Missouri Sites

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the 138th Infantry Regiment Armory in St. Louis MO. Completed in 1937, the armory building has been converted to office space. Excerpt from Missouri Armories: The Guard's Home in Architecture and History: "On May 15, 1934, the City of St. Louis approved a bond issue to fund improvements; $15 million of the bond issue, plus a 30 percent grant from the PWA, made construction of the $1,347,000 armory possible... This armory is a large two-story building with a monitor-type roof over a large parade hall." The Missouri National Guard declared the building...

Designed by Hal Lynch and J. Carl Jourdan and completed in 1939, this Art Deco style arena has been upgraded and well-maintained through the years. The stage is original.

The Hannibal Armory is constructed of rock that was obtained from a local quarry that also was the source for the adjacent Clemens field baseball field.  There is a locked room that was previously used for arms, but the majority of the building is a large open area for basketball courts and is part of the parks and recreation department.

Affton High School was built by the PWA in 1935-37. The school has since been sold and repurposed into an extensive senior living center (The Village at Mackenzie Place). The old high school is at the front of the complex on Mackenzie.

At Alley Spring, the CCC constructed many trails, rock walls, 11 buildings, campgrounds, roads, restored the mill including replacing the floor, and diverted the slough adjacent to the mill to insure that it did not silt in. The CCC unit that worked this site consisted of WWI veterans.

From Missouri Armories: The Guard's Home in Architecture and History by Robert Wiegers: "The Pierce City Armory was built in 1939 as a WPA project, but the design combines features of castellated architecture with the art deco/WPA style and use of reinforced concrete." The building sustained damage during a 2003 tornado and was rechristened the Ray Carver Building. It now houses local government offices.

WPA workers were active in the park from 1934 to 1937 and built several structures during that time, including a triple arch stone bridge, a look-out shelter, an open picnic shelter, and a grave shelter.

This nurses home was built in 1936 by the PWA on the Audrain Medical Campus to house nurses who worked in the hospital, and probably also nursing students. It is on the south side of the Medical Center.

"On August 20, 1930, Jacob Babler and his younger brother Henry Babler gave 868 acres of land to the State of Missouri, to be named the Dr. Edmund A. Babler Memorial State park. These were difficult and trying times in the world, and although they continued to give more land to the state between 1934 and 1936, Jacob had to seek the help of friend John J. Cochran, Congressman, in order to obtain federal aid for the state in order to develop the park. This aid came in the form of designating two Civilian Conservation Camps (CCC) to be stationed...

In 1934, the Public Works Administration (PWA) loaned the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad $900,000 for 16 streamlined cars, one diesel-electric locomotive , and enough "... to rebuild a steam engine to develop exceptionally high speed” (The Bangor Daily News, 1934). The Lady Baltimore and a similar locomotive, the Lord Baltimore, were favorites of the train-watchers; then, "... there came a day in August 1935, when the watchers between New York and Washington saw a new and strange sight as the Royal Blue sped past their bewildered eyes. Instead of the sharp staccato blasts of the Lord Baltimore’s exhaust, they heard...

When constructed by the WPA in 1937-39, Barretts Elementary School was a two room school built of limestone. The school has been extended several times since then, but the original WPA construction is still used as the school kindergarten today.

This densely forested area in the 30’s was marginal land having been logged and overgrazed. This prompted the purchase of these marginal farms which were nearly bankrupt and the formation of the Baskett Wildlife Research and Education Center, a function of the University of Missouri. The land had been improved by the CCC with planting of pine, locust, and Osage orange trees as a part of the Mark Twain National Forest. Ashland Lake /dam and the adjacent building with its rock walls were also built by the CCC. The area is located four miles east of Ashland around Ashland Lake off...

"This high school is planned so that when the need arises additions may be made. The present building is T-shaped in plan and two stories in height. It provides seven classrooms, teachers' rooms, a principal's office, a chemical laboratory, a library, and a combination auditorium-gymnasium with a stage and bleachers. The auditorium-gymnasium is so arranged that it may be used by the community as well as by the school. The construction is fireproof throughout. The exterior walls are red face brick with wood trim. The columns at the entrance of the auditorium are limestone. The volume of the building is 573,780 cubic...

