New York City Sites

Parks acquired this land to the West and the South of the WPA's Queensbridge Housing development in 1939. The press release announcing the completion of a WPA playground on the site in July 1941 explained: "The southerly section lying alongside and under the bridge structure has been developed for specialized intensive forms of recreation adapted to the needs of various age groups. Central to this section is a new comfort station located on the line of 10 Street and surrounded by play apparatus for small children: sand pit, wading pool, swings, etc., and extending to the east a series of game...

Randall's Island Park cover more than 400 acres of the 500+ acre island.  It contains dozens of tennis courts, baseball diamonds, soccer fields, playgrounds and other recreational facilities, as well as paths, greenways and a marsh.  Frank da Cruz summarizes the extensive New Deal renovation and expansion of Randall's Island Park: "Randall's Island itself, which (with neighboring Ward's Island, now joined to it) lies in the East River between East Harlem, the South Bronx, and Astoria, Queens... Prior to the New Deal it housed institutions such as an orphanage, a poor house, a reform school, a potters field, a refuge for sick and/or...

"On June 19, 1936, the Parks Department announced the opening of the Randall's Island stadium, with tickets available for the final American Olympic men's track and field tryouts on July 11 and 12, reserved seats costing 75 cents, $1.00, and $2.00 (see press release); 15,000 tickets were sold. The first day of the Olympics tryouts was preceded by an opening ceremony presided over by Robert Moses and featuring Harry Hopkins, FDR's federal relief administrator, and Mayor La Guardia. Lest any doubt remain as to the stadium's WPA pedigree, Robert Moses states (in response to a reference to its "shoddy construction" in...

The New York Times reported in 1941 that, as part of WPA efforts, Brooklyn would receive six new playgrounds, located at: "Third Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street, Second Avenue and Fifty-fifth Street, Fort Hamilton Parkway and Fifty-second Street, Albany and Foster Avenues, Park and Nostrand Avenues and Eastern Parkway Extension and Fulton Street." Rappaport Playground is the third site described.

The Raymond M. O'Connor Park and the Kennedy Playground within it were developed with federal relief funds in the 1930s. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed work on the park in 1935. The NYC Parks site explains that the park "was established as part of the massive expansion of recreational facilities, largely through Federal emergency relief funding, which took place in the 1930s under Parks Commissioner Robert Moses. In 1931 the city purchased property in the Bayside neighborhood of Queens for $95,000 to create a public playground and thoroughfare... the land was landscaped with lawns, shade trees and sidewalks by...

Red Hook Park in Brooklyn was one of several major parks and hundreds of playgrounds created in New York City with Federal funds in the New Deal era. In this 1938 text, Robert Moses describes the work accomplished in New York City parks, including Red Hook, by relief workers: "There are today 372 playgrounds, ranging from small neighborhood plots of a quarter acre to large developments such as Macombs Dam Park in The Bronx, Red Hook and McCarren Parks in Brooklyn, and Randall's Island, adjacent to the East Harlem section of Manhattan, all developed to take care of every type of recreation for both children and...

Red Hook Park swimming pool was one of eleven pools constructed by Works Progress Administration (WPA) relief workers for the New York City Parks Department in 1936.  As the Parks Department website puts it: "A new era in active recreation arrived in the 1930s and 1940s, when the Department of Parks assumed jurisdiction over the city's bathhouses and harnessed Works Progress Administration labor to develop a series of outdoor pools for the city. The WPA swimming pools were among the most remarkable public recreational facilities in the country, representing the forefront of design and technology in advanced filtration and chlorination systems. The...

The federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) undertook several road improvement projects along roads in Brooklyn, New York. One such project involved the removal of malls and other repair work along the modest stretch of Remsen Avenue from Winthrop St. to E. 54th St.

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.

"Photograph dated May 5, 1937 of Works Progress Administration Project number 93. Rhinelander Row was located on Seventh Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets, Manhattan. Rhinelander Row was just one project in the Works Progress Administration to better the housing in New York City during the campaign to clean up all tenements in New York City. Rhinelander row was demolished later on as it did not match the architecture known to Greenwich Village and the area." Rhinelander Row was also known as Cottage Row.

