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  • Macombs Dam Bridge Improvements - Bronx NY
    The WPA allocated $157,756 toward reconstruction of the roadway crossing the Macomb's Dam Bridge, which connects the Bronx to Manhattan in New York City. WPA Official Project No. 65-97-36.
  • Macombs Dam Park Playground (demolished) - Bronx NY
    The New York City Parks Department Press Release for October 14, 1935 announces the opening of a new playground at the site of what was later called Macombs Dam Park, with some or all of the following amenities: wading pools, handball courts, basketball courts, jungle gyms, swings, slides, seesaws, and other outdoor gymnasium equipment. Macombs Dam Park was not a New Deal creation; it was first opened in 1899 and was famous for its athletic fields (see history). But the press release confirms that at least one playground was added to it by the Parks Department during the New Deal. Later...
  • Major Deegan Expressway (Mott Haven section) - Bronx NY
    Constructed as the 'westerly approach' road in conjunction with development of the Triborough Bridge, the Mott Haven component of what is now the Major Deegan Expressway was enabled by the provision of New Deal funds. The Public Works Administration supplied a $2,434,500 grant for the project, whose total cost was reported in one document as $5,084,543. The construction, which occurred from 1937 to 1939, forced the relocation of residents who lived along the route between E 134th and E 135th Streets. The New York Times (Apr. 30, 1939): The approach, which is officially called the Major William F. Deegan Boulevard, was hailed by the speakers...
  • Monroe High Educational Campus Library Mural - Bronx NY
    A 2004 New York Times article by Seth Kugel describes a "...metallic-looking mural of four chiseled men working on an oil rig... affixed to the back wall of a dank, cluttered storage room under a school library in Soundview, the Bronx." Domenico Mortellito completed the mural in 1934 with funding from the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Domenico Mortellito's daughter, Adria Mortellito Peterson, told the New York Times that the mural depicts "...the whole machine age, coming out of the Depression." Tom Porton, a teacher and coordinator of student activities on the campus where the mural is located, suspects that mural's industrial...
  • Morris Heights Station Post Office - Bronx NY
    The historic Morris Heights Station post office in the Bronx, New York was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds in 1936. The building is still in use today.
  • Morrisania Station Post Office - Bronx NY
    The Morrisania Station post office of the Bronx, New York (originally constructed as New York, New York's Station T post office in the Bronx) "is a historic post office building located at Morrisania in The Bronx, New York, United States. It was built in 1936, and designed by consulting architect William Dewey Foster for the Office of the Supervising Architect. The building is a two story, five bay wide brick building with a hipped roof and a one bay recessed wing in the Colonial Revival style. It features an arcade of five recessed brick round arches with limestone keystones." (Wikipedia) The...
  • Mosholu Golf Course Improvements - Bronx NY
    Mosholu Golf Course is in the southeast corner of Van Cortlandt Park is a public golf course built with 9 holes rather than 18. It specializes in children and teenagers. It opened in 1914. A New York City Parks Department press release from May 7, 1936 described New Deal improvements to the golf course: “Van Cortlandt and Mosholu in the Bronx ... have been reconditioned and remodeled to some extent. All this work has been done with relief funds provided by the C.W.A., T.E.R.A. and W.P.A.”
  • Mosholu Parkway - Bronx NY
    The Mosholu Parkway runs north-south through Van Cortlandt park, from Gun Hill Road to the Henry Hudson Parkway in the northern section of the park. The Parkway was constructed between 1936 and 1941 under the office of the Department of Parks. As researcher Frank da Cruz explains, "Later, in the 1950s, Moses also ran the Major Deegan Expressway through the park, so now the the park is effectively cut up into six pieces with very little access from one piece to the other."
  • Mott Haven Canal Filling - Bronx NY
    The WPA allocated $56,003 (later reduced to $34,703.70) toward the filling of what was then a canal in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. The project entailed filling the canal between 135th and 138th Streets. The Mott Haven street names Canal Place and Canal Street West embody the now-historical facet of the neighborhood's past. WPA Official Project No. 65-97-432(?).
  • Mott Haven Health Center - Bronx NY
    The Mott Haven Health Center was constructed during the mid-1930s as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project. It opened in 1937. "The Mott Haven Health Center, second of eight centers to be opened by the city this Summer and Fall, will be dedicated on Tuesday. The building, at 349 East 140th Street, the Bronx, cost $209,978."
  • Mott Haven Station Post Office - Bronx NY
    The historic Mott Haven Station post office in the Bronx on East 139th St. was one of several post offices in the borough constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the New Deal era. The post office was initially known as New York, New York's Station 'X' until its redesignation as Mott Haven Station on June 1, 1947. This project was implemented by the Public Works Administration, and the building's cornerstone dates an initial stage of construction to 1935. The building is still in service. C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown: This postal station is in the Bronx on East 139th Street and serves a territory bounded by the Harlem...
