Unmarked Sites

Winona's historic city hall was constructed during the Great Depression as a Public Works Administration (PWA) New Deal project. Sometimes mis-attributed to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), this three-story brick and Winona stone structure was constructed in 1938-9. The PWA provided a grant of $103,815 for the project, whose total cost was $216,406. "The building was renovated and expanded in 2004. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999." PWA Docket No. Minn. 1439

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a City Hall in Casa Grande AZ. The building also housed the Police and Fire Departments. The facade was finished with plaster and featured Art Deco style elements, such as the vertical, low relief decoration marking the entrance. This structure was demolished c. 1980 and replaced by the building currently housing the Chamber of Commerce.  The Casa Grande City Hall is now housed in the former Casa Grande Union High School building, built before the New Deal.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed Dalton’s old City Hall in 1936. The building is still municipally owned and serves as a secondary city office building.

The Works Progress Administration built a new City Hall for Hearne in 1941. The former Hearne City Hall is located on the corner of 3rd and Cedar Streets. Built of native rock with white trim the building houses the city hall, fire station, and city council chamber. The council chamber was furnished with mahogany seats for those who wished to attend the meetings. The building was equipped with fluorescent lighting. This was the first building specifically built for a city hall since Hearne was incorporated in 1871. The contractor for the work was Lawrence Brady of Hearne. (The fire station bays have...

The Works Progress Administration built the Libby City Hall in the mid-1930s. Today the two-story brick building serves as the Police Department. The following excerpt is from "ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT PROPOSED PLAN OF MINING AND RECLAMATION TROY PROJECT - ASARCO INC." at Archive.org, page 285. It was written in 1978: "Libby City Police Department - The Libby City Police Department and jail are located in the Libby City Hall on Mineral Avenue. The Libby City Hall was built around 1930 as a WPA project and is of brick construction. The facility contains two cell areas. "  

In 1938, the Public Works Administration (PWA) provided funds for the construction of a new city hall in Yuba City CA.  The building is single-story, stucco-covered with wood detailing, and a tile roof – a good example of the Mission Revival style popular in California between the wars. The building was sold after a new city hall was built in c. 2008.  The interior has been reworked for professional offices and -- It is still called "Old City Hall" and the inscription "City Hall" remains over the front entrance, but evidently a plaque by the door  has been removed.   

Building is a fine representation of the Moderne style most frequently used in public building projects of the 1930s. (NRHP Nomination Form) The construction of this city hall created many jobs for the unemployed in Weatherford during the hard times of the Great Depression. Weatherford citizens passed a bond election to provide funds for a new city hall and fire station in 1933, and construction began immediately on this structure, built on land designated early in the century for city hall and fire department use. Dedication ceremonies for the new facility were held on January 16, 1934. The art deco brick...

The WPA completed a thorough painting of city hall as part of the reducing of welfare rolls in Oakland. WPA Project No. 65-3-1687, Approval Date 10-15-35, $6,496, "Complete painting of interior of City Hall." The current building was completed in 1914. The building was designed by New York-based architecture firm Palmer & Hornbostel in 1910, after winning a nationwide design competition. The building, constructed in the Beaux-Arts style, resembles a "rectangular wedding cake".

In 1941, Frank Bowers and Arthur Prunier painted two murals at City Hall in South Gate, CA. The murals, which depict people involved in economic and leisure activities, were funded by the WPA's Federal Arts Project (FAP). Bowers and Prunier also collaborated on a FAP mural at the Ruth Home in El Monte, CA.

Built in 1896, the Rockdale City Hall was remodeled by the Work Projects Administration (WPA) in 1940. The structure currently houses Rockdale Police Department. WPA Project #12892 Milam County. WPA crews "remodeled building roof, plastered partitions, installed hardwood floors, and stuccoed outside." Historical Marker: Altered in the 1930s resulting in the loss of a tall bell tower.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a new city park for the small town of Darby, Montana in 1937-38. The park is next to the city hall and city museum on South Main Street.  It has been improved and well maintained over the years. On Google maps it is labeled as "Main City Park", but the sign at the park only says "City Park".  

