Idaho Sites

According to the National Archives, the PWA helped build this elementary school in 1937. By inference, it appears to have been Roosevelt Elementary, which was demolished in 1996.

This art deco courthouse in Gem county Idaho was built by the PWA in 1938-39. Architect Frank Hummel designed the building. A National Register of Historic Places report describes the courthouse design: "The Gem and Washington county buildings use the bas relief ornament typical of Art Deco in a highly classical fashion. In them the vertical pier of Art Deco becomes a shallow pilaster with a stylized capital."

"Heyburn State Park is the oldest state park in the Pacific Northwest, created by an act of Congress in 1908. Heyburn includes approximately 5,800 acres of land and 2,300 acres of water. Much of the early construction was performed by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. Today, many of these facilities are still in use the CCCs proud legacy." (www.reserveamerica.com) Between 1934 and 1941, the CCC built roads, trails, bridges, campgrounds, picnic areas, picnic shelters and the Rocky Point Lodge. CCC work includes the Chatcolet picnic and camping area, the Plummer Point picnic and hiking area, and Rocky Point properties.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built or improved a power dam in the city of Idaho Falls, Idaho.  Judging from the photograph on the WPA record card in the National Archives, the dam is the one across the Snake River just above the Idaho Falls, which diverts part of the river into the hydroelectric power station run by Idaho Power Company. (The card gives the location as Briggs, Bonneville County, but there is no such place) The diversion from the falls to the power plant is obscured by a highway bridge and park in the middle of the river below the...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the original Idaho Falls airport in 1935-37. We do not know which, if any, of the historic structures remain. "In 1935, the City of Idaho Falls partnered with the Works Project Administration (WPA) to produce the plans and funding needed to build a true airport in Idaho Falls. The hangar and administrator's cabin were built in 1936 of hand-hewn, peeled, native white pine. The hangar provided for maintenance, repair and shelter for aircraft, as well as support for the pilots. Its interior space was divided between the airplane storage and maintenance area and the small...

"Though designed and partially constructed in 1931, the minimalistic Art Deco structure was substantially enlarged under the Works Progress Administration. This construction included the central, vaulted cavalry drill hall and the administrative offices housed in the two-story front section. It was built for nearly $60,000, and when completed, was the largest armory in the state. Later additions were built in 1956, and the National Guard occupied the structure until it was sold to the State of Idaho in the mid-1970s and later purchased by the City of Boise." https://www.preservationidaho.org

Also known as the Log Cabin Literary Center, this rustic log building was constructed in 1939 utilizing the labor of the Civilian Conservation Corp. Each interior room is finished with indigenous Idaho lumber donated by the State’s timber companies. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The cabin is now used to support artistic and literary endeavors under the direction of The Cabin organization. A quote from their website explains: "The City of Boise purchased the building from the state in 1992 and signed a long-term lease with the Log Cabin Literary Center in June 1996. Today, The Cabin...

The historic former U.S. Border Inspection Station (and attendant garage facility) on State Route 1 in Porthill, Idaho was built in 1938 with U.S. Treasury Department funds. Living New Deal believes the structure has been demolished and replaced with a newer facility.

The WPA constructed or conducted improvements to this irrigation aqueduct in Elmore County near Mountain Home. A 2016 article in the Mountain Home News suggests that the canal and aqueduct indicated on the map dates to the 1890s, so the WPA work may have been repairs or improvements. However, no wooden structures such as that pictured are visible from satellite imagery of the canal, so the site may we be elsewhere in the Mountain Home vicinity.

The athletic field stands at Irving Junior High School in Pocatello, Idaho were constructed by the Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.).

The Jerome County Courthouse in Jerome, Idaho was constructed with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1938-1939. Jerome County received a $39,150 dollar grant from the WPA regional office in Portland, Oregon toward an estimated cost of $87,000 for the project. The county had already passed a bond election to provide its part of the funds for construction. The modest sized courthouse features a relatively flamboyant Moderne (Art Deco) style on the facade.  The designers were Sundberg & Sundberg and the contractor was Paul Kartzke. The entrance lobby appears relatively unchanged. A new addition has been made to the east end...

The CCC built several buildings for the Krassel Ranger District in 1937 and 1938.

The 1936 addition to Lakeview Elementary was a PWA project (docket #1098-RD). The building remains in use as the privately owned Idaho Arts Charter School. The windows appear to have been modernized, but the basic structure has not changed.

Construction on this Public Works Administration (PWA) funded building took place in 1934 as an addition to the town's high school (built in 1911). While retaining the New Deal era gymnasium, the current Lava Elementary School structure replaced the high school in 1979. The Lava School Gymnasium received National Register status in 1997 based on its significance to both local history and architecture. In the application's statement of significance, it was argued that the gymnasium is associated with "the continued development of this small southeastern Idaho town during the Great Depression" and its ability to demonstrate several primary contributions of the...

"The gymnasium room is flanked on two sides by bleachers and there are additional seating spaces over the entrance lobby and locker rooms. Doors at the rear of the building open directly to the athletic field. The exterior walls are concrete with a rubbed finish and are painted with cement paint as a protection against moisture. Interior partitions are wood. Windows above the bleachers and three skylights provide ample light. The old building was remodeled for use as administrative offices for the school. The project was completed in November 1938 at a construction cost of $74,310 and a project cost...

