Arkansas Sites

The amphitheater, located on the campus of Southern Arkansas University, was constructed by the NYA in 1936-38.

"The Greenwood Gymnasium is a load-bearing stone masonry building located at 300 E. Gary Street, near downtown Greenwood, Arkansas. It was built in 1938-39 by 100 workers employed and/or directed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) . This durable structure rests on a combination of concrete and native sandstone foundations. The building's dimensions are 108 feet long by 85 feet wide, encompassing two classrooms, lobby, gymnasium with basketball court, stage, bleachers and toilet / shower rooms each for boys and girls beneath the bleachers." (National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form)

"The Griffithville School, built by the Works Progress Administration in 1939, employs Craftsman features and has a construction method and design that is characteristic of the federally funded institutional buildings from the late 1930s. The building, located along a state highway in Grifftthville, is still used as a school, is in good condition, and has undergone very little alteration within the last fifty years." (National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form)   As of 2015, the gymnasium has been used as a community center and a park is on the grounds of the original school. The extant buildings are in disrepair.  

A bridge carrying Gulf Mountain Road over a tributary of Joneed Creek, in Scotland, Arkansas, was constructed by the Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) in 1940. Some sources state that the bridge has since been demolished.

Local WPA workers used hand crow bars to dig stones from North Cadron Creek to build the gym in 1938. They hauled stone in horse-drawn wagons, and used scaffolds and chains to move them into place (Arkansas Historic Preservation Program). The gym was still in use by the Guy-Perkins School District as late as 1992.

Local WPA workers used native stone to construct the home economics building in a Craftsman style (Story, 1992). The building was still in used by the Guy-Perkins school district as late as 1992.

After the county seat was moved from Washington, Arkansas to Hope, Arkansas, the Washington Public School moved into the empty 1874 Hempstead County Courthouse in Washington. With assistance from the Works Progress Administration, a gym was erected next door in 1940 to serve the school. The gym currently is used as an event venue for public functions.

With the consolidation of the numerous one-room school houses into a central facility, the Works Progress Administration helped construct a gymnasium for the school district. "WPA Project No. 265-1-63-83, $26,321, Total funds $47,163, Application date 12-12-41, Average Employed 48. "Construct a school gymnasium building and perform work incidental and appurtenant thereto. Publicly owned property. Sponsor: Newark School District #33." A new facility was constructed in 1984 and Newarks school district was consolidated into the Cord-Charlotte School District to create the Cedar Ridge School District in 2004.

This local gymnasium was built by the WPA in 1936. It was destroyed by fire in 1972.

The bridge carrying Arkansas State Highway 45 over Hackett Creek north of Hackett, Arkansas was constructed by the Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) in 1941.

"The Haggard Ford Swinging Bridge is being nominated with state significance as an amendment to the "Historic Bridges of Arkansas" multiple property nomination under Criterion A for its association with the World War II era of bridge building and with the Works Progress Administration. Under Criterion C, the Haggard Ford Swinging Bridge is significant for its engineering as one the few remaining historic suspension bridges in Arkansas... Haggard Ford is named for Mrs. Nancy Haggard, a widow with three children who lived near the creek crossing at the turn of the century. In the late 1930's it was decided to construct...

The rustic-style log structure constructed by the WPA was demolished in 2013 and replaced with a new Verteran's building.

"The Hampton Watervorks is located on the north side of Hunt Street west of Lee Street in downtown Hampton, the seat of Calhoun County in southwest Arkansas. The metaI water tower and associated well house were built by the Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel Co. for the Public Works Administration in 1937." "By the 1930s, Hampton was in need of a good public water supply. The city applied to the Public Works Administration for a waterworks and on July 21, 1936, the PWA awarded a $15,000 loan and a $12,191 grant for the project. A contract for $24,047 was awarded on September 18,...

The bridge carrying Hartford Road over West Creek southwest of Hartford, Arkansas was constructed by the Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) in 1943.

The Hartford Water Tower "is a historic elevated steel water tower located in Hartford, Arkansas. It was built in 1936 by the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company in conjunction with the Public Works Administration as part of a project to improve the local water supply. The project was one of 124 similar projects in the state funded by the PWA. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008, as part of a multiple-property listing that included numerous other New Deal-era projects throughout Arkansas."

