California Sites

This 1941 mural by Victor Arnautoff depicts "South San Francisco, Past and Present." The 3-panel oil on canvas was funded by the Section of Fine Arts in 1941.

The painting seems to be of North Beach, San Francisco.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) rehabilitated police stations in San Francisco during the Great Depression, including the Southern and Mission Stations. The agency: Rehabilitated buildings to meet requirements of department, providing additional cell space, new ventilation and painting.--Healy, p. 70.

$40,000 was expended by the federal government on the grading, paving, and structure of a bridge and its approaches over the Southern Pacific railroad on Eureka Way. The bridge is marked BR 6-35 on the railing at its northeastern corner.

This stage was built by the CWA as a memorial to a popular Sacramento supervisor.

The Springville CCC camp on Highway 190 was a base camp, and there were several seasonal "stub" or satellite camps in the area. Remnants of the camp and its works now span three different private properties.

The WPA added four classrooms to an older school building, and they remain in use today. Stonework retaining walls, drinking fountains and an entrance were also built, possibly by CCC workers from the nearby Springville CCC camp. Springville Elementary School was originally a K-8 school.

The CCC built this work center in Springville. The National Register of Historic Places "defines districts as possessing a significant concentration, linkage, or continuity of sites, buildings, structures, or objects united historically or aesthetically by plan or physical development." As of yet, the Springville Work Center is the only district which has been formally recorded in the Giant Sequoia National Monument. Currently only one district has been formally recorded in the Monument, the Springville Work Center, while other historic work centers (e.g., Pinehurst Work Center) and logging remains (e.g., Millwood mill and townsite, Converse Basin mill, railroad and hoist system) in the Monument...

The WPA built the St. Helena Dam in the 1930s.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) began to pursue improvements at San Jose’s St. James Park in 1937. While the two-square block city park had long been central to public and political life in the city, project leaders hoped that the New Deal initiative would make it “more attractive than ever.” Specific improvements such as “revamping” the park’s landscape and constructing an underground sprinkler system were estimated to cost $35,000. Another $150,000 were initially penciled in for the construction of new facilities and more general improvements in and around the park, but only restrooms were built. It appears.   An historical evaluation of...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed San Francisco's St. Joseph's Avenue during the Great Depression. Consisted of grading from Turk to Geary Street involving 4,600 cubic yards of earth and rock excavation and removal of 3,000 cubic yards of same a distance of 2 miles.--Healy, p. 47.

This 14-foot-tall stainless steel and granite sculpture of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, founder of the Chinese Republic, was sculpted by Beniamino Bufano and completed in 1937 with FAP funds.  "Revered as the 'Father of Modern China,' Sun Yat-sen visited San Francisco in the early 1900s and often relaxed in St. Mary's Square." (Guide.)  

Humboldt Redwoods State Park was established in 1921 with purchases of some of the last remaining Old Growth stands of Coast Redwoods by the Save the Redwoods League. It has since been expanded several times and now includes over 51,000 acres, of which 17,000 are old growth redwood stands.   California did not establish a state parks system until 1928, and little improvement work had been done at Humboldt Redwoods before the New Deal.  When the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) arrived at Dyerville camp in 1933, the young men got to work right away developing the state park.  CCC company 1607 built...

In 1939, the Works Progress Administration built an elementary school that is now the the Stanford Settlement Neighborhood Center—a Community Resources Center.

The Stanislaus County Hall of Records in downtown Modesto, California, was constructed in 1938 with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA).  It stands directly across from the old Modesto Post Office (now the El Viejo Building). The building has a central 5-story highrise section and one long, 3-story wing. The design is strikingly Modern, looking more like a structure built in the 1950s than the 1930s.  It remains in fine condition, serving its original purpose.

The WPA built the Stanislaus Forestry Headquarters in the 1930s.

