Boulder Sites

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded a beautiful new high school for the city of Boulder in 1936-37, replacing an obsolete structure built in 1895. The project cost $550,500.  The school's design is Streamline Moderne (Art Deco) and one of the architects was Glen Huntington, the builder of the noted Art Deco Boulder County Courthouse (which is not a New Deal structure). The exterior facade is done in the same local "Colorado Red" stone as buildings on the University of Colorado campus. The original interior of the auditorium is intact and probably the cafeteria, as well, along with many of the details,...

The Bluebell-Baird Trail, constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) between 1933 and 1935, connects "the mouth of Gregory Canyon (Baird Park) with Bluebell Canyon and the Bluebell Shelter."  It lies within the present City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks.

In October 1933, Camp SP5C was set up in Boulder at what is now 6th Street and Baseline Road.  Their main purpose was to build a road up the west slope of Flagstaff Mountain.  The road opened on March 29, 1935. The CCC work continued over the summit of Flagstaff Mountain to Nederland, on what is called Chapman Drive. The road was named in honor of Oscar Chapman, then Assistant Secretary of the Interior. It was the first road into Boulder Canyon and the interior. It is still a dirt road, now closed to motor vehicles. It has some spectacular rock...

The Green Mountain Lodge, located a half-mile's hike from Flagstaff Mountain Road, was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1934. The Green Mountain Lodge was built in the classic "park rustic" style of the early 20th century.  Boulder Open Space and Mountain Park's website provides more details: "The roof truss structure was constructed from West Coast heartwood pinned with oak dowels.  Paving flags for the patio terrace and the interior floor were brought from the quarries of Lyons.  The stones that form the walls are local.  The shingles are in shades of 12 colors and sizes and are arranged on the...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) renovated the Halfway House, located halfway up the Flagstaff Mountain Road, in 1933.  It includes a room, patio, picnic area and restroom. The Halfway House was originally built in 1919 by the Lion's Club of Boulder. Exactly what work was done by the CCC is uncertain to us. Halfway House was built in the "park rustic" style of the early 20th century, with massive stones and heavy timbers.  The rock is local golden sandstone. The building belongs to the City of Boulder and is rented for wedding and other events.

The Morse Well, named for the head of the Boulder Parks, was originally built in 1929. In 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) reinforced the well and built a set of retaining walls that set off the site. Morse Well lies near the top of Flagstaff Mountain, within the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks.

The Sunrise Circle amphitheater was built between September 1933 and March 1934. It was constructed in a “natural amphitheatre” at the top of Flagstaff Mountain, which had been cleared of debris during the spring of 1933 as part of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) work relief program. The CCC work features beautiful stone terrracing and a small stage. It remains a popular attraction used regularly for events. It lies within the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks.   “The amphitheater consists of a circular central arena around which a semicircular stage and two tiers of bench seating have been constructed....

“Between July 1933 and May 1935 the Civilian Conservation Corps made a number of improvements to the summit of  mountain, including a trail between Realization Point (referred to at the time as Inspiration Point) and the Morse Well.” This area today lies within the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks.

In 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) planted 30,000 saplings on Flagstaff Mountain, which today lies within the City of Boulder Open Space & Mountain Parks.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Flatirons Golf Course for the city of Boulder, from 1936 to 1938.  It was then called the Boulder Municipal Sports Center. Flatirons Golf Course began as the Boulder Country Club, located at 28th and Iris.  In 1933, course architect William H. Tucker was commissioned to design a new course, and the club and city turned to the WPA to build the new design as a municipal course at the current location at 57th and Arapahoe Streets. 

Batch field house was built in 1936 with the aid of the Public Works Administration (PWA). Set against the football stadium, it is part of the larger University of Colorado athletic complex and still actively used for intramural sports.  "The new field house for the University of Colorado is approximately 144 by 296 feet in over-all dimensions. The large hall has an earth floor with a cinder running track 12 laps to the mile, and is provided with a removable wood basketball floor, 60 by 90 feet. Permanent bleachers seat approximately 2,000, and removable bleachers on both sides of the basketball...

Completed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1939, the Mary Rippon Outdoor theater is located on the University of Colorado campus between the Henderson Building (see post on Henderson Building) and the Hellems Art and Sciences Building.  Mary Rippon is believed to be the first female professor at the University of Colorado and the first woman in the United States to teach at a state university. The theater was designed by George Reynolds, a professor of English and one of the founders of the theater department. The theater was officially completed in 1939, but no plays were staged there until 1944.  Because...

Built in 1937 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the University's Henderson Building houses the Museum of Natural History.  The building cost nearly $200,000 to build, including furnishings.  In 1951, the building was named in honor of Judge Junius Henderson, appointed curator of the university museum in 1903.  The original layout of the building included archeology and biology halls on the ground floor, an art gallery and geology hall on the main floor; classrooms on the second floor; and laboratories, storerooms, and a darkroom on the top floor. The building is a representative work of noted architect Charles Z. Lauder, who designed...

The library of the University of Colorado was built with financial aid from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1939.  It is still actively in use.

A Women's Club building was added to the campus of the University of Colorado in 1937, paid for by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA). "Before the construction of the new women's club, the University of Colorado had no suitable facilities for the holding of social functions by women. The building is two stories in height and contains on the first floor a living room, approximately 40 by 25 feet, a dining room, reception room, manager's office, kitchen, and pantry. The second floor is devoted to bedrooms. Construction is fireproof with a reinforced-concrete frame and floor slabs, exterior walls of native stone, and...