California Sites

In 1936-1937, Anna Katharine Skeele painted mural titled "Home Life in Old Taos" which was commissioned by the Federal Arts Project (FAP). Skeele was a Monrovia, California based artist known for her portraits and focus on Native Americans in the Southwest. "Home in Old Taos" was her first mural painting. She made several trips to Taos, New Mexico to research and develop ideas for the painting. "Home Life in Old Taos" is 8' x 30'  and is oil on canvas. It "depicts Pueblo Indian men and women working on daily tasks, such as grinding corn and collecting water from a river near...

Torrance High School, which opened in 1917, 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 me...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped build the Post Library in Torrance, CA in 1936. The federal government contributed $12,691 to the Post Library project. It served as the City of Torrance's central library from 1936 to 1978.  The Post Library closed its doors after the new Katie Geissert Civic Center Library was built. The Post Library has been home to the Torrance Historical Society and Museum since 1979.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the Torrance Waterworks project. It was one of a number of New Deal water transport and disposal projects in Los Angeles County. The PWA contributed $47,307 in funds.

"On a cold December day in 1935, thousands of the citizens of Sacramento, California gathered at the end of M Street to celebrate the dedication of their city's new landmark. An accumulation of sixteen months of hard work, almost one million dollars and cooperation between local, state and federal government agencies along with private contractors, the Tower Bridge was ready to be dedicated and opened to the public. The first vertical lift bridge on the California Highway System, the Tower Bridge was described as "inextricably linked with symbolism of the future." Hailed both for its architectural design and streamlined appearance,...

The WPA worked on Townsend St. between Embarcadero and 4th St.

According to an article in the Illustrated Daily News, as part of a group of 8 federally funded projects was "No. 6 - Relocation of tracks around west basin, $1,470,000; will employ 210 to 300 men for from 18 to 20 months."

This historic post office was built by the Treasury in 1936-37. It now houses the Tracy Historical Museum.

The former post office originally contained three oil on canvas murals by Edith Hamlin, painted in 1938 under the auspices of the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. "Days of First Railroad" and "Spaniards" still hang in the building, while a third mural, "Overland Pioneers," is missing.

The New Deal worked on irrigation projects in Tracy, CA. The photo below shows a concrete conduit in the West side irrigation district.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made many improvements around Yosemite National Park during its time there, 1933-42.  Enrollees worked out of two major hub camps and a dozen or so seasonal and 'spike' (temporary) camps. One of the typical activities of the CCC in national and state parks was building and upgrading trails.  Because Yosemite is the second oldest national park, the trail system was already well developed before the CCC arrived.  Nevertheless, CCC teams did extensive maintenance and improvement work on the far-flung trail system of the park.   In particular, after the damage done by the floods of winter 1937,...

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. During their time in the...

Below is the first official photo view of the Golden Gate International Exhibition a few years prior to its opening in 1939. And apparently based on the photo is the original WPA, 9' x 6' oil on canvas mural. Artist unknown.

'The administration and terminal building is semicircular in plan, its court having a diameter of 86 feet. It is constructed entirely of reinforced concrete and is designed to resist earthquake shocks. It has 2 main floors and 2 mezzanine floors and is provided with a radio control room and an aerial beacon on top of the structure for eventual use in connection with the airfield.'--Short and Brown, p. 639.

'These twin hangars were constructed for permanent use to be part of a future flying field but were made available for temporary use by the exposition. Each structure has mechanically operated doors 200 feet wide and 40 feet high with a possible increase in height to 65 feet at the centers. A one-story shop wing 40 feet wide extends along one side of each building. The two structures were completed in June 1938 at a total cost for both of $709,239.'--Short and Brown, p. 534. The west hangar was the Hall of Transportation and the east hangar was the Palace of...

Fine Arts Building at the Golden Gate International Exposition constructed with PWA funds.

This building was part of the Pan American Airways Exhibit of the Golden Gate International Exposition.

