• Analy Hall (SRJC) - Santa Rosa CA
    Santa Rosa Junior College's Analy Hall was constructed by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression. The building is still in use today.
  • Bellevue-Wilfred Drainage District improvements - Santa Rosa CA
    The first WPA project in Sonoma County, California made improvements to a large reclamation project which is mostly forgotten today. Historically, drainage of swampland and naturally poorly drained areas of the United States opened up millions of acres to farming, especially in the Corn Belt of the Midwest, where vast tracts of “wet” prairie were drained for settlement. Government surveys indicated that nearly a fourth of the nation’s potential agricultural land, approximately 216 million acres, was too poorly drained for productive farming. At first, privately financed companies organized to reclaim these swamplands. Created in 1784, the Dismal Swamp Canal Company had the dual...
  • Brush School Improvements - Santa Rosa CA
    The WPA made extensive improvements to Brush School, Santa Rosa, California, under Official Project Number 65-3-364. The work to the one-room school house included building stone retaining walls, a playground and a presumed tennis court (Goddard, 1976: 72-74). Though now under private ownership, the stone walls and tennis court are visible from the public right-of-way. (Goddard does not identify the specific year of construction but it can be inferred from the WPA project number).
  • City Hall Improvements - Santa Rosa CA
    The WPA completed renovations and improvements to Santa Rosa's City Hall. The city's original 1883 City Hall and Central Library were destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, and a new building was constructed in 1913. Santa Rosa's new City Hall—now known as the Santa Rosa Civic Center—was completed in 1969. The exact location and present status of the old city hall is not presently known to Living New Deal.
  • Doyle Park Bridge - Santa Rosa CA
    Santa Rosa's Doyle Park Bridge was constructed as a WPA project during the 1930s.  The bridge is located at the north entrance to the park, Doyle Park Drive.
  • Juilliard Park Improvements - Santa Rosa CA
    Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers built sidewalks, curbs, a redwood pergola (known as the "arbor"), a stone drinking fountain, and stone retaining wall in Juilliard Park in central Santa Rosa (Sonoma County).
  • Oak Knoll Sanatorium - Santa Rosa CA
    The Oak Knoll Tuberculosis Sanatorium, built in 1939 on an "oak-wooded knoll", according to the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, was renamed Norton Psychiatric in 1997. The PWA had contributed 45% of building costs. At the time, Sonoma County also applied for PWA funds to build nurses quarters at the hospital site- it is unknown whether these were actually built or if they still exist. The building is located across Chanate Rd. from the main hospital building.
  • Santa Rosa Junior College Improvements - Santa Rosa CA
    A PWA grant and bonds made possible a group of buildings at Santa Rosa Junior College, including an administration unit, large assembly hall and library. These plans were drawn up by C.A. Calkins, and the building materials were steel, concrete, brick veneer and tile roof. The WPA constructed permanent bleachers in the football stadium (now Bailey Field). Tree-trimming and other work was done on the campus. They installed the first permanent exhibit in the Jesse Park Museum of Native American artifacts as well as Californian flora, fauna and rock specimens. This grew into a biological, cultural, and historical center. Santa Rosa...
  • Santa Rosa Municipal Airport Improvements - Santa Rosa CA
    Although the exact dates and type of work are not known, the WPA worked on the Santa Rosa Municipal Airport sometime between 1935 and 1939, as noted in Lawson final report on the Works Progress Administration. A source on the airport describes its history in the following way: "The original airport for the town of Santa Rosa was a small field located on the northwest side of Santa Rosa. The date of construction of the Santa Rosa Municipal Airport has not been determined. The earliest depiction which has been located of the Santa Rosa Municipal Airport was on the October 29, 1929...
  • Sonoma County Airport - Santa Rosa CA
    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.
  • Sonoma County Hospital Building - Santa Rosa CA
    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.
  • Sonoma County Hospital Retaining Walls - Santa Rosa CA
    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.
  • Street Improvements - Santa Rosa CA
    These projects involved street improvements, curb, gutter, and sidewalk construction. They resulted in 8,875 ft of streets, 20,122 ft of curbs and gutters, and 15,792 sq ft of sidewalks. The only streets actually identified in the WPA records are Mendocino Ave from College Ave to the north city limit, and also Fourth St from E. St to the east city limit. The photo here shows that a short section of WPA sidewalk also survives on the south side of Spencer Avenue, just east of its intersection with Monroe Street. It is a standard 4’ residential walk made of parallel 24” x...