Preston Sites

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of a new courthouse for Franklin County in Preston, Idaho, in 1939. The Franklin County Courthouse is a fine example of late Moderne architecture, a clean white cube with bas-relief columns and otherwise minimal exterior decoration.

The historic post office in Preston, Idaho was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds in 1939. The building houses an example of New Deal artwork  and is still in use today.

The Post Office in Preston, Idaho, features a New Deal mural painted by Edmond J. Fitzgerald. The oil-on-canvas mural is entitled "The Battle of Bear River". It memorializes a notorious massacre of Shoshone people by a group of "California Volunteers" in Franklin County in 1863. The mural was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and hung in the post office in 1941. Fitzgerald also painted murals for the Ontario Oregon and Colville Washington post offices. The post office has a helpful information sheet on the mural and New Deal work in the town of Preston.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided funding for the construction of a new high school in Preston, Idaho in 1939. The school building is a long, two-story structure with two wings flanking a central entrance, and what appears to be a gymnasium and second entry at the east end. The design is Brick Moderne with bas-relief columns capped by white stone and a slightly projecting central entrance with modest carved stone decorations and the date 1939 above the doorway. The school is in good condition and still in use.