Florida Sites

"At Jacksonville Beach, a new two-story brick high school was financed in part by PWA funds. Designed by Marsh & Saxelbye, the building was assembled by the Frank Mitchell Construction Company in 1937 at an approximate cost of $75,000. The new school was named Duncan U. Fletcher High School in memory of one of Florida's most successful politicians of the early-twentieth century. Fletcher High School was among the largest New Deal projects built at Duval County's beaches area during the 1930s, perhaps rivaled only by Public School No. 65 in nearby Atlantic Beach, a WPA project." The school is now known...

Built in 1936, Durkeeville was once public housing -- the second public housing project built in Florida under the federal Public Works Administration. This was listed as 239 living units, one and two story group houses, costing $1,000,000. Durkeeville was razed in September 1997. The Durkeeville historical society building houses the 1936 cornerstone of the original public housing project.

The facility now known as East Hall was originally constructed as the "Isolation Building" for Florida Industrial School for Girls, a reformatory. It was constructed in 1936 as a New Deal-aided project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) supplied a $27,727 grant for the project, whose total cost was $65,660. (It is possible that the grant enabled other construction on the grounds as well.) Wikipedia: "East Hall is an historic one-story red brick building located at 307 Southeast 26th Terrace in Ocala, Florida, United States. Designed by architect Frank Parzaile, it was built in 1936 by the Public Works Administration. On July...

"Edison Courts, is a Miami-Dade 345-unit public housing apartment complex just west of the Little Haiti (Lemon City) neighborhood of Miami, Florida. Edison Courts is bound at the south by North 62nd Street/Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, at North 67th Street to the north, West Second Avenue to the east, and West Fourth Avenue to the west. The 345-unit low rent housing project Edison Courts, completed in 1941 and designed by the firm of Paist and Stewart with associate architects Robert Law Weed, Vladimir Virrick and E.L. Robertson, provided public housing for white people. It was similar in scale and design...

Miami and the surrounding Dade County were effectively without city or county parks until the 1930s.  The city got its first park in 1925, after which the city was devastated by a hurricane the following year. The county received its first donation of land for a park in 1929, which became Matheson Hammock Park.  In 1930, the park system got its own director and a beach park, Surfside, was added in 1932. The county began improvements on the parks using mostly convict labor and men sent by the Charity Office once the Depression hit, as well as starting a Roadside...

The Works Progress Administration built a farmers' market building in Palmetto, Manatee County FL. WPA work project no. 2301. The location and status of the structure is presently unknown to Living New Deal.

The accompanying photograph portrays the Winter Garden Fire Station at 127 Boyd Street, constructed by the WPA in 1938. Shown in the photograph is Hoyle Pounds. He was Fire Chief for over 40 years. The firetruck seen in the first bay now belongs to the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation. As of 2013, the building is in the process of being repurposed as the new home of the Winter Garden Art Association under a three-year lease. Hoyle Pounds was born in Ocoee, FL, in 1893 to John Richard "Bud" and Martha "Mattie" Carrol Pounds, who came from Doraville, GA. Hoyle went to local...

This Art Deco fire training tower was built in 1933-34 by FERA, a precursor to the WPA. The tower was used by the city of Miami to train local fire fighters for many years. The tower is still standing, but is not currently in use.

Palm Beach's old Flagler Memorial Bridge was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (PWA). The PWA supplied a $398,750 loan and $326,455 grant for the project, whose total cost was $735,490. Construction began in Jan. 1937 and completed in Jun. 1938. In 2014 the bridge was undergoing replacement and demolition. PWA Project No. 1085-D. The project is sometimes mis-attributed to another New Deal agency, the WPA. WPB.org: "WPA funds were also utilized to construct the Flagler Memorial Bridge which opened in 1938, replacing the earlier railroad bridge from West Palm Beach to Palm Beach."

Flamingo Park, also known as Flamingo Field, was a ballpark built in 1925. In 1935, new grandstands were built by FERA. The ballpark served a number of professional baseball teams for many years, but eventually became rundown, and was replaced by a new ballpark on the same site in 1967.