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded the construction of a city park in Haskell, Texas. A story published in the Abilene Reporter-News in 1937 provides details about the project: "WPA Builds City Park At Haskell HASKELL, Jan. 25 -- (AC)-- Completion was being made today of the city park and swimming pool constructed by the Works Progress Administration. The eight-acre park site has been grade, trees and shrubbery planted, the entire park enclosed with a native stone, hedge and wire fence. A swimming pool, bath house and amphitheater have been erected. Channel of a small stream has been opened and lined with rock and...

The City Park Band Shell in Twin Falls, Idaho was constructed as a Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) project in 1934-1935, part of a larger program of civic improvements around the city of Twin Falls. The band shell is still in use.  Unfortunately, there is no acknowledgement of the role of the New Deal and local relief workers on or around the bandshell. There might be a plaque hidden under the ivy on the back of the structure, but the information sign in front makes it sounds as if the bandshell were built along with the park in the 1904. However,...

Works Progress Administration (WPA) project cards in the National Archives indicate that WPA crews did extensive work on the city water supply system in Fortuna in 1937 and 1940.  A new reservoir was proposed in 1935 and approved in 1936.  The next round, in 1939-40, included laying of new and reclaimed water mains, installing hydrants and improving water treatment. This work cannot be definitively confirmed, since water mains are undergr0und and hydrants have been replaced by modern fixtures.  The reservoir on a hill north of downtown Fortuna does appear to be of the right age to be the one built by...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) did improvements to the San Luis Obispo water supply in the 1930s.  WPA photographs from the National Archives show workers laying water pipes in city streets. Exactly when and where is not known to us.

In 1933-34, a large number of civil improvements were made to Twin Falls, Idaho by the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Idaho Emergency Relief Administration (IERA). The works were done by relief workers hired from local jobless rolls in the depths of the Great Depression. Both CWA and IERA were funded by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), to the tune of around $250,000. The civic improvements included the City Park band shell, work at the water treatment plant, tennis court at Harmon Park, painting Shoshone Street bridge, grading over 200 blocks of city streets, and graveling 95 blocks of streets.

Civic League Park sits on land donated by Uriah Gilliam Taylor to the San Angelo Civic League in 1904. The San Angelo City Council accepted the property as a park in 1907, and Taylor signed the deed over to the city in 1911. During the Depression, Works Progress Administration laborers improved the park based on the designs of Albert Nealy Carlin, the city’s first superintendent of parks. These improvements include a bridge and the rock work around the park. Civic League Park is still in use and is the site of one of the world's foremost waterlily collections.

In March 1936, the U.S. Army leased the Robert Morton Company building and property at 6001 Van Nuys Boulevard, Van Nuys, California, to serve as headquarters for the newly-created Los Angeles District of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  The Robert Morton Company had been a producer of pipe organs and closed its business in 1933.  After remodeling the interior, the building was dedicated to its new mission on May 21, 1936. The entire property was described as “one block square with a 222-foot frontage on Van Nuys boulevard, and extending 55 feet west to Vesper Street. There are two main buildings...

Members of the Clackamas County Planning Board announced during the summer of 1935 that the fifty-one-year old Courthouse represented a fire hazard as well as no longer being adequate for the county's business. Citing the possibility of obtaining PWA funds for the construction of a new courthouse, they encouraged architects to submit plans for the proposed structure. By the fall, the Planning Board had selected the drawings of Francis Marion Stokes, a well-known Portland architect, requested an outright grant of $90,000 from the Public Works Administration, and proposed a means of raising the county's fifty-five percent contribution to the project....

Built in 1912, the two-story, native stone Clairette School building survives as a community center and polling place. In 1939, Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a separate gymnasium building and a star shaped fountain in front of the 1912 building. The rock work on the flagpole, the water tank, and the retaining wall appear to be the same vintage as the fountain, but there is no reference to them being WPA projects.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) conducted extensive development work in Grand Canyon National Park from 1933 to 1942. Among its trail development work, the CCC constructed the Clear Creek Trail, which connects North Kaibab Trail to Clear Creek to the east of Phantom Ranch. The National Park Service's CCC Walking Tour, discussing various CCC trail development projects, notes: "Even more ambitious was the nine-mile (14 km) Clear Creek Trail (1933-36) ..."

