California Sites

Both the original Merced Municipal Airport and the newer airport at this site were built with WPA funds. The earlier airport "was located off Highway 99 at the intersection of Snelling Road near the Santa Fe Railroad, three miles northwest of the city of Merced. Dedicated on 3 April 1932, the City of Merced had sought to expand its 66-acre site to 123.25 acres utilizing Works Project Administration (WPA) funds and in May 1936 had begun the task of expanding the property, grading and drainage of the field, construction of one 8-hangar unit and a cobble stone administration building." - https://www.militarymuseum.org/NewMercedAuxField.html "In 1940,...

Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (FEAPW) workers built this elementary school together with the nearby Elim Elementary and the Lander Gym which was part of the Hilmar Union High School. The Merquin School was built in 1938, two years after the other projects, "as a special emergency public works project."  

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed San Francisco's Merrie Way Esplanade during the Great Depression. Work: Consisted of clearing and grubbing a half acre tract, 1,500 cubic yards and surfacing with 350 cubic yards of rock and bitumuls wearing surface, creating parking and observation area close to Ocean Beach and Recreation grounds.--Healy, p. 44.

"The Santa Barbara Armory, Work Projects NO. 4256, 7013, and 9073, was sponsored by the City of Santa Barbara and constructed for the 2nd Battalion of the 144th Field Artillery, California National Guard. The work involved the construction of a complete armory plant consisting of two units. The main building is a one story ell shaped structure with two wings having a total floor area of 28,790 square feet including the basement. The Gargare Building, the second unit, has approximately 4800 square feet of floor space and consists of one story and a basement.   "The auditorium section of the Main...

Micheltorena Street Elementary School, which opened in 1905, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure that every member of the board agrees with...

Like Lodi Lake and other parks in Lodi, Micke Grove Park had cemented rock curbs and gutters built by the CWA 1934. Some have been replaced but many still exist. In addition, seventy men employed by the WPA built and installed: five concrete picnic benches, a new baseball diamond, a caretaker cottage, two comfort stations, a wading pool, a water system, five acres of lawns, six horseshoe courts, six softball courts, two double tennis courts, three bocce ball courts, four volleyball courts, and one mile of fencing. In the years since the 1930s, many of the original features of the park have been...

Middleton Street Elementary School, which opened in 1932, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. The school appears to have been rebuilt yet again in the 1950s or 60s, although the PWA auditorium may remain—confirmation is needed. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation,...

"In the 1930s, in the midst of the Great Depression, more than 300,000 migrants from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas flocked to California, driven by poverty and the hope for new opportunities. This flood of migrants, collectively known as the Okies, included a wide cross-section of people—young and old, men and women, rural and urban... In 1935, the Resettlement Administration (RA), and later the FSA, began to establish migratory labor camps to house the destitute migrants. Many migrants living in cars, tents, and shacks along “ditchbank” settlements (Figure 1) were attracted to the sanitary, newly constructed camps located along a 600-mile-long...

The New Deal's Resettlement Administration (RA) built permanent housing units for migrant farm workers in Farmersville CA in 1938.  The exact location is unknown.  It is unlikely that these buildings survive.

Miles Avenue Elementary School, which opened in 1932, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure that every member of the board agrees with...

This tempera on canvas mural "Early Spanish Caballeros" was painted by Lew E. Davis with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds. It was moved to its current location at the museum from the Los Banos Post Office.

Sections of Minnesota Ave. between Lincoln and Bird Avenues, are stamped with WPA 1941 stamps.

Miramonte Elementary School, which opened in 1912, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure that every member of the board agrees with me...

During the Great Depression federal funds helped to grade and pave 1.2 miles of Mission Boulevard from the junction of San Jose Blvd. to the Colma city line.

In 1934, the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)/Public Works Administration (PWA) financed the construction of the first continuous highway across the city of Santa Barbara (roughly six miles), taking through traffic off city streets.  The route followed the Southern Pacific tracks. Along the new route, Mission Creek was channelized and several new bridges were built. Today, the highway is jointly State Route 1 and Interstate 101.  While it seems to follow the route built in the 1930s, it has been altered by subsequent expansions by the state department of highway.  It is not clear what – if any – portions of...

Drew Athletic Field was constructed behind the school in the late 1930s. Dorland Street was removed to make room for the field. The October 3, 1938 edition of the Daily Pacific Builder reported that $65,000 in PWA funds had been allotted for the project.

