Rochester Sites

The Mitchell Student Center at the Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minnesota was built between 1936 and 1937 by the Public Works Administration (PWA). Designed by Harold Crawford, Rochester’s preeminent architect at the time, the building originally housed the Rochester Public Library and could hold 75,000 books. The Jacobean-style structure was built of limestone quarried in the town of Kasota, in South Central Minnesota. The PWA grant funded 45% of the total building costs, and the remainder was covered by the Library Board. After the library moved in the early 1970s, the Mayo Clinic purchased the 1937 building. It was listed...

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...