Florida Sites

The Works Progress Administration built a memorial for the war veterans and civilian victims of the September 3, 1935 hurricane.

The Works Progress Administration built a hurricane refuge in Tavernier FL.

The Works Progress Administration built a hurricane shelter on the island of Upper Matecumbe Key FL.

The Works Progress Administration constructed the Jacksonville Beach sea wall in Jacksonville BeachFL. The wall prevented beach erosion and provided protection against high tide. It was completed circa 1938.

Jacksonville Municipal Airport, also known as Jacksonville Army Airfield and later Imeson Field, was developed in part by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA). One archival image shows that the WPA paved a runway at the airport in 1936. "The site of Imeson Field is located southeast of the intersection of North Main Street & Busch Drive." The buildings on the site are largely demolished.

"The Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded the 1940 changes to the" former Jefferson County "jail, including the Woman's and Children's building."

Florida's old John Gorrie Memorial Bridge—which carried what is now U.S. 98 over the East Bay between Apalachicola and Eastpoint—was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $1,075,000 loan and $350,929 grant for the project, whose total cost was $1,423,805. It was constructed a toll bridge. Construction occurred between April 1934 and August 1936*. The bridge has since been replaced. * Some sources (Wikipedia) suggest that the bridge was completed and opened sooner, though it's possible they refer to other bridges that were constructed in the area at that time. PWA Docket No. FL 843

The Kendall Home for Children was constructed by FERA in 1935. The home was later run by the Catholic Church and then by Dade County. Residents have since reported a history of child abuse at the site. By 2007, the buildings were demolished or in ruins.

The CWA built the famous Key West Aquarium in 1934, amid a flurry of relief work by the FERA and the WPA on the island.

In 1933-1935, Alfred Crimi was one of several artists to be employed to create murals for the Key West Aquarium. The murals were begun under the CWA and completed under FERA. The Crimi murals were later destroyed, but modern day reproductions were later installed. The status of the murals by other artists is not known to the Living New Deal.

Florida's Lake Powell Bridge—also known as the Philips Inlet Bridge—was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $148,087 loan for the project, whose total cost was $141,409. It was constructed a toll bridge. Construction occurred between 1934 and 1935. The project helped to spur development between Panama City and Pensacola. PWA Docket No. FL 793

Lake Worth, Florida's old Lake Worth Bridge—which carried what is now Rt. 802 over the Lake Worth Lagoon (part of the Intracoastal Waterway)—was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $138,000 loan and $112,909 grant for the project, whose total cost was $263,428. The draw bridge was built as a toll bridge. Construction occurred between August 1936 and December 1937. The bridge has since been demolished and replaced. The Palm Beach Post, Aug. 30, 1936: When workmen start in Monday morning to build a new bridge across Lake Worth, it will mark the beginning...

"The Civil Works Administration was absorbed by the FERA in the spring of 1934, but it had several projects underway by that time. On land leased from Dr. J. F. Williams and G. B. Truka of Daytona Beach, it was constructing an airplane landing field about a mile south of Monticello. According to the News, the Kiwanis Club had long desired the landing field, "and now through federal aid its dream is about to be realized." The FERA rented a warehouse from D. A. Finlayson to store its supplies."

Now a senior center, Tallahassee's historic Leon County Armory was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA provided a $19,859 grant to the project, whose total cost was $74,365. Construction occurred between November 1934 and June 1935. The building now serves as a senior center. PWA Docket No. FL 9236

The Leon County Health Unit was completed in 1940 as a $40,000 project jointly funded by Leon County, the City of Tallahassee, and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It was the first permanent home for the Leon County Health Unit, which was the oldest in the state and the first specially designed health unit built as a county WPA project in the state of Florida. The facility was a direct result of the Florida Health Unit Law of 1931, which authorized counties in Florida “to cooperate with the State Board of Health in the establishment and maintenance of full-time local health units...