Funds for a seawall and fill for the exposition site were provided through a $3,043,000 WPA grant. Another WPA grant of $1,296,000 provided for roadways, a causeway, trestles, landscaping, and drainage of water systems. A PWA grant of $1,711,000, matched in part by local funds, provided for paving, ferry slips and some buildings. Private funding for the exhibition were raised through private subscriptions, through the sale of bonds. A 1940 WPA publication describes the construction of Treasure Island as follows: "Dedicated November 21, 1937, Yerba Buena Shoals, more popularly known as Treasure Island, was raised from beneath the waters of the bay through the handling...

Miguel Covarrubias painted six murals on the theme "Pageant of the Pacific" for the Golden Gate International Exposition. They were displayed on Treasure Island along with other art objects on the theme of "Pacific Unity" from 1939-1940. The murals have been housed in several locations since the 1940s. The Treasure Island Development Authority now looks after five of the murals, including one currently on display at the de Young museum. The other four are currently in storage. A sixth mural disappeared in the 1940s and its whereabouts are currently unknown. The long term plan for the murals is to reinstall them on...

In 1935, the Public Works Administration (PWA) conducted tree surgery at the Department of Subsistence Homesteads' "rurban homes" in El Monte, CA. Four photographs depict tree surgeons at work, including with "a rather extreme effort to reclaim a tree by gouging out a large cavity, swabbing out with creosote and refilling with concrete held in with wire mesh."

Trestle Glen Boulevard is a road about a mile long that connects the main road on the west shore of the Tiburon peninsula to the the main road on the east shore. It was completed circa 1937 as a WPA project. An old bridge on this road is likely WPA as well. The name Trestle Glen was not used until the 1950's. Before then it was called Reed's Road, probably because it was built on land belonging to Clothilde Reed, a descendant of the original Mexican land grantee John Reed. The name California City in the cited article refers to an area...

The Bootjack CCC camp CO. 1912 in Bootjack CA was involved in the surveying and construction of this road, initially built as a fire road and then into a normal two lane county road. According to articles in the Mariposa Gazette, surveying by the CCC was begun Jan 21, 1936, right-of-way for the road was secured by the Mariposa Chamber of commerce in February 1936. An interruption occurred when Co. 1912 moved to Tehachepi CA for 5 months. Once back, a seven mile section was begun November 1936. A March 1937 article mentions the beginning construction of a $20,000 concrete bridge...

The gym has been torn down. While still standing, it was used by the schoolchildren and also used by the people of the community as a recreational hall.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Trout Creek bridge on state highway 58, a couple miles east of Santa Marguerita, in 1941.  This was part of a program of WPA road work all over San Luis Obispo County roads during the 1930s, as indicated by WPA "project cards" in the National Archives. WPA project cards are only indicative, however; they show which projects were planned, funded by the WPA and approved by President Franklin Roosevelt; they do not guarantee that the work was actually done, since the WPA usually proposed more projects than it could carry out.  In this case, the...

Now the Community Arts Center, the 1936 Truckee Grammar School was constructed as a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project. The P.W.A. supplied an $18,000 loan and $14,727 grant for the project, whose total cost was $35,632. P.W.A. Docket No. 1001

"This structure is a combined preventorium and children's hospital, the two units being connected by a large recreation room. The preventorium consists of two dormitories, one for boys and one for girls, separated by a nurses' station, each dormitory accommodating 20 beds. The hospital has an X-ray and an examination and treatment room, three wards, eight single rooms, and the dining room and kitchen. The entire lay-out has a usable floor area of 13,750 square feet. The construction consists of reinforced-concrcic footings, wood frame with stucco finish on the exterior walls, and a mission tile roof. The nurses' home is a separate building...