  • Municipal Garage (demolished) Repairs - Bronx NY
    The WPA provided $119,002 in funds to "repair garage & buildings at 181st St. and Webster Ave." The property is still owned by New York City and the buildings (not the originals that the WPA worked on, which have presumably been demolished) today houses Fleet Services for the city's Department of Transportation. WPA Official Project No. 65-97-441.
  • New York Botanical Garden Improvements - Bronx NY
    The Federal Writers' Project wrote of the New York Botanical Garden: "The botanical garden, incorporated by the State Legislature in 1891, after a two-year campaign for funds, is maintained by city appropriations, membership fees, and funds from the sale of publications. In recent years considerable improvements have been effected by PWA and WPA grants." WPA work at the gardens included the construction of "ome 14,000 linear feet of 10- foot paths" and "the transplanting of 54 large conifers, 41 large deciduous shrubs and 93 medium- sized plants of Ilex opaca." (https://mertzdigital.nybg.org)
  • Noble Playground (demolished, rebuilt) - Bronx NY
    A Department of Parks press release from December 4, 1939 describes the completion of WPA work on Noble Playground, along with three other playgrounds: "At East 177th Street and Noble Avenue the 3.6 acre area contains a children's playground and a separate regulation baseball diamond with concrete bleachers accommodating 150 spectators. The children's area is divided into two parts separated by a high, natural rock outcrop. One part contains a children's playground with combination wading pool and volley ball court, kindergarten apparatus, a large shaded sandpit, slides, swings, jungle gym and a brick comfort station. The other part is paved and...
  • Old Fort Four Park - Bronx NY
    Researcher Frank da Cruz reasons persuasively here that this playground beside the Jerome Park Reservoir was a New Deal project: "t Reservoir and Sedgwick Avenues to Old Fort Four Park (its proper name according to the Parks Department website), but labeled as Fort Four Playground. It was opened in late 1934, some months before Strong Street Playground at the other end of Washington's Walk. Not the press releases, nor any other material I can find, give any credit to the New Deal for this park but since it was built in the same time frame on the same street...
  • Old Lincoln Hospital: Champanier Mural - Bronx NY
    The Lincoln Hospital (also known as the Lincoln Medical and Health Center), has contained several WPA murals. During the 1930s, the Lincoln Hospital (then located at 141st St. and Southern Blvd. in the Bronx) received at least three WPA murals. Ruth Egri painted a large mural entitled "Disease, Cure and Prevention" for the hospital in 1938-1939; Eric Mose painted another WPA mural for the hospital in 1938; and Albert Kelly painted a multi-panel mural entitled "Circus Parade." In 1976, the hospital moved to its present location. Unfortunately, a conversation with an employee of Lincoln Medical Center in 2016 leads us to...
  • Old Lincoln Hospital: Egri Mural - Bronx NY
    Ruth Egri painted a large WPA mural entitled "Disease, Cure and Prevention" in 1938-1939 for the Lincoln Hospital (then located at 141st St. and Southern Blvd. in the Bronx). In 1976, the hospital moved to its present location on 149th St. The mural’s current status is unknown, but it was probably lost in the demolition of the old hospital c. 2010.
  • Old Lincoln Hospital: Kelly Mural - Bronx NY
    In 1938, artist Albert Kelly painted a multi-panel mural entitled "The Circus" (it may also have been known as "Circus Parade") for the children's ward at the old Lincoln Hospital (then located at 141st St. and Southern Blvd.) in the Bronx. In 1976, the hospital moved to its present location on 149th St. The mural’s current status is unknown, but it was probably lost in the demolition of the old hospital c. 2010.
  • Old Lincoln Hospital: Mose Mural - Bronx NY
    In 1938 Eric Mose created murals for Lincoln Hospital (also known as the Lincoln Medical and Health Center) in the Bronx with funding from the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project (WPA/FAP) (Smithsonian Archives of American Art). The hospital (then located at 141st St. and Southern Blvd. in the Bronx) moved to its present location on 149th St. in 1976. The mural’s current status is unknown, but it was probably lost in the demolition of the old hospital c. 2010.
  • Olinville Playground - Bronx NY
    Although the history of this park is difficult to pin down, researcher Frank da Cruz makes a compelling argument that this is one of many WPA playgrounds built during the New Deal. First, it is located at the North end of Bronx Park, where all the development was done by the WPA. As da Cruz explains, "The timing is right too; the Parks Department says, 'Parks obtained the land for Olinville Playground in conjunction with the construction of the Bronx River Parkway extension in 1938'" - a period in which literally hundreds of municipal parks were developed by the WPA....
