Minnesota Sites

The WPA constructed several structures at the Como Zoo in the 1930s. From the Como Zoo's website: “In 1897, the City of Saint Paul fenced-in a pasture in Como Park to hold three deer gifted to them, thus beginning Como Zoo. Thirty-some years later the first major construction project was federally funded through the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The 1930s’ WPA projects included the bear grotto, Monkey Island, the barn and the Main Zoo building.” The following quotes are from Larry Millet's Guide to the Twin Cities (2007). Gateposts: "These brick and stone gateposts originally stood at the front entrance of the...

This mural "Agricultural Theme" was painted for the Windom post office by Charles W. Thwaites in 1943 with funding from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The mural, as well as two alternate sketches composed by Thwaites, now hang in the county museum.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) "Built two earthen dams to flood marshlands and provide breeding and feeding habitat for waterfowl and animals. Also performed a wildlife census, completed winter feedingprojects and stocked lakes."

"The Deerwood Auditorium is a community center in Deerwood, Minnesota, United States, built as a Works Progress Administration project. The auditorium, built in 1935, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a rare surviving example of federal relief architecture in Minnesota. ...The town first received funding for the auditorium in 1935 through the State Emergency Relief Administration, but the SERA's function was later subsumed by the Works Progress Administration. ...Despite shortages of money during the construction, the building was substantially completed in time for its first event, a lutefisk supper held on October 29, 1936. Final touches were completed in...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted numerous sidewalk, curb, road, and other infrastructure projects in West St. Paul, Minnesota. Among the evidence for such projects: On Dodd near Hedge Street there’s slab with a 1941 stamp. A map as part of the source, The WPA in West St. Paul presents the location and an image of the stamps, which appears to be located at about 936 Dodd Rd.

In December 1939 the Eagle Bend School burned down, causing $110,000 in damage and destroying a gymnasium constructed by the Public Works Administration in 1934. While deliberating on new construction on January 31, 1940, the members of the Eagle Bend School Board applied for $52,000 of Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) funding to complete the rebuilding of the school. Blueprints were drawn by architect, E.F. Broomhall from Duluth, MN., and A.C. Dunn was the W.P.A. area engineer. The project employed a variety of local laborers and businesses to supplement W.P.A. labor. Carpenters Gust Berggren and Olof Edmonds received an additional 50-cent per...

The Fireplace of States was constructed under the U.S. Federal Works Program, begun by the Civil Works Administration (CWA). The A.P. reported in Aug. 1934: Stones from every State and from many places of historical or unusual interest in other part of the world will be a part of the "Fireplace of States," nearing completion on the shores of Lake Bemidji, in the heart of Minnesota's tourist region.   Started last Winter as a CWA project, the fireplace and a log cabin housing be finished within a few weeks under a special appropriation of the Federal Government.   Stones used include one from Fort McHenry, the birthplace...

The First Avenue Wall located in front of Riverview was one of many improvements made on the St. Cloud Teacher’s College campus in the 1930s. Under President George Selke, the building of retaining walls such as the ones off First Avenue took place in the summer of 1936, made possible with use of W.P.A. labor in conjunction with NYA. The total cost for general building repairs, construction of steps and stairways, landscaping, and retaining walls at the time was $20,400.54. The purpose of building retaining walls on campus was not only for aesthetics, but for convenience and to prevent drainage...

According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the WPA built several stone structures that visitors can still enjoy today. The Wikipedia page for Flandrau State Park indicates that both the WPA and CCC engaged in extensive work in the park, e.g., creating trails, planting trees, and building a dam.

The U.S. Army constructed Fort Ridgely in 1835. It became a state park in 1934 and received significant improvement work from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).   The CCC erected buildings made of local Morton rainbow granite and conducted an archaeological survey, supervised by the Minnesota Historical Society. Based on the survey, Corpsmen helped restore the original fort commissary which became a museum and meeting hall. In all of the state’s parks, “the fort commissary is the only remaining historic reconstruction done by the CCC.”

The fort dates back the early nineteenth century, when it was used to “promote and protext the interests of the United States in the region’s fur trade” (historicfortsnelling.org). Between 1938 and 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) performed structural renovation and historic restoration work at this site, including sidewalks, sewers, porches, and garages. National Park Service: "Fort Snelling benefited from New Deal programs such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The programs provided funding for a general reconditioning of the fort, including landscaping and infrastructure. Workers graded and resurfaced existing roads, built new sidewalks and curbs and...

"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 bridge carrying 4th St. SE across the Cedar River in Austin, Minnesota was constructed with federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) labor during the Great Depression. The stone below-span arch bridge was fortified in 2012 and is still in use today.

In 1936 the WPA helped construct this golf course in Blackduck.  

The construction of Mahnomen Golf Course east of the town of Mahnomen was a WPA project from 1935 to 1936. The course is now part of Mahnomen County Country Club.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built a variety of structures at Gooseberry State Park: “the refectory, concourse, caretaker’s cabin, and entrance portals.” These sites show excellent stonework in red, brown, and black granite. The work was overseen by “John Berini and Joe Cattaneo (also spelled Catanio), Italian American stonemasons from Duluth, and Axel Anderson, a Swede.”

