Minnesota Sites

The historic post office in Wabasha, Minnesota houses an example of New Deal artwork: a Section of Fine Arts-commissioned mural entitled "The Smoke Message," completed in 1939.

The Wayzata post office contains a Section of Fine Arts mural in tempera by Ruth Grotenrath "Wayzata (Pines of the North)." Painted in 1947, it was one of the last examples of New Deal murals created.

The historic post office in Cloquet, Minnesota housed an example of New Deal artwork: "Lake Superior Shores – Yesterday and Today," an oil-on-canvas painting by Dewey Albinson. The work, completed in 1937, was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. Unfortunately the post office has been extensively modified during careless renovations, and the artwork is missing.

White Bear Lake's historic (and demolished) former post office building was home to an example of New Deal artwork: "Early Voyageurs at Portage," a 12' x 4' mural by Nellie Best. The work was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The work depicted "a view of a lake with Indians carrying canoes to be loaded with supplies. In the background running down to the water's edge the forests of Minnesota are depicted." WPAmurals: The mural is currently "missing." It is thought that the entire wall with the mural was cut out in the late 1970s - early 1980's when...

The post office contains two murals painted by Elsa Jemne in 1941 with funding from the Section of Fine Arts.

The historic post office in Park Rapids, Minnesota houses a collection of New Deal wooden reliefs created by Alonzo Hauser: "Park Service Symbol," "Indian," and "Lumberjack in Setting." The works were commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and completed and installed in 1941.

Riverside Park was conceived of, developed, and built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the drought years of the mid-30’s, being completed in 1936. The project called for the development of 2.5 acres of pasture land along the bank of the Long Prairie River, near the intersection of Hwy 71 and Hwy 27 in Long Prairie, MN. Overall, the park encompasses a total of 7 acres. A dam was constructed on the Long Prairie River to divert water into a pond that would be used for swimming in the summer, and ice skating in the winter. The skating rink...

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 Rockville school was a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in Rockville, Minnesota. In late 1934, the town of Rockville realized they needed a bigger school for the children in their town: too many children attended the existing school, and the town was utilizing the second floor of the city hall as more classrooms. The school secured WPA funding to build a bigger school to meet the needs of the growing town. This project provided 78,773 hours of labor, it cost a total of $37,474 in labor costs. The school is a monument of the granite industry that employs many of the...

At the behest of the city of Barrett, Minnesota, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) built a combination public auditorium and high school gymnasium in 1933-34.  The CWA provided the labor from the ranks of local unemployed workers and the city provided the empty lot and pitched in $5,000 for materials. The building was named Roosevelt Hall in honor of President Franklin Roosevelt. It served for around twenty years as the school gym and Barrett community hall. The 34' x 110' structure is wood frame, with Western Red Cedar siding and a shingle roof. The roof is rounded in a style roughly reminiscent of...

Sometimes mis-attributed to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the auditorium / gymnasium addition to the Sandstone School constructed in 1936 was accomplished as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project. The PWA provided a grant of $24,966 for the project, whose total cost was $129,701. NRHP, re the addition: "It is a two story wing with a flat roof and constructed of a similar Kettle River Sandstone. The front entrance to this section is in the form of a semi-circular arch, complementary to the two entries to the original building. This addition houses an auditorium." "Throughout its history, the school served as both...

The Stillwater Overlook - South was built as part of an extensive roadside development project in the Stillwater area. Work on the Stillwater-area projects apparently occurred in 1935-1939, first using federal relief labor hired under the National Recovery Work Relief (NRWR) program in 1935-1936, and then using labor from the National Youth Administration (NYA) in 1936-1939. A. R. Nichols, the MHD Roadside Development Division's Consulting Landscape Architect, designed the Stillwater-area projects. The Stillwater Overlook - South was constructed in 1936-1939 as part of a roadside development project that improved a .9-mile stretch of T.H. 212 (now T.H. 36). The overlook...

"Scenic State Park CCC/Rustic Style historic resources are located in two historic districts that include a public use area and service yard. The park contains ten contributing buildings and structures built among stands of virgin Norway and white pine on the shores of Coon and Sandwick Lakes. Architects for the park buildings were from the National Park Service... Scenic State Park was the first in the state to provide a complete range of recreational facilities developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The park’s Rustic Style buildings represent a remarkable collection of log structures that received considerable acclaim from the National Park...

The Selke Field Stone Wall was built in 1937 and was funded by the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A) during the Great Depression. Chris Tessari, the construction crew foreman, and Harry Phinney, the W.P.A representative, both played a large role in the erection of the wall. By 1946, the field was officially renamed Selke Field, after George A. Selke, a 1913 graduate and former President of St. Cloud State University (1927-1947). The granite used to build the wall was quarried out of St. Cloud State’s nearby quarries. The 3,510-foot wall’s estimated cost was $40,000-$50,000. With inflation calculated in, today’s (2020) cost would...

The land for Semer's Park was donated to the city of Ely by John Semer of Escanaba, Michigan in April of 1916. The stone tables, firepits and three stone buildings in Semers Park were built during a period spanning about three years from 1938 to 1941 as projects for the National Youth Administration (NYA). At that time, what we now know as Semer's Park was referred to simply as “The Tourist Camp” or “The Tourist Park”. It was heavily used and tourists could camp there overnight. In an article in the “Ely Miner” Newspaper dated 7/28/1938 it was stated that during the...

The Works Progress Administration built the Shelly School in Shelly MN in 1938. According to Docomomo, the structure is a "andsome schoolhouse built in Art Deco style with Streamline Moderne elements such as rounded corners and ample glass block. Build under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the federal New Deal, replacing a two-story wooden school. The brick structure cost approximately $46,000. Closed in 1993, reopened in 2000 as the Red River History Museum and Norman County Historical Society."

