"When Franklin D. Roosevelt took presidential office in 1933, the Great Depression was in its fourth year. He was elected partly because he promised relief for the common man. He enacted the New Deal programs and the Works Progress Administration,… read more
"Deming has an impressive list of WPA projects: Deming Public Library, Country Club, Junior High, Morgan Hall, Columbus School, Sunshine School, Hospital addition, Park, street paving, sewer work, curbs and trees plus a National Guard building." -Phyllis Eileen Banks
“On May 9, 1932, the Taos County Courthouse, along with the other buildings on the north side of the Plaza, was destroyed by one of a series of fires in the early thirties. This led eventually to the incorporation of… read more
“When the new courthouse was completed in January 1934, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) commissioned four of Taos’ premier artists to paint ten murals in the facility as part of the New Deal, to… read more
“When the new courthouse was completed in January 1934, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) commissioned four of Taos’ premier artists to paint ten murals in the facility as part of the New Deal, to… read more
“When the new courthouse was completed in January 1934, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) commissioned four of Taos’ premier artists to paint ten murals in the facility as part of the New Deal, to… read more
“When the new courthouse was completed in January 1934, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) commissioned four of Taos’ premier artists to paint ten murals in the facility as part of the New Deal, to… read more
The Atlas of Historic New Mexico Maps, produced with assistance from the New Mexico Humanities Council and the New Mexico Chapter of the National New Deal Preservation Association, lists a number of New Deal buildings in Taos County. These include:… read more
The Atlas of Historic New Mexico Maps, produced with assistance from the New Mexico Humanities Council and the New Mexico Chapter of the National New Deal Preservation Association, lists a number of New Deal buildings in Taos County. These include:… read more
The Atlas of Historic New Mexico Maps, produced with assistance from the New Mexico Humanities Council and the New Mexico Chapter of the National New Deal Preservation Association, lists a number of New Deal buildings in Taos County. These include:… read more
The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed several miles of sidewalk in Lordsburg during the Great Depression. By 1936, they were building on average 4,000’ of sidewalk per month, with the goal of completing 40 blocks. Adhering to WPA rules,… read more
"As the economy began to shrink in 1931, the Santa Fe Railway had to cut its Albuquerque workforce by nearly 40 percent and reduce its workweek to four and a-half days. The county tried to help with temporary road jobs,… read more
"[Clyde] Tingley was first elected to the City Commission on April 4, 1922, and served continuously until his resignation on January 14, 1935 to begin his term as Governor. He returned to the Commission on October 11, 1939. He served… read more
Situated on a grassy square, the Elida Town Hall was constructed in 1939 with WPA financing. The community applied for the project on September 12, 1938, requesting $3,820.49. It was built as a combination village office and fire station. The… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed two triplex residences: NPS Building 25 and Building 28, in what is now known as the Carlsbad Caverns National Park Historic District. National Register of Historic Places nomination form, 1988: Multiple Dwelling Unit #1:… read more
"The old Tularosa City Hall was constructed by the W.P.A. in 1941." -Waymarking
“In Tularosa, the Police Station remains the same inside and out, except for being painted periodically. It is another Pueblo Revival style blending perfectly with the New Mexico landscape.” -Phyllis Eileen Banks
This series of six large murals entitled the “Cycle of Science” was created for the old UNM Library in 1934 with funding from the PWAP. The murals depict, respectively, “Astronomy,” “Engineering,” “Chemistry,” “Biology,” “Physics,” and “Mathematics.” The series was designed to… read more
This series of six murals by Willard Nash was designed for the old UNM Library and completed with PWAP funds in 1934. The murals “originally hung for five years opposite six Raymond Jonson murals in Zimmerman Library. These two sets… read more
“Albuquerque is home to scores of WPA buildings and works. Among the most prolific are the following- … John Gaw Meem designed both S[h]coles Hall and Zimmerman Library on the campus of the University of New Mexico (the corner of… read more
“Albuquerque is home to scores of WPA buildings and works. Among the most prolific are the following- … John Gaw Meem designed both S[h]coles Hall and Zimmerman Library on the campus of the University of New Mexico (the corner of… read more
The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Zimmerman Library at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. The Zimmerman Library website describes the history of the New Deal structure: “Library collections continued to grow and in 1936 UNM James Fulton… read more
The village hall in Maxwell, New Mexico was constructed as a New Deal project, most likely undertaken by the W.P.A.
The small, rural community of Bosque Farms lies about 18 miles south of Albuquerque and was one of the New Deal resettlement communities. The community’s own website describes that history: “…In the 1920s, Otero sold his land in small lots… read more
Now a visitor center, what was constructed as a community center in Truth or Consequences was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938. From The New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties (2004): “A WPA project completed in… read more
A perimeter wall around the formerly municipal property along the east side of Main Street, between Wisconsin Ave. and E. Center Ave., was constructed by the W.P.A. Remarkable, giant stone lettering identifying the W.P.A. as the builders adorns one segment the wall,… read more
A WPA imprint stamp marks the curb along the Walnut Street side of the Hertzstein Memorial Museum.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed a warehouse in what is now known as the Carlsbad Caverns National Park Historic District. National Register of Historic Places nomination form, 1988: Warehouse, NPS Bldg #26. Designed in 1941 by architect Ken Saunders… read more
A waterworks improvement project was undertaken in Tucumcari with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The P.W.A. provided a $54,818 grant for the project, whose total cost was $123,814. Work occurred in 1938-9.
"The Historic District at White Sands National Monument (WSNM) consists of eight Pueblo Revival buildings constructed in the late 1930s by Civil Works Administration workers as a Recreation Demonstration and Emergency Conservation Work Project. It is understood to have been… read more
"The Visitor Center building complex at White Sands National Monument is an excellent example of Spanish pueblo-adobe ('Pueblo-Revival') architecture constructed during the years of the Great Depression. Construction was begun in 1936 and completed in 1938 by various government agencies… read more
The historic Wofford fire lookout tower in Lincoln National Forest was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933.
The Atlas of Historic New Mexico Maps, produced with assistance from the New Mexico Humanities Council and the New Mexico Chapter of the National New Deal Preservation Association, lists a number of New Deal schools in Santa Fe. Agua Fria,… read more
This collection of WPA art is now housed in the Octavia Fellin Public Library in Gallup, New Mexico The collection consists of 29 listed items including furniture, oil paintings, watercolors, pastels, etchings and sculpture. All items were obtained from the… read more