The school contains two 6' x 24' murals "Civilization Through the Arts and Crafts as Taught to the Neophyte Indians" and "Mission San Francisco de Asis." They were painted by Edith Hamlin in 1936-37 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. Betty Willey and Jay Risling assisted. Hamlin retouched the murals herself in 1973. Both murals were originally located in the school library.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed San Francisco's Mission Playground, located at 19th and (what was then known as) Angelica Streets, during the Great Depression. The park is still in use today. Painted swimming pool and dressing rooms, repaired basketball court, children's area and installed lighting system, rehabilitated entire area, graded, built walls, 2 tennis courts, 1 basketball court. This was one of the older playgrounds in need of repairs.--Healy, p. 66.

Phone: 415-453-5279 Access Hours: 8:30-5 M-F, Sat 10-1

The 4' x 15' mural "San Rafael Creek—1851" was completed in 1937, commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The mural is housed in San Rafael's historic Mission Rafael post office.

DON WARREN, Senior Bridge Engineer February 1937 issue of California Highway and Public Works magazine: "... The projects were intended to relieve labor and carried the condition that as far as practical, labor was to come from the relief rolls and that labor be confined to one hundred thirty hours per month. It also stipulated that railroad work could be done by the railroad forces. CARRIES FOUR R. R. TRACKS The largest of these projects is the Mission Road Grade Separation, which carries four lanes of Pacific Electric tracks over the junction of Mission Road with Huntington Drive North. Huntington Drive South and Soto...

This historic Mission in downtown Sonoma was established in 1823 and was the last and most northerly of the 21 Franciscan missions in Alta California. New Deal workers later helped plaster the mission.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) helped pay for major improvements to the irrigation canals of the Modesto Irrigation District (MID), created in 1887. "MID ditches were vastly improved during the Depression. One project in 1937, was funded by a $380,000 federal grant from the PWA. It would bring the miles of improved ditches up to about 100 miles (out of a total of about 450 miles). Fifty ditches were involved in this project and over 500 men were employed for about five months. The federal government furnished about 45% of the cost of the manpower and materials." (Osborn, p. 46)

The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) and the State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA), along with local sources (Rotary Club and City of Anaheim), funded a sculpture of actress Helena Modjeska. The sculpture was created by Eugene Maier-Krieg in 1934 and resides in the northeast corner of Pearson Park in Anaheim, California. Modjeska was an actress who first immigrated to Anaheim, CA from Poland. She went on to stardom as a Shakespearean actress, regularly touring the country. But she returned to Orange County often for vacation and eventually purchased property in the area. The front of the statue portrays Modjeska...

"President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) provided a work force, which pushed the Modoc Forest development work years ahead. A special camp was built at Hackamore in 1933 and maintained there almost until the abandonment of the Corps in 1942. Spike camps from this main camp were established when necessary but the gentle nature of the Modoc terrain allowed workers from the main camp to reach out much further than in the average forest area... ...By the end of 1933 there were some thirty sizeable CWA crews working out from their homes on Modoc Forest projects. A large number...

Modoc Union High School was constructed in 1939 as a Public Works Administration project and is located along North Main St (Hwy 395) in downtown Alturas, CA. There are two bronze plaques that hang near the front entrance to the school. The top plaque mentions the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harold L. Ickes as Administrator of Public Works. The plaque lists the school as being constructed in 1939. The building's architecture contains Art Deco themes. The school still functions as a high school today.

The Mojave elementary school was built in 1938 with $150,000 in federal funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA).  It was made primarily of reinforced concrete. There has been considerable alteration of the exterior and windows over time, plus addition of further structures to house the school, about which we lack further information.  The front entrance is a stripped down version of the original and the bas-relied and original doors have disappeared.

Mojave received a $60,000 natatorium (swimming pool) from the PWA.

In 1900 the city's old town hall was replaced with the present building serving as the town's community hall and theater with a stage at one end. A number of alterations have been undertaken over the years. In 1936, the WPA excavated and installed the current basement underneath the building. As the city's website explains: "Sixty feet long and the full 35-feet wide it was framed by thick stone retaining walls on the east and north sides, and a stone wall with window and door on the rear, west faade. The east side was formed of concrete poured into board forms....

