Missouri Sites

Named after E. Sydney Stephens, the University of Missouri's Stephens Hall was constructed by the PWA in 1935-36. The building now houses the biochemistry department.

The addition to this original school is in the rear of the building and is rather nondescript. It was a $29,000 project in 1938.

This unique octagonal 2 story livestock barn and pavilion on the Grundy County Agriculture Fair site was built by the WPA in 1938. It is also known as the Rock Barn.

The CCC built bleachers and a surrounding rock wall for Fredericktown's high school baseball diamond. The project features a 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 Work Projects Administration (WPA) salvaged more than 6,000 tons of street car rails in St. Louis, Missouri.

This courthouse has clean art deco lines with classic light fixtures flanking the front entrance.  Above the entrance are 3 doves holding the scales of justice.

Constructed by the WPA in 1939. This was a historically black school, until desegregation in 1959.  It was subsequently used as a warehouse and is currently occupied by the Concerned Citizens  for the Black Community in Boonville.

"Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge lies just two miles south of the town of Sumner, Missouri. It is located near the confluence of the Grand and Missouri Rivers, and is bordered on the south by Yellow Creek. The refuge was established in 1937 and consist of 10,795 acres of bottomland forest, grasslands, marshes, and managed moist soil wetlands. Following purchase of the land, the Civilian Conservation Corps began work on the refuge creating wetlands, constructing roads and buildings, and initiating the refuge farming program."

This handsome swimming pool facility was built by the WPA from 1936-37.

This former swimming pool was built in 1938 for the cost of $2,000 and at this time is filled in with rock and is a playground. The original pool buildings, however, still appear to be standing with the classic art deco font saying "Swim Pool." The pool was in operation at least until 1965 when severe problems with leakage was reported, but may well have been used until 1976 when a new pool was built.

The city swimming pool in Macon was designed by Irwin Dunbar from Kirksville, MO.  It is still in use with the original wooden bathhouse.  Note the inverted u-shaped concrete elevations in the center of the pool for diving.  At one time, it was considered the largest pool in the state.

This addition to the Switzer School was to the north of the building constructed in 1899 and replaced the original Switzer School which was built in 1882. The addition was completed in 1939 with funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and designed by Nate Downes. The entry is marked with cut stone and Switzer School in raised lettering. It has a brick modern deco style and consists of 12 classrooms, 6 to a floor and a large hall on the first level. It is in the process of being repurposed.

The swimming pool in Kansas City's Swope Park was built in 1941-1942 as a Work Projects Administration (WPA) project, "sponsored by the City of Kansas City. James D. Marshall and M. Dwight Brown, architects and engineers, developed the plans for the pools and the building. Hare and Hare, landscape architects, designed the landscaping. The pool opened on July 30, 1942. Closed in 2003 for renovations, the pool reopened in 2004."

The old "Beverage Garden" is part of the Jefferson Barracks Historic Site in Sylvan Springs Park. It was constructed by the CCC in 1939. It consists of a sunken patio with a stream running through it and surrounded by decorative walls of stone in a classic CCC type construction. There is a plaque in the wall on the east side of the gardens. It served as a “beer garden” in the run-up to and during WW2, being immediately adjacent to Jefferson Barracks. It is no longer in use, however much of the stonework remains.

Constructed of a “restrained Art Deco style”, it has a limestone façade with terra cotta decorative elements, similar to though smaller than those on the adjacent Homer G. Phillips Hospital. Upstairs, there is a gymnasium, the basement being a swimming pool and locker rooms. The center was named after a black Civil War hero and politician.

Andrew “Cap” Tilles donated his country estate “Rest Haven” to the city of St. Louis as a playground for children in 1932, dedicated to the memory of his mother Rosalie Peck Tilles. This 57 acre park was developed by the WPA for $300,000. There are numerous shelters and restrooms through-out the park as well as the road system and rock walls built for drainage purposes. Unfortunately, there are no markers designating the park as having been built by the WPA.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted a rural road development project in Sullivan County, Missouri: "in Duncan township from the end of present gravel road three miles south of Reger west to the Taylor Township line." This is consistent with Timber Road. Here, the project is assigned as Milan as much of the road resides within Milan's 63556 ZIP code.

WPA crews constructed this square bandstand in 1941. The bandstand has a basement with a rock foundation and façade with rock pillars. It is located in the center of the Princeton town square and is still actively being used. A rock lintel over the door to the basement has the date 1941 carved in it.

Townsend Hall, originally called the Practice Building, is the home of the MU education department and when built, included the practice school and University High school. It was built with PWA funding in 1935-36.

The Trachoma Hospital was completed in 1939 to serve the large number of patients in the Ozark region who were infected with trachoma, the leading cause of blindness at the time. Missouri was in a belt extending from Alabama to Oklahoma where trachoma was prevalent. The predominant forms of therapy were topical medications and in severe cases surgery. Interestingly, in 1937 (before the hospital was built), there was successful treatment of trachoma with oral sulfonalimides. Although this negated the need for the hospital, the start of WWII diverted available supply of these drugs to the military. In the absence of...

This small stone obelisk marks the point where Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri meet. It was erected by the National Youth Administration in 1938. It is located at the coordinates marked here, south of the Route 166 round-about at the entrance to an Oklahoma Casino, just south of the main entrance on a dirt road.

Kirk Memorial was built as the campus museum at the southern end of the north quad.  It has a design reminiscent of Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson.

This large classroom building that greatly expanded the capacity of the then Missouri State Teacher’s College. Designed by Bonsack & Pearce, it has classic lines and is highly functional. It is still in use.

