Oakland Sites

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to the Oakland city zoo in 1935-36 when it was located in Sequoia Park (now Joaquin Miller Park). In 1939, the zoo relocated to its present site in Durant Park in the East Oakland hills. WPA project cards show the approval of  $4,791 toward "Enlargement of elephant paddock in Sequoia Park; clearing out young Acacia growth in Park" in 1935  and $17,940 for "Landscaping - Sequoia and Heights Parks - Oakland, etc." in 1936 The WPA also built the Woodminster Amphitheater and Cascade in Joaquin Miller Park later in the 1930s.

The Park Street Bridge across the Oakland Estuary was built to connect the cities of Alameda and Oakland.  The Park Street approach is on the Alameda side; from Oakland the approach is from 29th Street. The bridge was funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA) when it was still called the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works and completed in 1935. It is a bascule-type drawbridge to allow ships to pass beneath (rarely used today); the operator sat in the small tower on the east end of the bridge.   The construction is riveted steel girder, cantilever style, done by MacDonald and...

The old Piedmont Elementary School burned on July 24, 1938.  Federal aid was sought for building a new school, which was dedicated April 12, 1941. This Art Deco school building is complete with auditorium, library, kindergarten classroom, kitchen, offices, and regular classrooms. There is also a WPA sidewalk marker in front of the school.

Funds for road improvements at the foot of Seventh Street in the Port of Oakland were secured through the State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA) in 1935 (Minutes of the Port Commissioners). SERA was funded by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) of the New Deal. The improvements were to serve an expansion of the Albers Brothers milling plant, which had occupied the site alongside the Southern Pacific mole since 1918. Albers Bros. leased the site from the Port of Oakland. The Albers Bros. mill and grain silos (completed in 1940) were a landmark of the port for many years until torn down...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided funding to the Port Authority of Oakland to enlarge  the Outer Harbor area, just south of the Bay Bridge. The work was done as the bridge was under construction, c 1935-36. From PWA photographs the work appears to consist of a wharf area facing west, five large warehouse buildings and various roads and trackage surrounding those. The PWA final report elaborates:  "The project included reinforced concrete and creosoated pile wharfs, 850 feet of berthing space, 123,500 square feet of wharf area, 201,000 square feet of paved area on fill, 5,800 feet of railroad tracks, 114,300 square...

In 1937-38, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved and paved the old dirt Redwood Canyon Road as part of the New Deal's contribution to the newly-created East Bay Regional Parks (EBRPD).  Today, it is known simply as Redwood Road. The road descends from Skyline Boulevard (also built by the WPA) to the entrance of Redwood Regional Park in the canyon below. Skyline, in turn, runs north to link up with Sibley, Temescal and Tilden Parks, the rest of the original four parks in the EBRPD system. Redwood Road crosses the South Fork of Redwood Creek several times and several of the old...

The East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) was formed in 1934 and acquired land for parks from the East Bay Municipal Water District in 1936.  The first parks were Tilden, Sibley, Temescal and Redwood in the East Bay Hills behind Berkeley and Oakland CA.  The New Deal provided extensive aid towards improving the new parks (except for Sibley) for public recreation, working with the Parks District's first general manager, Elbert Vail. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up five camps in the East Bay hills and operated in the parks for the entire New Deal decade, 1933-42.   The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was...

Roosevelt High School (now Middle School) was originally opened in 1924 but was closed in 1934 (probably because of earthquake hazard) and replaced by temporary classrooms.  It was then rebuilt by the Oakland Public Schools (Department of Architecture and Engineering) with aid from the Public Works Administration (PWA), reopening in 1937.  The funding shares are unknown to us, as is the date on which construction began. The Art Moderne building still stands.  Like so many of today's schools, it is entirely fenced off.   An addition on the back covers up the old south facade and a new gymnasium has been...

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, one of the most famous bridges in the world and the key transportation link in the Bay Area, was built under the New Deal with funding from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). The 8-mile long bridge (43,500 feet) consists of two parts, both anchored to Yerba Buena Island in the middle of San Francisco Bay.  The western half is an elegant suspension bridge (whose beauty has always suffered by comparison with the Golden Gate Bridge, but gained a delightful electronic light show in the 2010s). The longer  eastern half was a classic cantilever bridge, ungainly but...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a sidewalk in 1939 at Auburn and Harwood Avenues in Oakland's Rockridge District.  It was one of many sidewalks constructed by the WPA around the city of Oakland.   Date stamps in sidewalks were a common practice in the first half of the 20th century.  Many are documented at oaklandunderfoot.com.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built sidewalks and driveways on 56th Street in Oakland, California in 1940-41.  The work was marked with typical WPA date stamps in the concrete in the 700 and 800-850 blocks of 56th Street. This work was part of a much larger program of improving streets, curbs and sidewalks throughout Oakland in those years.

