Portland Sites

The original Children's Hospital opened in 1908, later merging with the Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary (opened in 1890) and the Maine General Hospital (opened in 1874) to become Maine Medical Center. "WPA artists painted murals for two Portland hospitals - including a magnificent one in the children's hospital." According to the July 1940 Bridgton News, the artist on this project was Alton Skillin.  

"In 1934 Federal CWA and ERA funds were used for bituminous treatment at Cutter Street."

A street and park system that runs from North to South along the beachfront property of the eastern end of Portland Maine. "During the harsh winter of 1933-1934, under MERA (Maine Emergency Relief Agency) the Federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) in Portland, in the wake of the city's earlier relief work programs, worked on the East End Beach and the Eastern Promenade, building wading pools in city playgrounds, and grading and paving city streets. The CWA shut down in April 1934, but relief work continued."   (Bauman)

Portland's "Evergreen Cemetery" was improved by the WPA: "In 1936, the Public Works and Park Departments received $86,875 in WPA funds for engineering, supervision, a portion of the wages of skilled labor, equipment hire, and some materials. The Park Department used workers for grading and improvements at athletic fields, the golf course, and the city cemetery, and for pruning and spraying of trees along city streets."   (Conforti) The 140-acre (57 ha) historical portion of the cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

The annual report of the Forestry Division of the Park Commission for the year ending December 31, 1934 reads: "This branch of the Park Department was helped greatly by the Federal Relief Projects; the C. W. A. during the first four months of 1934, with six tree workers and number of laborers for woods clearing, and again under the E. R. A. from the middle of September to the end of the year with two tree climbers. On all this work the Park Department maintained its own foreman and furnished the truck and driver, also all tools, equipment and materials were...

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted improvement work at the former Fort Levett on Cushing Island in Portland, Maine. Project information: “Make general improvements to grounds” Official Project Number: 765‐11‐2‐3 Total project cost: $50,545.00 Sponsor: Commanding Officer, Fort Williams, U.S. Army

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted improvement work at the former Fort McKinley on Great Diamond Island in Portland, Maine. Project information: “Rehabilitation of buildings including plumbing, heating, and electrical” Official Project Number: 13‐2‐11‐108 Total project cost: $40,000.00 Sponsor: War Department ‐Q.M.C. “Fts. Williams, McKinley, & Preble: Improve roads” Official Project Number: 165‐2‐11‐8 Total project cost: $189,576.00 Sponsor: Commanding Officer, Fort Williams, U.S. Army

The Portland Department of Public Works rebuilt the sewer on Leland Street in Portland as part of a C.W.A Project No. 10-GG.

The U.S. military had a sizable footprint on Maine's Long Island, and the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted improvement work at the site. Project information: "Clean areas at Peaks Island and Long Island Military Reservation" Official Project Number: 165‐2‐11‐122 Total project cost: $9,603.00

"The Public Works Administration funded the construction of buildings for Federal, State, and local government. Portland was granted 45 percent of the cost of a new boiler house, heating plant, laundry, and additional housing for the nurses at the city home and hospital." The City Home and hospital refers to todays Barron Center "The origins of today’s Barron Center date back to the early 1800s when the City of Portland established an “Alms House” on Portland Street. Its purpose was for the care of the City’s poor, elderly and mentally disabled. By 1870 the Alms House was replaced with the Greely...

From Joseph Conforti's Creating Portland: "The Public Works Administration constructed a number of staff residences and dormitories on the campus of the existing Maritime Commission hospital, which was completed in 1859." From Joseph Conforti's Creating Portland: "The Public Works Administration funded the construction of buildings for federal, state, and local  government... Other projects in Portland included a number of staff residences and dormitories at the U.S. Maritime Commission Hospital at Martin's Point" (2007, p. 278). From the National Register of Historic Places nomination form, 1974: "Portland's Marine Hospital is a rare surviving example of a series of such buildings erected during the...

In 1933, the Portland Water District moved its meter shop from its Casco Street office in Portland office to its main facility on Douglass Street. The Portland Water District was able to complete the new meter shop with C. W. A. (Civil Works Administration) funds made available by the Federal Government under its plan to relieve the unemployment situation by granting funds to public agencies so that they could complete projects approved by the Federal Relief Authorities.

Four major sewer projects were started in Downtown Portland by the WPA. New sewer lines were built along Baxter Blvd and Washington Ave. Danforth St. and Fore St. sewer lines were rebuilt.

Two murals, "Fishing" and "Farming" painted in 1940 for the Nathan Clifford Elementary School and moved in 2012 to the new Ocean Avenue Elementary School that replaced it.