The NRHP nomination form describes this courthouse as the "...finest extant example of the Art Deco style within the city of Hope, Arkansas. Its horizontal symmetrical massing, set back rooflines and stylized Art Deco ornamentation are all identifying characteristics of the style that became the dominant architectural idiom for Depression-era public works courthouses throughout the state" (Story, 1994). The county applied for PWA funds August 1, 1938. The courthouse was constructed for $200,000, through a $110,000 loan and a $90,000 grant (PWA fund granted). The central part of the courthouse is five stories, with two-story wings on the north and...

A Work Progress Administration marker is encased in a brick monument on the grounds of Southside Elementary School, on the West Tulsa Street (north) side of the school property. According to the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, the WPA constructed a high school here in 1940. It remained on this property until 1994, when it was demolished to make way for the construction of the current elementary school. The bricks of the monument are actual bricks from the old WPA school, and the concrete WPA stone is the original cornerstone from the building.

The bridge carrying Arkansas 282 over a tributary of Frog Bayou, southwest of Rudy, Arkansas, was constructed by the Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) in 1940.

"Originally known as “Colonization Project Number 1,” Dyess Colony was first controlled by the Arkansas Rural Rehabilitation Corporation.  This corporation was set up by the Rural Rehabilitation Program of the Emergency Relief Administration in Arkansas.  In 1936 the Resettlement Administration took over management of the Arkansas Rural Rehabilitation Corporation.  The legal structure of the colony was revised, and Dyess Colony Corporation was organized.  When the Farm Security Administration was established in 1937, it became the third agency to administer Dyess. Dyess Colony was an experiment in permanent reestablishment of the independent farmer.  Intended as a pioneer effort, the colony was, in...

Locally known as the Home Economics/F.F.A. Building, this "combination NYA youth community center/classroom" was constructed in 1937-1938. It has been described as "the best local example of a building executed in the indigenous stone Rustic style which was popular with the WPA in its construction throughout Arkansas, and in the Ozark region in particular" (Arkansas Historic Preservation Program).

The fire station, designed in a mission-style building resembling a residence, was built by the PWA at a cost of $26,681.

"Located in a mall White County community near Bald Knob, the Hopewell School building has specific features that identify it as one of several federally funded institutional structures in the county dating from the late 1930's. ... The former school's exterior is embellished with many elements common to Works Progress Administration structures. For example, its rectangular, one-story plan is constructed of native stone, and there is a one-bay, central front porch with a flat, parapeted roof and arched entry on fie front (east) elevation. The gable-on-hip roof is low-pitched with a wide eave overhang and exposed rafters. As with other...

"The Horace Mann School Historic District contains four contributing buildings and no non-contributing buildings all sited on roughly two acres of land in Norfork, Baxter County, Arkansas.  The City of Norfork now owns the buildings, and the complex was closed for use as a school in the mid-1980s.  The 1936 Main School Building, 1937 Home Economics Building and Agricultural Vocational Education Building, and circa 1940 Gymnasium are all wonderful examples of Works Progress Administration (W. P. A.) and National Youth Administration (N. Y. A.)-built school in Arkansas. Minor alterations have occurred to the 1936 main building and circa 1940 gymnasium;...

The bridge carrying Arkansas 164 over Horsehead Creek, twelve miles northwest of Clarksville, Arkansas, was constructed by the Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) in 1940.

The Arkansas State Parks Commission acquired the land for Lake Catherine State Park in 1935, now a park of Hot Springs National Park. Several rustic style stone and wood buildings were constructed, including three cabins, a former concessions building (now known as the Nature Cabin), and a stone bridge. Work was completed by the 3777th Company of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Howard County Courthouse in Nashville, Arkansas. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

The Independence County Courthouse is a two-story, stone masonry institutional building with a raised basement and a Batesville marble exterior, laid out in a symmetrical, roughly "H"-shaped plan. The central, taller section of the building is five bays in length along the northern or Main Street elevation and accessed via a central, double-leaf entry. The lower, flanking sections are a single bay across. The eastern and western are each five bays in length. The building is fenestrated throughout with metal casement and awning windows, virtually all of which are original. It rests upon a concrete foundation and is covered with...

"The Iron Springs Dam was constructed circa 1933 by members of the 3767th Company of the Arkansas CCC District stationed at the Hollis and Jessieville Camps, both of which were also located on State Highway 7, to the north and south of the Iron Springs Roadside Park, respectively.  It was constructed as part of a small, public recreational complex within the Ouachita National Forest (ONF) as a result of the CCC's emphasis upon recreational construction.  The extant historic structures within this complex include only this dam and two shelters (nominated separately), all of which allowed the area to function purely...

