Survival: Unknown

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped build the Sunset Playground in 1937-1940, working with the San Francisco Recreation Department.  The playground included a field house plus volleyball, basketball and tennis courts. "In 1937, the three-acre site at 29th Avenue and Lawton Street was bought for $50,676 and began as a playground. Built by the Recreation Department and the W.P.A. (Works Progress Administration), Sunset Playground opened in 1940 with a small field house, volleyball, basketball and tennis courts." (ParkScan) We believe that the WPA relief workers developed the entire playground and not just the grading of the site, as indicated by Healy.  "Like...

A 1940 report identifies the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as having worked on lighting for the Golden Gate bridge, but provides no further details. The work was probably done in 1939-40.  Since no federal agencies were involved in the construction of the Golden Gate bridge itself, and the WPA and Public Works Administration (PWA) were involved in building all the approach roads to the bridge, it is most likely that this report is referring to lighting along the approaches not on the bridge itself.  Further confirmation is needed.      

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.

These storage tanks were built under the New Deal in the 1930s. They may be the tanks near the intersection of Redondo Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway—this half mile section of PCH was graded and paved under a federal grant in 1935—but confirmation is needed.

The New Deal vastly improved Yosemite National Park in California, which has long been the showpiece of the national park system.  Several federal agencies operated in the park from 1933 to 1942, under the general supervision of the National Park Service: the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Public Works Administration (PWA), and Bureau of Public Roads (BPR), plus the short-lived Civil Works Administration (CWA)  (December 1933 to April 1934). Major works around Yosemite are detailed in the various site pages listed on the right. Nevertheless, some of the immense amount of work done during the New Deal cannot be pinpointed, so we...

Exact location of water tower unknown.

According to a report from the regional office in 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) had recently constructed rock walls in Stanislaus County, California. Unfortunately, nothing more specific is known about this project, neither the location nor the purpose of the walls.  WPA reports could be maddeningly vague about some of their minor projects.

The construction of Mark Keppel High School in Alhambra, CA, was primarily funded by Public Works Administration (PWA) grants in 1938. The Daily Pacific Builder cites bids being collected for contracts on the school's administration, physical education, and industrial arts buildings, as well as for heating and ventilation work. According to the school's website, "The morning of December 19, 1938 dawned damp and cool. Nevertheless, workmen eager to earn a day's pay huddled in groups in the field that sloped downward toward the streetcar tracks, airport hangers, and a Valley Boulevard awakening to light work-bound traffic. As they waited for their...

In 1940, the Work Projects Administration was constructing storm drains throughout Los Angeles, CA. One drain was located on Olympic Boulevard, "in the very heart of Los Angeles. The basic structure is of reinforced concrete, the mainline is from 5 to 12 feet in diameter with dozens of connecting laterals, catch-basins and catch basin connections on principal downtown streets which have been flooded, completely cluttering up traffic during the heavy rainfall of the brief California winter period" (see photos).

The Public Works Administration (PWA) constructed a sewage disposal plant in El Monte, CA. In 1935, the Department of the Interior’s newly created Department of Subsistence Homesteads (DSH) established a community of 100 “small farms” and “rurban homes” in El Monte. "As a result, so much interest was aroused in the development of subsistence farms that approximately 2,000 acres of farmland was subdivided and settled by residents of the metropolitan area of Los Angeles, who built their homes along the banks of the Rio Hondo River which was badly polluted by the existing El Monte sewage system. To overcome this condition,...