  • Orchard Beach - Bronx NY
    Orchard Beach is an artificial beach 6,000 feet long on Pelham Bay in Pelham Bay Park on the east side of The Bronx, built by WPA workers under the direction of the New York City Parks Department. It required a major reconfiguration of the shoreline and sand imported from the Atlantic coast.  It included many auxillary improvements, most notably a large bathhouse behind the beach.  Researcher Frank da Cruz sums up New Deal involvement in developing the area based on multiple Parks Department press releases from the 1930s: "Orchard Beach  created by the federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) from a plan developed in...
  • Owen F. Dolen Park - Bronx NY
    "From the New York City Parks Department press release of March 14, 1941, announcing the "completion of reconstruction at Owen F. Dolen Park": ...two half-acre plots, separated by Benson Street, serve chiefly as pedestrian connections and sitting areas with open central grass areas bounded by four foot wrought iron fences and trees. Continuous benches line the interior walks and boundary sidewalks, providing adequate seating accommodations for this densely populated section. The existing walks of cinders, bluestone and macadam have been widened and rebuilt of concrete. Street trees have been planted along all curbs except adjacent to the West Chester Avenue elevated...
  • P.S. 107 - Bronx NY
    The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided funding for the construction of Public School 107 in the Bronx, in 1935. Funding for this school was part of a larger PWA grant ($117,641) allotted for the building of 64 projects in all five boroughs of New York City.
  • P.S. 108: Philip J Abinanti School - Bronx NY
    The Brooklyn school now known as the Philip J Abinanti School opened in 1937. Construction was sponsored by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA).
  • P.S. 60 (former) Addition - Bronx NY
    The former P.S. 60 south of 163rd St. in the Bronx received an addition constructed in 1938-9 as a New Deal project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $191,250 grant for the school, whose total construction cost was $339,052. PWA Docket No. NY 1450
  • P.S. 80 - Bronx NY
    The P.S. 80 school in the Bronx was built in 1935-36 as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project. The plans for the school were approved by the Board of Education in 1935.
  • Pelham Bay Golf Course Improvements - Bronx NY
    The New York City Parks Department website declares: "Despite the hardships endured by New Yorkers over the course of the World Wars and the Great Depression, the demand for golf courses increased steadily. Under the tenure of Parks Commissioner Robert Moses (1888-1981), New York City’s recreational facilities saw great changes. With federal funding provided by the Works Progress Administration, Moses created a variety of new public facilities and expanded others throughout the city. In 1936, the Pell Golf Course was refurbished, and renamed the Pelham Golf Course. That same year, the adjacent Split Rock Golf Course and clubhouse were built." Nonetheless, a Parks...
  • Pelham Bay Park Improvements - Bronx NY
    Pelham Bay Park, the largest in the city of New York (three times the size of Central Park), sits on Pelham Bay in the northeast corner of The Bronx. It was established in 1888, when The Bronx was still separate from New York City. The park was greatly improved by Robert Moses and the NY City Parks Department, with the help of federal New Deal funds and workers from the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Works Progress Administration (WPA). On November 10, 1941, the New York City Department of Parks announced the completion of the massive overhaul of the 60-acre Isaac L. Rice Memorial...
  • Pelham Parkway Bicycle Path - Bronx NY
    The Pelham Parkway bicycle path east of White Plains Road. "The Parks Department website says "Bicycling was an integral part of the New Deal work relief projects of the 1930s and 1940s. The Moses administration planned bicycle paths using WPA funds along the Harlem River Speedway, in Hillside Park in Queens, along the center strip of Pelham Parkway in the Bronx"."   (https://kermitproject.org)
  • People's Park Playground - Bronx NY
    "Peoples Park on Brook Avenue and East 141st Street in the Bronx, June 22, 2015. The New York City Parks Department press release for July 27, 1934, announces the opening of fourteen playgrounds on August 11, including: PLAYGROUND at 141st STREET between BROOKand ST. ANN'S AVENUES, 587 ft. x 175 ft. Facilities: Recreation building, wading pool, handball and basketball courts and playground and gymnasium apparatus.and goes on to say that the 'labor and materials for the construction of these additional playground areas are being supplied thru Work Relief funds.'"  (https://kermitproject.org)
  • Powell Avenue Improvements - Bronx NY
    The federal Work Projects Administration put many men to work starting in 1935 with a Bronx street repair and maintenance project along roads throughout the borough. The streets, many of which in New York City were still unpaved, were surfaced with penetrated macadam. Roads improved included a modest stretch of Powell Avenue from Virginia Ave. to Olmstead Ave.