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted numerous sidewalk, curb, road, and other infrastructure projects in West St. Paul, Minnesota. Among the evidence for such projects: On Gorman there’s a sidewalk slab with a 1941 WPA stamp. A map as part of the source, The WPA in West St. Paul presents the location and an image of the stamps, which appears to be located at about 1088 Gorman Ave. Furthermore, "According to a Dakota County Historical Society article, there’s a stretch of sidewalk at Haskell and Gorman Avenues that the WPA built in 1937—but no handy stamps to confirm that info."

Eighty years ago a park was developed by Minnesota Department of Transportation that would become of historic significance some years later. That park is Graeser Park, named after Carl Graeser, designer of State Highway 100, aka Beltline and Lilac Parkway. Through time, change and neglect many of those roadside rest stops have been lost. Robbinsdale is fortunate to have one of the only two remaining in the country, with a Beehive fireplace. Graeser Park has shared many years of enjoyment, in addition to its share of neglect. Many groups and individuals have helped to dig out the limestone benches, paths and ponds...

“Of all the Minnesota CCC-ID projects perhaps the most well known is the reconstruction of the North West Company Fur Post, a historic fur trade site at Grand Portage on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Grand Portage (‘the great carrying place’) was part of an age-old route connecting Lake Superior with inland waterways used first by Indians and later also by fur traders. Between 1778 and 1802, a large fur trading organization, the North West Company, built a summer rendezvouz and supply center there, on the shores of Lake Superior. In 1933, CCC-ID enrollees started work by clearing nine...

The WPA built the Greenbush School in Greenbush MN. According to the Greenbush Local Government website: " Superintendent Marvin Lueck, President Dr. H. C. Stone, Treasurer O. K. Christianson, and direc­ tor Matt Kotchevar went to St. Paul to interview members of the educational department, Works Progress Administration (WPA) officials and executive council, and senators and representatives regarding aid to build a new school. Tom Hendrickson and A. W. Clay were also on the school board. The school board decided to build rooms on the school grounds for temporary classrooms. the Works Progress Administration (WPA) started work on a new school in the...

WPA crews constructed the Greenhaven Golf Course, originally a nine-hole course, in 1937. It is now part of Greenhaven Country Club.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed this stone mausoleum in the Greenwood Cemetery in Bemidji, Minnesota, in 1939.

Designed by African-American architect Clarence "Cal" Wigington, the Hamline Park Playground building was completed in 1938. The building now houses an art shop and studio.

The WPA in West St. Paul: On the west side of Harmon Park, along Charlton, there’s an old stone wall that’s part of the original WPA work to improve the park and fields. Before the 2015 rebuild of the park, this wall surrounded a parking lot near the ball fields. A portion of the wall was preserved in 2015 and you can still see the “WPA 1941” stamps in a couple places on the wall. There’s also a plaque near the corner of Charlton and Bernard memorializing the “Development of Harmon Play Field” as well as a number of stones and...

From the Minnesota Historical Society: "The Clarence W. Wigington Pavilion, formerly known as the Harriet Island Pavilion, is significant in St. Paul’s recreational history as a well-preserved example of the work of Clarence Wesley Wigington, the first black architect hired by the city. Harriet Island, originally named for St. Paul’s first schoolteacher, Harriet E. Bishop, became an enclave for healthy living in the bustling city of St. Paul in 1900. Dr. Justus Ohage, St. Paul’s health officer, bought the island and built a new park there, complete with public bathhouse and beach, playgrounds, handball and tennis courts, cafeteria, bandstand, pavilions, zoo, childcare...

The Hibbing Disposal Plant, later named North Wastewater Treatment Plant, was built 1938-1939 in part with funding by the Public Works Administration (PWA). It was known for having two of the world's largest concrete self-supporting domes. The facility was demolished between 2013 and 2018.

"This structure is in reality a community center and provides for athletics and for social and educational activities. The arena, which is approximately 100 by 200 feet, is surrounded by bleacher seats. There are rooms for the American Legion and the Ladies' Auxiliary, lounges, billiard and card rooms, and administrative offices. A large curling rink approximately 130 by 200 feet has a small gallery for spectators, a curlers' clubroom, lobby, and locker room. The building is constructed of reinforced concrete and the exterior walls are faced with light-colored brick. The roof of the arena is arched...

Landscape architect Horace Cleveland, known for his leadership in developing the Twin Cities’ park system, set aside the land now known as Hidden Falls Regional Park in 1887. The spring-fed waterfall is indeed “hidden” in a small ravine on the north end of the park, on the east bank of the Mississippi River. The falls feed into a small creek, which runs south into the Mississippi. The park stayed largely undeveloped until the WPA constructed a stone staircase leading from the falls up to the East River Parkway and a lookout area at the top of the river bluff.