The federal Work Projects Administration put many men to work starting in 1935 with a Staten Island project that removed dangerous street ditches from roads throughout the borough. Granite block gutters and headers were installed by WPA laborers along a dozen streets, including a 1,000-foot stretch of Richmond Avenue starting north at Hylan Ave.

The Works Progress Administration worked to "renovate and repair" several buildings on Staten Island (Richmond County), a $225,507 project begun in 1935. One of those buildings was the Richmond County Courthouse, next to the Borough Hall in the St. George district of Staten Island. The courthouse was built in 1919 in Neoclassical style and housed the Richmond County Supreme Court until 2015 (parts of the Supreme Court remain in the old courthouse). Today it is home to two sets of murals by Charles Davis and Axel Horn, originally painted for the old Farm Colony poorhouse and long hung in the old Seaview Hospital.

The Richmond County courts are home to two set of murals, one by Axel Horn, a New York-based artist, and another by Charles Davis, an African American artist based in Chicago.  The murals were painted in 1937-38 under the auspices of the Federal Arts Project. There are five murals by Horn, painted with egg tempera on gessoed masonite, 114" x 60" each.  The overall title is Economic Pursuits of the Early American Settlers. The murals have have been moved several times.  They were originally installed in a large workshop  for the benefit of the indigent residents at the Farm Colony,  which was across the road from...

The Richmond County courts are home to two set of murals, one by Axel Horn, a New York-based artist, and another by Charles Davis, an African American artist based in Chicago.  The murals were painted in 1937-38 under the auspices of the Federal Arts Project. There are six murals by Davis, in egg tempura on Masonite panels. Davis titled his murals The Progress of American Industry, with the following themes: Railroad Builders Lumbering Agriculture Mining Steel Workers Bridge Builders The murals have have been moved several times.  They were originally installed in a large workshop  for the benefit of the indigent residents at the Farm Colony,  which...

The extension of the Richmond Hill branch library in Queens was undertaken as a sponsored federal WPA project during the 1930s.

In 1936 Philip Evergood completed a 160-foot mural entitled "The Story of Richmond Hill," with funds provided by the Works Progress Administration's (WPA) Federal Art Project. "The left and lighter side of the mural celebrates the bucolic pleasures of Queens, with citizens making merry (couples dancing in the park), The right and darker side depicts less rosy conditions in the heart of the metropolis (laborers and children). A middle section shows planners and dreamers. The mural is displayed over bookcases in the main reading room." (loc.gov)

A set of alterations to the branch library in Ridgewood, New York was undertaken as a sponsored federal WPA project during the 1930s.

The federal Works Progress Administration worked to conduct repairs and alterations to several civic buildings in Queens as part of a $300,464 project begun in 1935. Buildings improved included what was then the Queens County Magistrate's Courthouse building in Ridgewood, NY. "The Ridgewood YMCA building was constructed in 1931 and served as the Queens County Magistrate's Courthouse. At the time, the brick and limestone-trimmed building was the first courthouse erected in Queens since 1898. The courthouse shuttered its doors in 1962 and the YMCA of Greater New York purchased the building from the city in 1965 for $50,000." (YMCA)

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...

"Beginning in 1936, Alland supervised the Photo-Mural Section of the Federal Art Project. He installed photo-murals at the Newark Public Library (1936) and at the Riker's Island Penitentiary library (1937)."   (https://dlib.nyu.edu) The Riker's Island mural, entitled "Approach to Manhattan" was designed specifically for the prison. As Alland's submission statement explained: "The subject of this photomural utilizes the familiar aspects of the normal and happy family in the City. The main purpose of this decoration, besides that of relieving the monotony and changing the aspects of a huge prison hall, into a livable library, where those prisoners who have gained the privilege through...

