New York Sites

The "Flemish Revival" style Astoria branch of the Queens Borough Public Library was constructed in 1904, but heavily renovated by the CWA in the 1930s: "The angled corner was squared off, which created two new windows and made the structure three bays wide, two bays deep, and more rectangular.  The original saffron brick pattern and tripartite window designs were carefully replicated in the new corner walls.  A new stairway and main entrance were constructed, with narrow windows with stone sills and keystones on either side of the door.  A basement entrance for children was created and the basement windows were widened. ...

The Astoria branch of the Queens Borough Public Library received a series of murals as well as accompanying sculptures under the Works Progress Administration (WPA)'s Federal Art Project. "here was no controversy about the playful mural commissioned in 1938 for the children's reading room of the Queens Borough Astoria branch, which celebrated the centennial of its building last year. Painted by Max Spivak (1906-81), an artist little known today, the mural, depicting whimsical circus and opera puppets, was originally done in five parts. But three have been lost, as have all of the original polychromed figures, by the sculptor Eugenie Gershoy,...

Daniel Celentano, once an apprentice to Thomas Hart Benton, was already a successful artist when he joined the Mural Division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). In 1936, under the WPA, he completed his mural “Commerce” for the Queens Borough Public Library, Flushing Branch.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) tore up disused trolley tracks along, repaved, and otherwise beautified Queens Boulevard during the 1930s. 2,500 men, who would otherwise be unemployed, were put to work on the job. Work stretched along Queens Blvd. for eight miles: from Roosevelt Avenue in Sunnyside to Hillside Avenue in Jamaica. Groundbreaking for the massive $1.5 million infrastructure improvement project occurred on October 5, 1935, with Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. One aspect of the project called for the "plant Norway Maple Trees in Malls. Pave mall area with concrete block. Plant vines and hedges at Elevated Pillars along Queens...

The WPA undertook a $940,000 project aimed at improving the campus of Queens College during the 1930s. The description for the project is as follows: "landscaping; draining; constructing roads, sidewalks, parking areas, athletic fields, field house, bleachers, and tennis and handball courts; and performing incidental and appurtenant work."

The PWA constructed the Queens General Hospital at 161st St. and 82d Drive. The hospital opened in 1935. The hospital was later greatly expanded and became part of the Queens Hospital Center. The current facility is located on the same site; most, if not all original buildings have been replaced or otherwise incorporated into more recent construction.

The Queens–Midtown Tunnel was completed with the assistance of a $58 million Public Works Administration grant approved by Franklin D. Roosevelt: "In 1935, with the promise of $58 million in Public Works Administration loans made available under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs, then Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia created the Queens Midtown Tunnel Authority, telling the new agency's three–members, "You are starting from scratch with no appropriation and nothing but an idea and a law.” A year later the Queens Midtown Tunnel Authority became the New York City Tunnel Authority, which merged again in 1946 with the Robert Moses–led Triborough Bridge Authority...

New York City's Queensboro Bridge, which connects Long Island City in Queens with Manhattan, was improved by the federal Work Projects Administration during the 1930s. The bridge is also called the 59th Street Bridge or, more recently, the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge. A WPA report from 1940 described its work: "Repaving of the Queensboro Bridge, an example of the improvement made to New York City's bridges. The old paving was of wood blocks and had become dangerous, particularly in wet weather. This was replaced by a concrete paving on a special I-beam grid. The lower roadway was completed in 1937 and,...

From the Works Progress Administration (WPA)'s New York City Guide (1939): “Queensbridge Houses, north of Queensboro Bridge Plaza, between Vernon Boulevard and Twenty-first Street, is the fifth low-rent, government-financed housing project in the city since 1936. Twenty-six brick dwelling structures, six stories high with elevators, a community building, and a children’s center, all arranged around open polygonal courts, will cover less than one quarter of the projects 62.5 acres; the remaining land will be landscaped park and recreation space. When completed late in 1939, the 3,161 apartments will house approximately 11,400 people.” The building was constructed through the WPA under the...

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...

The WPA worked to replace a bridge across the Quogue Canal that was destroyed by a hurricane in 1938. Sayville’s Suffolk County News reported in Nov. 1939 that work was “progressing satisfactorily,” with the “principal concrete of the substructure … completed and steel superstructure work now in progress.”  The destroyed span had crossed the canal at Beach Lane, though Medford's Mid-Island Mail noted that the WPA's new bascule span would also serve to replace a second, previously condemned, span known as the Post bridge. The WPA bridge, which was completed in August 1940, carries vehicles along Post Lane across the...

Quogue School was constructed during the 1930s; the project aided by federal Public Works Administration funds (Docket No. NY 4042). The building is still in use today.

The bridge carrying the the newly raised Staten Island Railway over Arden Avenue was built in the late 1930s, as one link in a large grade crossing removal project sponsored by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The bridge bears a 1938 date stamp.

The bridge carrying the the newly raised Staten Island Railway over Armstrong Avenue was built in 1939, as one link in a large grade crossing removal project sponsored by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The bridge bears a 1939 date stamp.

The overpass carrying the Staten Island Railway over Canal St., between Bay St. and Front St., was constructed during the mid-1930s as one link in a massive grade separation project. The structure is imprinted with the date 1936. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $1.46 million grant for the $6 million grade crossing elimination project, which included work elsewhere in Staten Island and even in Manhattan. PWA Docket No. NY 4926.