In 1933, the Public Works Administration allotted $10,000 (about $203,000 in 2020 dollars) for the construction of three small schools on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation (home of five Shoshone-Bannock Tribes), one of which was the Lincoln Creek Day School. The schools were completed in 1935 and described by Rosalie Springfellow in early 1936: “Three fine school buildings have been erected on the reservation: one at Lincoln Creek, one at Ross Fork and one on Bannock Creek. Compared with the little red schoolhouse of a bygone year, this new school is a palace, with hardwood floors, insulated walls to keep out...

WPA crews contributed to building the Little Wood River Reservoir near Carey. From the Bureau of Reclamation: "Reclamation conducted the earliest irrigation survey of the Little Wood River area in 1904. Reclamation officials concluded from the surveys, that the cost of storing water would be excessive. Several proposals and sites received consideration later, but financial problems prevented construction until 1936. Construction of the Little Wood River Dam started under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1936. Confronted by winter weather, lack of funds, and floods, the WPA stopped construction in 1939. Construction of the dam finished in 1941, under contract,...

The WPA constructed this log bridge in the town of Springston. The town no longer exists, but the bridge remains.

The campground was constructed by the CCC in 1937, along with a unique stone outhouse built into the side of a rock cliff.

This suspension bridge was built by CCC enrollees from the French Creek CCC camp (1896) in 1935. It was named to honor a CCC enrollee who was killed near the bridge. The bridge is 248’ in length and built of creosoted timber with concrete abutments.

The Works Progress Administration built the McClusky Health Camp for tuberculosis victims, in Buhl, Twin Falls County.  

"The Minidoka Project is a series of public works by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to control the flow of the Snake River in Wyoming and Idaho, supplying irrigation water to farmlands in Idaho. One of the oldest Bureau of Reclamation projects in the United States, the project involves a series of dams and canals intended to store, regulate and distribute the waters of the Snake, with electric power generation as a byproduct. The water irrigates more than a million acres (4,000 km²) of otherwise arid land, producing much of Idaho's potato crop. Other crops include alfalfa, fruit and sugar...

Moscow Senior High School was a PWA project (docket #1078-D5), completed in 1939. It is still in use as a school today.

A municipal swimming pool in Weiser was constructed as a PWA project (docket #1077-DS). Located near the county courthouse, that pool has since been torn down and replaced.

In 1934, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees constructed the fire Guard Station in Bonanza, Idaho. Bonanza is a former mining camp on the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River, near its confluence with Jordan Creek. Nothing is left of the town. This small structure housed the Challis National Forest fire guard with responsibility for the Yankee Fork area, including the maintenance of the nearby Forest Service bathhouse at Sunbeam Hot Springs. The Guard Station is still intact and occupied.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built sidewalks on North 9th East in Mountain Home ID, in 1941. A 1941 WPA placard is set in the concrete on the sidewalk at 390 North 9th East.

According to the National Archives, WPA crews built this road along the remote North Fork of the Boise River between Arrowrock Dam and the town of Atlanta.

Originally called simply Boise Junior High School, "This school was a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project designed by Frank Hummell. When it opened in 1936, it was the city's first and only Junior High School." (www.preservationidaho.org)

The Civilian Conservation Corps built a camp F-23 at Packers Meadows, Selway Forest, Idaho.

The Works Progress Administration built the Parma Grade School in Parma, Canyon County.

The beautiful Pinecrest Municipal Golf Course in Idaho Falls, Idaho was constructed as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in 1936-37. The clubhouse at Pinecrest, completed in 1937, is intact. It was built in a classic park rustic style much in favor in the first half of the 20th century, with stone pillars, log walls and wooden interior. There is a WPA plaque on the exterior wall of the clubhouse by the entrance.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a hangar for the Pocatello Airport in Pocatello, Idaho, in the late 1930s or early 1940s. We do not know if the hangar is still standing. Wikipedia indicates that four hangars are still standing from World War II Army Airfield on the site, but ignores the earlier work by the New Deal.  

The Public Works Administration (PWA) financed additions and renovations to Pocatello High School (docket #1096-DS).  The school added two new classroom wings and a new gymnasium, reportedly later known as "The Pit." Pocatello High is a beautiful example of brick Moderne architecture.  The original central portion of the building shows more decorative flair, typical of the 1920s.  The New Deal wings were added perpendicularly on the north and south ends of the original structure; they are more sober than the 1920s original.  The New Deal gymnasium stands to the south of the modern glass entrance.  More additions have been made farther...

The historic post office in Blackfoot, Idaho was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds in 1935.  The post office building is exceptionally grand, two or three stories high, in a "Classical Moderne" architectural style.  The facade features eight bas-relief columns with decorative elements at the top and a beautiful bas-relief eagle over the front entrance.  The Blackfoot post officre is still in use and houses an a long New Deal mural all around the interior of the lobby, which is largely unchanged.

The historic post office in Bonners Ferry, Idaho was constructed in 1937-8 with Treasury Department funds. The building is still in service.

The historic post office in Buhl, Idaho was constructed in 1939 with Treasury Department funds. The building, which houses an example of New Deal artwork, is still in service.

The historic Burley post office was constructed with Treasury Department funds in 1935. The building, which houses an example of New Deal artwork, is still in service.

The historic post office in Grangeville, Idaho was constructed in 1941 with Treasury Department funds. The building is still in service.

The historic Kellogg post office was built in 1937 with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which houses an example of New Deal artwork, is still in service.

Constructed by the Treasury Department in 1939-1940.