Delano Sites

Delano High School was built with the aid of funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA). The name of the school at the time of construction was Delano Joint Union High School. The building design is elegant Streamline Moderne, on three levels. In the last decade, the classic white exterior paint (probably repeated since the building's origin) has recently been replaced with more eye-catching colors, name, logo and images.  Still, the New Deal era school appears to be largely intact.  The one-story classroom building with pillared breezeway and the quonset-hut gymnasium also look to be original. There are plaques on the building...

Delano Municipal Airport was built during the New Deal with funds budgeted for the Development of Landing Areas for National Defense. It was built by the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) with the aid of the Works Progress Administration or WPA. Local sources say the airport opened in April 1940, but the WPA project was approved in early 1941. It could be that the project was accelerated ahead of schedule, as was often  the case with military projects by 1939-40. The airport covers 546 acres and has one paved runway measuring 5,651 by 75 feet.   In late 1943, the airport was turned over...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a firehouse for the Kern County Fire Department in the town of Delano at Jefferson and 12th Avenue. It has since been replaced by Fire Station #34 at the same site. A total of $600,000 in federal funds was spent on fire stations at Delano, Fellows, Woody, Maricopa and East Bakersfield.