According to The WPA in West St. Paul: The Works Progress Administration (WPA) "constructed Sibley Junior High School at the corner of Bernard and Bidwell. It was the second of three schools named for Henry Sibley that would serve West St. Paul. The WPA work at Sibley happened between 1936 and 1941 (there are some conflicting dates). A decade later the building was expanded to the south and became the high school. In 1960, Frances Grass Junior High School was added to the school complex. In the late 1990s it was all torn down, except the gym and swimming pool, and replaced...

Various New Deal agencies built the Silver Lake Reservoir in Rochester MN. According to the City of Rochester "Silver Lake is actually a reservoir that was created by first, hand-digging a basin to hold water, and then constructing a dam from 1935-1936 to back-up river water. It was built for half a million dollars during the 1930’s Great Depression as a work relief project, providing work for over 400 unemployed men. Various New Deal programs supported the effort. The project was started by the Civil Works Administration (formed as part of the Federal Emergency Relief Act in 1933), then joined by...

This campground offers a variety of opportunities for campers including fishing, hiking, mountain biking, canoeing, boating, and bird watching. Sites sit well above the river. The historic log pavilion was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933 and is available for rent.

The St. Cloud Historical Marker in St. Cloud MN is a site that was constructed in 1937, by the NYA, a sub-unit of the WPA. The site was designed by A. R. Nichols and is a historical marker that commemorates the first commercial granite quarry in Minnesota, opened by Breen and Young in 1868, that was very important for the growth of St. Cloud. It was built from granite stones from the quarries located nearby, with rough and pointed rocks, unlike other markers and monuments with their more formal designs. It was placed on the side of highway 10 just...

Between 1936 and 1943, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook construction and landscaping projects in St. Croix State Park.   St. Croix State Park was developed through a National Parks Service program, the Recreational Demonstration Area (RDA), which aimed to convert land that could not be used for agriculture or industry into recreational space. Typically, RDAs were “located within fifty miles of a major metropolitan area and was meant to allow underprivileged children to enjoy the outdoors.” To this end, workers constructed camp units (cabins and latrines) for groups of children and for families. “CCC enrollees, along...

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: A two block stretch of Stryker Avenue has a total of seven WPA stamps from 1938. A map as part of the source, The WPA in West St. Paul presents the locations and images of the seven stamps on Stryker Ave., between Annapolis St. W and Bernard St. W.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) undertook forest conservation work in Superior National Forest under the supervision of the U.S. Forest Service.

From 1934 to 1935, the Civilian Conservation (CCC) reconstructed a suspension bridge, spanning the St. Louis River, at Jay Cooke State Park.

Jay Cooke State Park’s River Inn, constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) using a local rock known as gabbro, is among the “largest CCC buildings in Minnesota.”

"This building at Elbow Lake houses the public library and also serves as a community building. It is one story and a basement in height and contains the library with a separate entrance on one end, and a community room with a stage and a kitchen, and two clubrooms which are provided with an entrance and a lobby of their own. The clubrooms are separated by a folding partition so that they can be used as one room. The structure is semifireproof with exterior walls of brick trimmed with stone. The project was completed in May 1934 at...

In 1938, the Works Progress Administration completed the tunnel and stonework entrance into the Todd County Courthouse.

The Todd County Fairgrounds Grandstand was constructed in 1940. It was the largest Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in the county. The workers began pouring concrete in the spring. The grandstand was a labor-intensive effort. The size of the work crew was doubled in May 1940 to ensure a portion of the grandstand would be done in time for the August fair. The workers spent hours and hours in hard, hand labor. The workers poured cement for six steps at a time, working from dawn to late evening. The interior of the grandstand was designed for use as a dormitory...

WPA crews built the Milaca town hall in 1938. It is now the location of the Milaca Area Historical Society and the Milaca Museum.    

The UMN Cloquet Forestry Center (CFC) is the primary research and demonstration forest for the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, currently a research and outreach center (ROC) for the College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences. The Cloquet Forestry Center was called the Cloquet Forest Experiment Station when the CCC was active in providing skilled labor to the University. Projects completed at the CFC by some of the men stationed at Big Lake Camp S79 from July 1933 to June 1937 include: - the construction of five and a half miles of fire break and truck trails. - brushing and improvement of 15...

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...

"The Upper Mississippi navigation project is one element of the system of inland waterway improvements to link the agricultural Middle West with the industrial East, and the Great Lakes with the Gulf of Mexico. Dam No. 5-A is typical of several under construction or completed which will maintain water levels during periods of low-stream flow at a minimum depth of 9 feet throughout the length of the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to the mouth of the Ohio River. The dam is approximately 580 feet in length and each gate is 80 feet long by 20 feet high. The...

"This small village hall has a distinct Scandinavian flavor and might almost be standing in some Swedish village rather than in Bovey, Minnesota. It is two stories and a basement in height and in the basement houses a garage for the fire department, a large dining room, kitchen and pantry, storage space, and the heating plant. On the first floor are offices for the police department, the council room, a library, and a club room. The second floor is occupied by a large auditorium with a stage and dressing rooms. The building is steel and reinforced concrete with...

"The quirky Graceville Village Hall was built with reinforced concrete in the Art Deco style in the late 1930’s by the Works Progress Administration."

The Village hall, as of now situated off River Road and 66th Street, was worked in 1934 through the assistance of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), as per "History of Inver Grove Heights: Minnesota's Treasure 1858-1990," by Lois Glewwe. Its area was once home to Inver Grove School, and a few blocks from the old fashioned were utilized to develop the new structure. It filled in as the gathering place for the town of Inver Grove before the village converged with Inver Grove Township to make what is presently known as Inver Grove Heights. Before it fell into neglect during...

The historic McKinley Village Hall was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).