Vehicle access within the Willamette National Forest (WNF) was quite limited in 1933. Consequently, developing truck trails or access roads was a high priority for the US Forest Service for fire management. When Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees arrived in the summer of 1933, they were immediately put to work developing a truck trail from Belknap Springs on the McKenzie Highway north to Clear Lake, and ultimately connecting to US Hwy 20 and the Santiam Highway.  Portions of those road improvements are currently maintained as forest service roads while the remainder has been improved as State Highway 126, known at the...

In 1931, the Seattle Park Department acquired the property for the Cleveland Playfield at 13th Avenue South and Lucile Street, immediately west of Grover Cleveland High School. As a new park facility, the playground had seen few if any improvements prior to 1933, when a Civil Works Administration project granted $2,000 for the construction of concrete retaining walls along Lucile Street and the hillside leading up to the high school. CWA workers completed the wall the following year. Beginning in 1935, WPA laborers leveled and graded the property. A second WPA project, begun in 1938, resulted in the construction of...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Clifton High School in Clifton, Franklin County. The project was awarded to Isakson and Morrin of Ogden, Utah with a winning bid of $43,300 in December of 1938. It was completed in 1939. The school was used as a high school for about 10 years, then as a junior high school and elementary school until the late 1980’s, when it was demolished.

The William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building was originally built as the headquarters of the Post Office Department. It was then known as the New Post Office because an older Post Office headquarters stood across 12th Street (now a private hotel). The foundation of the new Post Office building was poured in 1931, President Herbert Hoover laid the cornerstone in 1932, and construction was completed in 1934 (the exact dates are uncertain). Hence, it is only partly a New Deal building. The Clinton complex is part of the Federal Triangle development north of the Mall, between Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenue, first envisaged...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of infrastructure in Hornitos, Mariposa County. The projects included Co. Hwy J16. "SEVERAL PWA PROJECTS UNDER WAY IN COUNTY Several PWA projects for this county have been approved and work in some degree has been started. Among those approved and under way are included the Hornitos-Merced Falls Road,"

The Coachella Canal is a 122-mile (196 km) aqueduct that conveys Colorado River water for irrigation to the Coachella Valley in Riverside County, California.  It is effectively a branch of the All-American Canal, which was completed in the 1930s.   Both are arms of the gigantic Colorado River Storage Project, anchored by Boulder Dam, built under the Bureau of Reclamation.  The contract for both canals went to the so-called Six Companies – an alliance of big western construction firms including Kaiser, Bechtel, Utah Construction and Parsons. Contracts were signed in 1936-37 and work began in 1940 but was interrupted by the...

The National Youth Administration (NYA) completed landscaping work in Cobb Park Landscaping - Abilene TX. NYA Park Project To Begin Thursday: A National Youth Administration park Improvement project for the city of Abilene will begin Thursday, it was learned here yesterday. Ben Jackson, district NYA supervisor, has instructed local Works Progress administration officials to assign 40 youths to the project. It will consist of building two tennis courts and planting of shrubs md other greenery. Most of It Is to be in Cobb park.

Coffeeville High School was built in 1939 and was in service until 2011. The Town of Coffeeville has recently purchased the property and converted it into the Town Hall and Community Center.

Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Colby City Hall in Colby KS in 1935-1936. The limestone building has always served as the City Hall for Colby, KS. The library was housed in the same structure for a time as well, and the Fire Department had an annex attached to this building. The building continues to serve as an office building for city offices.

$76,116 WPA Project Slated for Coleman. Improvements to the extend of $76,116 will be made on Coleman city schools and campuses during the next 12 months, according to an announcement made today. Of that amount the WPA is expected to expend $58,097. It will require 112 men a total of a year to complete the work outlined In a project. The area WPA office has given its approval to the project and other approval is expected within a short time. Improvements to the campus athletic fields, and buildings; rubble masonry walls, concrete curbs and gutters and sidewalks, paved play areas and courts, and...

