• Baseball Field Bleachers - Sonora CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built bleachers for a baseball field in Sonora, California.  This field is part of a larger group of athletic fields behind the building know as "The Dome", a former elementary school building, long abandoned, that sits prominently on a hill in Sonora.   The WPA bleachers include a stone retaining wall with stairs and a long, stone drinking fountain.  We do not know the exact date of this work, which is unmarked. The playing field are used by several schools in the area and the bleachers and ballfield sit directly behind and below a building occupied by...
  • Columbia Airport - Sonora CA
    "Through federal aid, the Civil Conservation Corps and the support of the American Legion, the airport site was cleared off and leveled. It was officially dedicated as Ralph Airport on June 16, 1935, according to the Chispa, the quarterly magazine of the Tuolumne County Historical Society." According to a Works Progress Administration job card: WPA Project No. 65-3-1872, Amount approved $26,386, approval date 10-18-35 "Construction of Administration building and runway. Airport improvement." According to Wikipedia: "Columbia Airport covers an area of 356 acres (144 ha) which contains two runways: 17/35 is asphalt paved and measures 4,670 x 75 ft (1,423 x 23 m),...
  • Sonora City Hall - Sonora CA
    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."
  • Sonora High School Dunlavy Stadium - Sonora CA
    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.
  • Sonora High School Mural - Sonora CA
    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...
  • Sonora Union High School Auditorium - Sonora CA
    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.
  • Sonora Union High School: Science Building - Sonora CA
    The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Science Building at the Sonora Union High School in Sonora.
  • Sonora Youth Center - Sonora CA
    "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."
  • Wards Ferry Road - Sonora CA
    According to Tuolumne County Historian Carlo De Ferrari, the Works Progress Administration worked extensively along Wards Ferry Road, doing widening and other improvement work. Excerpts from WPA job cards: WPA Project No. 65-3-100, Date 8/27/35, $12,124, "Street Repairs". WPA Project No. 65-3-102 Date 8/27/35, $11,293, "New road construction." WPA Project No. 65-3-103, Date 8/27/35, $11,232, "Road Improvement" WPA Project No. 65-3-3836, Date 12/14/35, $1,947, "Construct retaining wall." WPA Project No. 65-3-4400, Date 1/17/36, $8,977, "Construction of a concrete bridge and a new road to approach bridge."