Excerpt from the National Archives and Records Administration, Neg. 17975-D: "Rikers Island Penitentiary. Description of work done by WPA. Erection of four single family residences; two single family residences; 5400 linear feet chain-like fence. Fence around entire institution, fence around baseball field; one concrete coping wall; piping in tunnel to the new proposed buildings. Erection of new hay and feed barn in wagon sheds on Riker's Island. Project No. 665-97-3-22. Social rehabilitation of Prison Inmates, Department of Correction, 2 Rikers Island."   Excerpt from the (1939) WPA Guide to New York City, Federal Writers Project: “The island is now entirely given over to the city's...

"Ben Shahn's WPA mural planned for the Rikers Island Penitentiary mess hall was rejected in 1935, the year the prison opened. Harold Lehman's WPA mural "Man's Daily Bread" was mounted there instead circa 1936 but was removed decades later. Thus in a sense, both the planned Shahn mural and the actual Lehman mural could be counted as two murals "missing" in Rikers Island Penitentiary WPA art history. Considerably worse for wear but not missing is a third Rikers Island Penitentiary WPA mural: Anton Refregier's "Home and the Family." Its presence enhances the historic landmark character of NYC's oldest structure in continuous correction-related use. In 1937...

Riverside Park is a 6.7-mile long waterside public park in Manhattan's Upper West Side, running between the Hudson River and Riverside Drive. Its origins go back to Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux,  the designers of Central Park in the 19th century.  In the 1930s the park was completely redeveloped and expanded, in part in conjunction with the Henry Hudson Parkway, with the help of the New Deal. Researcher Frank da Cruz describes New Deal involvement in the park: "By 1934, the park was in terrible shape; Robert Moses and the NY City Parks Department, using New Deal funding, designers, and labor completely...

This charming stone overlook and the surrounding steps in Riverside Park at 106th St. were built with New Deal funds and labor during the massive overhaul of the whole park area from 1934 to 1941. The work was supported mainly by the PWA, CWA, and WPA. The overlook marks the split between the park's upper and lower levels and houses trains that go hurtling by just beyond the arches pictured here. The overlook structure has been turned into a cafe/concession area.

Located along the Henry Hudson Parkway, the 79th Street Boat Basin is a marina, restaurant and still popular Manhattan destination. It was built in the 1930s with extensive New Deal support: "In a way, we owe the existence of the entire Riverside - Fort Washington Park complex to the 79th Street Boat Basin. In 1934, Robert Moses wanted to build a whole new park from 72nd Street all the way to the top of Manhattan but he needed to find the money. He already had funding for the Henry Hudson Parkway. Since the Parkway was to have an exit and entry...

Researcher Frank da Cruz explains that: “By 1934, the park was in terrible shape; Robert Moses and the NY City Parks Department, using New Deal funding, designers, and labor completely leveled the original park and replaced it with a new one in which the railroad ran beneath ground level and which, unlike the original park, was full of playgrounds, ball fields, and game courts… The construction of Riverside Park…was a mammoth undertaking supported mainly by PWA, CWA, and WPA from 1934 to 1941, such a huge undertaking that the records don’t even bother to mention individual features like specific playgrounds, ballfields,...

The Firemen's Memorial facing Riverside Park on Riverside Drive at 100th Street, 1913. The NY City Parks Department website says: The memorial exemplifies a classical grandeur that characterized several civic monuments built in New York City from the 1890s to World War I, as part of an effort dubbed the City Beautiful Movement, which was meant to improve the standard of urban public design and achieve an uplifting union of art and architecture. This monument has twice undergone extensive restoration, once in the late 1930s, through a W.P.A.-sponsored conservation program, and more recently through a $2 million city-funded capital project completed...

A great number of improvements to the General Grant National Memorial ("Grant's Tomb") were undertaken by the WPA between 1935 and 1939. As the National Park Service's David Kahn (1980) explains: "Thirty-eight years after the tomb opened, the initial restoration project began in December 1935, when the Works Progress Administration's laborers laid down new marble flooring in the atrium. In 1935-39 WPA cleaned marble (interior and exterior), replaced floors, replaced roof, electric lighting, heating, built curator's office, new stained glass, painted over dirty plaster walls, screens, display racks, brass sculptured busts of five Union generals by WPA artists, installation of eagles...

