, the pool’s physical dimensions were listed as 185 x 60 feet by 2 and a half to 11 feet deep. Like other WPA pool projects, the Brook Field Park Swimming Pool included the most modern equipment of the day, including a circulation pump and filter system as well as water treatment tools and a series of floodlights....
  • Bruce Park Swimming Pool - New Martinsville WV
    This swimming pool, with a unique design (above ground, concrete), is in New Martinsville, West Virginia. It was operational until just a few years ago. I swam there often as a child. Unfortunately, though it is still in existence, the pool needs repairs, and the town council refused to spend the money on the project, to the chagrin of constituents. It was built by the WPA. See the attached news article for a photo and history. The signage is original to the period.
  • Brunswick Executive Airport - Brunswick ME
    The Brunswick airport was originally built in 1935 by the Maine Emergency Relief Administration, a state division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration after a survey of airports in the state by Capt. Harry M. Jones with the intention of building a chain of airports in coastal towns, inland towns, and lake resorts. It built 1 NW - SE 1800 x 50 gravel runway and 1 E - W 1800x100 graded runway. Naval Air Station Brunswick was developed and occupied in March 1943, and was first commissioned on April 15, 1943, to train and form-up Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadrons...
  • Bryant Street Houses - Washington DC
    The Alley Dwelling Authority (ADA) and the Federal Works Agency (FWA) funded the construction of the Bryant Street Houses in Washington, DC in 1943. This development of 32 living units was built for African American national defense workers (Washington, DC was highly segregated at the time). It is unknown to the Living New Deal if any of the structures still exist, but it is not likely since these homes were classified as “demountable,” i.e., intended to be taken down and salvaged sometime after the war. The ADA was one of the earliest New Deal initiatives to provide better housing for low-income Americans. It...
  • Bryce Canyon National Park Improvements - Bryce Canyon UT
    Bryce Canyon was originally designated as a national monument by President Warren G. Harding in 1923 and became a national park through an act of Congress in 1928. The park covers 35,835 acres in south-central Utah. The New Deal greatly improved Bryce Canyon National Park.  Along with the National Park Service, the Public Works Administration (PWA) provided special funds, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked continuously in the park, and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was also active. The National Park Service recognizes the CCC's contribution on its website for Bryce Canyon NP, but not that of the PWA or WPA:  “During the 1930s...
  • Bryce Canyon National Park: Cabins - Bryce Canyon UT
    Several cabins for Bryce Canyon National Park employees were built by New Deal agencies over the course of the 1930s.  They appear  in the residential area of the Park near the lodge. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built a 3-room employee cabin in 1937; the Public Works Administration (PWA) built two employee cabins in 1934; and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) build a rangers' dormitory in 1939 and remodeled a mess hall as a residence in 1938. It is not certain which of the present cabins are from the New Deal and which were built later; some park rangers believe that all of the cabins...
  • Bryce Canyon National Park: Rainbow Point - Bryce Canyon UT
    Rainbow Point was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) in 1939, and it has three different components.  First is the overlook area.  This has been refurbished in recent years, but the original stone and metal railings can be seen outside of the newer stone and log rails. Second is the "museum" at Rainbow Point.  The museum is not a building but an open structure with display cases featuring natural habitat, geology, etc.  The structure is relatively large (20 x 10 feet).  This is the most noted CCC project in Bryce Canyon National Park Third is the Bristlecone Trail at Rainbow Point.  This is a short, 1 mile...
  • Bryce Canyon National Park: Road Work - Bryce Canyon UT
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) performed road work in Bryce Canyon National Park from 1934-1941.  The CCC made grading improvements on the Rim Road (the 20 mile-long road through the park) and built service roads.  The exact locations of such work cannot be ascertained today, but the roads are still there. The CCC also built parking lots at the Bryce Canyon Lodge and the headquarters building in 1936 and 1939. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) did some road work as well, in 1938-1941.