"More than 4000 artifacts and hundreds of Indian burials were excavated at the site of the Yokut Indian village near Taft, California in 1933-34. Dr. William Duncan Strong, of the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE), headed the Tulamniu C.W.A. Project SLF-73 with Winslow Walker, also of the BAE, as assistant director. The excavations were one of a number of archaeological projects organized and financed by the Civil Works Administration as a means of reducing unemployment. Artifacts and skeletal materials were shipped to the United States National Museum for study after completion of the field work. This collection of material was...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided much of the funding for the former Tulare County Court House, built in 1935. The building is four stories high with a raised central tower. The design is Moderne, with a recessed entrance section and flanking protruding stairwells.  There are Mayan designs high above the entrance and at the top of the stairwells.  Three bas-relief columns, with decorative elements at the top, complete the facade on each side. The side and back sides are plain.  A decorative brass railing runs around the top of the building. After a new courthouse was constructed in 1957, this building served...

The Tulare County Fairgrounds received extensive improvements from the WPA.

"'...a two-unit reinforced concrete high school builidng at Tulare... School bonds and a PWA grant will finance the project.'"

A stretch of six miles of Tulare Lindsay Highway (Avenue 232) was widened and resurfaced with a federal grant of $25,000.   The money presumably came from the Bureau of Public Roads, but this has not been confirmed.

This project involved the development of Tule Elk State Reserve, the construction of adobe warden's residence and a garage. In 1932 the state obtained 935 acres to establish a reserve for the preservation of the vanishing Tule elk. In 1934 the CCC Camp Wildlife Park was established under the Drought Relief Act, and CCC Company 1958 assigned to develop the reserve. The company built an adobe house as a staff residence and recreational facilities for park visitors, such as small adobe ramadas for shade, which were next to a small lake (Engbeck 2002).

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the Tuolumne Meadows campground in 1933-34, according to a plan laid out by the National Park Service (NPS) and with financing from the Public Works Administration (PWA).  It is the largest campground in Yosemite National Park.  The campground regularized camping at Tuolumne, which had previously been a free-for-all with cars driving across the meadows and people camping wherever they liked. The damage to the meadows had been extensive before the National Park Service brought a halt to the anarchy. First, the NPS restricted camping to designated campgrounds and then implemented a new plan for individual campsites,...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the Tuolumne Meadows campground in 1933-34.  It is the largest campground in Yosemite National Park. The CCC enrollees also built three comfort stations for the campground, done in classic National Park rustic style of boulders and timbers.  At the time, a comfort station was more than a restroom, because it included washing facilities. The three comfort stations still operate and have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.    

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the Tuolumne Meadows campground in 1933-34 and added a "contact station" or entrance station in 1936. The building is done is classic National Park rustic style, with massive boulder walls. An entrance kiosk has been added to the campground in recent years.  

In the late 1930s, the Public Works Administration (PWA) funded a new sewage collection and treatment system for Tuolumne Meadows.  It replaced the original septic tanks for the campground comfort stations and was extended to take in a broader area around the campground. More information is needed on the amount and timing of the PWA funding. The old spray field system for distributing treated sewage has been recently replaced with settling ponds. It is unknown how much of the original piping survives.

The Tuolumne Meadows Visitors Center was originally built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as a road crew camp mess hall in 1934.  Around 1980,  the National Park Service converted the building to a Visitors Center, replacing an older one in the original "contact station" at Tuolumne Meadows campground. This building is a good example of National Park Service rustic park architecture of the 1930's. It was constructed with native materials to blend with the environment, and reflects hand crafted techniques. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. As of 2022, a new Visitors Center is under construction nearby and...

New Deal agencies realigned and reconstructed the Old Tioga road from 1933 to 1943, from Crane Flat to Tuolumne Meadows.  An important element of the road project was the bridge over the Tuolumne River, just east of the Tuolumne Meadows campground. The bridge was constructed in 1933-34. Funding came from the Public Works Administration (PWA); the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) managed construction, using private companies; and the National Park Service (NPS) oversaw all work in the park. The Tuolumne River bridge is a modern design of steel beams and concrete, but is dressed up with stone siding to accord with the...

This art deco building was constructed in 1936 with New Deal funding. It houses the Veterans meeting room, a full basketball court, a theatrical stage and a kitchen.