Oakdale Sites

Magnolia Elementary school (originally called the Oakdale Union School) was constructed in 1938 with funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA). There is a PWA plaque by the entrance door.   The school building is single-story with one long classroom wing.  Behind the main building is a two-story auditorium.  The architecture is streamline Moderne, which was nicely highlighted in blue trim when we visited in 2023.  There is a 1938 New Deal mural by Herman Struck in the school.  

Herman Struck painted a mural for the Magnolia Elementary School (formerly the Oakdale Union School) in Oakdale, California.   The mural was probably paid for by the Federal Art Project (FAP) and hung when the school was completed in 1938, but both those claims need to be verified. The mural hangs in the present school library, formerly the kindergarten room.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made important improvements to the facilities of the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) in 1940-41.  The work was done in two separate projects and consisted of upgrading irrigation canals and their gates, valves and pumps. The OID was formed in 1909 for the purpose of delivering irrigation water to over 80,000 acres of agricultural lands in Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties. Today, it operates over 330 miles of canals and pipelines, along with deep wells and lift pumps. Its headquarters is in the town of Oakdale. The WPA projects cards provide further details of the work to be...