Massachusetts Sites

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) reconstructed a mile-long stretch of Chestnut Street in 1934-5. From 25 to 60 men were employed for six months. The project was undertaken at a cost of $17,322, for which the federal government contributed $11,322.

"The Chevalier Theatre was built in 1939 by the Works Progress Administration as part of the Medford High School complex."

The Chickatawbut Observation Tower is a historic tower on Chickatawbut Road in Quincy (MA) within the Blue Hill Reservation. Unfortunately it is not open to the public. The tower was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s (I don't know the exact year). Though I’m not 100% positive, I’d guess that the shelter structure at the tower's base was part of the same 1930s project.

Description of W.P.A. projects: "Chickatawbut Road, Braintree; work will be started in the early spring of 1939 on the general improvement and beautification of the Chickatawbut Road entrance to Blue Hills Reservation. Work will include tree removal, clearing, excavation, rip-rapping of brooks, rubble wall construction, fence relocation, road drainage, resurfacing of surface road, grading, loaming and seeding and all incidental work." "Chickatawbut Road at Granite Street, Braintree; improvement and beautification of this entrance to the Blue Hills Reservation."

The historic post office building located at 100 Center St. in Chicopee, Massachusetts was constructed by the federal Treasury Department and completed in 1935. Located in the village of Chicopee Center, this was one of two post office buildings from the era constructed in the town of Chicopee.

In the 1890s, the city of Chicopee purchased a tract of land along Cooley Brook for the creation of a reservoir, which later took place in 1926. Nearly a decade later during the Great Depression the area was selected for expansion and the creation of a state park by the Civilian Conservation Corps The CCC operated Camp 1156 in Chicopee, Massachusetts from 1935 to 1937. The camp that resided in Chicopee was near Cooley Brook Reservoir where Chicopee Memorial State Park is located today and housed about two hundred young men. CCC workers conducted efforts throughout the Chicopee Memorial State Park...

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers constructed a new city garage for Medford, Massachusetts. From a W.P.A. Bulletin: Medford's antiquated city garage built to accommodate horse drawn equipment will be replaced with a new Medford WPA city garage now in construction. The new building will contain offices, workrooms, and storage for motor vehicles at present kept in rented quarters. The exact location and present status of this facility is unknown to Living New Deal.

Gardner, Massachusetts's city hall as constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The building is still in service. The construction of a new city hall was first mentioned by mayor Fred E. Perry in his 1938 inaugural address. He said he had many plans for the city, “the chief of which was the erection of a new city hall which would be combined with a memorial to the World War veterans." The actual construction of the building could not be started at the time due to the financial constraints that the city faced. Eventually they were able...

"The building is T-shaped in plan and three stories in height, and its over-all dimensions are 180 by 131 feet. It is fireproof throughout, the exterior walls being of water-struck brick and limestone. The project was completed in September 1937 at a cost of approximately $450,000."

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) laborers constructed a vault for the protection of city documents at the former city hall in Fitchburg, Mass. The W.P.A. also tore out the old jail and renovated other aspects of the building. The location of the building is unknown to Living New Deal.

A Boston Public Works Department report cited Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) labor as conducting the following work: "Extensive alterations were made to the office of the Bridge and Ferry Division, 602 City Hall Annex."

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) landscaped the area surrounding Medford's new City Hall in 1937. WPA Bulletin: "A beautiful building in shoddy surroundings is like a beautiful woman in slatternly dress with unkempt hair. Extensive landscaping by WPA has beautified the surroundings of Medford's $500,000 city hall. ... Green grass is growing where the old wooden Everett School (now razed) stood." Work also included the creation of a "bituminous-topped parking space capable of accommodating 300 motors."

WPA Bulletin, 1937: "Worcester — The City Home chickens are going modern. A WPA Project is constructing individual cages for the hens now housed in a two-story structure built by WPA last December." The location of the old City Home is unknown to Living New Deal.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) constructed facilities at what was known as the City Home in Gloucester, Massachusetts. WPA Bulletin: At City Home, Gloucester, WPA razed a dilapidated wooden structure and built an all-stone garage and storage shed. These buildings will be used jointly by the City Home and the Welfare Department. The exact location and status of the facility is unknown to Living New Deal.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor constructed a park at what was then known as the Boston City Hospital. WPA Bulletin: This new park in the rear of the Administration Building, Boston City Hospital, was laid out and planned by WPA engineers. Convalescent patients will benefit from these beautiful surroundings.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted the following work at the former City Infirmary in Haverhill, Massachusetts. WPA Bulletin: WPA is building a modern, brick silo at the City Infirmary, Brown Street, Haverhill, to replace an old silo in need of repair and in danger of collapse. Living New Deal believes the project is no longer extant.

WPA Bulletin, 1937: "Pittsfield's employees in the Sealers of Weights and Measures office will be thankful to WPA on completion of a concrete and steel building to house weighing equipment and instruments at the City Yards, Housatonic Street. Previously testing of equipment had been done outside, no matter the weather, and the process was often uncomfortable and unsatisfactory. Thirteen men are finishing up the job which is expected to be ready by November 1."

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers constructed storage building at New Bedford's City Yard in 1936. WPA Bulletin: The New Bedford WPA City Yard Storage Building Project is designed to store machinery and other city equipment which has been deteriorating from being placed in an open yard. The building is solidly built with concrete piers extending through fill and peat to hard-pan. The exact location and status of this facility is unknown to Living New Deal.

Cocasset Street in Foxboro, Massachusetts was reconstructed as part of a WPA project that began in March 1938. This included the widening and resurfacing of the thoroughfare. The widening forced the removal of trees; the replacement of lost trees was part of the approved project. The final cost to pave approximately 4900 feet of road was reported at about $22,000, of which Federal funds contributed $14,558.