The Woodbridge Dam, built in the 1890s, created Lodi Lake, along the Mokelumne River in Lodi. The New Deal project of "flood control on the Mokelumne River, mosquito abatement, and erosion control" consisted of the removal of brush, downed trees, and the elimination of stagnant pools along the Mokelumne River between the Woodbridge Dam and the Cherokee Lane bridge, especially at Lodi Lake. CWA workers installed riprap for erosion control at Lodi Lake and built berms for flood control. CWA workers cleared the irrigation ditches of weeds.

The Mono Debris Dam was Built by CCC Co. 2928, Camp Mono, in Los Padres National Forest CA, in the vicinity of Santa Barbara. This debris retention dam was built to protect the Gibraltar Reservoir from sedimentation. Gibraltar Reservoir, on the Santa Ynez River is a major source of municipal water supply for the City of Santa Barbara.  

The Kaiser Pass Road (opened in 1927) resulted in increased travel to Mono Hot Springs on the west side of the Sierra Nevada near Huntington Lake – one of the best-known hot springs in California. Therefore, the Forest Service decided to utilize the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to upgrade the facilities there. In 1934, the CCC men constructed a bathhouse and several auxiliary buildings over the concrete-walled springs on the south side of the San Joaquin River.  On the north side of the river, the CCC built a campground. The buildings were torn down in 1963 and a new bathhouse built on...

The WPA improved the school grounds in the 1930s.

An 80 acre park in the San Gabriel Mountains that was the site for CCC camp F-131 that was constructed May 26, 1933. One of 20 camps in the Angeles National Forest. "The U.S. Forest Service extended the fire road from White Saddle to join a network of fire roads around Monrovia Peak. Most of the labor was done by the C.C.C."

This mural "Grizzly Bear and Cubs" was originally commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts for Monrovia's Ivy Avenue Post Office in 1940. "Helen Katherine Forbes, a California artist, was awarded a contract to paint a mural for the post office in Monrovia, California in 1940. She painted two murals for the lobby of the old Monrovia Post Office which hung there until 1964 when the post office underwent extensive renovation. The mural of the four cubs was rolled up and stored in the post office basement. Sadly, recent efforts to locate the other mural have been fruitless, and its...

The seven-acre Montclair Park in Oakland was built with the aid of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938-40.  This gem of a park lies just north of Montclair Village in the Oakland hills and below Montclair Elementary School.   At the center of the park is a large, oval, stone-lined pond that is home to ducks, turtles and koi carp (giant goldfish), as well as occasional Canada geese.  The pond is an extension of the Lake Merritt bird sanctuary and therefore protected by federal wildlife laws.   The park also includes extensive rock walls and stairs, large lawns and trees, tennis courts,...

The seven-acre Montclair Park in Oakland was built with the aid of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938-40.  This gem of a park lies just north of Montclair Village in the Oakland hills and below Montclair Elementary School.   The park features a picnic area, children's playground and a play area under a group of large trees, as well as a large lawn area for general play.  The park also includes a recreation center, duck pond, baseball field, tennis courts and extensive rock walls and stairs.   The City of Oakland Recreation Department put in $90,000 for the park and recreation...

The seven-acre Montclair Park in Oakland was built with the aid of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938-40.  This gem of a park lies just north of Montclair Village in the Oakland hills and below Montclair Elementary School.   The Recreation Center is a fine Mission Revival building at the north end of the park, built in 1939-40 by the WPA. The park also includes a duck pond, extensive rock walls and stairs, large lawns and trees, tennis courts, a baseball field, picnic area, children's play area, and more.   The City of Oakland Recreation Department put in $90,000 for the park and...

The seven-acre Montclair Park in Oakland was built with the aid of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938-40.  This gem of a park lies just north of Montclair Village in the Oakland hills and below Montclair Elementary School. The park includes a recreation center, duck pond, large grass fields, a baseball field, pickleball courts, a picnic area, children's playground and a play area under a group of large trees.     The most striking feature of Montclair Park is its extensive stonework, which has held up admirably over the years.  The west side of the park, along Moraga Avenue, has a...

The seven-acre Montclair Park in Oakland was built with the aid of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938-40.  This gem of a park lies just north of Montclair Village in the Oakland hills and below Montclair Elementary School.   The park features large grass fields, a baseball field, and 4 pickleball courts – originally a single tennis court (renovated c. 2021).  There are two ranks of stone bleachers on the hill above for viewing.  The tennis courts by the school are much more recent. The park also includes a recreation center, duck pond, picnic areas, play areas and extensive rock walls...