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  • Road Improvements - Canon City CO
    The Works Progress Administration built road improvements in Canon City, CO. The improvements included cutting and filling the road curves, and a bridge.
  • Robert W. Speer Memorial Children's Hospital - Denver CO
    The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Robert W. Speer Memorial Children's Hospital in Denver CO. The building was completed in 1939. Today, the building is part of the Denver General Hospital. A cornerstone on the building reads, “Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, Project No. Colo. 1349 - F”
  • Rock Schoolhouse - Wiley CO
    "Built in 1938 through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the historic Wiley Rock Schoolhouse, is a lasting monument to the local people and others whose lives were improved by the employment provided by this federal program. WPA projects focused on using local labor and inexpensive materials. Native sandstone slabs from grassland areas near the river cover the recycled concrete block that forms the interior walls. The curb and stairways were constructed of locally quarried sandstone. The project also included curbing and gutters for Wiley's three main streets. Witness the success of this project in the creative masonry, craftsmanship, and enduring...
  • Rural Electrification - Fort Morgan CO
    The June 1937 issue of Western Construction Magazine notes that "The R.E.A. has alloted $250,000 to the Morgan County Rural Electric Association, Fort Morgan Colorado, for construction of 248 miles of transmission lines in MORGAN and WELLS COUNTIES." "Morgan County Rural Electric Association was organized on April 27, 1937. Morgan County was the third REA to be organized in Colorado. The Charter Board of Directors included: H. W. Bigler, C. C. Daily, J. R. Henderson, O. E. Kinnaman, Ernest Rosener, W. F. Tormohlen, G. E. Trewet, N. C. Wagers and George T. White. The first official meeting of the Board of...
  • San Luis Museum and Cultural Center - San Luis CO
    "Located on a plaza in the San Luis de la Culebra Historic District, the San Luis Museum and Cultural Center was constructed in 1943 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Originally constructed as an Institute of Arts and Crafts and later used as a high school, the Museum houses interpretative exhibits and a diorama of the village."
  • San Luis Valley Farms Resettlement Community (former) - Alamosa CO
    "In the 1930s, the Waverly area once again was to be the site for newcomers seeking a better life. Henry Gestefield, a German immigrant, worked as a Farm Management Specialist for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) Resettlement Division to develop 82 farms for the resettlement of destitute Dust Bowl farmers. Along with Mr. Yoshida, he was integral to the raising and shipping of iceberg lettuce in the San Luis Valley. The town of Waverly was established with support of the FSA Resettlement Project. The Houlton and Russell families were among the first of many families to relocate from eastern Colorado...
  • Savage Stadium - Lamar CO
    This stone stadium was built by the WPA in 1942. The stadium hosts school sports and community events. The Lamar School District wants to demolish and replace the structure, due to the cost it would take to restore the existing Savage Stadium.
  • School - Granada CO
    The Works Progress Administration built a school in Granada. The structure was built of native stone. The location and condition of this structure are unknown to the Living New Deal.
  • School - Konantz CO
    The Works Progress Administration built a school in Konantz, CO in 1938. The 1,147-square-foot school replaced an unsafe wooden structure. The school was built of native sandstone at a cost of $4,500 of federal funds, and a $1,000 contribution from the school district. The location of the building is unknown to Living New Deal.
  • School (former) - Andrix CO
    The former schoolhouse in Andrix, sited in the Comanche National Grassland, was constructed in 1937  by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It sat amidst former farmland that had been abandoned because of the Dust Bowl. The school is constructed from blocks of Dakota sandstone.
  • School (former) - Carrizo Mountains CO
    The schoolhouse in the Carrizo Mountains, sited in the Comanche National Grasslands, was constructed in either 1937 or 1938 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It sat amidst former farmland that had been abandoned because of the Dust Bowl. The school is constructed from blocks of Dakota sandstone. It has since been converted into a private residence.