The W.P.A. conducted improvement work to the former Cochituate fire station. Work included interior and exterior repainting.

Multiple New Deal agencies contributed to the construction of water mains and development of the water system for Wayland, Mass. Examples of water mains installed or replaced: Stanton St., Harrison St., and Dunster Ave. in 1933; Old Connecticut Path and Sycamore Rd. in 1934.

Oxford, Massachusetts's old Colonel DeWitt Fire Station, located on Barton Street, received modest assistance from Federal Emergency Relief Administration funds in 1934. The current status of the building is unknown to Living New Deal.

In 1934, the Public Works Administration (PWA) loaned the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company $7 million for equipment repair, new track installation, and new equipment purchases.  Among the new purchases was the $250,000 Comet, a streamlined Diesel-electric train. The Comet was built in 1935 by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation of Akron, Ohio. “The Aluminum Co. of America furnished the aluminum alloy sheets and castings. The Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co. made the Diesel engines and electrical equipment” (The Indianapolis Times, 9-7-1935). It began service that same year, running a regular route between Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. The blue,...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted substantial improvement work at the historic Commonwealth Armory. The facility was demolished in 2002. The details—including description, Official Project Numbers, total costs, and sponsors—of more than a dozen W.P.A. projects undertaken at the armory can be found in the DoD Heritage Assessment cited below.

Town Report, 1934: "We call your attention to several E.R.A. projects which have materially affected the appearance and condition of out town. The elimination of the open culverts on Concord Road have greatly improved the general appearance and also relieved the town of a serious condition caused by their danger to traffic."

A Boston Public Works Department report cited Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor as conducting repair work on the "Eastern Avenue bridge," a.k.a. Congress Street bridge.

WPA Bulletin, 1937: "Springfield- Years of petitioning by residents of Connecticut Avenue for a good road have brought results. The city has started a WPA project to resurface the road."

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) laborers conducted the following work: South Hadley has the largest project in operation — the construction of a large sea-wall along the east bank of the Connecticut River below the Holyoke dam. Majority of projects involve rip-rap work along the river bank, the building of dikes and retaining walls. The status of this project is unknown to Living New Deal

The Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) conducted improvement work at Maynard's former Coolidge School, including the installation of smoke partitions as well as painting of the school inside and out. The Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) conducted further work in 1941. All school buildings in the town "on the exterior have been completely renovated by having the windows weather stripped, puttied and painted. The interior... are now being repaired with W.P.A. labor by installing new celotex ceilings where needed, replacing plaster ceilings that were beyond repairs, having the hallways, classrooms washed and painted. These repairs have added consiterabl to the appearance of our...

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) rebuilt the Cooney Road bridge after the previous wooden structure was destroyed by flooding in 1936.

As part of a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project a combination sewer was built along Cottage St. from Porter St. to Maverick St. P.W.A. Docket No. Mass. 4193-N

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) reconstructed County Street in Attleboro, Mass. WPA Bulletin: County Street, Attleboro, is being excavated and refilled by WPA with a seven-inch stone asphalt penetration pavement. On the south side of the street eight sewer man holes will be reset.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers constructed a covered reservoir in Beverly, Massachusetts. The status and exact location of the project is unknown to Living New Deal. From a W.P.A. Bulletin: Now near completion, the Beverly WPA Concrete-Covered Reservoir Project, connected with the present pipe distribution system, completely surrounded with an earth embankment and featuring a driveway over its top, has a capacity of 2,800,000 gallons.

The Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) worked to develop and improve the safety of Cranberry Road in Carver, Massachusetts. Town report: "4000 feet of Cranberry Road was gravelled and given a Mixed in Place Tar top. This portion of Cranberry Road was widened and straightened under the C.W.A. last winter." The work was continued by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.).

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) conducted multiple work projects at Crowe Park in Maynard, Massachusetts in 1934, including removing rocks and stumps; grading land for parking space; painting its grandstands; and constructing tennis courts. In 1935 F.E.R.A. labor "erected a new back stop, cut brush and graded behind the grand stand. The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) continued work at the park, which included construction of a band stand in 1939.

In late 1938 the WPA approved a project involving work to be done in the Massachusetts's Crowell-Shawme State Forest, by the town of Sandwich. The aim of the work was to "prevent disastrous fires in the forest."

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor conducted improvements at the since-demolished Cushman School in Boston, Massachusetts. The facility was located at 44 Prince St. WPA Bulletin: To insure the safety of pupils in the Cushman School, North End, WPA has rebuilt the fire escapes, setting in new gratings, new hook bolts and hand rails. Seven ironworkers and three laborers were employed on this job.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers expanded D.W. Field Golf Course in Brockton, Mass. WPA Bulletin: Brockton WPA added ten acres to the original 30 acres of fairways, built bunkers to tax the skill of players, widened fairways and did extensive grading and reseeding work at the D. W. Field public golf course.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers constructed an athletic field at the former Danvers Agricultural School in Danvers, Massachusetts. From a W.P.A. Bulletin: Students, townspeople, and particularly young children will be benefited on completion of a six acre WPA Athletic Field at the Danvers Agricultural Institution. One third of this area will be a fully equipped playground for children.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor constructed Dean Park in West Warren. WPA Bulletin: What was once a rough field in West Warren, on the road to Ware, is now a seven-acre recreational site built by the WPA. This is the first athletic field in town history. According to sponsors and engineers, construction of the field, now called Dean Park, was replete with trouble and they point to the fact that 60 percent of the excavation was done by dynamite blasts. Youngsters of the town (who are not a bit interested in engineering difficulties) are proud of the new baseball and football...