In 1935-36, the WPA built a pool and bathhouse at Highland Park. The pool has long since been replaced. The stone bathhouse remains, though it is now boarded up.

The Holman Field Administration Building at St. Paul Downtown Airport in St. Paul, Minnesota was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: "The Holman Field Administration Building is significant under criterion C as one of the most accomplished works of Clarence Wesley Wigington, the first Black architect for the City of St. Paul. The building is also significant under criterion A as an important WPA project completed in cooperation with the City of St. Paul, and as well-preserved example of the Moderne style. Wigington's career as an architect with the City spanned 34 years and...

Built by the WPA in 1936 as an ice skating and hockey rink. The arena is still being used today, it is referred to as the "Old Thief River Falls Arena."  

Indian Mounds Regional Park sits on limestone and sandstone bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River and downtown St. Paul. It features six Native American burial mounds created roughly 1,500-2,000 years ago. The WPA constructed limestone walls throughout the park.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built facilities and completed structural improvements at Interstate State Park in Taylors Falls, Minnesota. “The ten CCC/WPA/Rustic Style historic resources at Interstate State Park are included in two historic districts: a six-acre area known as Glacial Gardens and a 22-acre campground. The park buildings and structures were constructed of local basalt stone, which was probably quarried near the boundary of the park at a site where Highway 8 cut through a section of rock in 1931. A CCC crew may have quarried the stone for the WPA. Architects for the...

Between 1933 and 1942, relief workers stationed at two Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps and one Works Progress Administration (WPA) camp carried out extensive development of Itasca State Park at the headwaters of the Mississippi River.  They constructed 45 buildings in the Rustic Style, and myriad other structures, as well as creating campgrounds, picnic areas and a trail system. Buildings were constructed under the supervision of the Minnesota Central Design Office of the National Park Service and Edward W. Barber and V. C. Martin were the principal architects. According to the Minnesota Historical Society “Log construction was generally used because timber...

"The Forest Inn is one of the largest buildings constructed by the CCC in the state park system, with overall dimensions of 144-foot by 50-foot. The T-shaped combination building features both split stone and log construction and is covered by an intersecting gable roof supported by log rafters and purlins. The principal facade includes a central entrance as well as north and south wings. The entrance projects from the main facade and is flanked by massive 7-foot by 7-foot-6-inch stone pylons. The north wing consists of a split stone wall which rises to the sill level with 13-inch to 14-inch horizontal...

Starting in 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed a 44-foot dam, comprised of “40,000 cubic yards of fill” and “topped with stepping-stones, across the headwaters of the Mississippi River.”  It is not clear exactly when the job was completed. The dam did not create Itasca Lake but did stabilize the lake level and better define the outfall, which had previously made its way through dense riparian vegetation.  The CCC men also built the first wooden sign at the site, since replaced by a vertical sign. Over the years, foot traffic and shifting stream flow eroded the stepping stones and banks, so...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed Itasca State Park’s Old Timer’s Cabin in 1933-1934.  It was the first structure built at the park by the CCC. This rectangular log cabin with gabled roof ranks is composed of logs so large that “just four of them made an entire wall.”  The logs were hand-shaped from downed trees, but the idea was to remind people of what the northern American forest was like before the age of mass timbering in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

A Works Progress Administration (WPA) group laid the parkway and constructed the base for a monument to James J. Hill on the banks of Lake George in Saint Cloud's Eastman Park. Hill, historian Bill Morgan noted, had established the Great Northern Car Shops in the neighboring city of Waite Park and “made enemies among his competitors and employees during his 60-year career,” but remained “a mythic hero to the Great Northern shopworkers of St. Cloud and Waite Park.” While an earlier submission by a former Great Northern carshop employee, Jacob L. Hohman, had been rejected in the 1920s, progress toward...

Here's the summary I wrote for the Docomomo US MN listing on our registry, heavily borrowing from the application linked below: Original section built in 1911 (designed by W.E.E. Greene of Luverne; Builder: Boyd Construction Co.; cost: $30,000), four additions in 1939, 1956, 1960, and 1965; the richness and beauty of the rose-colored Sioux quartzite stone itself (also called Jasper stone) provides the visual character of the building, laid in broken ashlar; the substantial, Moderne-style 1939 addition (designed by Perkins & McWayne of Sioux Falls; Cost: $125,000, with $45,135 in New Deal funds via the Public Works Administration) on the south...

"John P. Murzyn Hall opened in 1939 as a WPA project at a cost of $649,407. John’s father, Albert Murzyn, was a mason and he worked on the construction of the building in 1938. Originally, the Hall was known as the Columbia Heights Field House, and it has served as a community center for the people of Columbia Heights since it opened. The first official event was the January 28th Birthday Ball to celebrate Washington’s Birthday in 1939. It was officially dedicated later that spring. Through the years it has 6 bowling lanes, billiards, and shuffleboard. It served as a youth...