The Works Projects Administration (WPA) did extensive sidewalk construction along Oakland's Lakeshore Ave. There are still many stamps in the pavement reading "WPA 1940" and "WPA 1941" for a long two blocks stretch from Walavista to Rosal to Prince Streets.  The pavement stamps are mostly in driveways, but other can be seen on the sidewalks and gutters along both sides of Lakeshore. By 1940, the WPA had come under the direction of the Federal Works Administration (FWA) in a government reorganization of 1939 and its name was slightly altered from "Progress" to "Projects".

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built sidewalks, curbs and gutters on Clifton Street, from Boyd to Manila Street, in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland, California.   There are several WPA date stamps in the gutters and driveways on this stretch of Clifton.  Stamps indicating the paving company were common practice in the first half of the 20th century. This work was part of a much larger WPA program of street and sidewalk improvements all over Oakland in those years.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built Skyline Boulevard along the crest of the Berkeley-Oakland Hills in 1935-36. It employed around 1500 men daily and cost $131,000.  The work described in photographs in the National Archives as "realignment, cleaning slides, drainage structures and surfacing" amounted to a complete make-over of a dirt road built by a short-lived timber company owned by Oakland developer Frank Havens, 1910-13.  Skyline was meant to link up the parks of the original East Bay Regional Parks system  created in the 1930s: Tilden, Sibley and Redwood (plus Temescal lower in the hills). It began from Tilden Park, but that portion has...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) continued work at this facility from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). WPA project No. 65-3-2140, Approval Date 10-25-35, $1.045, "Paint Int. State Industr. Home. ERA" (Federal Emergency Relief Administration) Excerpt from Oakland Wiki: "The Industrial Home for the Adult Blind (sometimes the Industrial Home of Mechanical Trades for the Adult Blind) was established in 1885 at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Thirty-sixth Street, on the eastern half of the former Peter Thomson estate. The Home went through a number of changes, and then became the State-operated Orientation Center for the Blind in 1951. In...

A project to improve pedestrian and vehicle safety at 12 intersections in the city of Oakland was undertaken with the assistance of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which provided relief labor for the job. State funds came from a 1/4 cent gas tax.  The improvements – called "traffic channelization" at the time – involved adding median strips, boulevard dividers, corner dividers, and so on.  Some of the work is still in place, but most of the intersections have been greatly altered or have even disappeared beneath freeways since the 1940s. Frank C. Myers and John G. Marr designed the projects and City...

Federal funding (almost certainly from the Public Works Administration (PWA)) allowed for the grading and paving of Moss Avenue in Oakland in 1934. Most of Moss Avenue was later incorporated into MacArthur Boulevard, which provided upgraded access to the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, completed in 1936.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook a program of planting 10,000 street trees around the City of Oakland in 1938 to 1940.  Some $113,000 was earmarked out of a large grant of over $1.5 million for parks improvements in the city made by the WPA in 1938.  The work was supervised by Edgar Sanborn, City Forester. We do not have detailed information on which streets enjoyed the benefits of this program. 

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the elegant stone Beach House at Lake Temescal Park, now known as Temescal Regional Recreation Area, part of the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD).  When the EBRPD was created in 1934, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and WPA were called upon to improve the first parks of the system, making them ready for public use.  Temescal Park opened to the public in 1936. The Beach House includes rest rooms and changing rooms on the ground floor and a large hall and offices above, plus a flagstone terrace and terraced garden behind. The WPA also...

As part of general improvements at Lake Temescal Park, Works Progress Administration (WPA) relief workers created a lovely stone cascade and waterfall alongside the elegant stone beach house.  The park is now known as Temescal Regional Recreation Area and is part of the East Bay Regional Parks District.  The cascade starts about 50 feet above the waterfall, which is on the main path along the lake. There is a small waterfall and pool at the top, then a lovely little stream about a yard wide, another pool above the falls and then the final waterfall into a basin.   To see the full...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved Lake Temescal Park, now known as Temescal Regional Recreation Area, one of the original units of the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD). When the EBRPD was created in 1934, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and WPA were called upon to make the first parks of the system ready for public use.  Temescal Park opened to the public in 1936. Along with the well-known beach house and cascade (see separate pages) at Lake Temescal, WPA workers made several other improvements to the park – not all of which can be pin-pointed.  They created a large...