The Leon County Jail was constructed in 1937 at a cost of $100,000, replacing an older jail located immediately adjacent. The new facility was segregated by gender, proving spaces for 72 men and 26 women. The jail featured common areas on the lower level, and included its own laundry, hospital ward, and living quarters for the jailer. The jail was designed by the prominent Tampa architect, Malachi Leo Elliot, working with contractor T. A. Monk. This same team concurrently designed and built the PWA-funded Leon High School, which was completed in early 1937. Today Leon High School, as well as several other...

Sometimes mis-attributed to the WPA, Leon High School was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. "The builder was Thomas Monk, who built dozens of high schools and commercial buildings around Florida, including the Monk Building in downtown Bradenton ..." PWA Docket No. W1024

"A new concrete stadium and playground at Leon High School in Tallahassee was completed through the combined efforts of the WPA, the City of Tallahassee, Leon County, and the local Junior Chamber of Commerce."

Bronson, Florida's historic Levy County Courthouse was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA provided a $22,500 grant for the project, whose total cost was $58,717. Construction occurred between February and August 1937. The building is still in use today. Wikipedia: "The Levy County Courthouse, built in 1937, is an historic redbrick Classical Revival style courthouse building located in Bronson, Florida. It was designed by architect Henry L. Taylor and built by O. R. Woodcock. It is Levy County's fourth purpose-built courthouse and the third one built in Bronson. Some material salvaged from the previous...

"Liberty Square (colloquially referred to as the Pork & Beans) is a 753-unit Miami-Dade public housing apartment complex in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami, Florida. It is bordered at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard/North 62nd Street to the south, North 67th Street to the north, State Road 933 (West 12th Avenue) to the east, and West 15th Avenue to the west. Constructed as a part of the New Deal by the Public Works Administration and opening in 1937, it was the first public housing project for blacks in the Southern United States." The project was integrated in the 1960s....

Herald-Tribune: "In the late 1930s, with financial aid of the Works Progress Administration, the city of Sarasota built the Lido Beach Casino. Designed by Ralph Twitchell, the "grandfather of the Sarasota school of architecture," the art deco-style "palace" boasted a swimming pool, restaurants and bars, cabanas, shops and a ballroom. The casino opened in May 1940 as a mecca of dining, drinking and dancing. For more than two decades, it attracted famous bands and Hollywood celebrities and was the venue for all kinds of events, from beauty pageants to proms to athletic competitions to political rallies." The facility, save its swimming pool, was...

Constructed by the WPA in 1937-1939. "In 1939 the City Council voted to name the building the Lily Lawrence Bow Library after Homestead’s first librarian, an accomplished musician, artist, published poet, and a member of the local police force."   (wikipedia)

The New Deal funded improvement work in the Long Branch Marsh in the vicinity of Jacksonville FL.  

Lummus Park is a beach-side park stretching along the Eastern side of Ocean Dr. from 5th - 15th streets. Under FERA projects 13-129: 13-B3-146, federal workers built 8 new shuffleboard courts and a new concrete-floored pavilion. The park was renovated in the 1980s. The shuffleboard courts are no longer there. It is unknown to the Living New Deal whether the pavilion is still extant or not.

In 1941, the Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the MacDill Field Defense Housing Project in Tampa FL. The housing was built for Army enlisted personnel.  

What became the Marianna Municipal Airport began as a WPA constructed runway in the 1930s, "as part of a 1930's airmail route between Jacksonville and New Orleans." The airport was further developed during World War II.

An addition to the old Martin County courthouse in Stuart, Florida was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The facility now serves as a cultural center. The PWA supplied a $12,272 grant for the project, whose total cost was $26,886. Construction occurred between March and June 1937. Wikipedia: "The Old Martin County Court House, built in 1937, is an historic Art Deco style courthouse building located at 80 East Ocean Boulevard in Stuart, Martin County, Florida. ... On November 7, 1997, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The building was designed by architect L....

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...

Personal description of the park by project submitter John Walker: "The entire park including the coquina coral atoll pool, was manmade. My grandfather, Robert "Bob" C. Long was a CCC worker, and worked on the project and helped to build the atoll pool. He and many of the other CCC workers carved their initials and names in the coral they laid around the manmade coral atoll pool deck. It is a natural salt, sea water atoll pool. A hurricane damaged the pool, and in a hasty repair of the pool, many of the stones used that bore the initials of many...

