Minneapolis Sites

"When the first allotment of Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds became available in summer 1937, workers broke ground on the new cemetery. The New Deal labor program, begun in 1935, primarily completed small-scale new construction, rehabilitation, and/or landscape improvement projects that could be completed in a year or less. WPA laborers worked on the grading, filling and landscaping of the grounds while the construction of the buildings and main entrance was hired out under contract."

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) renovated what is now known as Longfellow House during the 1930s. The WPA converted the building into the Longfellow Community Library; the project was completed in 1937.

Constructed by the Treasury Department, this building was completed in 1935. Placeography describes the building in detail: "The popular Moderne Art Deco style building uses Mankato’s own Kasota limestone and St. Cloud black granite. The building achieves the vertical emphasis typical of the Art Deco style, despite being extremely horizontal, with a striking pattern of three-story window units with decorative relief panels (Koutsky, 2002). Approximately 500 to 700 local laborers and carpenters were summoned to construct the monumental building (Russell, 2003)." Of this building, "Postmaster General James Farley said ... 'Magnificent buildings are memorials of the strength and glory of a...

"This armory at Minneapolis provides quarters for 16 artillery, infantry, and naval units of the National Guard and Naval Militia. The main drill hall is flanked on each side by balconies underneath which are 16 supply rooms, each with an office and orderly room. There are also a trophy room, medical-examination rooms, officers' rooms, recreation rooms, and storerooms. The building is 215 by 330 feet in plan and is constructed of reinforced concrete, steel, and brick. The exterior walls have a high granite base above which they are brick with stone trim. The curved roof is supported by hinged steel arches. It...

"The Armory houses two of the few remaining examples of Federal Arts Project murals – two 12-foot frescoed murals by local artists Lucia Wiley and Elsa Jemne."   (https://www.placeography.org)

Throughout the 1930s, CCC and WPA crews made extensive improvements to the already popular Minnehaha Park, site of Minnehaha Falls. Federal workers built impressive stone retaining walls throughout the 170-acre park, staircases from the upper park down to the creek, and bridges, all from native limestone. Improvements have since been made to the park, including a Pergola Garden and most recently a river overlook and playground area. The stonework has remained largely intact, and the park continues to draw a steady stream of both locals and tourists.

Shortly after the creation of Minneapolis’ park board in April 1883, the organization designated land for the future Riverside Park. Land was acquired by 1884 and the area was called Sixth Ward Park until 1885. Since then it has been called Riverside Park due to its position on the west bank of the Mississippi River. Later additions and expansions included a toboggan slide, playground equipment, basketball hoops, skating rink, tennis courts, and wading pool. The WPA completed a stone bathhouse in 1933 and built stone steps connecting the upper and lower levels of the park. As of fall 2013, the steps are...

The student union at the University of Minnesota, now known as Coffman Memorial Union, was likely a New Deal project (probably PWA), though substantially later than the other New Deal buildings on campus. From contributor Charles Swaney: "I've been impressed with the 'foresight, lucky or not' of these constructions on college campuses that anticipated the huge influx of students after WWII with the GI bill, neither of which were even thought of to any great extent at the time they were built.  They had a profound effect on education and the rebuilding of the economy in the '50s in particular...

Cooke Hall was built in 1934, probably as a PWA project like Pioneer Hall since it predates the WPA.

Murphy Hall may have been a New Deal project dating to the late 1930s. It was constructed between 1938-1940 as a new home for journalism.

Pioneer Hall is a co-ed residential hall for first-year students at the University of Minnesota. Originally the Men’s Dormitory, the building features colonial architecture and was built in two shifts, the latter with funding from the Public Works Administration. The south side was completed in 1930 and the north side 1934.

"The laboratory...was designed and built under the direction of a dedicated individual, Lorenz G. Straub. Straub had been a Freeman Fellow and observed several laboratories in Germany during the year of his fellowship. He came to the University in 1930 and promptly set to work to establish his own laboratory. His vision came to fruition through a WPA grant to the University of Minnesota and construction started in 1936. Straub came to be known as the "River Doctor" for his many studies at SAFL on several aspects of river engineering. The Laboratory building lies on the Falls of St. Anthony...