Designed by William E. Webb in WPA/PWA Moderne style, Starr King Elementary School was built in 1934 with Public Works Administration (PWA) funding. The 1933 Long Beach Earthquake destroyed hundreds of schools throughout Southern California. “On August 29, 1933, Long Beach citizens approved a $4,930,000 bond measure for the rebuilding of schools. Applications for approximately thirty-five schools were filed with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Public Works Administration (PWA); federal grants up to thirty percent of labor and material costs were obtained. To minimize costs, building materials were salvaged from damaged buildings, some schools were rehabilitated, and new schools were...

In 1935-36, the Public Works Administration (PWA) paid for the partial reconstruction of a 1913 wooden school building (removal of the 3d floor) and the addition of a new wing that added six classrooms. Verplanck and Graves (p. 113) provide further detail: "Similar to Patrick Henry School, Starr King Elementary was deemed unsafe due to vulnerability to fire and earthquakes. The scope of work for Starr King removal of the third floor and the construction of a reinforced-concrete addition containing six classrooms. The work was designed by City Architect Charles H. Sawyer and completed in 1935 or 1936." The follow-up to the...

A 1940 WPA publication cites the WPA as having worked on the Davis State Forestry Airport sometime between 1935 and 1939. Although the exact date and extent of involvement is not known, the airport appears to have been built in the late 30s, so it is likely that the WPA was involved in the entire operation. A separate source on airfields gives the following information about the airfield: "The airfield at the State Nursery may not have yet been formally established by 1938, as it was not listed among active airfields in The Airport Directory Company's 1938 Airport Directory. The earliest aeronautical chart...

The federal government (probably the Bureau of Public Roads) provided $75,000 for grading and shoulders on 15 miles of the county road between Orland and Willows, closely paralleling the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks.  This is part of today's State Highway 99W, which runs north-south just east of Interstate 5.

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...

The State Narcotic Hospital Spadra was a once separate program within the grounds of what is known today as the Lanterman Developmental Center in Pomona, CA. No records exist since the unincorporated area known as Spadra was annexed into the City of Pomona. 3 different New Deal relief agencies were involved in reconstruction efforts at this mental health facility. WPA #1E B20 810, CWA SLF #61, & SERA#S1 B1 174. Records at the Pasadena Museum of History describe New Deal work at the site: "This (WPA) project was opened January 11, 1935 and was suspended May 2, 1935 at the request of...

$13,000 Federal highway funds was spent on shoulder construction and curve correction over 5.8 miles of State Route 211 between Ferndale and Fernbridge in Humboldt County CA. The money would have come to the California State Highway Department from the Bureau of Public Roads, which might, in turn, have been funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA). Our source does not provide any funding details, however.

3 miles of former route 100 (today State Route 220) between Ryde and Howard Landing on Grand Island in the Sacramento Delta were graded and surfaced courtesy of a federal grant of $30,000.

$114,000 was spent under a federal grant for the grading and paving of 3.4 miles of highway between French Camp and Stockton, California.

State Route 88, 1/4 mile west of the California Nevada state line looking west towards the “California Alps” This oil base road was graded and a asphalt concrete surfaced was put down in 1935. State Route 88, connects Markleeville the county seat for Alpine County with the Carson Valley. According to the Jan. 1935 issue of California Highway & Public Works, 2.6 miles of highway were graded and surfaced in Alpine County from the state line west as part of a large number of federally funded projects in that fiscal year. $33,000 was the cost.    

Almost a mile of State Street was resurfaced from Mill Street north to the city limits during the Great Depression with a federal grant of $7,500.

State Street 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...

The downtown post office and federal building in Salinas, California, was constructed by the Treasury Department in 1936.  It is now known as the Steinbeck Station Post Office. The lobby appears to be unchanged from the 1930s.  It contains two wooden bas-relief sculptures by Richard O'Hanlon.

