New Jersey Sites

The Bureau of Public Roads provided funds for the separation of "Creamery Road" (now Rte. 46) and the railroad in Great Meadows, New Jersey. The project was undertaken as part of a larger grade crossing elimination initiative during that era. New Jersey Board of Public Utility Commissioners: "A "Works Program-State Highway Department" project on which the Board initiated proceedings and on October 8, 1935, issued an order to eliminate the grade crossing Contract for construction was let by the State Highway Department in September, 1936, and construction was completed in January, 1937. Funds from the Bureau of Public Roads were allotted to meet the entire...

The Bureau of Public Roads provided funds for a grade separation project involving "Franklin Ave." and the railroad in Pennington, N.J. However, since no crossing at this location is extant, it is possible that they mean the Broemel Pl. underpass. The project was undertaken as part of a larger grade crossing elimination initiative during that era. New Jersey Board of Public Utility Commissioners: "A "Works Program-State Highway Department" project on which the Board initiated proceedings and on October 2, 1935, issued an order to eliminate the grade crossing. Construction started in October, 1936, and the project was completed in November, 1937. Funds from...

The historic Grant Street Armory in Mount Holly, New Jersey was the recipient of WPA efforts: "Replace sewer connection at Armory building on Grant Street" work. The armory was located behind the historic prison. WPA Official Project Number: 65‐22‐1352

The bridge carrying what was then known as Ocean Highway (presently known as County Road 619) over Grassy Sound was constructed as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project, as part of the largest New Deal construction effort in Cape May County, New Jersey. The bridge is still in use today. State.NJ.us: "In 1934 the county government created the Cape May County Bridge Commission as a means to apply for Federal Emergency Administration Funds to build bridges on the Ocean Highway and to bring to completion the promotional tourist route from Atlantic City to Cape May. The Ocean Highway bridges, five movable spans...

"Graydon Park is at the heart of the Village of Ridgewood – its seven acres of open space provide an oasis of green parkland for the residents of this densely developed suburb. Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, this historic park is home to a threatened unique resource – Graydon Pool. This 2.68 acre natural, sandy-bottomed spring-fed swimming pond, was constructed in 1926 as part of a larger national movement to create municipal parks and pools to promote community interaction. The pool (or pool/lake, called a "plake") was enlarged to its current size as part of a Works Progress Administration...

New Jersey's Skylands Visitor website writes: "During the 1920s the Army Corps of Engineers proposed the first of several flood control plans. The Works Projects Administration (WPA) followed in the 1930's constructing drainage ditches and straightening and deepening the channel of Black Brook, which flows through the Great Swamp."

Multiple New Deal agencies worked to develop Green Brook Park in Plainfield, New Jersey beginning in 1933. The project involved the construction of a 1.55-acre artificial lake (which could be converted into an ice skating rink during the winter); the stocking of said lake with fish; the building of a footbridge across the brook; grass seeding; small dams to create modest waterfalls along the brook; paths around the lake and through the park; construction of a baseball diamond; and the planting of more than 2,000 trees, shrubs, and other plants.

“One of the big projects accomplished during the CWA program in Morris County and now nearly completed is the creation of a storage reservoir on top of Green Pond Mountain and within the Picatinny arsenal limits. This will cut out considerable pumping costs and prove a real economy in the future. Atop of Green Pond Mountain…lies a swamp….This natural basin of several acres in extent collects many thousand gallons of water from the nearby slopes….The basin is surrounded by many drainage slopes leading thereto which act as natural feeders to it. Consideration has frequently been given to a contemplated dam...

34 federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers conducted a safety improvement project in Ringwood, New Jersey on what was then known as Midvale-Greenwood Lake Road (believed by Living New Deal to believe Greenwood Lake Turnpike). The dangerous stretch of road involved a 1,500-foot curve running along the north edge of the Wanaque Reservoir.

