• Alum Rock Park - San Jose CA
    Alum Rock Park is California's oldest municipal park and occupies 720 acres within Alum Rock Canyon just east of downtown San Jose. Though in the late 1800s it held many commercial attractions, including an aviary, a restaurant, a carousel and a zoo, today the park has been returned to a more natural state and most of these man-made structures are gone. Much of the evidence of mankind that remains dates to the extensive work in Alum Rock Park undertaken by the WPA and the CCC in the 1930s. These agencies improved park trails, removed railroad tracks and built stone bridges,...
  • California National Guard Armory - San Jose CA
    A historic marker attributes the construction of the California National Guard Armory in San Jose to the Works Progress Administration (WPA). However, given as the WPA was not established until 1935, it is possible that this project was constructed by the Civil Works Administration (CWA). Plaque: "Built in 1933, the California National Guard Armory was funded by the U.S. Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Depression. This structure reflects a Spanish architectural style and is one of the few known WPA structures remaining in downtown San Jose. Originally constructed to consolidate National Guard Units from the South Bay Area, the Armory is...
  • Downtown Station Post Office - San Jose CA
    The historic downtown post office in San Jose, California was constructed in 1933. It is sometimes mis-attributed to the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
  • Herbert Hoover Middle School Mural - San Jose CA
    After a design by Edgar Taylor, craftspeople Mary Henry, Norval Gill, and Robert Spray completed this mural, entitled "Medieval Scene," in 1938 with funds provided by the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project. It is in the main stairwell of the Historic Hoover building in Herbert Hoover Middle School.
  • Herbert Hoover Middle School Stained Glass - San Jose CA
    Several artists collaborated to create this beautiful stained glass window for Herbert Hoover Middle School. A description (pictured below) of the window by participating artist Norval L. Gill includes the following: "Mary Dill Henry, Robert E. Spray and Norval L. Gill were among the half-dozen artists and craftsmen who produced this stained glass window in 1937-1938 at the Federal Arts Project in Oakland...Edgar D. Taylor was the designer of the window. It depicts a medieval scene in which a manuscript is presented to a king and queen... This stained glass window was fabricated in the traditional way with the various pieces of...
  • Minnesota Ave. WPA Sidewalk - San Jose CA
    Sections of Minnesota Ave. between Lincoln and Bird Avenues, are stamped with WPA 1941 stamps.
  • Prevost St. Bridge - San Jose CA
    Constructed by the WPA.
  • San Jose Burbank Velodrome - San Jose CA
    This Works Progress Administration velodrome was constructed in the 1930s for bicycle racing. It has since been transformed into a stadium for Lincoln High School.  
  • San Jose Civic Auditorium - San Jose CA
      "The building has an area of 50,000 square feet and consists of the auditorium which seats 3,500, a small theater seating 597, a meeting hall seating 499, 2 exhibition halls, 5 committee rooms, quarters for the chamber of commerce, and the necessary service rooms. The auditorium has a large and well-equipped stage. The project was completed in April 1936 at a construction cost of $422,628 and a project cost of $530,515." (Short and Stanley-Brown) "A building which might house anything from an opera to a circus, a basketball or tennis game to a great convention, or art exhibits and flower shows"...
  • San Jose Municipal Stadium - San Jose CA
    The WPA built this baseball stadium for San Jose in the early 40s: "In the late 30s the City of San Jose decided that for professional baseball to stay, they needed a permanent stadium. After applying and some lobbying a grant for $80,000 was procured. Construction started in spring 1941, and despite the outbreak of war was completed a year later. The war did mean that the local team folded after the 1942 season, but when another was founded in 1947, baseball was here to stay. What the city got for the money was a single level arc, in a slight art-deco...
  • St. James Park Improvements - San Jose CA
    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...