The USS Potomac served as Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidential yacht from 1936 until his death in 1945.  FDR was a great yachtsman in his youth and loved being aboard the Potomac, which he used for  political meetings and fishing trips to get away from the White House. The Potomac was originally built in 1934 by the Manitowoc Ship Building Company, Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The Public Works Administration (PWA) assisted with the funding of the construction. It was originally the USCGC Electra, and renamed the USS Potomac in 1936. The Potomac is now preserved in Oakland, California as a National Historic Landmark and is...

In 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) assisted the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) in laying a 36" diameter water main from 25th Avenue and East 20th St in Oakland to Estudillo Boulevard in San Leandro.   Running more than five miles, the water pipeline replaced infrastructure that had been put in place almost fifty years earlier.  

In 1936, 550 Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers helped lay 25,000 feet of water pipe around 34th and Adeline Streets in West Oakland, under the auspices of the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD).  In 1937-38, 400 WPA workers helped the EBMUD lay 15,000 feet of 36" and 30" water main "between 22d and Adeline Streets and Fourth Avenue and East 11th Street", according to a report in the Oakland Tribune.  Since those are both intersections, the implication is that the lines ran from West Oakland across downtown to inner East Oakland; but that needs to be verified. In any case, the newspaper...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook several wildfire control projects in the hills behind Oakland, including brush clearing, fire breaks, fire patrols and fire trails.  Given the natural frequency of fires in California's dry summers – such as the massive Oakland Hills fire of 1992 – this kind of work was undoubtedly valuable for fire control. Seven projects were approved in 1935-36, as described in WPA project cards detailed here. Approved projects were not always carried out, however, and in this case one was defunded, another deleted and two were superseded.  It is almost impossible to confirm that the other work...

Woodminster Amphitheater and Cascade is an astonishing feature of Joaquin Miller Park in the Oakland hills and one of the largest New Deal projects in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Woodminster lies just off Joaquin Miller Road above Highway 13.  The large complex was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) from 1935 to 1940. Initial work began in late 1935 after $128,000 in federal funding was approved for Woodminster stairway and amphiteather, as part of a million dollars WPA effort across the city of Oakland (Chronicle 1935).  Further funds and more work came with a larger disbursement of almost $700,000 for "a master...

Woodminster Amphitheater and Cascade is an astonishing feature of Joaquin Miller Park in the Oakland hills and one of the largest New Deal projects in the San Francisco Bay Area. Woodminster lies just off Joaquin Miller Road above Highway 13.  The large complex was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) from 1935 to 1940. Initial work began in late 1935 after $128,000 in federal funding was approved for Woodminster stairway and amphiteather, as part of a million dollars WPA effort across the city of Oakland (Chronicle 1935).  Further funds and more work came with a larger disbursement of almost $700,000 for "a master...

The Woodminster Amphitheater design is Art Deco (Moderne) by Edward Foulkes. This is especially clear in the appearance of the south facade, which looms over the cascade and the rest of the park (though now somewhat shrouded by untrimmed trees).   The capitals of the inward columns have capitals with lion-head reliefs and the two outer flanking columns are topped by human torsos.  Lower down, on the sides of the facade, are two bas-relief panels. The name of the amphitheater is inscribed along the top.  There are also decorative element on the ceiling of the corridor below. The design of the sculptures and...

The WPA built the sidewalks and gutters along 41st Street between Broadway and Telegraph in North Oakland.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built sidewalks all over the city of Oakland, including here at 51st Avenue and East 12th Street.  Two sidewalk stamps at this location, one in the street next to the curb and one on the sidewalk, are marked "W.P.A. 1940".

The WPA built the sidewalk in front of the Children's Hospital of Oakland in North Oakland.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built long stretches of sidewalk, as well as curbs, gutters and driveway aprons along 62nd Avenue in East Oakland near Mills College. 

This WPA sidewalk stamp is in the gutter at the southwest corner of Clay and 9th Streets.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built sidewalks on Genoa Street in North Oakland in 1940. WPA concrete stamps are located at the intersection of Genoa and 53d, 56th and 58th Streets.

The concrete staircase connecting Hoover Avenue and Oakview Drive was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1939.