New York Sites

The NYC Parks website explains that: "In May 1934, after closing P.S. 38, the Board of Education transferred the property to Parks. Parks opened Laurelton Playground on August 23, 1935 in service of the local community. Parks acquired two small parcels that were added to this playground during 1936." A Parks press release announcing the opening explained that it was then "developed as a small children's play area." As researcher Frank da Cruz explains here, almost all New York City Parks Department projects between 1934 and 1943 were accomplished with New Deal funds and/or labor. Given the date of this project,...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved Lavalley Road "beginning at Honeymoore's Corners thru to Mooers village" in the town of Champlain.

The New York City Parks Department website details the history of Lawrence Triangle, a 0.14-acre park in Flushing, New York. "In July , the Flushing Garden Club presented the land to the Flushing Hospital to be used by hospital patients as an outdoor retreat during their stay. The hospital then granted the park to the City of New York in July 1939. The WPA (Works Progress Administration) worked to improve the park for general use by planting trees, grass and flowers, paving the paths, and removing an old gate. A local law named the park in honor of Lawrence in 1951."

On July 28, 1937, the Department of Parks announced the opening of "five playgrounds, constructed by the Department of Parks with relief labor and funds," noting that "These playgrounds are five of the twenty-four sites in neglected areas selected by the Commissioner of Parks and acquired by condemnation after authorization by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment on July 15, 1936." One of these five playgrounds was what is now known as the Lawrence Virgilio Playground in Windmuller Park. Today's NYC Parks website confirms that "The land comprising Windmuller Park was acquired from the Windmuller family in 1936 and the park...

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 the stretch of Layton Avenue between Shore Drive and what was then Eastern Blvd. (Eastern Boulevard provided the foundation for what is now the Bruckner Expressway; however, the exact terminus for the Layton Avenue work is unclear as Layton Avenue intersects the Throgs Neck Expressway and not the Bruckner.)

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook a sizable public building improvement project in Brooklyn, New York beginning in 1935.  The project involved the "Improvement of Public Buildings and Offices" at more than 30 locations, including the old Lee Avenue Court Building.

"Lehman's Historic Campus page states that the “the first four buildings in the plan—Gillet and Davis halls, the Music Building, and the Gymnasium—were completed in 1931 by the New York State Works Progress Administration”. Strictly speaking, this would not be the New Deal WPA (as, for example, claimed by Wikipedia), but a primordial WPA launched by Franklin D. Roosevelt when he was New York's governor, 1929-32, where he “established a number of new social programs, and was advised by Frances Perkins and Harry Hopkins” (key players in the federal New Deal). To confuse matters further, the site was the Bronx...

The road construction project pictured in this photo was sponsored by the Works Progress Administration (NYPL Digital Collections). The road under construction was near the Bronx campus of Hunter College (the present day site of Lehman college).

Leif Ericson Park is a long, narrow park in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, which "features a Norse theme in honor of Leif Ericson and the local Scandinavian-American community" (NYC Parks). By the turn of the 20th century, the neighborhood had a large Norwegian population, and in 1925 community leaders convinced City Hall to turn the five blocks from 4th Ave. to Fort Hamilton Parkway between 66th St. and 67th St. into a park. In the 1930s, the park was extensively developed by the New Deal. In October 1934, the Department of Parks announced the addition of two play areas...

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 half-mile stretch of Leland Avenue in the Clason Point neighborhood of the Bronx from O'Brien Ave. to Randall Ave.

The historic Lenox Hill Station post office in New York, New York is located on East 70th Street, between 2nd Ave. and 3rd Ave. It was one of many post offices in Manhattan constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the New Deal era. The post office was initially known as New York, New York’s Station ‘Y’ until its redesignation as Audubon Station on Feb. 1, 1947. The building’s cornerstone dates an initial stage of construction to 1935. The building is still in service.

A site devoted to the history of the park (www.letchworthparkhistory.com) has compiled an extensive list of CCC work done in the park: During the Great Depression, Letchworth Park was the site of several Civilian Conservation Camps. (See the Glimpse of the CCC) The information highlights the work done by the CCC "boys" in the Park, and is taken from Annual Reports of the Genesee State Park Commission during the time period. Great Bend Camp SP-5 (in operation for 30 months) constructed the camp built 6 miles of 18 ft wide gravel road installed 400 ft of 6" under drain constructed 15 concrete...

The Octagon Shelter is one of two stone and wood shelters built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp SP-49 in Letchworth State Park. The shelter stands in the Lower Falls picnic area of Letchworth State Park.

Civilian Conservation Corps Company SP-49 built a stacked stone retaining way and stone staircase to allow visitors to Letchworth State Park access to the Lower Falls from the picnic area above the falls. Over 100 individual stone steps were installed and continue to be used.