Works Progress Administration (WPA) appears to have built a high school in Coleville, Mono County, California, in conjunction with the Antelope Union School District.  A WPA project card indicates that the project was approved at a cost of $3,780. The card says:   "Located on the grounds of Antelope Union School, owned by the Antelope Union School Dist. Construction of a 3-room frame school building with concrete foundations and basement. 122' long by 46' wide including heating, plumbing, etc. Sponsor: Antelope Union School District." The present Coleville High School (pictured) is a larger, more modern building than that described on the WPA card,...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the Colliding Rivers Overlook (or Viewpoint), where the North Umpqua and Little Rivers come together. The work as presumably done in 1938, the same year the CCC constructed the Glide Ranger Station just across the road (now the Information Center for the Colliding Rivers Viewpoint). The overlook consists of a small parking area and terraces on two levels for viewing the rivers, with both a ramp and stairway between levels. There is a path to a secondary overlook that is today blocked by trees, and there is a restroom (comfort station) that appears to be...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) carried out major work at Colossal Cave and the surrounding park north of Vail AZ (now a suburb of Tucson, but far to the east in the 1930s). They improved access for visitors to the cave itself, built a large visitors'/administration center, laid out a campground and picnic area, opened roads and trails and built a water supply system.  The Arizona State Park Service oversaw the work. We know that CCC workers built roads and trails in the park.  They almost certainly built the main road up to the visitors' center, plus the parking lot and...

Columbia elementary received additions via the Works Progress Administration shortly after its construction 1937. This Italianate-style building appears in very good condition. The facility was built in the current location in 1936 replacing the one-room school that served during the towns existence as a major gold mining area in the mid to late 19th century, most likely in line with the New Deal sponsored archaeological research that resulted in the town being changed into a state park in 1946. In 2007, major additions were added to the campus and the 1937 building has become just an additional classroom or administration...

The Columbia Hospital for Women was established at this site in 1870. According to Works Progress Administration (WPA) records in the National Archives, the WPA did extensive improvements at the site in 1938, "working on the grounds, erecting fences, pointing up the masonry wall, lining coping on wall, and other  incidental and appurtenant work." Although the archival records only indicate that the work was approved, this project was most likely completed as described, when the WPA was very active around the District of Columbia. The extensive brick facility is now a condominium residence called "The Columbia Residences." 

From late December 1934 through early spring 1935, the State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA) funded improvements to the Columbia Slough that involved raising and leveling a dike on the slough's channel approximately 1.5 miles east of Faloma station. While improving the Columbia Slough dike, it provided work to approximately 190 men for 70 days as part of a work relief program. The City's project description notes the following need: "Dredging operations on this locality had deposited many thousands of yards of excavated material on the banks of the slough. This material was continually sluffing back into the channel. The project consisted...

Columbus Youth Camp provides outdoor activities for adult and youth groups. Credited work by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) included a 350 ft-long dam forming a 17 acre lake, 6 cabins for overnight stays, stone shelter house at the lake, and remodeling an 1837 farmhouse into the camp administration building. The 2023 article gives a total WPA expenditure of $50,000. The 1935 article gives a figure of $15,000 for construction of the dam. Anecdotal local history credits the donor of the original property, Q. G. Noblitt, chairman of Noblitt-Sparks Inc. (Later Arvin Industries Inc., since merged with Meritor Inc.) with...

The Works Progress Administration built a 6800 seat rock masonry amphitheatre in City Park (now Comanche Trail Park) in Big Spring, Texas between 1939 and 1940 under official project number 665-66-2-578.

In 1934, the Public Works Administration (PWA) loaned the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company $7 million for equipment repair, new track installation, and new equipment purchases.  Among the new purchases was the $250,000 Comet, a streamlined Diesel-electric train. The Comet was built in 1935 by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation of Akron, Ohio. “The Aluminum Co. of America furnished the aluminum alloy sheets and castings. The Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co. made the Diesel engines and electrical equipment” (The Indianapolis Times, 9-7-1935). It began service that same year, running a regular route between Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. The blue,...