Fullerton Sites

"Brea Creek is one of four principal tributaries of Coyote Creek, which is a lower tributary of the San Gabriel River. It drains parts of Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. The creek flows 11.7 miles (18.8 km) from the cities of Brea and Anaheim to Whittier, where its mouth is on the left bank of Coyote Creek, at a point 481 feet (147 m) lower in elevation."   (wikipedia) The Work Projects Administration was involved in concrete channelization along the lower portion of the creek. It is unknown if the dam...

The Commonwealth Post Office in Fullerton, California was funded by the Department of the Treasury and constructed in 1939 in only 7 months. This New Deal project provided work for 40 men.  At the time, it was the City of Fullerton’s first and only post office until 1962. It was also the first building in the city that was federally owned.  The post office was designed by the Office of the Supervising Architecture. It is a beautiful Spanish Colonial Revival building. The Post Office still exists today and still houses a mural called “Orange Pickers” by Paul Julian.  The Commonwealth Post Office is...

The oil-on-canvas mural Orange Pickers by Paul Julian is the only Works Progress Administration (WPA) post office mural in Orange County. It was painted in 1941 or 1942 at the Federal Arts Studio in Los Angeles and then installed in the lobby of the post office in 1942.  The 6 foot by 13 foot mural depicts images of Fullerton industries including citrus, oil and aviation. The style of the mural is known as regionalism which was very popular during this time period. This mural was Julian’s last public arts project. Julian then went on to have a successful career in the...

"Initially, the college was an integral part of the high school, constituting a two-year post-graduation program, until it became an independent entity in 1925. For several years the college continued to share the high school facilities until the first of two major construction programs was undertaken in the 1930s, when the college district acquired its current site and started constructing a new campus. The first set of buildings was designed by Harry K. Vaughan and funded under the W.P.A. program. The remainder was the result of extensive additions made later in the 1950s." - City of Fullerton The Commerce Building, pictured below, is...

"The building now being used as the Fullerton Museum Center was originally constructed as the citys fourth library and served in that capacity until 1973. William Starbuck started the communitys first library in 1888, in his Gem Pharmacy on the 100 block of East Commonwealth Avenue. The second library was placed in the Chadbourne Building at the northwest corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Harbor Boulevard in 1902. The third, a Carnegie Library obtained through the efforts of Mr. Starbuck, was constructed on this site in 1907. The present building replaced the Carnegie Library in 1941. This concrete building consists of a...

The Old Fullerton City Hall (now the Fullerton Police Department) was built by the Works Progress Administration. It was completed over a 3 year span and cost over $130,000.  The building is of the Spanish Colonial Revival style. Key characteristics include its central 3-story tower and cupola. Decoratively, it has beautiful terra cotta and ceramic tile work throughout the building and extensive iron wrought elements. It’s a stunning example of New Deal architecture. Additionally, the former Fullerton City Hall houses a large 3-wall mural named the “History of Southern California” by Helen Lundeberg.  A new city hall was built across the street when...

In 1941, the Federal Arts Project (FAP) commissioned prominent artist, Helen Lundeberg, to paint a 3-wall mural that covers 900 sq. ft. at the Old Fullerton City Hall in Fullerton, California. In addition to working on several New Deal art projects, she helped to found the Post-Surrealist art movement.  The mural she painted in the Old Fullerton City Hall is named The History of Southern California. It depicts California's history from the landing of Juan Cabrillo in the 1500s through the development of the movie industry in the Twentieth Century. Similar to many other murals painted in this era it was...

Construction of a trades building- a two story reinforced concrete structure- meant to be used for instruction of various technical trades such as aeronautics, navigation, diesel engines, electrical work and radio.

Charles Kassler painted "Pastoral California" at Fullerton Union High School in 1934. He received funding from the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). Located in the Louis Plummer Auditorium (built in 1930), the mural is 75' x 15'. Caroline Luce notes that the mural "depicted the lives of both indigenous and Spanish residents in Alta California and emphasized the disparities of wealth and power in the colonial period. At a time when Mexicans were being blamed for the city’s economic woes, Kessler celebrated Los Angeles’ Mexican history.  His mural presented students at the school a history lesson about inequality and racism, prompting the...

Hillcrest Park in Fullerton, California was originally built in 1920 and then from 1931-1940, relief funds from the Civil Works Administration, State Emergency Relief Administration, Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and the Work Projects Administration helped shape the landscaping of Hillcrest Park. No buildings at Hillcrest Park  were created or funded by New Deal Programs.  Hillcrest Park sits on 35.6 acres and is considered the most historically significant park in Fullerton, CA. In 1920, the City of Fullerton purchased the land for $67,300. Johann George Seupelt, a horticulturist and landscape architect, was the park's first superintendent and designed the landscaping plans for the...

"The Wilshire Junior High School site has been in continuous use for educational purposes since 1890, when the first red brick schoolhouse was built at the northeast corner of Lemon Street and Wilshire Avenue. Other school facilities were constructed on the site and remained there until the 1933 earthquake. Destruction from the earthquake resulted in the construction of a new Wilshire School under a WPA project in 1936, consisting of the existing auditorium and classroom buildings facing Wilshire Avenue. This complex became the Wilshire Junior High School in the mid-1950s. In the early 1980s, the Junior High School was closed...