The former, and since-abandoned, Letchworth Village institution was expanded with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA provided a $204,592 grant for the project, whose total cost was $460,431. Construction occurred between Mar. 1936 and Jul. 1937. One document summarizes the project as "HOSP ADD," Location: Pomona. PWA Docket No. NY 1250

Levy Playground is a small plot in the Richmond district of Staten Island. It was one of five “model playgrounds” designed as templates for further playground development by Robert Moses and his team after Moses assumed control of the New York City Parks Department in 1934. The August 1934 press release announcing the opening of this and 13 other playgrounds – constructed with Work Relief funds probably coming from the Civil Works Administration (CWA) – described this playground as containing: "Recreation building and the usual playground apparatus. There is an octagonal wading pool. The smaller children will be separated from...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved Lewis–Wadhams Road. 2.58 miles of the road were widened, graded, and provided with a gravel foundation. The exact stretch of the road is unclear, though is believed to be that closer to Lewis.

In the summer of 1935, the College of the City of New York (today's City College of New York), completed construction of the north ramp of Lewisohn Stadium with funding from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) (CCNY Newspaper). Lewisohn Stadium was an amphitheater that served as a public space for athletic, musical, and theatrical performances. The stadium was razed in 1973 in order to expand the academic facilities on campus (CCNY Libraries). Lewisohn Plaza now encompasses the area of what was once the stadium (New York Times).

The federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) conducted major work in and around Ley Creek during the 1930s. A 1940 WPA report described its efforts: "Ley Creek was the largest WPA project in upstate New York. Ley Creek was formerly a sewage filled drainage ditch twisting five and a half miles through the northern section of Syracuse, where some 30,000 persons lived. A constant menace to health and the development of the city, the creek has been enclosed in a monolithic sewer and a sewage treatment plant erected. There are seven lateral sewers totalling three miles in length and forming the basis...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed a water main and a storm water sewer along Liberty Street in Middletown, New York.

From 1936 until recently, the New Hyde Park library occupied this building on the Jericho Turnpike. The building itself dates to earlier than 1936, but the NYA renovated the building in the 1930s in order for the library to move in. The building now appears to be occupied by the New Hyde Park Little League. A story discussing the relocation of New Hyde Park library services describes the buildings New Deal history: "The village library has been in existence for 83 years but it has been housed at its current location, in the basement of New Hyde Park Village Hall, corner of...

The historic former post office building in Floral Park, New York was constructed with Treasury Department and Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds in 1936. The building presently serves as the Floral Park Public Library. Postal operations have been moved to a new facility a few hundred feet down Tulip Ave. "Floral Park is a residential community in Nassau County on Long Island, on the eastern edge of New York City. Its population in 1930 was 10,016, and its postal receipts for 1935 were $47,624. The building is 84 by 90 feet in plan and is one story and part basement in height...

Lincoln Community Center was established as a community center by Vassar College in 1916. The former Lincoln Community Center Gymnasium was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) in 1937. Arson destroyed the primary center in 1979, and Living New Deal believes the WPA-built gymnasium is also no longer extant. The exact location of the construction is also unknown to us at this time.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement work on one mile of Lincoln Pond Road outside Elizabethtown, New York in 1937. The project employed 28 men for six months.

This large, tiered park in Brooklyn was acquired by the City in stages between 1916 and 1935. In 1939-1940, the WPA constructed a brand new playground on the lower level of the park and then completely redesigned the upper levels as well. The August 1939 press release announcing the opening of the lower section described this work in detail: "The Brooklyn playground, in Lincoln Terrace Park, is one of the most intensively developed recreational areas that has been constructed by the Park Department. It is thirteen acres in size and contains a large open play area for group games for older...

The Lincoln Tunnel is a 1.5-mile long tunnel under the Hudson River, from  Weehawken, New Jersey to the borough of Manhattan.  The  project was funded by the New Deal's Public Works Administration and the design was by Ole Singstad. Construction began in March 1934 and the tunnel opened to traffic on December 22, 1937, charging $0.50 per passenger car. The cost of construction was $85,000,000.  The original design called for two tubes. Work on the second was halted in 1938 but resumed in 1941. Due to war material shortages of metal, completion was delayed for two years. It opened on February 1, 1945 at a...

The Department of Parks announced the opening of this playground on August 30, 1935 and noted that it contained a wading pool and playground apparatus. Although federal involvement is not explicitly mentioned, federal funding for laborers, materials, architects, landscapers and engineers employed on Parks projects is acknowledged in about 350 press releases from 1934 to 1943. As researcher Frank da Cruz explains here, from these and other sources, it can be confidently stated that all New York City parks projects from 1934 to 1938 and almost all from 1939-1943 were completed in whole or in part with New Deal funding...

"This playground, formerly La Guardia Houses Park, refers to the popular nickname of New York City mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia (1882-1947), Little Flower. The nickname is a literal translation of the Italian mayor’s first name and an allusion to his small physical stature of 5 feet 2 inches." It was completed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA)." It is also the site of Jo Davidson's bust of LaGuardia.  

