Jamestown Sites

The historic Jamestown City Auditorium was constructed as a federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in 1936. The exact location and status of the building (which is not to be confused with another WPA auditorium constructed in McElroy Park) are unknown to Living New Deal.

"The Lutheran church sponsored Jamestown Hospital (not surveyed). Ground breaking for the facility took place in 1928 and cornerstone ceremonies on October 28, 1929, one day before the Stock Market Crash. Consequently, donations and bond financing for the project were stalled for several years. The brick structure was completed in 1935, late enough that it may have been assisted by PWA financing. Stylistically, it is very unusual in its simplified Art Deco detailing, particularly in the striated spandrels and stylized arches. Discussion of the style and associated historic theme is found under the Great Depression heading, above."

"The Park Auditorium, completed in 1936 as a WPA project, is a domical building, the design of its facade carried out in the straight lines and angles of modern architecture. Constructed with laminated truss-type arches which support the entire roof load, the auditorium has 25,000 sq. ft. of floor space unobstructed by supporting columns. Its acoustics is excellent, owing to the vaulted shape of the roof and the absorbing quality of the timbers in the arches." President Roosevelt toured the site in 1936, The New York Times reporting: " saw a new $17,000 auditorium more than large enough to hold the...

President Roosevelt toured Jamestown, North Dakota in 1936, The New York Times reporting: " saw a new $17,000 auditorium more than large enough to hold the town's population, a current WPA project. It faces a stadium that was begun as a CWA operation and completed, together with an ornamental fence on the property, as an FERA project." The facilities were in what is known now as McElroy Park. The exact location of the stadium within McElroy Park and its present status are unknown to Living New Deal, though it might be what is now known as Jack Brown Stadium.

On May 2, 1934, Public Works Administration (PWA) director and Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, “announced today he had signed a contract covering a loan of $36,000 to the Midland Continental Railroad company in North Dakota for the purchase of a new Diesel-electric locomotive” (Argus-Leader, 1934). This PWA-funded locomotive would become No. 310 in Midland Continental Railroad’s (MCR) small roster of equipment.  It would also be the first Diesel-electric engine assigned to road service in the western United States.  Prior to this, diesel locomotives were relegated to “switcher” service (i.e., moving train cars short distances, usually within the confines of...

Multiple street paving projects in Jamestown, North Dakota were undertaken during the Great Depression with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $21,429 grant for one project, whose total cost was $47,875. Work occurred between December 1937 and June 1938. Work for a second, smaller project was completed in 1939. (PWA Docket No. ND W1064, X1259)

Taylor Stadium, also known as Rollie Greeno Track and Al Cassel Field, was built in 1934-35 by the CWA: "The stadium was originally named Roosevelt Stadium, but later re-named for Frank B. Taylor, long time Dean of the College and a sports enthusiast. It was a Civilian Works Administration project of the depression years." The stadium was renovated in 1985 and again in 1999.