The overpass carrying what was then a freight and passenger railway (the North Shore Branch of the Staten Island Railway) over Faber St. was constructed during the mid-1930s as one link in a massive grade separation project. The structure is imprinted with the date 1935. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $1.46 million grant for the $6 million grade crossing elimination project, which included work elsewhere in Staten Island and even in Manhattan. PWA Docket No. NY 4926.

The overpass carrying what was then a freight and passenger railway (the North Shore Branch of the Staten Island Railway) over Maple Ave. was constructed during the mid-1930s as one link in a massive grade separation project. The structure is imprinted with the date 1935. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $1.46 million grant for the $6 million grade crossing elimination project, which included work elsewhere in Staten Island and even in Manhattan. PWA Docket No. NY 4926.

The overpass carrying what was then a freight and passenger railway (the North Shore Branch of the Staten Island Railway) over Nicholas Ave. was constructed during the mid-1930s as one link in a massive grade separation project. The structure is imprinted with the date 1935. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $1.46 million grant for the $6 million grade crossing elimination project, which included work elsewhere in Staten Island and even in Manhattan. PWA Docket No. NY 4926.

The overpass carrying what was then a freight and passenger railway (the North Shore Branch of the Staten Island Railway) over Park Ave. was constructed during the mid-1930s as one link in a massive grade separation project. The structure leads into the former elevated Port Richmond station, and is imprinted with the date 1935. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $1.46 million grant for the $6 million grade crossing elimination project, which included work elsewhere in Staten Island and even in Manhattan. PWA Docket No. NY 4926.

The overpass carrying what was then a freight and passenger railway (the North Shore Branch of the Staten Island Railway) over Port Richmond Ave. was constructed during the mid-1930s as one link in a massive grade separation project. The structure leads into the former elevated Port Richmond station, and is imprinted with the date 1935. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $1.46 million grant for the $6 million grade crossing elimination project, which included work elsewhere in Staten Island and even in Manhattan. PWA Docket No. NY 4926.

The overpass carrying the Staten Island Railway over Prospect St., between Bay St. and Front St., was constructed during the mid-1930s as one link in a massive grade separation project. The structure is imprinted with the date 1936. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $1.46 million grant for the $6 million grade crossing elimination project, which included work elsewhere in Staten Island and even in Manhattan. PWA Docket No. NY 4926.

The bridge carrying the the newly raised Staten Island Railway over Richmond Avenue was built in 1939, as one link in a large grade crossing removal project sponsored by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The bridge bears a 1939 date stamp.

The overpass carrying what was then a freight and passenger railway (the North Shore Branch of the Staten Island Railway) over Park Ave. was constructed during the mid-1930s as one link in a massive grade separation project. The structure leads into the former elevated Port Richmond station, and is imprinted with the date 1935. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $1.46 million grant for the $6 million grade crossing elimination project, which included work elsewhere in Staten Island and even in Manhattan. PWA Docket No. NY 4926.

The overpass carrying what was then a freight and passenger railway (the North Shore Branch of the Staten Island Railway) over Sharpe Ave. was constructed during the mid-1930s as one link in a massive grade separation project. The structure leads into the former elevated Tower Hill station, and is imprinted with the date 1935. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $1.46 million grant for the $6 million grade crossing elimination project, which included work elsewhere in Staten Island and even in Manhattan. PWA Docket No. NY 4926.

The overpass carrying the Staten Island Railway over Thompson St., between Bay St. and Front St., was constructed during the mid-1930s as one link in a massive grade separation project. The structure is imprinted with the date 1936. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $1.46 million grant for the $6 million grade crossing elimination project, which included work elsewhere in Staten Island and even in Manhattan. PWA Docket No. NY 4926.

The overpass carrying what was then a freight and passenger railway (the North Shore Branch of the Staten Island Railway) over Treadwell Ave. was constructed during the mid-1930s as one link in a massive grade separation project. The structure leads into the former elevated Tower Hill station, and is imprinted with the date 1935. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $1.46 million grant for the $6 million grade crossing elimination project, which included work elsewhere in Staten Island and even in Manhattan. PWA Docket No. NY 4926.

The overpass carrying the Staten Island Railway over Water St., between Bay St. and Front St., was constructed during the mid-1930s as one link in a massive grade separation project. The structure is imprinted with several instances of the date 1936. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $1.46 million grant for the $6 million grade crossing elimination project, which included work elsewhere in Staten Island and even in Manhattan. PWA Docket No. NY 4926.

The overpass carrying the Staten Island Railway over Wave St., between Bay St. and Front St., was constructed during the mid-1930s as one link in a massive grade separation project. The structure is imprinted with the date 1936. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $1.46 million grant for the $6 million grade crossing elimination project, which included work elsewhere in Staten Island and even in Manhattan. PWA Docket No. NY 4926.

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) beautified the grounds of what was then known as Jordan High School, now Ramsdell Middle School. "The redeveloped and newly landscaped grounds are on the Old Erie Canal site."

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 Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a reservoir for the City of Troy in New York during the Great Depression. More information is needed to determine the current status and location of the reservoir.  

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.