"A bust of La Guardia stands at the southeastern corner of the . The life-size bronze bust was created in 1934 by sculptor Jo Davidson (1883-1952), who also immortalized in bronze Mohandas Gandhi, James Joyce, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Gertrude Stein. The bust remained in Davidson’s collection until he died in 1952, when the La Guardia Memorial Association purchased it. The monument was dedicated and installed in its present location in 1957, when the La Guardia Houses and the adjoining playground were completed."

This site, a former sanatorium, holds a collection of over 200 works funded by the New Deal, with roughly 25 paintings at a time on display. The online archive can be accessed here. From the New Deal Gallery website: Our Murray Hill site was visited by Eleanor Roosevelt and chosen for the Mount Morris Tuberculosis Sanatorium when FDR was Governor of New York. The complex was the recipient of a collection of 230+ easel paintings. The sanatorium opened in 1936 and operated until 1971. The campus was turned over to the county in 1973. Since that time our building and most...

"The site of this project is a peninsula, locally known as 'The Island' and in addition to the school building, there are baseball and football fields, a running track, tennis courts, and a park containing beautiful old trees. The school, which is 2 stories in height, contains 28 classrooms, a combination gymnasium-auditorium, a kindergarten, cafeteria, library, rooms for domestic science, medical and dental clinics, and a garage for 5 school buses. Construction is semifireproof. The exterior walls are brick trimmed with cast stone and the roofs are covered with slate. The project was completed in April 1939 at a construction...

The Department of Parks announced the opening of this WPA playground in Queens on August 9, 1939: “The land was acquired at the time the Board of Estimate approved the modified plan for the Atlantic Avenue Improvement, the playground was designed by the Department of Parks, and built for the Park Department by the Works Progress Administration. The small children's area in the southerly part of the playground contains various types of play equipment, a wading pool, and a sand pit. The balance of the area is taken up with basketball, volleyball, and handball courts, a softball diamond and a roller skating...

The federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) played a crucial role in the development of Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale, New York. NPS.gov: "By June 1939, the cemetery employed 480 men through WPA projects. A final narrative report of the WPA projects completed at the cemetery listed: construction of the shelter house and comfort station, including its sewer line and septic tank; clearing 76 acres of scrub trees and underbrush, and a 60’ fire break along boundary lines; construction of a rostrum; construction of 2,363’ of sidewalks, 5,472’ of curb and gutters; and completion of woven-wire and barbed-wire fences on the...

This 1938 photo from the National Archives and Records Administration shows the bridge on Lorings Crossing Rd. under construction in 1938.

Loudonville Reservoir's Basin C was constructed by the federal Work Projects Administration. The agency described its accomplishments in a 1940 report: "Basin C, Loudonville Reservoir, huge concrete retainer, holds 93,000,000 gallons, a guarantee of ten days supply for Albany against any stoppage. Worked with double shifts excavation exceeded rate set on Basins A and B, build under private contract. Concrete was laid in 98 days. ... The City of Albany several years ago expended more than $6,000,000 to develop a mountain water supply eliminating the old supply which was derived from the Hudson River. The new WPA built Basin was the...

On January 15, 1940, the New York City Department of Parks announced the completion of this "new facility" at Alexander Ave. and 136th St.: "It contains four handball courts, a large, open, biuminous-surfaced play area for group games, small and large swings, see-saws, slides, a jungle gym, a completely equipped playground with sand pit and wading pool for smaller children, and a comfort station. A planting area with shade trees borders the playground. Numerous concrete benches have been provided. ... designed by the Park Department and built by the Work Projects Administration..."   (https://kermitproject.org) The park was renamed for Private Carlos J. Lozada in...

An August 1935 Parks Department press release lists what is now the Lt. Joseph Petrosino Park as one of seventy-three play areas developed in the preceding year with "city, state and federal relief funds." The release describes this park as having play areas designed for mothers and infants, older children, adolescents and adults. The playground opened on May 24, 1935. NYC Parks website further explains that "Distributed around its perimeter were handball courts, slides, swings, a wading pool, jungle gym, and recreation building." The park was renovated in 1993. Although neither source identifies which federal agencies were involved, researcher Frank da Cruz explains...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted street repair work on Lurting Avenue in the vicinity of Rhinelander Ave. and Morris Park Ave., ca. 1936.

Located in College Point, this green space on the East River is built on the grounds of an old mansion. It was originally known as Chisolm Park: "In 1930 the City of New York acquired the mansion and its grounds for a public park. The Parks Department improved the property with a new playground, football field, roller skating rink, baseball diamond, and picnic grounds. Popular with picnickers, the waterfront property was known alternatively as Chisholm Park (a variant spelling of the Chisolm family’s name) and College Point Shore Front Park. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia made the Chisolm mansion his summer City Hall...

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.