"373 men are employed on the largest project, the improvement of roads, farm buildings, sewage and water works at Greystone Park."   (mcl.mainlib.org) "Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital (also known as Greystone Psychiatric Park, Greystone Psychiatric Hospital, or simply Greystone) refers to both the former psychiatric hospital and the historic building that it occupied in Parsippany-Troy Hills Township (formerly part of Hanover Township, New Jersey). Originally opened on August 17, 1876, the hospital was known as the New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum at Morristown. The asylum officially received the familiar Greystone Park name in 1924."   (wikipedia)

The building was originally constructed in 1832 and many of the rooms portray it as it looked in 1837, the year of Grover Cleveland's birth. In 1936, laborers for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) restored the building to its original appearance.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) developed what is now the Hackensack Meadowlands Conservation and Wildlife Area in Carlstadt, New Jersey. NYTimes: "The Federal Government is cooperating in the important mosquito extermination program in the Hackensack meadows where a grant of $93,000 is giving work to 600 men. By the construction of dikes and tide gates large swamp areas are being drained and a considerable portion of land is being reclaimed."

"THE HATCHERY GETS A “NEW DEAL” Oddly, the Great Depression brought a new wave of improvements at Hackettstown. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal created the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC), a public work-relief program related to the conservation and development of natural resources on lands owned by federal, state and local governments. In October of 1933, CCC Camp #62 was established in Hackettstown. The camps were comprised of young men between the ages of 18 and 25 who enrolled for six-month time segments for a maximum of two years. The men were paid $30 a month and provided room, board and...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked to develop New Jersey's Hacklebarney State Park during the 1930s.

The federal Works Progress Administration paved Haddon Avenue in Camden, New Jersey in 1936. Work occurred from 7th St. beyond Kaighn Avenue.

The Civilian Conservation Corps built the Halyburton Memorial in Sandy Hook NJ. Located in the Gateway National Park.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) repaved Hamilton Place with a concrete base and macasphalt top in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1936. Curbs and gutters were also reconstructed. The WPA also relaid tracks along the road for the municipal Public Service department.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) graveled Harmony Rd. in Greenwich Township (primarily in Gibbstown) "six inches deep to a 20-foot width from East Greenwich Township to the Paulsboro-Gibbstown Rd. ." 20 WPA workers were assigned to the project.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed two pools at Hayes Park in Newark, New Jersey ca. 1936. It is probable that the pools are no longer extant.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement work on all school buildings in the city of Bayonne ca. 1939. Work on the Henry E. Harris Elementary School building included "painting, repairing, and general improvement work."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) drastically impacted New Jersey's High Point State Park. In 1933, when "the CCC boys first arrived at High Point Park, they found a relatively undeveloped 11,000-acre parcel of land. ... By the time the CCC boys were done working eight years later, they had built 25 miles of roads, two lakes, repaired the badly damaged forest, fought forest fires, cleared trails, built campgrounds and shelters, and partially completed an athletic complex. The park, as visitors enjoy it today, is largely the fruition of their efforts."

Bayonne High School was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds during the Great Depression. The massive undertaking cost $1.67 million; the PWA provided a $1.18 million loan and $494,000 grant to Bayonne. Construction occurred between March 1935 and June 1937. The building, which is connected to the adjacent (and older) Junior High School, is still in use today. PWA Docket No. 7957.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $150,000 loan and $59,000 grant for construction of what is now Rumson-Fair Haven High School in Rumson, New Jersey. Total cost of the project was $232,925. PWA Docket No. NJ 7427

The federal Works Progress Administration conducted landscaping and road work at the old Little Silver Boro High School. According to local resident Barry Berdahl, the "Little Silver School/Boro Hall was knocked down in the late 50s and replaced with a new brick Boro Hall."

The federal Works Progress Administration improved Neptune Township High School, New Jersey ca. 1936. Work involved the repair of the school interior and reapplying stucco to its exterior. The exact location and status of the old high school is unknown to Living New Deal. WPA N.J. Project No. 5-194.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a stadium on what was then the high school's athletic field in Audubon, New Jersey. The exact location or status of the facility is unknown to Living New Deal.