  • Bryce Canyon National Park: South Campground - Bryce Canyon UT
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) laid out the first campground in Bryce Canyon National Park in 1934.  Several campsites are leveled using tell-tale CCC stone-work.  Water and sewer lines were laid.  The original tables no longer exist but metal fireplaces appear original. Also at the South Campground is the amphitheater, build by the CCC in 1934.  Originally called the "lecture circle," it has a simple wooden stage (which can be opened like a giant closet door) and rows of benches.  The old wooden benches have been replaced by plastic ones.
  • Bryce Canyon National Park: Trail Work - Bryce Canyon UT
    From 1934 to 1940, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built or improved major trails in Bryce Canyon National Park, greatly expanding the park's trail system.  The most impressive is the Under-The-Rim trail, running from Bryce Point to Rainbow Point (18.8 miles).  The second longest is the Rim trail from the administration area to Bryce Point.  The CCC also made improvements to the Fairyland Trail and trails from the South Campground to the rim. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) also did some unidentified trail work at Bryce Canyon National Park from 1938-1941.
  • Buffalo Creek Park Dam - Coggon IA
    The New Deal dam in Coggon, located in northeastern Linn County, was replaced in 1967 by the current dam, known as the Buffalo Creek Park Dam.41 The New Deal dam was built in order to restore Manhattan Lake in Coggon. Construction began in September 1934 with labor supplied by FERA. Although the date of completion was not discovered, it was originally estimated that the dam would take four months to construct, suggesting an expected completion date in early 1935. However, just as with the FERA dam in Quasqueton, the construction of the Coggon Dam took considerably longer than originally estimated....
  • Bullard Avenue Street Repair - Clovis CA
    According to the Clovis Independent, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) provided funds to Fresno County in 1934, from which the "City of Clovis will have Sixth Street graded from Fulton to Polasky to drain Fulton Street, enlargement and raising of levee on drainage ditch on Ninth Street with a new culvert installed on the same ditch. These projects will cost about $800."  CWA funding was used almost entirely to hire unemployed workers in the winter of 1933-34. The name of 6th St has been changed to Bullard Avenue. This investigator didn't see any sign of the ditch. 
  • Bullocks Field (demolished) - Boulder City NV
    “To accommodate the dramatic increase in motorists, the highway between Las Vegas and Kingman, Arizona, was kept open year-round by 1936. Visitors came to southern Nevada by car, rail, and plane. The CCC helped extend and surface new runways at Bullock’s Field in Boulder City. For several years, the Grand Canyon Airlines and Trans World Airlines scheduled regular stops in Boulder City for its planes on the Newark, New Jersey, and Los Angeles, California, route.” –The Civilian Conservation Corps in Nevada The former Bullocks Fiel is largely no longer extant, with a hangar—located at 1401 Madrone St.— being the only major building...
  • Bullseye Bridge - Bangor ME
    One of the 26 bridges that were destroyed or damaged by the 1936 flood. A Maine Highway report notes that the reconstruction of these bridges was a U.S. Works Program Flood Relief project and were handled under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Public Roads, U.S. Department of Agriculture. All bridges were placed under construction in 1936. Labor was provided on some by the Works Progress Administration. Before the flood, the Bullseye bridge was a wooden covered bridge that was noted for its circular windows which is where it got its name. The 1936 town report notes in the forward that...
  • Bundy Recreation Center Improvements - Washington DC
    In 1942, the Washington Post reported the allocation of $32,800 to the Federal Works Agency (FWA) for work on the Bundy Recreation Center in the district's northwest quadrant. It is unclear whether funds were designated for new construction or improvements. Today, the site is known as Bundy Park, with a baseball field, soccer pitch and dog run. It appears to have been renovated in 2012.  It is likely that the baseball field has its origins in the New Deal work of the early 1940s.