  • Public School 11 Murals - Bronx NY
    Public School 11, formerly Public School 91, and also known as the Highbridge School, is a Romanesque Revival building built in 1889. In 1937-39, a two-panel oil on canvas mural by Francis Costa was added over the stage. Painted under the auspices of the WPA's Federal Art Project, the murals depict The Old Bronx & The Bronx Today.
  • Pulaski Park - Bronx NY
    The NYC Department of Parks announced the official opening of Pulaski Park (named in honor of Revolutionary War soldier Casimir Pulaski) on October 11, 1939: "The park was named in honor of Pulaski ten years ago. The reconstruction was done by WPA forces under the jurisdiction of the Department of Parks. Included in the development is a small children's playground, equipped with apparatus and shower basin, a sitting area for mothers and children, and a large paved recreation area containing softball diamonds. There are also four handball courts, four horseshoe pitching courts, four shuffleboard courts, a volleyball and basketball court included in...
  • Reservoir Oval Resurfacing - Bronx NY
    The federal Work Projects Administration put many men to work in the Bronx starting in 1935 with street repair and maintenance projects impacting roads throughout the borough. One project involved the resurfacing of Reservoir Oval East and Reservoir Oval West with asphalt macadam, a project for which the WPA allocated $47,118.50. The work along Reservoir Oval complemented the work of the Williamsbridge Oval Park, another WPA project.
  • Rienzi Playground - Bronx NY
    On December 4, 1941, the NYC Department of Parks announced the start of construction on two new playgrounds in the Bronx, including what is now known as Rienzi Playground. The release explains that the WPA was removing sixteen 1-3 story brick buildings in preparation for the WPA construction of the play area, which would include: volleyball, basketball, tennis, handball and shuffleboard courts; a wading pool; a brick comfort station; slides, swings, seesaws, a sandpit and an exercise unit; and a softball diamond. Though begun by the WPA, however, the work was only completed later. The NYC Parks Department website, as well...
  • Rosewood Playground - Bronx NY
    Rosewood Playground in Bronx Park near Rosewood Street and Bronx Park East, was a WPA project, like so many of New York's parks. Construction began in 1940 and was completed in 1941. A Department of Parks Press Release from June 22, 1941 explained: “The Department of Parks announces the the completion of work in the northern section of Bronx Park ... Certain features of the complete development plan prepared by the Department of Parks have been embodied in the present work preformed by the Works Progress Administration. These include construction... two marginal playgrounds. One of these playgrounds is located in...
  • Samuel Gompers High School (former) Mural (painted over) - Bronx NY
    The former Samuel Gompers High School building in the Bronx contains a 1936 fresco by Eric Mose entitled "Power." It was presumably done under the auspices of the WPA's Federal Arts Project. The mural was located in the library on the third floor, but was painted over in the 1980s. The former Samuel Gompers High School now houses several smaller schools of the NY Public Schools
  • Split Rock Golf Course and Clubhouse - Bronx NY
    The New York City Parks Department website declares: "Despite the hardships endured by New Yorkers over the course of the World Wars and the Great Depression, the demand for golf courses increased steadily. Under the tenure of Parks Commissioner Robert Moses (1888-1981), New York City’s recreational facilities saw great changes. With federal funding provided by the Works Progress Administration, Moses created a variety of new public facilities and expanded others throughout the city. In 1936, the Pell Golf Course was refurbished, and renamed the Pelham Golf Course. That same year, the adjacent Split Rock Golf Course and clubhouse were built." The New...
  • St. James Park - Bronx NY
    "St. James Park was created by the City about 1900 and named after a nearby church. According to a NYC Parks Department press of June 3, 1935: This park is eleven and one half acres in area and was completely replanned and reconstructed during the past four months. A Central Mall, with wide bench line paths facing a centre turf panel, bisects the area taking the place of the former dusty extension of 132nd Street. South of the Mall is a large open lawn encircled by a promenade for park visitors. The northern section is devoted principally to recreation activities. Twelve...
  • St. Mary's Park - Bronx NY
    "St. Mary's Park, the largest park in the southeast Bronx, bounded by East 149th Street, St. Ann's Avenue, St. Mary's Street, and Jackson Avenue, June 22, 2015. This park was totally reconstructed by the WPA at the same time as Crotona Park, and reopened in October 1941. The Parks Department press release of October 13, 1941, says: St. Mary's Park consisting in large part of steep and rocky terrain had fallen into a state of shabbiness and disrepair owing to hard usage, outmoded design and erosion due to failure of old drainage systems. The large size of the area made it...
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