More than 100 National Youth Administration (NYA) workers operated over three shifts to renovate the athletic fields (including football and baseball fields) at Camden High School in 1936.

A 1936 paper reported: "The WPA installed toilets in the high school garage, which is used as a comfort station for tennis players during the summer. At the present time WPA workers are working on the $25,000 plan to renovate the high school athletic field and the $6,000 tennis courts have been completed….” (Nov. 12, 1936) A 1937 update “MADISON – The $25,000 WPA project of renovating the Madison High School athletic field has been temporarily stopped for lack of funds… A secondary factor in stopping the work is the fact that the available lists of WPA workers eligible for the...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a stadium for the high school in Collingswood, New Jersey ca. 1936. The current status of the facility is unknown to Living New Deal. As of March 2018, Collingswood school officials are seeking voter approval for a plan to replace the stadium with a multi-sport turf field.

"Hinchliffe Stadium is a historic 10,000-seat municipal stadium in Paterson, built 1931–32 on a dramatic escarpment above Paterson's National Historic Landmark Great Falls ... It is one of only a handful of stadiums surviving nationally that once played host to significant Negro league baseball during America's Jim Crow era. The stadium was designated a National Historic Landmark in March 2013 and a Paterson Historic Landmark in May 2013... Many workers laid off from the mills found work under a New Deal-financed program to provide enhancements to the stadium in 1932–34." (Wikipedia) This huge stadium is in serious disrepair now, but still has...

"The new school occupies the corner of a 7-acre lot, permitting the development of athletic and play fields. It is a combination grade and junior high school and provides an auditorium and gymnasium, as well as the necessary classrooms and special rooms. It is of semifireproof construction and was completed in April 1937 at a construction cost of $198,628 and a project cost of $219,275." (Short and Brown) Wikipedia; "The original school building was constructed in 1936. Over the years, several additions have been made to the school. The most recent construction added 30,000 square feet of space, primarily in the middle...

A 10'-span stone arch bridge on Homestead Road, in Tewksbury, New Jersey, was widened by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The structure is located approximately 50 feet SW of the intersection with Flint Hill Road.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) repaved Hook Road in Bayonne, New Jersey in 1939. The Bayonne Times wrote: "The most important part of the is the repaving of the Hook road, which runs from Avenue I to Lower Hook, a distance of more than one mile, leading to the Standard Oil and other Hook plants. The present brick road t the plants was built in 1904." 25 men were given work on the Hook Road project.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement work on all school buildings in the city of Bayonne ca. 1939. Work on the Horace Mann School building included "painting, repairing, and general improvement work."

13 "small bungalows are being constructed by WPA outside Millville on the Port Elizabeth Road. These will be rented at a nominal fee by old age pensioners. Project No. 9-70." What was then known as Port Elizabeth Road is now South 2nd St. The project is located in what is known as Roosevelt Park along Myrtle St. The homes were completed in August 1936 and each was occupied by one or two seniors (65 years or older). Each had a living room, bedroom, kitchen, bath, and front and back porches.

A small dam in Hurd Park, Dover, New Jersey, was built by the Civil Works Administration.

Fourteen boys of the federal National Youth Administration (NYA) built a tennis court and graded a baseball field at Trenton, New Jersey's old Immaculate Conception High School. The exact location of this former school is unknown to Living New Deal, though it was possibly located at 544 Chestnut Avenue.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) restored Haddonfield, New Jersey's historic Indian King Tavern ca. 1936.

What was then known as the New Jersey Manual Training and Industrial School for Colored Youth was improved by the National Youth Administration (NYA) ca. 1936. The site is presently used as a juvenile penal institution. "In Burlington County 48 colored boys are working at the Bordentown Industrial School for Colored Youth, constructing four tennis courts and keeping the grounds in condition."

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) graded Janvier Rd. from Sykesville Rd. to the township line "to a width of 33 feet and surfeced with gravel to a width of 20 feet in Franklin Township. Cross drains will be places and a washout condition now prevalent will be eliminated."