Auburn Sites

This art deco style WPA building is no longer used for official business. Now the fire station side holds the Boys and Girls Club, while the other side is used by small businesses.

In 1938, WPA labor constructed a stone retaining wall outlining the east and north edges of the Auburn Veterans Memorial Hall property. The approximately 380’-long wall is made of pieces of uncut native stone laid in random courses. The wall sweeps up at the entry, framing concrete steps leading to the hall. It continues along the sides of property, meeting another stone wall of unknown origin. The ends of the wall terminate with tapered posts. The post at the south end includes a scratched inscription in concrete identifying structure as a WPA project. Unlike other walls constructed by the WPA in Auburn,...

The WPA built rubble walls in the city of Auburn in Placer County.

The WPA built this sewage treatment plant in Auburn in 1940.

This 1930s WPA amphitheater in the Auburn School Park Preserve was recently restored and is still used for local events.

This building was originally built as a mining exhibit hall for the 20th Agricultural District Fairgrounds. It became the first Placer County Museum in 1948. The WPA built much of the rest of the Gold Country Fairgrounds as well.

"In Placer County, several buildings and beautification projects were funded entirely or in part by the WPA. A June 24, 1939 article in the Placer Herald noted several WPA projects in the region such as the City Hall and Firehouse building; thousands of feet of rock wall throughout town; the sidewalk, wall, and landscaping work at the Veterans Memorial Hall; Placer Junior College (now Placer High School); a new addition to the Auburn Grammar School; the Placer Union High School Gymnasium; the new Auburn Fairgrounds; and work at the Auburn Ski Club grounds in Cisco."

On May 15, 1937, the Placer Herald noted: "Trustees of the Placer Union High School and Junior College District have accepted the new $85,000 gymnasium, completed under direction of W.E. Coffman, architect, by J.C. Meyers, contractor. The new edifice is declared by experts to be the finest of its type west of Berkeley, where the University of California has its multi-million dollar plant." "The gym, an art deco classic like nearby city hall in Auburn, was constructed as a public works project in 1937 along with the original cinder track at what is now the Ralph LeFebvre Stadium. It was...

Two murals facing each other across the gymnasium plaza.