Minnesota Sites

In 1939 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped build the Pebble Lake Golf Course in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. “Through the assistance of a grant by WPA of $61,587,” a writer for Parks & Recreation reported in January of 1939, “construction of a municipal golf course will soon be under way at Pebble Lake, Fergus Falls, Minn.” City boosters and businessmen led the charge to locate a new golf course within the municipality of Fergus Falls. After much legal and political wrangling, WPA laborers eventually began constructing the course. “The 20 WPA workers” assigned to the project, historian Randy LaFoy documents, “used stones...

This yellow brick two-story building was constructed as a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project in 1939. The P.W.A. provided a $49,500 grant for the project, whose total cost was $106,625. Originally built to be the Pine City village hall, it was used as a courthouse instead. In 1954, a matching expansion was added to the north end of the PWA structure. In 2007, the courthouse moved into a new building. This site became the Pine Government Center, now hosting government offices—as it was originally intended to do. PWA Docket No. MN 1519

“When the Pipestone National Monument was established in 1937 as part of the National Park Service to protect quarries sacred to many Native American groups, the site already had picnic tables and a shelter built by the CCC-ID. In 1939, an educational program on maple sugar production was held at the Nay-tah-waush and Beaulieu (Consolidated Chippewa) sites. Through it, program leaders taught sugar bush improvement and modern maple sugar production.”

The Albert Lea post office was constructed at a cost of $185,000 and opened 1937.

The post office in Breckenridge, Minnesota was constructed in 1937 with Treasury Department funds. A mural entitled “Arrival of the Rural Mail” resides in the lobby.

The post office in Cambridge was completed in 1939 with funds provided by the Treasury Department. It is also the site of Seymour Fogel's 1940 mural, "People of the Soil," completed with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and viewable in the lobby.

This post office in Chisholm was built with the help of New Deal funds in 1940.

The historic post office in Cloquet, Minnesota was constructed in 1935 with federal Treasury Department funds. The building's character is much different than at the time of construction; the structure has since been extensively modified during renovations.

The historic post office in Ely, Minnesota was constructed with Treasury Department funds in 1938.

The historic post office in Hastings MN was constructed in 1936-7 with Treasury Department funds. The building, which houses an example of New Deal artwork, is still in service.

The post office in Hutchinson was completed in 1940 with funds provided by the Treasury Department. Louis A. Simon was the supervising architect and Neal Melick was the supervising engineer. It is also the site of Elsa Jemne's 1942 mural, "The Hutchinson Singers," completed with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and viewable in the lobby.

The post office in Litchfield was completed in 1935 with funds provided by the Treasury Department. It is also the site of Elof Wedin's 1937 mural, "Street Scene," completed with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and viewable in the lobby.

The post office in Long Prairie was completed in 1938 with funds provided by the Treasury Department. It is also the site of Lucia Wiley's 1939 fresco, "Gathering Wild Rice," completed with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and viewable in the lobby.

The post office in Marshall was completed in 1936 with funds provided by the Treasury Department.

The historic post office in Morris, Minnesota was constructed in 1938 with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which houses an example of New Deal artwork, is still in use today.

"Discovery of Ore" by Betty Carney. This mural in the Chisholm Post Office was completed with the help of New Deal funds.

This post office in North St. Paul was constructed circa 1938 with the help of New Deal funds. North St. Paul is a small municipality close to, but separate from, St. Paul, MN.

The historic post office in Northfield, Minnesota was constructed in 1936 with Treasury Department funds. The building is still in service.

The historic post office in Park Rapids, Minnesota was built in 1938 as a New Deal project. The building bears a standard cornerstone and houses examples of New Deal artwork.

The historic post office building in Pipestone, Minnesota was constructed with federal Treasury Department in 1935. The building is still in service.

The post office in Sauk Center was completed in 1941 with funds provided by the Treasury Department. It is also the site of Richard Jansen's 1942 mural, "Threshing Wheat," completed with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and viewable in the lobby.