  • School Auditorium-Gymnasium - Aguilar CO
    The Works Progress Administration built a combination auditorium-gymnasium for the school in Aguilar. The structure was built of native limestone. It is located at the south end of the educational campus in Aguilar that includes the elementary school, on the west side of Balsam Ave. south of E Cedar St, though it is unclear whether the facility is still in use.
  • School Gymnasium - Holly CO
    This building is still in use and appears to be part of what is now the Holly joint Jr./Sr. High School. "Built under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration, the building is associated with the federal relief programs administered in Eastern Colorado during the Great Depression. Providing employment and increased job skills for the area’s unemployed, construction began on the Holly Gym in 1936 utilizing a locally quarried chalk-like stone—Niobrara. The WPA created an opportunity to provide the town with a more “progressive” educational facility. This was the first school gymnasium in Holly, which not only functioned for athletic education,...
  • School Gymnasium and Auditorium - Frederick CO
    The Works Progress Administration built a school gymnasium and auditorium in Frederick, Colorado. The structure was built of concrete. The facade concrete panels are finished with inlaid ornamentation. The exact location and status of this project is presently unknown to Living New Deal.
  • School Improvements - Monument CO
    An August 25, 1939 article in the Bartlett Tribune and News reported on the latest round of PWA funding: "The first project to get under construction in was at Monument, Colorado, on August 3, 1939. The project, calling for $1,300 worth of school improvements, was one of the nation's smallest and also the first of PWA projects to be completed in the United States."
  • Schools - Kim CO
    The schoolhouse in Kim, sited in the Comanche National Grassland, was constructed between 1933 and 1941 by the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It consists of three buildings: an elementary school, gymnasium, and high school. The buildings are made of local sandstone and materials salvaged from the historic Fort Lyon.
  • Sedgwick County Courthouse - Julesburg CO
    "Constructed by the Works Progress Administration between 1938 and 1939, the courthouse represents federal New Deal relief programs at work in eastern Colorado during the Great Depression. The county commissioners took advantage of the WPA program to match county funds toward the construction of a new courthouse to replace a 1904 facility. The building is an excellent example of the WPA Art Deco style applied to a government building whose construction was constrained by the economic conditions of the Depression. Designed by Denver architects W. Gordon Jamieson and R. Ewing Stiffler, its Art Deco elements include the vertical emphasis with...
  • Sewage Disposal Plant - Denver CO
    The Public Works Administration funded the construction of a sewage disposal plant in Denver, CO.
  • Shadow Mountain Lookout - Rocky Mountain National Park CO
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), working for the US Forest Service, constructed four fire lookout towers around Rocky Mountain National Park.  The one on the summit of Shadow Mountain, overlooking Grand Lake CO in the southwest corner of the park, is the last survivor of the four. Completed in 1933, the three-story lookout was built in the classic Rustic style favored by the US Forest Service and National Park Service at the time.  It consists of a concrete foundation, two stories of stone masonry, and a wooden upper story. It remained in use until 1968 and is today a scenic destination for...
  • Ski-Tow - West Portal CO
    Bartlett, Texas's Tribune and News noted in mid-1939 an "unusual" PWA-funded project being constructed in West Portal, Colorado -- a ski-tow.
  • Smiley Junior High School (former) - Durango CO
    Now the privately-owned Smiley Building, what had been constructed as the Smiley Junior High School was built as a New Deal project with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. "With a design from Colorado Springs Architect Charles Thomas and funding from a $97,000 bond and an $86,198 grant from FDR's Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, the School District initiated work on the new building in 1935.  The contractor, Raymond C. Whitlock, completed the work the following year for a price of $191,188.  The School District declared the building surplus in 1995 when they abandoned Smiley Junior High...
  • South Denver Station Post Office - Denver CO
    The post office in South Denver was completed in 1940 with funds provided by the Treasury Department. It is also the site of Ethel Magafan's 1942 mural, "The Horse Corral," completed with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and viewable in the lobby.