The Works Progress Administration built the Stenner Creek Bridge in San Luis Obispo. The work included the following: "Demolish old bridge and construct timber truss bridge, over Stenner Creek on Foothill Boulevard, near the city of San Luis Obispo, in San Luis Obispo County. Not on Federal Aid Highway. County owned property." WPA Proj. No. A10-7-36, Oct. 19, 1936, Total sponsor and Federal funds $14,529, Months Spent 10, Average Employed 41. According to a NOAA Technical Memorandum, Stenner and San Luis Obispo creeks suffered destructive flooding on January 18, 1971, which likely damaged or destroyed the bridge. The current bridge is similar to...

The 1933 Long Beach Earthquake destroyed hundreds of schools throughout Southern California. Designed by Clarence N. Aldrich in WPA/PWA Moderne style, Stevenson Elementary School (Buildings A and B) was reconstructed in 1934 with Public Works Administration (PWA) funding. “On August 29, 1933, Long Beach citizens approved a $4,930,000 bond measure for the rebuilding of schools. Applications for approximately thirty-five schools were filed with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Public Works Administration (PWA); federal grants up to thirty percent of labor and material costs were obtained. To minimize costs, building materials were salvaged from damaged buildings, some schools were rehabilitated, and...

A 1939 report on WPA work in Southern California described the construction of Stocker Avenue: "Work Projects No. 1638 and 7240, sponsored by Los Angeles County, was constructed to provide outlet facilities to Crenshaw Boulevard for the residents of the Baldwin Hills District, lying between Crenshaw Boulevard and La Brea Boulevard and is a link in the route from this district to Inglewood and the beaches. The work consisted of grading and surfacing with rock and oil approximately 612,000 square feet of roadway and installing a drain consisting of 300 lineal feet of concrete pipe, ranging from 30" to 54" in diameter,...

"Replacing an old bridge built of iron and wood, the thirty-foot-wide concrete bridge was built by a crew of fifteen Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers in approximately 150 days at a cost of $25,000. The bridge covers a span of 135 feet and consists of ninety yards of concrete and fifteen tons of steel. When it opened in May 1934, news reports noted its significance 'because it is a new connecting link with the new road which is to follow the old Union Traction Company right-of-way.' Following the catastrophic fire that burned a major portion of the village in 1933,...

The Stockton Federal Building contains two 1936 murals funded by the Section of Fine Arts. This mural "Modern Transport of the Mail" by Frank Bergman is an 8' x 12' oil on canvas depicting the delivery of mail.

The Stockton Federal Building contains two 1936 murals funded by the Section of Fine Arts. This oil on canvas mural "Mail And Travel By Stage" by Jose Moya del Pino depicts stage coach travel in early California.

In 1940-41, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built several stone-lined culverts for drainage on California state highway 58 – also known as Calf Canyon Road – east of the intersection with route 229, roughly 5-10 miles east of Santa Marguerita CA. These are unusually elegant drainage works, since most culverts do not have rock walls above ground and WPA stamps in the stones.  They were effectively small bridges over gullies, where previously the road dipped and could be flooded in winter. These culverts were part of a program of WPA road work all over San Luis Obispo County during the 1930s,...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the rural Stonybrook School (of the then Stonybrook School District) in southeast Alameda County.  It replaced a wooden, one-room schoolhouse (see photo). Unfortunately, the PWA record does not give an exact location or date for the school. We surmise that it was built somewhere in Stonybrook Canyon, north of Niles Canyon, in southeastern Alameda County – still a very rural area in the 1930s. A 1924 map of school districts in the county shows a Stonybrook District in that area (see below) and there is no other place anywhere in Alameda County with the name...

According to USGS this station has been discontinued, perhaps as early as 1941.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) planted around 400 street trees in the city of Martinez in the winter of 1933-34. The plantings consisted of walnuts and sycamores.  (Henderson 2014) Susana Park had just been deeded to the city by the Masonic Lodge, which stands nearby.  Many of the trees in the park are probably planted by the CWA.  Rock work at the entrances to the park may well be CWA, but that cannot be confirmed (benches connected to the low rock walls were removed in a recent renovation of the park). A special ceremony was held at Susana Park to plant trees...