McGuinn Hall was a Colonial Revival style men’s dormitory constructed in 1938 on the campus of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), a historically black college founded in Tallahassee, Florida in 1887. A dedication plaque on the wall of McGuinn Hall indicates that it was constructed as a Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works project, number FLA 1092-6-DS. The architect was Rudolph Weaver, F.A.I.A., who served as dean of the University of Florida’s College of Architecture from 1925 until 1944. He designed a number of dormitories for the University of Florida as well as Florida State University. The latter included...

The Florida Caverns Golf Course is located on the grounds of the Florida Caverns State Park near the city of Marianna in Jackson County. In February 1938, State Forester and Park Executive Harry Lee Baker brought in golf course architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. who, upon inspection, indicated he was pleased with the location in the state park.In August of 1938, $50,000 was approved by President Franklin D. Roosevelt for the construction of an 18-hole golf course on property adjoining the newly constructed Florida Caverns State Park. The State provided an additional $48,700 bring the project to Marianna, at no...

The museum, located in a 1939 CCC building, opened during the Ninth Annual CCC Festival on November 5, 1994. You will see displays of CCC memorabilia, photographs and examples of CCC workmanship. Big Band music and President Roosevelt's Fireside Chats play in the background. A video of original CCC footage takes you back to the 1930s. There was also a totem pole that was installed in the museum at the time (since removed). The CCC developed eight state parks in Florida: Highlands Hammock, Myakka River, Hillsborough River, Gold Head Branch, O'Leno, Fort Clinch, Torreya and Florida Caverns.  

A pair of infirmary/ward buildings at what was then known as the Florida Farm Colony was constructed in 1936 as a New Deal-aided project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) supplied a $48,402 grant for the project, whose total cost was $108,174. The exact location and status of the buildings on the campus (presently known as the Tacachdale Center) are presently unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. FL 1158-R

A pair of infirmary/ward buildings at what was then known as the Florida Farm Colony was constructed in 1936 as a New Deal-aided project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) supplied a $48,402 grant for the project, whose total cost was $108,174. The exact location and status of the buildings on the campus (presently known as the Tacachdale Center) are presently unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. FL 1158-R

A pair of segregated dining halls at what was then known as the Florida Industrial School for Boys, a reformatory, was constructed in 1936 as a New Deal-aided project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) supplied a $34,389 grant for the project, whose total cost was $84,517. The exact location and status of the buildings on the now-abandoned campus are presently unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. FL 1161-R

A pair of segregated dining halls at what was then known as the Florida Industrial School for Boys, a reformatory, was constructed in 1936 as a New Deal-aided project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) supplied a $34,389 grant for the project, whose total cost was $84,517. The exact location and status of the buildings on the now-abandoned campus are presently unknown to Living New Deal. PWA Docket No. FL 1161-R

Also known as the Hurricane Monument, this limestone monument marks the mass grave of the over 300 people killed in one of the deadliest hurricanes to hit the Florida Keys in 1936. "Standing just east of U.S. 1 at mile marker 82 in Islamorada, near where Islamorada's post office stood, is a simple monument designed by the Florida Division of the Federal Art Project and constructed using Keys limestone ("keystone") by the Works Progress Administration. It was unveiled in 1937 with more than 4,000 people attending. A frieze depicts palm trees amid curling waves, fronds bent in the wind. In front...

A girls' dormitory building at what was then known as the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind was constructed in 1936 as a New Deal-aided project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) supplied a $34,190 grant for the project, whose total cost was $76,013. The building is located at the northwest end of campus. It is possible that additional construction was undertaken at the School with federal funds. PWA Docket No. FL 1134-R

During the Depression, the WPA spent $465,000 for buildings and other improvements at the fairgrounds. Which exact buildings were WPA and their current status is unknown to the Living New Deal.