Jacksonville, Florida's May Street was paved with bricks during the Great Depression using federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor ca. 1936. Google Street View, as of 2015, shows that the southern portion of May Street is still brick-paved.

This small airport was originally built as Glenn Curtiss Field in the early 1900s and became the Miami Municipal Airport in 1928. It was later renamed Amelia Earhart Field "in honor of the famous aviatrix stopping there on her ill-fated flight around the world in 1937." The airport closed in the 1950s. (www.pbase.com) The archival photo pictured here describes WPA improvements to the site in the 1930s: "A view from the Control Tower recently erected by the WPA at the Miami Municipal Airport showing the work which has been done. In front of the hangar is the new apron from which...

This building was constructed by the WPA in 1936 as the Matecumbe School and Storm Shelter: "After the 1935 hurricane, to build a new school Hugh Matheson exchanged land he owned on the highway for the beach site of the destroyed school. W.P.A constructed the new school and was to be a combination hurricane shelter and school. A second almost identical structure was also constructed in Tavernier. The Matecumbe school is now the Islamorada Library and in Tavernier it is the health department."   (www.keyshistory.org)

The building contains six bas reliefs by WPA artist Joan van Breeman: "The six bas reliefs in the back rooms were made by Joan van Breeman and depict children at play. Girls on swings or spinning globes, young men charging forth with footballs or boxing gloves. In French, bas relief literally means low-raised work; it's sort of like a sculpture slightly bursting from a flat backdrop. With their simple compositions and white facades, the reliefs also bring to mind line drawings; they are both hopeful and humble, from another era altogether."   (https://articles.sun-sentinel.com)

By 1935, FERA had done significant work at Moore Park, including installing a sprinkler system, 11 tennis courts and a fence. Moore Park remains a popular tennis spot.

Sarasota's architecturally striking Municipal Auditorium was constructed with the assistance of the federal Works Progress Auditorium (WPA). "Work on the auditorium commenced in July of 1937. The federal government granted the sum of $131,000.00 towards the project. Skilled labor was paid for by the City's General Fund and common labor was paid for by the WPA. The auditorium was officially opened on February 24, 1938, for the Sara de Soto Celebration. Designed in the Art Deco/Moderne style by Chicago architect, Thomas Reed Martin, the auditorium was quite a site for visitors entering from the north Tamiami Trail. At the entry of the...

"This public building completed in 1938, was a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project designed by Gainesville architect Sanford Goin. Relatively inexpensive local materials (pine and limestone) were used. The Municipal Building is part of the City Hall complex in Newberry, Florida. Contributing Building - Newberry Historic District - National Register of Historic Places."   (digitalcommons.unf.edu)

"1933: The Civil Works Administration of Florida sends 150 men to make improvements to the town." "1936-37: City receives help from the Works Progress Administration for bulkheading, street maintenance, improvements for the water works, etc."

In the 1930's, Winter Garden was struggling economically along with the rest of the nation. The Great Depression left growers without markets, consumers without spending money, and many without work. It was Winter Garden's fortune to have George Walker as its mayor during this difficult period. Mr. Walker, a native of Savannah, Georgia, came to Winter Garden in 1919, and in the following year, opened Walker Electric Company and Appliance Store. An avid sportsman, Walker was the director of the Lake-Orange County semi-pro baseball league and served as the manager of the Winter Garden League in 1924. He was also active in...

The building contains five bas reliefs by Joan van Breeman.

The CCC did extensive work creating Myakka River State Park between 1934 and 1941. According to the Florida Public Architecture blog, it was the only camp in Florida established by an African-American division of the CCC, reminding the visitor that segregation obtained even in great public works of the New Deal. From the Florida State Parks website: In the 1930's, during the Great Depression, over 17,000 acres of the Palmer estate was purchased by the government to develop Myakka River State Park as part of President Roosevelt's New Deal. The New Deal was intended to boost the economy and spirit of the American population during...