The north quad is still at the northernmost point of the Truman Sate University campus.  During the extensive construction that occurred during the 30’s, the north quad was renovated by landscape architects Hare & Hare from Kansas City.  The trees are now old and mature and the buildings continue to be used and are either being renovated or have undergone renovation.

This building addition currently houses the University Art Museum. Originally, it was a junior high in the college’s lab school.

This art deco style building was constructed by the PWA in 1938-1940. It was originally occupied by Stowe Teachers College, a college for black educators. It was named after Charles Turner, an educator and scientist.

The U.S. Court and Custom House in St. Louis was constructed using U.S. Treasury Department funds between 1933 and 1935. "The U.S. Court/Custom House is located at Tucker and Market Streets. The building has 1/2 Egyptian Style columns in a giant order covering five floors. Eagles in an ancient Assyrian manner are on the corners. Stylized eagles are also located on the other side of the 12th and 11th Street entrances. The corners of the building are rounded, carved stone figures representing justice frame, the main entrance on Market Street." (https://stlcin.missouri.org) The statues outside the main entrance were created by Benjamin Hawkins...

Now an apartment building, the old Art Modern United States Courthouse and Post Office in Kansas City housed the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri until 1998. The GSA lists significant events in the building's development: 1935: Congress appropriates $3,300,000 for the construction of the new U.S. Post Office and Courthouse building. 1938: The ceremonial cornerstone is laid and construction begins under the supervision of local architects Wight & Wight. 1939: The building opens for business.

St. Louis's historic University Station post office was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the Great Depression. The building was completed in 1938 and is still in use today. A New Deal mural, "The Louisiana Purchase Exposition," hangs inside.

The mural "The Louisiana Purchase Exposition" was painted by Trew Hocker. The New Deal artwork was installed in the lobby of St. Louis's University City Station post office and is still visible today.

The PWA constructed this gymnasium in a style and native rock façade that echoed existing buildings on the UCMO campus. It is now known as Morrow Hall, and is still actively used for the gymnasium and Physical Education department.

The PWA funded the construction of the library on the University of Central Missouri campus. The building, now the Dockery building, is no longer the library, but is actively used for classrooms and offices. It is on the north side of the north quadrangle adjacent to the administration building.

Van Meter State Park was established on land donated by “Miss Annie” Vanmeter in 1932 in memory of her husband, land that had been in the family since 1834. The state park is in the Missouri River valley including both land in the floor of the valley, the “Pinnacles”, and land on top of the bluff. It was populated by the Oneota, prehistoric ancestors of the Missouri Indians. At one time, the village on the bluffs had 5,000 inhabitants. The state park interprets both the landscape and the influence of the Indian inhabitants of the area. The CCC developed the park, including...

Along with Tandy, Gamble, and Carver House recreation centers, Vashon Community Center was constructed as one of four community recreation centers to served the African-American population in St. Louis. Vashon Community Center served the population living in the Mill Creek area of St. Louis, MO which was a mixed use area with manufacturing and housing. Although it was built in 1936, it was not finished until 1937, a delay of 8 months which caused a great deal of controversy and claims of indifference by the city government towards the population. When completed, however it quickly became a center of the...

Large park that was developed into a municipal park at the end of CCC Company 3731’s tenure in Fulton.  The company had used the land where the park was developed for their quarters, primarily doing agriculture work such as terracing, but when they were to leave, constructed the rock pillars that flank the entrances to  the park, rock seating for the amphitheater, horsheshoe pits(?),  and the roads and walkways throughout the park.  The pond in the park was probably constructed at this time.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Vine Hill School and Community Building (also known as Horney Buck School) in 1939 in Cape Fair. The building served as a school during the week, as a community center on Saturdays, and as an interdenominational church on Sunday. The structure bears a painted sign above the door that reads "Vine Hill Community Building, 1939 WPA." Above the stone header, a stone plaque reads, "School District No. 30." Behind the main structure there are two outhouses. The stone construction resembles the school building, which suggests that it was also built by the WPA.  

Walter Williams Hall is on the northeast side of the University of Missouri and the arch is the main entry to the historical quad of buildings that are the oldest on the campus.The structures were constructed from 1935-37 with PWA funding and designed by architectural consultants Jamieson & Spearl. It is named after Walter Williams who was the creator of the first school of Journalism in 1908 and was the head of the Journalism School until 1930 when he became the president of the University of Missouri. The building was recently redone and still houses the school of Journalism.

This large park sits on both sides of a creek that meanders through the grounds and is crossed by several bridges. The park was developed by the WPA in the 1930s. The Washington Park shelter house on Missouri St was originally an open air structure, but has been enclosed and added onto. The bridge to the baseball field has a WPA insignia in the rock work. A large tennis court is on the east side of the park. Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe played on these courts. Extensive rock wall are found adjacent to the creek for erosion control.

This historically black school housed a small high school room in the front and two school rooms at the back that could be separated by an accordion divider.  It was part of the submission to the Federal Government for funds for the Monroe City Elementary school.

"Washington State Park is a Missouri state park in the central eastern part of Missouri containing native American rock carvings. These carvings, or petroglyphs, carved in dolomite rock, are believed to have been made around 1000 to 1600 and give clues to the lives of the prehistoric native Americans who once inhabited this part of Missouri. It is also believed that the park served as ceremonial grounds for these Middle Mississippi people who were related to the builders of the Cahokia Mounds in Illinois. "Most of the carvings are of birds, arrows, footprints, turkey tracks, human figures, and various geometric shapes...