The Works Progress Administration constructed a building that housed the Florida State Farmers’ Market in Live Oaks FL. The structure was completed circa 1938.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) was involved with multiple construction projects on the grounds of the Florida State Hospital in 1936-7. The PWA supplied a $300,355 grant for construction as part of one combined project, whose total cost was $670,428. PWA Docket No. FL 1135-R. (A second project, Docket FL 1240-R, provided $42,853 for "miscellaneous buildings"—total cost: $95,447.) "The acutely congested condition of the hospital wards and the general housing problem has been somewhat relieved during the biennium with the completion of eleven major buildings with the assistance of federal funds. The structures, all completely fireproof, are designed and built to conform with the needs...

Landis Hall was completed in 1938 as a 202-room dormitory for student nurses and other employees working at the Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee, Florida. It replaced the old nurses home which was destroyed in February 1937. The construction contract was financed in part by the PWA and awarded to Batson and Cook of West Point, Georgia. The building was named for the late Florida Attorney-General, Cary D. Landis. PWA Docket No. Fla 1372-DS.

A hospital at the Florida State Prison (in some documents referred to as the "Florida State Farm"), was constructed in 1936-7 as a New Deal-aided project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) supplied a $137,296 grant for the project, whose total cost was $339,851. The exact location and status of the building are presently unknown to Living New Deal. It is also possible that the project included the construction of other facilities on the prison grounds. PWA Docket No. FL 1160-R

The former Florida State Tuberculosis Sanitarium was constructed during the last 1930s as a New Deal-aided project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) supplied a $320,000 loan and $310,890 grant for the project, whose total cost was $804,005. Construction began in 1936 and, according to a PWA document, construction continued well to 1939. (Dedication occurred well before this date. See below.) Florida Memory: "P.W.A. project, docket 1034-R. Also known as: the Central Florida Tuberculosis Hospital, the Sunland Training Center for Retarded Children, and the Sunland Hospital of Orlando. Dedicated in January 1938. The building, located at 7500 West Silver Star Road, was later...

Picnic pavilion and meeting place. The pavilion was built in the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration. It was the only structure at the newly donated 10 acre park at the time. The community subsequently built a baseball field at the park and in 1976, at also added the replica of the 1837 Fort Christmas. The community has always used the pavilion as a meeting place for community events. The pavilion has been renovated and preserved by the community. 

"Fort Homer W. Hesterly is a historic building at 522 North Howard Avenue in the West Tampa section of Tampa, Florida. An art deco style building. It took ten years to find an occupant for the building, once a premiere venue. It is now home to the Tampa Jewish Community Center & Federation. Performers have included Elvis Presley, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Tom Jones, The Animals, James Brown, Buddy Holly, Andy Griffith, Pink Floyd and the Doors. Many graduations and weddings have been held at the Fort. The National Guard used the armory until 2005. The...

Between 1935 and 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) performed structural renovation and historic restoration work at this site, a remote historic fort 68 miles west of Key West on Bush Key. In 1992, it became a part of Dry Tortugas National Park.  

Waymarking: "The Yacht Basin was an undertaking of the WPA (Works Project Administration) that took two years to complete, employing local workers during the Depression. ... Located at Mile Marker 135 on the Okeechobee Waterway, 15 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, Fort Myers Yacht Basin is a well designed and protected marina. It is owned and operated by the City of Fort Myers."

Also known as the Venice Municipal Airport, including runways and hangars, was constructed by the Civil Aeronautics Authority and the Works Progress Administration in 1935-1939. It remained a local airport until the 1950s, when the land was transferred to the school board for the construction of an educational complex. There do not seem to be any existing structures remaining, although there is a historical marker commemorating the site.

Variously known as the 1939 Dining Hall, the Seminole Dining Hall and now the William Johnston Building, this Collegiate Gothic style building was constructed by the PWA in 1939. A report from a former Florida State University art student describes the building as follows: “In the fall of 1938, construction of this new Dining Hall began, though it would not be but another two years before it would formally open its doors… The New Dining Hall appeared as a place of reverence that granted a sense of security and comfort at days end. One would proceed up the monumental staircase of the front...