  • South Denver Station Post Office Mural - Denver CO
    Ethel Magafan painted this mural, entitled "The Horse Corral," in 1942 for the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.
  • Staff Residential Area - Rocky Mountain National Park CO
    The New Deal contributed many residential buildings for park staff at Rocky Mountain National Park, particularly in the large cluster of housing next to the utility area – the main maintenance station for the park which is near the Beaver Meadows entrance. The National Park Service began construction of the area in the 1920s and completed it in the 1930s with the help of Public Works Administration (PWA) funding and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) labor.  The New Deal agencies built four residences,  renovated six others and left behind some CCC camp buildings. The overall style of the buildings is national park rustic,...
  • State Capitol Annex and Boiler Plant - Denver CO
    From History Colorado: "The Capitol Annex benefited from two Depression era Federal programs the Public Works Administration and the Works Progress Administration. The former program provided part of the funding for this two building complex. Colorado artists from the Fine Arts Project of the WPA adorned the building with works of art. The 1939-41 building is an important example of Art Deco architecture typical of Denver in the late 1930s. Prominent Denver architect G. Meredith Musick served as president of the Associated Architects for the State Capitol Annex, the collaboration responsible for the design of both buildings."
  • State Historical Society Museum Exhibit: Denver and Auraria Model - Denver CO
    The Works Progress Administration built an exhibit for the State Historical Society Museum Exhibit in Denver. The WPA workers built a model of the pioneer towns of Denver and Auraria 1860.
  • State Historical Society Museum Exhibit: Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Locomotive - Denver CO
    The Works Progress Administration built an exhibit for the State Historical Society Museum Exhibit in Denver. The WPA workers built a model of the First Mountain Locomotive used in the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad in 1871.
  • State Historical Society Museum Exhibit: Wells Fargo Express Coach Coach - Denver CO
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built an exhibit for the State Historical Society Museum Exhibit in Denver. The WPA workers built a model of the Wells Fargo Express Concord Coach.
  • Stratton School - Stratton CO
    The Works Progress Administration built a school in Stratton CO, in Kit Carson County, School District # 57. The reinforced concrete structure includes four classrooms and a combination auditorium and gymnasium, which accommodated 4,000 persons. The construction cost was $35,354.
  • Street Paving - Denver CO
    The Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to pave streets in Denver in 1934. Interestingly, as reported by The New York Times: "Many of the streets are paved with smelter slag. This slag was assayed recently and showed values running up to $1,100 a ton in gold and silver. City officials are investigating to determine whether such assays indicated general or isolated values. If the former it is possible the next CWA project here will be the prospecting of Denver streets."
  • Summit Lake Park Shelter - Idaho Springs CO
    This park is situated around a high glacial lake near Idaho Springs, Colorado. The park contains a CCC shelter designed by J. J. B. Benedict. According to the National Register of Historic Places, "the structure is an example of the rustic style of architecture use of native material in proper scale, the avoidance of undiluted hard lines and over-sophistication to ensure harmony and continuity between the natural and man-made elements. The location of the structure within the park and the use of native materials expresses an assimilation with nature."
  • Superintendent's Residence, Great Sand Dunes National Park - Mosca CO
    "The Superintendent's Residence at Great Sand Dunes National Monument was designed in 1940 by Kenneth R.Saunders and Jerome C. Miller of the National Park Service Branch of Plans and Designs. Built the same year by the Works Progress Administration, the house is in the Territorial Revival style, deemed a suitable local adaptation of the National Park Service Rustic style. The national monument is now Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve . The building is located adjacent to the entrance gate house of the park."   (www.wikipedia.org)
  • Timber Creek Campground and Comfort Stations - Rocky Mountain National Park CO
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the Timber Creek Campground in Rocky Mountain National Park (Brock, p 40).  Timber Creek was the first campground on the west side of the park, in the valley of the upper Colorado River. Brock says the campground was done in 1941, but that doesn't jibe with information on the comfort stations, which were built in 1939, according to the national register; presumably the campground and comfort stations were done at the same time. The three comfort stations, or restrooms, constructed by CCC enrollees were designed in 1935 in classic Rustic Style by National Park Service landscape architect...
  • Town Hall - Eads CO
    Eads' town hall was a 1938 WPA project. From Canyons and Plains of Southeast Colorado: On October 7, 1938 the Town of Eads held a huge celebration around the dedication of three buildings completed by WPA workers: the town hall, hospital, and the American Legion fairgrounds pavilion. To build the town hall native stone was hauled by truck from the Bristol/Granada area, some 50 miles away. Originally the building held both the town hall and library, with the upstairs rented to the Masons and Oddfellows lodges. The craftsmanship and sheer volume of stone used to construct the town hall and hospital...
  • Town Hall - Jamestown CO
    "In the mid-1930s, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt created a federal work relief program for the unemployed. Called the Works Progress Administration, it resulted in the construction of public works projects all over the country, including several in Boulder County. Jamestown’s Town Hall—built in 1935 with local materials and labor—was one of the first." "In addition to the Town Board, the building plays host to musicians, school plays, dances, and many other community functions. It is the focal point for community life in this small mountain town."
  • Trail Ridge Road Completion - Rocky Mountain National Park CO
    Trail Ridge Road is the main route across Rocky Mountain National Park It is a marvel of highway engineering and provides stunning views of the park, particularly as it traverses the alpine regions above timber line. The road is 48 miles long and its summit near the Alpine Ranger Station is over 12,000 feet.  It is the highest continuous paved road in North America and is now a National Scenic Byway. Trail Ridge Road was built by the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) and its contractors in 1929-32, to replace the old Fall River road.  It was a fully engineered, graded and...
  • Trail Ridge Road Rock Walls - Rocky Mountain National Park CO
    Trail Ridge Road is the main route across Rocky Mountain National Park, built in 1929 to 1932 to replace the old Fall River road.  It is a marvel of highway engineering and provides stunning views of the park, particularly as it traverses the alpine regions above timber line. The road is 48 miles long and its summit near the Alpine Ranger Station is over 12,000 feet.  It is the highest continuous paved road in North America and is now a National Scenic Byway. In building the road, the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) and its contractors built several miles of low guard...
  • Trail Ridge Store - Rocky Mountain National Park CO
    In 1935, enrollees in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed a "museum, curios shop and coffee house" at Fall River Pass. Other CCC 'boys' came back in 1939 and added an extension to the building for toilets and a water supply  (Brock, p. 43). Today, the building functions as the Trail Ridge Store and Cafe, and a large, new visitor center has been constructed next to it. The Trail Ridge Store is built of stone and timber, with a shingle roof, in the classic National Park Service Rustic Style.  CCC enrollees were very helpful to the National Park Service as museum guides, as well.
  • Trails and Trail Renovation - Rocky Mountain National Park CO
    During the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built and improved trails throughout Rocky Mountain National Park, working on such things as rock wall construction and trail alignment.  The CCC was active in the park for the entire life of the program, 1933 to 1942.   The CCC 'boys' built around 100 miles of trails – one-third of the total. It is uncertain exactly which trails the CCC enrollees improved, but "the enrollees were largely the driving force behind creating, maintaining, and reconstructing many popular trails."  (Brock, p 40)   Several trails are included in the National Historic Registry listings for Rocky Mountain...
  • U. S. Custom House Addition - Denver CO
    "The N.P. Severin Company of Chicago erected the building in 1931 under the direction of James A. Wetmore, architectural supervisor for the Treasury Department. The walls of the Italian Renaissance Revival style building are of smooth-rubbed, course cut Colorado Yule marble. The Public Works Administration financed a large 1937 addition designed by Denver architects Temple H. Buell and G. Meredith Musick. Various government agencies housed in the building, but its primary tenant the U.S. Custom Service."   (www.historycolorado.org)
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