The Jess Norman Post 166 American Legion Hut is a historic clubhouse at 222 South First Street in Augusta, Arkansas. It is a single-story rectangular log structure, with a gable roof and a stone chimney. It is fashioned out of cypress logs joined by square notches, and rests on piers of stone and wood. It was built in 1934 with funding from the Civil Works Administration for the local American Legion chapter, and is architecturally unique in the city. It is still used for its original purpose. (wikipedia) "The CWA approved $1,779 for the project, of which $1,120 was earmarked for...

The Works Progress Administration built a new school in Jessieville for the Jessieville School District No. 45, Garland County. The new school was called Rock School and was built on land donated by the US Forest Service. Construction was completed on July 19, 1936, in time for the beginning of the school year. Enrollment was 180 students. The project cost the District $6,092.18. The WPA provided the labor and 20% of materials.

"The Keiser Water Tower is a historic waterworks facility at Water and East Main Street in Keiser, Arkansas. It is an open metal structure, several stories high, with a roughly cylindrical tank at the top, and a rising through the center to provide water to the tank. A ladder providing access to the tank is fixed to one of the legs, and there is a circular catwalk with railing around the tank. The structure was built in 1936 with funding from the Public Works Administration, and is one of the few Depression-era structures left in the small community. The water tower...

From the Arkansas Times: “Originally developed in the 1930s as a Works Progress Administration project, Knoop Park offers visitors hiking trails and picnic tables. The park is known for its striking vistas.”

The Lafayette County Courthouse (built from 1940-1942) was funded 40% by the WPA (Arkansas Historic Preservation Program). It is in the Art Deco style typical of the period, which means it was more restrained than the earlier Art Deco style of architecture, prior to the depression. The architects were Clippard and Vaught.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the Atalanta Lake Park in 1937. Located in Rogers AR, the park and lake development secured recreational opportunities for area residents for years to come. The Fort Smith office of the WPA notified the town officials in Rogers that funds for the project were approved in 1936. Its total cost was estimated at $53,667 and sought to improve approximately one hundred acres. The original project “contained a restaurant, swimming pool, ice skating rink, boat rentals, a tennis course, miniature golf and more. It was not only a city park, but a destination for tourists.” Due to...

Lake Dick was a Resettlement project, part of the efforts to help sharecroppers establish their own farms. The Resettlement Administration purchased 3, 453 acres, built "80 houses, six community buildings, and several farm support structures" for a cooperative farm (Arkansas Historic Preservation Program). Eighty white farm families, who had been either sharecroppers or tenant farmers, from 29 Arkansas counties were selected by the Farm Security Administration to take part in the cooperative. The cooperative was designed for each farmer to have his house, with a small plot of land for vegetables, but the remaining acreage was to be farmed jointly. In...

"This nomination seeks to recognize the entire property comprising Lake Leatherwood Park as a National Register Historic District.  Previously, Lake Leatherwood Dam and Recreational Facilities, consisting of the bathhouse and the picnic shelter, were listed individually in the National Register on August 12, 1992.  Since that time, additional AHPP survey efforts through the initiation of the Eureka Springs Parks Commission have revealed a large number of additional buildings, structures, and sites within the park that were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps as well as resources dating before and after the CCC period.  It is being nominated under Criteria A,...

Lamar Porter Field, a ballpark, was built by the WPA in 1937 and has been hosting amateur baseball ever since. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

The bridge carrying Lefleur Road over Vache Grasse Creek, southeast of Greenwood, Arkansas, was constructed by the Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) in 1941.

The Forrest City Public Library was constructed between 1938-39 and was designed by the Little Rock, Arkansas, firm of Sanders & Ginocchio. The PWA provided a grant of $10,791 for the project, whose total cost was $24,242. It was the first purpose-built public library in the city and was funded by the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works as Project No. ARK. 1147-F. It has continuously functioned as a library since its completion. The only alteration to the building occurred in 1976, when a rear addition was constructed. The interior still mostly appears the same way it did historically. Forrest City Library:...

The WPA built the Lincoln County courthouse in Star City between 1941 and 1943. The building was designed by the architectural firm Wittenberg & Delony, financed with a WPA grant of $135,000, and built with the assistance of WPA laborers.