A great number of improvements to the General Grant National Memorial ("Grant's Tomb") were undertaken by the WPA between 1935 and 1939. As the National Park Service's David Kahn (1980) explains: "In 1938 the Federal Art Project selected artists William Mues and Jeno Juszko to design the busts of William T. Sherman, Phillip H. Sheridan, George H. Thomas, James B. McPherson, and Edward Ord. The WPA installed five busts in the circular wall of the atrium surrounding the sarcophagi. After the many contributions of the WPA, the Grant Monument Association held a re-dedication of the tomb on April 27, 1939." The Riverside...

"The Joan of Arc statue on Riverside Drive at 93rd Street, by Anna Vaugh Hyatt Huntington, dedicated in 1915. In 1939, the statue was repatined, its broken sword restored, and its staircase repaired. As noted in references below, this was done by the Parks Department Monuments Restoration Project which was part of the WPA."   (kermitproject.org)

Researcher Frank da Cruz explains that: "By 1934, the park was in terrible shape; Robert Moses and the NY City Parks Department, using New Deal funding, designers, and labor completely leveled the original park and replaced it with a new one in which the railroad ran beneath ground level and which, unlike the original park, was full of playgrounds, ball fields, and game courts... The construction of Riverside Park...was a mammoth undertaking supported mainly by PWA, CWA, and WPA from 1934 to 1941, such a huge undertaking that the records don't even bother to mention individual features like specific playgrounds, ballfields,...

The federal Work Projects Administration put many men to work starting in 1935 with a $197,000 street repair and maintenance project, along what were then dirt roads, throughout the borough of Brooklyn, New York. Roads improved included the following in central Canarsie in the vicinity of Flatlands Ave. and E. 87th St.: E. 88th St.: Flatlands Ave. to Ave. J E. 88th St.: Flatlands Ave. to Glenwood Rd. E. 87th St.: Flatlands Ave. to Ave. J E. 87th St.: Flatlands Ave. to Glenwood Rd. E. 87th St.: Ave. M to Ave. L E. 85th St.: Flatlands Ave. to Ave. J E. 85th St.: Flatlands Ave. to Glenwood Rd.

The federal Work Projects Administration put many men to work starting in 1935 with a $197,000 street repair and maintenance project, along what were then dirt roads, throughout the borough of Brooklyn, New York. Roads improved included the following in northeast Canarsie in the vicinity of the L train terminus: E. 98th St.: Farragut Rd. to Foster Ave. E. 99th St.: Farragut Rd. to Foster Ave./li> E. 103th St.: Farragut Rd. to Glenwood Rd. E. 104rd St.: Farragut Rd. to Glenwood Rd. Farragut Rd.: E. 102nd St. to E. 107th St.

Historic imagery shows that the Works Progress Administration (WPA) dug up and rebuilt 8th Ave. around 42nd St., in Manhattan, in 1936.

The WPA undertook work during the 1930s to improve Rockaway Beach (the physical beach, as opposed to the neighborhood of Rockaway Beach itself) in southern Queens, New York. One project entailed: "Removal of refuse and level sand on Rockaway Beach." WPA Official Project No. 165-97-3001.

The federal Work Projects Administration put many men to work starting in 1935 with a Staten Island project that removed dangerous street ditches from roads throughout the borough. Granite block gutters and headers were installed with WPA labor along a dozen streets, including the 1.2-mile stretch of Rockland Avenue between Brielle Avenue and Richmond Road.

The former Rosebank Quarantine Station in Staten Island, New York was expanded during the F.D.R. era. "Building 1," and "Building 3," each completed in 1935, were constructed by Caye Construction Co. In 1939 additional work was completed: an addition to the "Junior Medical Quarters" / "Building B," and "M. O. C. Residence" / "Building C". The facility occupied a sizable section of shorefront property east of Bay Street. Most of the New Deal-era / Quarantine facilities are no longer extant. "For about a century, beginning in 1873, Rosebank was once home to a Quarantine Hospital.  The facility was located on Bay Street and Nautilus Street...

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...

Rudd Playground, located at Bushwick Ave. and Aberdeen St. in Brooklyn, was one of seven Works Progress Administration (WPA) playgrounds opened in New York City on November 22, 1935.

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