California Sites

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built a one-lane suspension bridge over the Upper Sacramento River in September 1933 under the supervision of the US Forest Service.  It may well have been the first major construction project completed by the CCC in the country.  A plaque next to the bridge notes that Raymond Huber, who supervised the project, was given a plan of a 160-foot suspension bridge but no instructions on how to go about construction; so the crew made its own plans as it went along.  The initial purpose of the bridge was to provide access to the east side of the...

The Sims Flat Campground on the Sacramento River occupies the site of a former  Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp, known as the Castella Camp (Castella is a larger town just to the north).  The CCC camp operated from 1934 to 1939. It is unknown to us when the US Forest Service opened the campground at this site.  Traces of the CCC camp still remain, such as the stone steps that led up to the former commanding officer's house and administration building. A plaque at the bottom of the steps reads: "CCC Camp (1934-1939). With its wooded valley and beautiful river setting, Sims was...

Sixth Avenue Elementary School, which opened in 1895, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. Both the main building and auditorium survive. 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...

Sixty-First Street 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...

Sixty-Sixth Street Elementary School, which opened in 1909, 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...

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 Slauson Ave. Storm Drain in Los Angeles is one of a number of infrastructure projects undertaken with New Deal aid and Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor in Los Angeles. Excerpt from a 1939 WPA publication, courtesy of the Los Angeles Library (Connolly, Donald H. and G. I. Farman. Report of Accomplishment of the Operations Division. Works Progress Administration, Southern California. January 1, 1939). "The Slauson Avenue, Santa Barbara Avenue and Vernon and Vermont Storm Drains, Work Projects No. 642, 9736 and 1508, sponsored by the City of Los Angeles, are all units of the extensive Slauson Avenue Storm Drain System, which...

WPA workers worked to widen Sloat Blvd. in 1937.

A $12,000 PWA grant allowed for the construction of a warehouse at the Sacramento Corporation Yard. It is unknown if the building exists after major reconstruction was done at the facility in 2009.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) were called on to aid local farmers in control works for soil erosion.  Their work played an essential role in the origins of the Soil Conservation Service (SCS).   "Farmers in Arroyo Grande, desperate to eke out a living during the Great Depression, were plowing their land to plant bean and pea crops. The unintended result was massive erosion. 'Arroyo Grande was an eye opener', Hugh Bennett, the first chief of the Soil Conservation Service, wrote in 1935.  'I can think of no other place in the United States where erosion is...

An elementary school rebuilt by the WPA after the (probably 1933 Long Beach) earthquake.

New Deal relief workers made some improvements to state beaches along the Sonoma County coast, all of which are now included in the Sonoma Coast State Park that runs from Bodega  Bay to Jenner, California. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed trails at Salmon Creek Beach, Portuguese Beach, Schoolhouse Beach, Wright's Beach and Goat Rock.  Relief workers also added pit latrines at the first three of those and transplanted of dunes grasses to prevent wind erosion of sand dunes at some of these beaches. At Jenner Beach, CCC Company 572 built a parking lot by the road and a hiking trail down...

The WPA built one main runway and two cross runways, in addition to such things as ditches for drainage, fences and a new hangar roof.

The PWA contributed 45% of costs to a new hospital building in 1937. According to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, construction of this building hinged on approval of the PWA funds.

These retaining walls are adjacent to the first hospital on the property and to the Oak Knoll (tuberculosis) Sanatorium, built 1939. In 1997, its name changed to Norton Psychiatric.

This county-wide road and bridge project included 12 sub projects, such as: improvements to 73 miles of county roads, construction of 18 bridges, installation of 200 concrete and corrugated metal culverts.

New Deal workers constructed "early flood-control, sewage and water systems" in Sonoma County.

Originally known as Sonoma State Home, Eldridge, all the structures and streets of this place later became Sonoma State Hospital (now Sonoma Valley Hospital). Various WPA projects were undertaken here.

The Sonora City Hall was built with a combination of PWA and bond funds and completed in 1939. According to a Works Progress Administration job card: WPA Project No. 165-3-8511 Approval amount $680 Approval date 10/2/36, Average employed 14, Total funds spent $975 "Demolish City Hall; salvage usable materials and do work incidental thereto in the City of Sonora, Tuolumne County. City owned property." WPA  Project No. 65-3-4664, Approval Amount $14,148, approval date 2-8-36 "Reinforced concrete Municipal Building & Fire Department."

The locally beloved Dunlavy Stadium was constructed by the Works Progress Administration and was dedicated on Sept. 24, 1937. It can seat about 5,000 people and is built of rock and concrete. The seating was originally wooden-backed but the rotting wood was removed in the 50s, leaving just concrete.

This mural "Lumbering, Agriculture and Mining" was moved from the original location to the new Sonora High School Library in 1976: "Acclaimed watercolor artist George Post was hired by the in 1936. His first assignment was a mural to be painted for Sonora High School depicting industries in Tuolumne County, which included lumber, mining and agriculture. Post created the only oil painting of his career, a mural eight feet high by 36 feet long, which is still in the Sonora High library today. The work took him a month and a half to complete, Post said in a 1964 interview with the...