Benjamin Allen Hall is named after an early 20th Century Lincoln University president and was built as a dormitory by the PWA in 1936.  It served as housing for black legislators who could not find rooms at hotels in Jefferson City during legislative sessions.  A professor of sociology, Oliver Cromwell Cox, was unable to find suitable housing when he arrived to teach in 1948 and resided in the dormitory for the next 20 years.

This large 3 story brick building overlooks the east side of the Lincoln University campus and was “named in honor of Private Logan Bennett of the 65th U.S. Colored Infantry, who contributed money for Lincoln’s founding.” It was built in 1938 by the PWA as a women’s dormitory.

"Bennett Spring State Park is located in Bennett Springs, Missouri, approximately 12 miles (19 km) west of Lebanon on Highway 64. The park was established in 1923. It is centered around the spring that flows into the Niangua River and gives the park its name... In the 1930’s the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made various improvements to the park. The CCC built the dining lodge, cabins, trails, roads, shelters, gauge station, and the arched stone bridge across the spring branch. The bridge has 3 distinctive sideways “C’s” to memorize the men of the CCC who built it. The CCC also channelized the...

Walt Disney contributed drawings for WPA murals at the former Benton Grammar School (the school he attended as a boy, later renamed D.A. Holmes Elementary). The murals were completed by WPA artists and delighted children for decades. The school was located on East 30th Street between Benton Blvd. and Chestnut Ave., and is now a senior living facility.

The WPA constructed Benton High School in 1937. It was used as a high school until 1957, and then as an elementary school until 1970, after which it was put to community uses before being closed. It is a long, wide, linear school with hips at both ends and a gabled entrance in the center and at both ends.  The concrete above the central entrance clearly shows the school name. Quoins are present at all exterior corners.  The school is in good condition with windows intact - they may have been restored by the Benton Community Betterment Corp. (see second...

Blanchette Park is a large park overlooking the Missouri River Valley in northern St. Charles which was the first Missouri State Capital. The WPA's work in the park included a swimming pool, lake, walks and fences, and remodeling of Memorial Hall in the park.

Tall rock wall with periodic columns for strength that is capped with concrete. It surrounds 3 sides of a large baseball field. One of the corners has a curved façade. The structure was completed with funds and labor provided by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

Blenheim Park was founded in 1922. In the late 1930s, Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers made improvements to the park.

Bois D’Arc Elementary School was constructed by the WPA in 1935-37.

This school building is a WPA project from 1937. It has rock work that is particularly well-done, though rather spare. The walls are predominately dark river rock with lighter colored rock under the eaves, at the corners, and surrounding the door and windows. It is currently being used as a private residence.

This small linear school was constructed as a PWA project in 1937. It features two gabled ends with a carved rock symbol of a lamp of knowledge. It is very similar to other schools of similar size in Missouri and presently is a private residence.  

This state office building was constructed in the Art Moderne style of Carthage marble in order to complement the state capitol which is north of the Broadway building. It was partly constructed with WPA funds.

Brownville Bridge, which carries U.S. 136 over the Missouri River between Nebraska and Missouri, was constructed as a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project. Constructed in 1938-1939, the now-free bridge originally featured tolls.

Pictured is some of the remaining original paving installed by the WPA along Brush Creek as a flood control project in 1935. The project has a controversial history due to its relation to political machine boss Tom Pendergast's Concrete Company. "Other buildings built with Pendergast concrete were the Municipal Auditorium and Police Headquarters. Paving Brush Creek began November 1935 at a cost originally estimated at $1,395,000 and employing at one time 1,647 WPA workers. Concrete was laid eight to 10 inches thick and 70 feet wide." (www.kclibrary.org) The rumor is that there are bodies under the concrete, though with further improvements, no...

