Survival: Unknown

Municipalities across Puerto Rico asked for the PRRA’s help with improving existing water systems and building new ones. The municipality of Isabela benefited from this help—between 1937 and 1938, the PRRA improved and built waterworks and irrigation systems in the community. Geoff Burrows writes that, "From Adjuntas to Utuado, the PRRA repaired, modernized, and constructed drinking water systems, sewer systems, and storm drains across the island. By 1938, the PRRA had: repaired 15 municipal waterworks; built new water systems and filter plants in Comerio, Isabela, Patillas, and San Lorenzo; built eight water systems for rural housing and eight for vocational schools; and one...

The expansion and development of Puerto Rico’s education system was central to the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration’s (PRRA) agenda. The agency earmarked $2,062,954.40 for the development of the University of Puerto Rico, which remains the most important higher-education institution on the Island. The new buildings built by the PRRA included the Home Economics Building, Library Hall, Teachers’ College Hall, Normal School, the Biology Building, and an auditorium. “With these funds the following buildings have been constructed at the University of Puerto Rico: an auditorium with a capacity for 2,000 persons; a library with room for more than 50,000 volumes; a home economic...

The main campus of the University of Puerto Rico was founded in 1903 in Río Piedras.  Part of the campus, including the athletic field, was built with the help of the PRRA. "In 1924 the Chicago firm of urbanists Bennett, Parsons and Frost were contacted to design a master plan for the future development of the University. It wasn’t until 1935, with the establishment of the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) and the large sum of federal funds that it invested for public works in Puerto Rico, that the partial design and construction of the so-called Plan Parson began. Under the supervision...

The PRRA carried out slum clearance work and built hurricane-proof housing developments in Arecibo and Ponce. “The PRRA located nine parcels of land available to purchase in Ponce, and two in Ponce Playa, and began construction on 4,290 concrete houses in Ponce and Ponce Playa. Built to house over 21,000 people, the PRRA also constructed an nearby incinerating plant, concrete storm sewers, new water supply system, and temporary workingmen's residencies (for PRRA construction workers) as part of the Ponce slum clearance project.”1 The PRRA created housing programs across the Island, as described in the 1938 Annual Report of the Department of the Interior: “The development...

Grants from the Federal Government helped build healthcare facilities across the island. “The outstanding achievement in the field of public-health this year was the extension, after twelve years of endeavor, of health services to every municipality in the Island. Twenty-four new buildings, made possible by grants from the Federal Government, have been completed and occupied by health units in twenty-three municipalities. These buildings have not only improved conditions under which the work is done but will mean a substantial saving in rentals, which may now he used for further expansion of the service. Four District General Hospitals, with a capacity of...

Bridge built in Mayagüez by the Puerto Rican Emergency Relief Administration.

Starting with 1933, the CCC built multiple camps in the Tongass Forest, among which was a camp on Annette Island. Initially, the Alaska program consisted of builiding small camps in the Tongass and Chugach forests, with an enrollment of 325 men. The program expanded in 1937 outside of the National forest boundaries. The Annette Island camp was part of this expansion: "As a result of the additional enrollment and work load, the Forest Service began a cooperative program with the National Park Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The expanded program made special efforts to enroll Eskimos and other native Alaskans....

In 1937, the Works Progress Administration built a "low art moderne warehouse for the New York City Department of Purchase, directly under the Brooklyn Bridge and opposite Pete’s Downtown. Approved by the New York City Art Commission, it was designed by Michael J. Mongiello as a long, sleek piece of streamlining with strip windows and orange brick. The roof was specially designed to resist damage from debris falling from the bridge." The building took 18 months to construct, with $635,000 in Federal funds. The Warehouse was built in the Fulton Ferry district at the Brooklyn Bridge. The 1939 W.P.A. Guide to New York City,...

In 1935, a contract was awarded for the construction of support buildings and dorms at the Waimano Training School and Hospital (WTSH), originally named the Waimano Home for the Feeble Minded. The facility was originally an incarceration facility for individuals with developmental disabilities. The contract, listed as Public Works Administration Docket No. T. H. 8029, included “a new unit for boys at Waimano Home, Pearl City, for the sum of $177,341, of which $53,200 was a federal grant.” These auxiliary buildings have been slated for demolition as of 1999, but current status of the structures is unknown to the Living New Deal. The...

Fort Douglas was expanded during the New Deal by the PWA, CCC and WPA.   The WPA added several houses for non-commissioned officers (buildings 658, 600, 664, 665, 666 on Connor Road), as well as for senior officers.  These are all still in use. There are several other WPA works at Fort Douglas that are harder to document or have disappeared.  The only site marked as New Deal on the base is the bathhouse.   More photos taken by the WPA during the 1930s are in the archives of the library at the University of Utah, but have not yet been examined.