The U.S. military had a sizable footprint on Peaks Island, and the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted improvement work at the site. Project information: "Clean areas at Peaks Island and Long Island Military Reservation" Official Project Number: 165‐2‐11‐122 Total project cost: $9,603.00

Multiple New Deal agencies were involved with the development of what is now called the Portland International Jetport. Under FERA and MERA (Maine Emergency Relief Administration), a 2000 x 100 gravel runway and a 1500 x 100 gravel runway were constructed. W.P.A. projects, sponsored by the City of Portland: "Improve municipal airport" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐11‐111 Total project cost: $669,295.00 "Complete construction of airport" Official Project Number: 65‐1‐11‐2213 Total project cost: $93,335.00

"Like many community airports, Portland International Jetport had its beginnings as the private field of a flying fan. Today, the Jetport is one of the nation’s fastest-growing airports, serving most of the major domestic airlines and over 1.6 million passengers a year. Dr. Clifford “Kip” Strange first created space on his extensive Portland land for his own plane in the late 1920s. Before long, there were a couple of grass runways on his land that attracted other flyers. Meanwhile, Boston & Maine Airways inaugurated airline service at the Portland facility when it moved from Scarborough in 1934. The City of Portland bought...

"Captain Lemuel Moody (1768-1846) ordered construction of this octagonal, 86-foot high tower to serve as a communication station for Portland’s bustling harbor. In 1807, ships entering the harbor could not be seen from the docks of Portland until they rounded the point at Spring Point Ledge. With his powerful telescope, Moody, sea captain turned entrepreneur, identified incoming vessels as far away as 30 miles. For a fee, he alerted subscribing merchants by hoisting signal flags identifying their vessels. He coined the phrase “signalizing” to describe the system. The Observatory was built on Munjoy Hill at the eastern end of the Portland...

The post office itself was started by the Treasury Department in 1932, but may have been completed with New Deal money. The post office contains two 1937 Section of Fine Arts murals by Henry Mattson entitled “The Rocky Coast of Maine” and “The Sea.” These 2 works flank an entrance to the post office, showing the roiling sea, gulls overhead and the rocky coast pictured in “The Sea”. “The Rocky Coast of Maine”, by contrast shows only the land dominated by rock with small shrubs and a lone pine, a work that has elements of abstraction in it. Henry Mattson was born in...

Portland's Riverside Golf Course was one of several local sites to be improved by the WPA in 1936 when "the Public Works and Park Departments received $86,875 in WPA funds for engineering, supervision, a portion of the wages of skilled labor, equipment hire, and some materials." (Conforti) The golf course was originally built in 1932, but only expanded to an 18-hole course with this WPA funding. In the winter, the course is used for skiing, sledding, an ice rink and other seasonal activities.

In response to the foot dragging of Portland city officials on creating affordable housing for the influx of military related industry in a city with a severe lack of modern housing, the Federal Housing Authority of the Federal Works Agency ordered the construction of 550 units, 200 of which were in Sagamore Village. Designed by John Howard Stevens and John Calvin Stevens II, it featured Colonial Revival houses with a community center, playground, & school.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) built sewers on Johansen, Oakley, and Sherwood Streets in Portland, ME, in 1934. A photo courtesy of the Maine Memory Network depicts the sewer construction by CWA crews in 1934.

"In 1934 Federal CWA and ERA funds were used for construction of 2 tennis courts, constructed with a 3 layer bituminous construction, new to northern New England, with a tile underdrain and surrounded by heavy wire fence. This made a total of 3 tennis courts on Eastern Promenade. The current 3 courts were renovated in 2000 with a new surface and perimeter fence. They are in excellent condition and heavily used."

The Independent Reporter published a story on June 11, 1936 regarding a WPA project to build a tourist information building in Portland Maine. "Tourist Information Building To Be Built in Portland By The State The State, in connection with W.P.A. funds, is having this building erected in Portland at the junction of St. John and Danforth Streets to be used exclusively for Tourist Information to our visitors and our State of Mainers. This building is sponsored by the Maine Development Commission and leased to the Maine Publicity Bureau for its headquarters instead of its present location in Longfellow Square, which will be given...

In 1936, WPA workers removed old trolley tracks from the defunct Portland Company along Woodford Street in Portland Maine.

This US Custom House in Portland, Maine was completed in 1872. In 1934, plumbing improvements were made by federal architect Louis A. Simon and federal engineer, George O. Von Nerta.

The former post office building in Westbrook, Maine was constructed during the Great Depression and received an example of New Deal artwork: "Woodsmen in the Woods of Maine". The oil-on-canvas mural was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, and completed by Waldo Peirce in 1937. When the post office was decommissioned and parts of the interior were being removed, the "whole wall section, with door, was donated (lent) to the Portland Museum of Art," where the work is still visible.

The Western Promenade is an historic promenade, 18.5 acres (7.5 ha) public park and recreation area in Portland, Maine's West End neighborhood. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and includes a number of historic properties, including the Adam P. Leighton House. The WPA was involved in constructing retaining walls.