The auditorium for Sonora Union High School in Sonora, CA, was completed by the Federal Works Agency (FWA) and the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1939.

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Science Building at the Sonora Union High School in Sonora.

"The Sonora Youth Center on Barretta Street was put into service in 1943 by the National Youth Administration, the Works Progress Administration for youth. It was for people 18 to 25 years old." - The Union Democrat WPA project No. 65-3-4275, $14,442, approval date 1/14/36, "Construction of athletic field, bleachers, retaining wall, tennis court, garage, moving building & surfacing with a truck."

New Deal road construction in Soquel, CA.

Soto Street Elementary School, which opened in 1914, 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...

One of 4 bridge projects in Los Angeles financed from funds set aside by the Federal Government to be used on grade separation projects. On these projects the State acted as an agent for the Federal Government, contracting and supervising the construction." "Another grade separation on Soto Street is between Pico Street and Washington Boulevard where the heavy vehicular traffic along Soto Street has been carried under two structures which support the Omaha to Los Angeles main line and the Pasadena tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad. AUTO TRAFFIC DETOURED This subway provides for clear width of fifty-six feet of roadway with five...

"By the early thirties, the city was outgrowing its municipal buildings, so property for a civic center was acquired. The location was on California Avenue between Firestone and Ardmore Boulevards. The first building was a library, to be leased to the Los Angeles County Library for one of its branches. The building was built with labor provided by the Works Project Act. The work of W.P.A. artists is still in evidence on the interior walls where murals depict events in the history of writing. A beautiful mosaic graced the entrance. When the new library on Tweedy Boulevard was built in 1973,...

The mosaic is situated in the entrance to the building (formerly the South Gate Public Library). It has recently been designated a culturally significant landmark. "The tile mosaic entitled Evolution of Writing was created by Stanton MacDonald-Wright during his employ with the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA). Mr. Wright served as WPA Art Project Director for Southern California and later as technical advisor for seven western states. It was during his position as technical advisor (approximately 1938--1942) that the South Gate mosaic was created. During his affiliation with the WPA (1935--1942), Mr. Wright became interested in new techniques for architectural decoration and...

These tempera murals depicting the "History of Printing Through the Ages" were created by Suzanne Miller with FAP funds. There were originally five panels in this series; two have been destroyed, but the murals depicting the history of printing in China, Egypt, and "Modern" times remain.

In 1934, the Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the creation of the South Gate Entrance Station to Yosemite National Park.  This followed enlargement of the park by the addition of the area from Wawona south and was done as part of the Wawona Road reconstruction.  The new entrance station included a parking area, entrance station, comfort station (restroom), residences for park rangers and a garage. Of this work, the restroom and ranger residence are original New Deal structures.   The Historic American Engineer Record (HAER) report on the Wawona Road provides these details:  "In 1934, roads around the South Entrance station were...

South Gate High School, which opened in 1932, was renovated 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...

South Park Elementary School, which opened in 1907, 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...

In the aftermath of the devastating 1933 Long Beach Earthquake, the Public Works Administration (PWA) helped rebuild this high school. PWA work included the science building and the auditorium. "The size of the stage enables the production of major plays. Covered passageways connect the auditorium with the other buildings of the school plant. The inside is finished with acoustical plaster. An organ is installed by the stage. The project was completed in April 1937 at a construction cost of $113,528 and a project cost of $126,378."

Sculptor Merrell Gage created a three-panel bas relief above the entrance to the South Pasadena High School Auditorium in South Pasadena, CA, likely with Federal Arts Project (FAP) funding. Gage, an instructor at the University of Southern California and at the Chouinard Art Institute, served as judge for the FAP. His own New Deal–funded works in the region include a frieze and free-standing pylon at Hollywood High School in Los Angeles, CA.

Artist Jason Herron sculpted "Erda" (1936) for South Pasadena High School in South Pasadena, CA, with Federal Arts Project (FAP) funds. The sculpture was painted terracotta. Los Angeles Public Library lists the sculpture as missing. According to a 1937 article in the Los Angeles School Journal, "Jason Herron is a young lady whose art study has included work under Merrill Gage at USC, Chamberlain in Pasadena, and one year of study at various places in Europe" (Wells, p. 25). Herron's extant New Deal–funded works in Los Angeles, CA, include the Power of Water Fountain (1935) at Lafayette Park and a sculpture at...

This WPA bas-relief "CCC Workers" was carved for the school by Donal Hord in 1933. It shows CCC workers engaged in a variety of activities. The relief adorns the south entrance of the school auditorium. It has recently been restored with a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. South Pasadena Middle School students created this video about the relief.

In 1937, P. G. Napolitano completed a mural at South Pasadena Junior High School (today's South Pasadena Middle School) in South Pasadena, CA. Located in the school's music room, the mural received funding from the Federal Art Project (FAP). “Mr. Napolitano’s main interest has always been in murals, which he executes in tempra (egg white), in frescoes, and in Sgraffito which he introduced here in creative work. Much of his work is marked by the omission of pretty detail and mere decorativeness until only the essential stand out; economy of line, rhythm, and strength are the three uppermost qualities” (Wells,...

Rehabilitated by the WPA.

Built in 1939.