  • Burbank Elementary School - Modesto CA
    Burbank Elementary School was built in 1939 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The original school appears to consist of three buildings, all long and low in the style of Spanish mission residential buildings.  All have covered, pillared breezeways along the entire front, with door to each classroom opening onto those outdoor corridors. The school has had additions and underwent a major renovation in recent years, according to a staffer who spoke to us in 2023.  The original design had tile roofs, as shown in 2010 photo, which have been changed to metal roofs.    
  • Burleson Gymnasium - Burleson TX
    In August 1935, the Burleson Independent School District (BISD) applied for a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA) for the construction of a one-story, semi-fireproof combination auditorium, gymnasium and classroom school building. In October of the same year, the PWA offered a grant of $8,181 and loan of $10,000 for Project Docket Texas 1481-H, which the BISD accepted. Construction on the building began on April 1, 1936. BISD held a dedication ceremony on October 9, 1936. The auditorium is 122 x 68 feet with a 37 x 16 feet stage on one end. On each side of the stage are...
  • Burnham Park Pool - Morristown NJ
    A local newspaper reported that, “Sixty Morristown and ten Morris Township men went to work this morning on placing a rock bottom in Burnham Park swimming pool. This was one of two federal-aid projects approved for immediate start here in order to give unemployed work….Forty of the men are at Brookside Reservoir racking up the rock with which the bottom of the pool will be rip-rapped and 30 at Burnham Pool preparing it for the fill. It was at first hoped to be able to construct a concrete bottom but as this would involve too much material and not enough...
  • Burns Street NE Construction - Washington DC
    In 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a new roadway at Burns Street between East Capitol and Blaine streets in the district's northeast quadrant. 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.
  • Burnside Tunnel - Portland OR
    The Burnside Tunnel, historically referred to as the Barnes Road vehicle tunnel, improved traffic movement through Portland’s West Hills by straightening the roadway and removing steep grades.  Completed in 1940, it was one of three tunnels constructed in the West Hills with the help of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), along with the NW Cornell Tunnels. The 230 foot long concrete-lined tunnel is wide enough for vehicles lanes in each direction as well as sidewalks on either side of the roadway. The Burnside Tunnel features beautiful stone masonry portals made of rubble and squared local basalt. Further design details include decorative...
  • C Street Building Improvements - Washington DC
    Works Progress Administration (WPA) records in the National Archives report that in 1937 WPA workers were used to "Remodel, renovate, and paint buildings located at 460-476 C Street NW, together with other small supplementary buildings." The work included, "installation of plumbing and electrical facilities… demolishing and removing partitions, structures, equipment, etc., salvaging usable materials...". The purpose of the work was to render the buildings usable as offices and storage space by various departments of the District government. Exact location of the buildings in question was not given, but they have almost surely been demolished for subsequent federal office buildings, court houses and...
  • C. S. Price Mural, Pendleton High School (Pendleton Junior High) - Pendleton OR
    With funding from the New Deal's Federal Art Project, C. S. Price painted a 21 x 4 foot mural for the newly constructed Pendleton Junior High School in 1937. Titled "Agriculture," the five panel composition draws upon images of farming and ranching life that characterized many of his paintings. The theme also suited Pendleton's cultural and economic base. Although originally located in Pendleton's junior high school, the mural hangs in the foyer of the Pendleton High School auditorium today. Clayton Sumner Price, known as C.S. Price, grew up in a large farming family in Iowa, Wyoming, and Alberta and worked on...
  • Cabrillo Playground - San Francisco CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a field house (recreation hall) and athletic courts at the Cabrillo Playground in San Francisco, CA.   The exact date of this work is unknown to us. "Constructed field house for district recreation headquarters; basketball and 2 tennis courts, 1 volleyball etc. This improvement provided facilities for intensive supervised play." (Healy, p. 63). The "Hansel & Gretel" style field house, with restrooms, is still there, as are basketball and tennis courts which have been greatly modernized in recent years.
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