The courthouse has an art deco design and includes light fixtures and the external façade.  The use of a stylized “u” that looks like a “v” was widely panned at the time.  In addition to the plaques for the present courthouse, the plaque for the previous courthouse is included.  It was the site of the controversial trial of Celia, a slave who killed a sexually abusive master in the 1850’s.

This sunken garden is chiseled out of the hill adjacent to the 1871 Governor’s Mansion that overlooks the Missouri state capital. The gardens were started in the late 1930s by the WPA. Work included extensive rock wall work. There is a grand stairway that ascends to a pergola that is lit with original lighting. The view of the capital is stunning. The gardens were renamed the Carnahan Memorial Gardens after the untimely death of former governor Mel Carnahan in 2001.

Large development of 2 and 3-story apartments just west of downtown St. Louis, interestingly just east of the up-coming and infamous Pruitt –Igoe public housing complex. Carr-Square Village is still in use, a testament to its forethought and sound construction. Although it is 80 years old and has been through a tumultuous time, the units are in good condition and the area seems to be relatively safe. It is in a muti-block area of the city of St. Louis and when constructed was the black public housing complex (the white being Clinton-Peabody). It was developed at the time that the...

Stone courthouse constructed by the WPA in 1936.

The Carter County Courthouse was a very early project ofthe Works Progress Administration, no. 168. Completed in 1936, it includes not only the courthouse itself, but the grounds and the surrounding native rock wall. This is the only native rock courthouse in the state of Missouri.  

A 2012  Nation Register of Historic Places Registration Form describes the restroom structures built by the Works Progress Administration circa 1935: "Behind the school, near the southwest and northwest corners of the property are two stone privies. Thought to have been constructed in the 1930s, possibly with funding from the Works Progress Administration, the two small buildings are identical in design. The small rectangular buildings are of rubble stone construction with a plain wood door centered in one long wall. The roof is side gable with wood shingles and exposed rafter tails." After a health department inspection, "The school’s trustees also...

CCC Company 1713 established Camp Smokey in Roaring River State Park in the 1930s and used it as a base from which to make extensive improvements throughout the area. The large CCC camp itself  is still remarkably well-preserved. The camp is within the state park, but it is well-defined as its own area, Camp Smokey.  The buildings are still used at this time.

Th Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Cedar County Courthouse in Stockton, in 1938. According to information published by the University of Missouri Extension, "Cedar County Courthouse is the third for the county in the first of this particular site. The courthouse was constructed beginning in 1938 using the matching funds grant from the Public Works Administration. The courthouse was designed by James D Marshall and M Dwight Brown, an engineer and architect for Kansas City. The architects recommended a monolithic cement building as it would be fireproof. W. F. Edgell and Son from Leavenworth Kansas were contracted to...

This WPA school was built in 1936-1937 as the Southwest High School. It is now the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School. This school has been added onto multiple times and the front of the original building is not visible from the street. The front of the school is within an interior courtyard. 5 statues by Fred Morie representing “Youthful Leadership” were created during the original project. These statues have been moved to the front of the modern part of the building.

This pool was designed by architect Wesley Bintz and constructed by the Works Progress Administration between 1937 and 1939 for $31,000. It is one of two above-ground pools  designed by Bintz in the state of Missouri (Fayette has the other), two of the last existing above-ground public swimming pools in the United States. The two pools have markedly different appearances as a result of local control and flexibility for the planning and execution of WPA projects. Chaffee's pool is adjacent to Harmon Field.

The Cherryville, MO school project is on the east side of route 19, just north of route 49. The school and gymnasium were more recently built, with funds and labor provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The school is no longer in service.

"Brentwood is a suburb of St. Louis, a short distance west of the city, and had a population of 2,819 in 1930. Its new city hall is erected in a residential district and provides space for a council chamber, offices for the mayor and the aldermen, the police department, including a small dormitory and a jail, two fire trucks, and the necessary storage and utility room. The building is two stories and a basement in height and is of fireproof construction throughout. The exterior walls are red face brick trimmed with stone. The roof is covered with slate and is surmounted...

Brentwood, Missouri's city hall was constructed in 1935 with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds.