Arizona Sites

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted road work in what was then Solomonville (now Solomon), Arizona, during the 1930s.

"The PWA has made a grant of $61,200 to the city of Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona, for street improvements including paving of portions of 8th, Richland St., 9th, Monte Vista Road, Mitchell St., Coronado Road, and Almeria Road. Estimated cost is $136,000"

A major upgrade of facilities at the Petrified Forest National Monument (now National Park) was undertaken by the New Deal in the 1930s.  The work was carried out from 1933 to 1940 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), under the direction of the National Park Service (NPS).  Some, if not all, was paid for by a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA). Among other works, the CCC enrollees improved and paved the parks' dirt roads, including the main Petrified Forest Road and the Blue Mesa Scenic Road, adding bridges over the washes.  The also built the park's trail system, including...

The Works Progress Administration built a rock wall in Camp Verde, Arizona. A wall stamped "USA/WPA" is located directly in front of the current Camp Verde Historical Society, which is housed in the historical former elementary school.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) and the federal Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) funded a large amount of road building around Arizona during the New Deal. One of the highway projects was an underpass for Route 66 beneath the busy Santa Fe railroad line that passes through the center of Flagstaff, which greatly helped relieved traffic jams of cars and trucks waiting for trains to pass. The underpass cost $125,000, of which the city contributed only $5,000.  The PWA grant was awarded in June 1934 and the underpass was finished by Christmas (Cline, p. 308). The underpass carries two lanes of traffic...

Sabino Canyon Recreation Area is in Coronado National Forest at the northeast corner of Tucson AZ.  At the behest of the city of Tucson and Pima County, it was developed out of former mining and grazing land in the Santa Catalina Mountains by New Deal agencies, which built access roads, dams and recreational facilities.  Relief workers hired under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and Works Progress Administration (WPA) all contributed to the park's improvement.  A major recreational lake never materialized, as funds ran out in the mid-1930s and, beside, dams in the desert quickly fill with sediment...

Sabino Canyon Recreation Area is in Coronado National Forest at the northeast corner of Tucson AZ. At the behest of the city of Tucson and Pima County, it was developed out of former mining and grazing land in the Santa Catalina Mountains by New Deal agencies, which built roads, dams and recreational facilities.  Relief workers hired under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and Works Progress Administration (WPA) all contributed to the park's improvement.  A major recreational lake never materialized, as funds ran out in the mid-1930s and, beside, dams in the desert quickly fill with sediment...

The city of Tucson is flanked by two halves of the Saguaro National Park, which protects extensive areas of Sonoran Desert landscapes and the biodiverse communities of the Tucson Mountains and Rincon Mountains, two of the many "sky islands" of southern Arizona. The eastern district of Saguaro National Park was set aside as Saguaro National Monument by President Herbert Hoover in early 1933; today, it is known as the Saguaro NP - Rincon Mountain District (RMD).  The western district of the park was originally part of the Tucson Mountain Park, a county park created in 1929; the northern section of the...

The city of Tucson is flanked by two halves of the Saguaro National Park, which protects extensive areas of Sonoran Desert landscapes and the biodiverse communities of the Tucson Mountains and Rincon Mountains – two of the many "sky islands" of southern Arizona. The eastern district of Saguaro National Park was set aside as Saguaro National Monument by President Herbert Hoover in early 1933; today, it is known as the Saguaro NP - Rincon Mountain District (RMD).  The western district of the park was originally part of the Tucson Mountain Park, a county park created in 1929; the northern section of...

The city of Tucson is flanked by two halves of the Saguaro National Park, which protects extensive areas of Sonoran Desert landscapes and the biodiverse communities of the Tucson Mountains and Rincon Mountains – two of the many "sky islands" of southern Arizona. The eastern district of Saguaro National Park was set aside as Saguaro National Monument by President Herbert Hoover in early 1933; today, it is known as the Saguaro NP - Rincon Mountain District (RMD).  The western district of the park was originally part of the Tucson Mountain Park, a county park created in 1929; the northern section of...

The city of Tucson is flanked by two halves of the Saguaro National Park, which protects extensive areas of Sonoran Desert landscapes and the biodiverse communities of the Tucson Mountains and Rincon Mountains – two of the many "sky islands" of southern Arizona. The eastern district of Saguaro National Park was set aside as Saguaro National Monument by President Herbert Hoover in early 1933; today, it is known as the Saguaro NP - Rincon Mountain District (RMD).  The western district of the park was originally part of the Tucson Mountain Park, a county park created in 1929; the northern section of...

The city of Tucson is flanked by two halves of the Saguaro National Park, which protects extensive areas of Sonoran Desert landscapes and the biodiverse communities of the Tucson Mountains and Rincon Mountains – two of the many "sky islands" of southern Arizona. The eastern district of Saguaro National Park was set aside as Saguaro National Monument by President Herbert Hoover in early 1933; today, it is known as the Saguaro NP - Rincon Mountain District (RMD).  The western district of the park was originally part of the Tucson Mountain Park, a county park created in 1929; the northern section of...

"The Salt River Canyon Bridge spans one of the most dramatic canyons in Arizona. It was funded by the Public Works Administration, designed in 1933 by architect Lee Moor, and completed in June 1934. The bridge is a single-span steel arch. The design of the bridge approach was highly complex because of the multiple curvatures. Its Art Deco superstructure shines in the sunlight and is still one of Arizona's most visibly striking, engineered structures. Today the bridge carries only pedestrian traffic; a newer, wider version that sits adjacent handles automobile and truck traffic on Highway 60."

The Salt River Project is the source of energy for most of this area, providing affordable electricity, and electricity in general for large geographical areas. "1935-1938: In an effort to supplement its workforce during the Depression, SRP contracted with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to conduct maintenance and construction work on the canal system. The CCC crews typically completed projects including: building fences, creating trails for trucks, constructing levees or dykes, clearing laterals, lining and piping waterways, or upgrading water control structures with stone masonry or rubble lining. In less than three years, men from the CCC worked with SRP and...

" The Sanchez CCC campsite was established in 1935 to protect and preserve the natural resources of the Upper Gila River Valley. The area had been chosen as a national demonstration site by the Soil Conservation Service to stop the dramatic loss of soils and grasslands. During its two-year existence the camp housed 150 young men who built earthen check dams, lines of rocks spreaders, and contour furrows on federal and state lands. Of the original buildings on the site, portions of five still stand. The SCS administration building and the garage/blacksmith shop were constructed with poured concrete forms and...

From 1933 to 1938, the Civil Works Administration (CWA), Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) – in short, the work relief agencies of the New Deal – built over a thousand “sanitary privies”, or outhouses, around Arizona under the Community Sanitation Program directed by the Arizona Board of Health.  The program canvassed private property owners to see if they needed new privies and the government provided the labor if the owner paid for the materials. Over one hundred such outhouses were built in the Verde Valley of Yavapai County.  In all likelihood, every last one has disappeared...

A sanitary sewer construction project in Williams, Arizona was undertaken during the Great Depression with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $50,000 loan and $34,364 grant; the total cost of the project was $83,792. Work occurred between December 1936 and September 1937. (PWA Docket No. AZ W1036)

The Works Progress Administration built the school in St. Johns, Apache County. The exact location and condition of this facility is unknown to the Living New Deal.

Mobile, AZ was settled by African-Americans, but by the 1930s there was also a substantial white population. Town population was apparently only about 40, although there seems to have been about 100 homesteaders. The Works Progress Administration dealt with the racial tensions by repairing the established one-room school (presumably for Blacks) at a cost of $3178. They also built a second school (presumably for Whites) at a cost of $10,266. That's a big expenditure for only a handful of children-- but by the 1950s the population had grown substantially.

In 1933-34, relief workers of the Civil Works Administration (CWA) built the Sharlot Hall Museum building.  They also restored a rustic ranch house on the site and helped move and restore Fort Misery cabin, moved here from its original site. Sharlot Hall museum complex occupies a square block on the west side of downtown Prescott and includes several buildings and an archive in the city library across the street.  It was begun in 1928 by local historian, politician, and activist Sharlot Hall, whose founding act was to save the historic Governor's Mansion. The New Deal then came in to help build...

The W.P.A. constructed sidewalks in Bisbee, Arizona, including on Bisbee Road.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was active in Jerome, a mining town hit hard by the Great Depression.  The WPA hired out-of-work miners for several projects in Jerome and nearby towns. One of those projects was building concrete sidewalks.  One local resident told us, "Oh, they are everywhere," but in our brief time in Jerome we found only one example of the telltale WPA stamps in the sidewalk along School Street. There are several stairways between streets in town because Jerome was built on the side of mountain next to its copper mine.  These certainly look like WPA, but there are no...

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) constructed sidewalks in Tucson, Arizona. "Near University Boulevard a few blocks from the campus, a sidewalk marking caught our eye.  “USA–WPA-1938” was stamped into the cement sidewalk.  The WPA – the Works Progress Administration – was a program of the 1930s that put people to work during the “Great Depression” (as opposed to our current depression – small “d”).  Many public works projects were accomplished during that time.  The quality of the workmanship is obviously exceptional for it to survive like new for 70-plus years as it has."

The Works Progress Administration built sidewalks and/or completed improvements on Tyndall Avenue in Tucson. WPA sidewalk stamps are located along Tyndall Ave. between First and Second Streets. The sidewalk may seem a minor project, but it is in front of a lovely old row of adobe style craftsman cottages that have been converted to "marginal" academic uses (public policy, global sustainability, women's studies). But that lovely scale and architecture are being obliterated by high rise upscale student housing.  

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed sidewalks all over Prescott AZ, including around Courthouse Plaza.  According to the WPA stamp in the photograph, the sidewalk was part of Project No. 65-2-105 in 1936.   Unfortunately, the entire plaza has been renovated and the stamp shown here has disappeared -- despite the photographer's happiness on seeing "that such things are preserved."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built sidewalks on both sides of North Arizona Street where it runs through Ken Lindley Park and in front of the Museum of Indigenous People in what is now the Prescott Armory Historic District.  There are several WPA sidewalk stamps dating from 1936 to 1938. Curiously, these sidewalks are not mentioned in the Historic American Landscape Survey report on the historic district done in 2014.  There is also a 1937 WPA stamp on the narrow sidewalk along the north side of Ken Lindley park on E. Willis Street and another on the west side on S....

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built sidewalks all around Prescott AZ, including on the 300 block of South Washington Street, between 1936 and 1938. The WPA sidewalks on S. Washington are in good condition after eight decades. The contributors notes: "These WPA-marked sidewalks located in a "historical" district, and we would like to keep them. The city wants to rip them up."

The historic (former) Silver Peak fire lookout tower in Coronado National Forest was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1938. It has since burned down. NRHP Nomination Form: "This lookout house, an L-4 type located on the Douglas Ranger District, was erected in 1938 by a CCC crew. It is situated on top of a rocky knob. This wood frame construction measures 14 ft by 14 ft. There are associated buildings including an outhouse and storage shed, both are wood frame construction with tongue and groove exterior. There also is a water cistern with a catchment drain extending from...

South Mountain Park in Phoenix AZ was the site of two Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps from 1933 to 1940, labeled SP-3A and SP-4A.  Around 4,000 CCC enrollees passed through the camps over that time, in Companies 864, 874, and possibly others. The camps appear to have been located on level ground near the entrance to the park, perhaps near the present site of the Environmental Education Center.  It is not clear from historic photographs and their labels if the camps were at a single site or were separate.  Remnants of CCC barracks are said to be still visible (NNDPA 2012). The...

South Mountain Park in Phoenix AZ was developed for public recreation by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) from 1933 to 1940.  The best known of the works by the CCC is the large stone shelter at the Dobbins Lookout, which is the popular symbol of the park and famous for its spectacular views of the city of Phoenix.  Dobbins lookout is accessible by car via Summit Road, which has a large parking area with low stone walls (presumably by the CCC, as well). There is a small stone shelter not far west of Dobbins Lookout and a platform lookout, with a low...

South Mountain Park in Phoenix AZ was developed for public recreation by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) from 1933 to 1940. Among the works of the CCC were two ramadas, which are large, elaborate picnic areas, with stunning views north over the city of Phoenix. The ramadas consist of polished concrete picnic tables protected from the desert sun by wooden roofs raised on stone or concrete pillars, with large central spaces surrounded by stone walls.  The big ramada is very extensive and reached by stone steps.  Low stone walls line the approach road to the ramadas and the complex includes a path...

South Mountain Park in Phoenix AZ was developed for public recreation by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) from 1933 to 1940. One the main works done by the CCC was  an entrance station complex that included a museum, administrative offices, caretaker's house and entrance kiosk.  The museum and office building was completed in 1934 and was the first permanent structure in the park;  the residence and kiosk were added in 1937-38 (NNDPA 2012).  The entire complex is the present Ranger Station at the park entrance. The ranger station is a remarkable stone structure, built of flat, dark stones and projecting roof...

South Mountain Park in Phoenix AZ was developed for public recreation by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) from 1933 to 1940.  During that time, the CCC enrollees built many, if not most, of the roads and trails in the park – though we cannot be sure exactly which ones.       

The Civilian Conservation Corps constructed what had been the Spring Valley Ranger Station during the Great Depression. The structure is currently available for rent as the Spring Valley Cabin Bunkhouse. "Crews from the Williams area CCC also joined with other crews to build a new 80-foot high fire tower and cabin at Grandview at the Grand Canyon, construct the Moqui Ranger Station (now Tusayan Ranger Station) and build the Spring Valley Ranger Station."

From the University of Arizona Libraries Digital Collection: “Public Works Administration funds were used to construct the State Capitol Annex Building in 1938 and to hire Jay Datus to paint a series of murals entitled “The Pageant of Arizona Progress.” Datus came to Arizona in 1937 at the age of 23, already an accomplished and well-known artist. He spent two years in research for these works in order to accurately depict the dress and actions of his subjects. His figures include Native Americans, miners, explorers, missionaries and pioneers.”

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed Arizona Highway 75 in Greenlee County during the 1930s.

Numerous large-scale street improvement and paving projects were undertaken in Tucson, Arizona during the Great Depression with the assistance of federal Public Work Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied outright grants of more than $665,000 (not adjusted for inflation) for the work. PWA Docket Nos. AZ 1067, 1068, 1069, 1070, 1071, 1076, 1080, 1081, 1082, 1083, 1084, 1085, 1086, 1087, 1088, 1119, 1141, 1144

Many street improvements were made in Prescott, Arizona during the Great Depression under a project funded by the federal Public Work Administration (PWA). It is difficult today to appreciate the importance of this kind of generic public works in a day when many city streets were still dirt or gravel. It is usually impossible to pinpoint the streets that were improved (leveling, widening, paving, gutters, storm sewers, etc.) without going into the archives of the local public works department, and most streets have been redone more than once over the last 75 years.  

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built street parking in Bisbee. The City of Bisbee was built on an uneven topography made of canyon walls and floors. The WPA leveled and regraded the streets to build “benches” that accommodate parking. This work mitigated the city’s parking problem.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) paved numerous streets in Bisbee, Arizona, from 1935 to 1938. According to the Official Bulletin of the Works Progress in Arizona Volume I, No. 5, May 1936, “A project of Works Progress Administration sponsored by the City of Bisbee and providing for the paving of nearly all unsurfaced city streets is estimated at 65% completed by project officials. Widening and other improvement work has been completed. Work has been completed on O.K. Street, Howell Avenue, Shearer, Dubacher Canyon, Temby Avenue, Quality Hill, High Road, Higgins Hill, Quarry Canyon, Mayor Street, Swimming Pool Road, Opera Drive, Roberts...