The post office in St James was completed in 1938 with funds provided by the Treasury Department. It is also the site of Margaret Martin's 1940 mural, "Indian Hunters and Rice Gatherers," completed with funds provided by the federal government and viewable in the lobby.

The historic post office in Wabasha, Minnesota was constructed federal Treasury Department funds in 1937-1938. The building, which houses an example of New Deal artwork inside, is still in service.

The historic Wayzata post office was built in 1941 with Treasury Department funding. The building, which houses a mural by Ruth Grotenrath, is still in service.

White Bear Lake was home to a historic post office building with New Deal connections. The building was likely completed in 1939 or 1940. No longer extant, in its place is a bank building at 2151 3rd Street.

This quintessentially New Deal brick post office was built by the Treasury in 1939. Today it houses an antique store. The mural by Charles W. Thwaites commissioned for this building now hangs in the local museum.

Constructed by the Treasury in 1934. The building now houses the Worthington Professional Office Building.

Lucia Wiley completed this fresco, entitled "Gathering Wild Rice," in 1939 with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It is viewable in the Long Prairie post office lobby.

A Section of Fine Arts mural entitled "Arrival of the Rural Mail" was painted by Robert Allaway and installed in the lobby of the Breckenridge, Minnesota post office in 1938.

The 5' x 14' tempera-on-canvas mural entitled "Hog Raising," located in the historic Caledonia post office, was completed by Edmund Lewandowski (1914-1998) in 1942 for the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It depicts a farm scene of three men shoveling corn to pigs. Caledonia postmaster Charles Dorival suggested that the mural depict some kind of farm scene, believing that it represented, in the words of a contemporaneous article in the local paper, The Argus, "the most general activity of farmers engaged in hog raising in this area. Colors dominant in the mural are of a green and yellow quality and were selected...

Seymour Fogel painted this oil on canvas mural, entitled "People of the Soil," in 1940 with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It is viewable in the Cambridge post office lobby.   "People of the Soil" is "a Regionalist work in both its subject matter and its perspective. The mural, which depicts a family of Minnesota agriculturalists, does not aim to achieve a journalistic fidelity to reality. Instead, it presents us with the kind of rural idyll we often see in Grant Wood’s paintings; it presents us with an idealized view of rural life in 1930s Minnesota. "In this piece, we...

The historic post office in Hastings, Minnesota houses an example of New Deal artwork: a Section of Fine Arts-commissioned mural entitled "Arrival of Fall Catalogue." The work, by Richard Haines, was completed in 1938.

Elsa Jemne painted this egg-tempera-on-plaster fresco, entitled "The Hutchinson Singers," in 1942 with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It is viewable in the Hutchinson post office lobby.

The post office contains a 1937 Section of Fine Arts mural by Lucia Wiley entitled "Early Logging at Koochiching Falls."

Elof Wedin painted this oil-on-canvas mural, entitled "Street Scene," in 1937 with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It is viewable in the Litchfield post office lobby.

"Pioneers Arriving in Marshall by Wagon Train" Henry Holmstrom painted this oil on canvas mural in 1938 for the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It is viewable on the Marshall post office lobby.

"Gager's Trading Post on the Wadsworth Trail" is a Treasury Section of Fine Arts mural that was installed at the post office in Morris, Minnesota in 1943. The tempera-on-canvas mural was painted by Alfred Sessler.

The oil-on-canvas mural entitled "Production" was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The work, created for the historic post office in North St. Paul, Minnesota, was completed in 1941.

Richard Jansen painted this oil on canvas mural, entitled "Threshing Wheat," in 1942 for the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It is viewable in the post office lobby.

Margaret Martin painted this oil-on-canvas mural, entitled "Indian Hunters and Rice Gatherers," in 1940 with funds provided by the federal government. It is viewable in the St. James post office lobby.   "Margaret Martin’s mural proposal for the St. James, Minnesota, post office showed Indians gathering wild rice, hunting fowl, and fishing, emphasizing the harmony between the Land of 10,000 Lakes and its earliest inhabitants. Martin took nine months to complete this work, which has hung in its original location at the post office since June 1940. In the mural, a woman uses sticks to harvest the rice from the stalks, while...