• District Training School for the Feeble Minded - Laurel MD
    In 1938, the Washington Post reported funding allocations for work at the District Training School for the Feeble Minded, which opened in 1925: "About 70 men will be employed on the construction of the hospital and administration building at the District Training School for Feeble Minded at Laurel, Md." The site was later known as the infamous Forest Haven Asylum, which closed in 1991 amid scandal over patient abuse and neglect. The sprawling facility still stands, and is a popular place for photographers and "ghost hunters." Unfortunately, few if any photos exist of the years when the facility was...
  • Laurel Armory Improvements - Laurel MD
    Now the Anderson-Murphy Community Center. It is a 17,964 square foot building constructed in 1927. This building served as the National Guard Armory before being purchased by the City for use by the Parks & Recreation Department. According to an index of WPA projects at the National Archives, the WPA improved and repaired the Laurel Armory in 1935.
  • Patuxent Research Refuge - Laurel MD
    President Franklin Roosevelt created Patuxent Research Refuge (PRR) with Executive Order 7514, December 16, 1936, and Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace dedicated it on June 3, 1939.  The refuge began with 2,670 acres and has since grown to 12,841 acres. It is “the nation's only national wildlife refuge established to support wildlife research” (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service). Several New Deal agencies helped to build the extensive facilities at the Patuxent Research Refuge. At the time, wildlife refuges came under the direction of the Bureau of Biological Survey (later merged into the Fish & Wildlife Service).  The Works Progress Administration (WPA)...
  • Reservoir Improvements - Laurel MD
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) repaired dikes around the town reservoir in 1935.