The City of Gainesville purchased the Servicemen’s Center lot on December 7th, 1942. The Federal Works Agency constructed a $37,000 building with a ballroom, stage, dressing rooms, second floor reading room, three showers, three telephone booths for long distance calls, a coat check room, a 20-foot-long snack bar, and a kitchen with a ten-burner stove. A $420,000 renovation took place in 2000. Today, the building serves as a voting Precinct and used for various community meetings and gatherings.

"The Gilchrist County Courthouse is an historic two-story red brick courthouse building located at 112 South Main Street in Trenton, Gilchrist County, Florida. It was designed by the Jacksonville firm of Smith, Holborn, and Dozier and was built in 1933 by the Works Progress Administration. Although a very plain building, it does have "decorative corbeled courses, arched window opening with drip courses, triple arched entry porch." with four sets of double columns. In 1965 it was remodeled and expanded with one-story utilitarian additions. In 1989, the Gilchrist County Courthouse was listed in A Guide to Florida's Historic Architecture,...

Pensacola received a new storm sewer along Gonzales Street in 1939; it was constructed with federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor.

Miami and the surrounding Dade County were effectively without city or county parks until the 1930s.  The city got its first park in 1925, after which the city was devastated by a hurricane the following year. The county received its first donation of land for a park in 1929, which became Matheson Hammock Park.  In 1930, the park system got its own director and a beach park, Surfside, was added in 1932. The county began improvements on the parks using mostly convict labor and men sent by the Charity Office once the Depression hit, as well as starting a Roadside...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Casino and Muncipal Pier in Gulfport FL. The marker on site states that, "The U.S. Department of the Interior has listed the Gulfport Casino in the National Register of Historic Places. This is the third such Casino on this location. The first fell in the 1921 hurricane; the second came down in the early 1930s. Using funds from the Works Progress Administration's Civil Works Authority. Gulfport dedicated the Casino on December 1, 1935. A crowd of 1,200 people attended the dedication, which included a flag raising and a concert by the Florida Military Academy. Throughout...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded the construction of this New Deal stone schoolhouse in Brooksville, FL. In 1941 the building was converted for use as a cannery. In the years following its construction, the building has served as a school for orphans and runaways; a cooperative extension site (Hammock Extension Homemakers); and as a northern extension site for the Hernando County Library system, known as the Rock Cannery Library. Presently, the building continues to serve the community as a facility where members of the public can come to preserve fruits, vegetables, meat, and seafood using the commercial kitchen's pressure canning...

Harvey Government Center is home to two examples of Federal Art Project-sponsored bas reliefs. They are located in the council chambers room on the second floor of the building. "New Deal art was also installed in the Florida Keys. The two primary sculptors were Joan van Breeman and Lambert Bemelman. One of Bemelman's pieces is still extant at the Hurricane Memorial at Mile Marker 81.5. Van Breeman created a number of bas relief sculptures for public schools built by the WPA in the Upper Keys (to replace public schools destroyed by hurricanes). One of van Breeman's work now is on display...

The Hillsborough High School was built in 1927 but soon thereafter the Great Depression caused a halt to construction of the gymnasium and the track. These were eventually built in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration under the supervision of Mr. E.H. Foxworth. This structure has come to be known by the students as the Barn due its architectural style.

"Opened in 1938, Hillsborough River State Park is one of Florida's first state parks; this original CCC Park is divided by the swiftly flowing Hillsborough River with a set of Class II rapids. The river provides opportunities for fishing, canoeing, and kayaking..."   (www.floridastateparks.org) "Land acquisition for Hillsborough River State Park began in 1934, and the park officially became part of the Florida state park system in 1935. The CCC began work at Hillsborough River State Park in 1934, when Company 1418 was transferred from Sebring to the small community of Sulphur Springs, northeast of Tampa. CCC Camp SP-71 served primarily as...