New York Sites

The massive 259-foot-by-162-foot (3.5-foot-deep) outdoor pool in Sunset Park was one of 11 constructed with the help of the federal Work Projects Administration in New York City. "In the summer months, Sunset Park and its pool become home to swimmers and sun worshipers.  Designed in a neoclassical/Art Deco style, the pool first opened its waters to the public in 1936. It has since then offered to the Sunset Park community and visitors from all across New York City a range of recreational activities. Programs include Learn-to-Swim classes for all ages, free After School swimming instruction, and Adult Lap times.  The Brooklyn...

The Cape Vincent Eagle reported that the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved 11 roads in the town of Cape Vincent, New York. "All school bus, milk, and rural mail routes, the roads form an important part of the town's highway system." The project encompassed eight miles of road, and called for "grading, draining, placing base, trimming shoulders and ditches, surfacing and incidental appurtenant work." Roads improved included "Swamp, leading from McWayne road southerly five-tenths of a mile."

The WPA worked during the late 1930s to improve "properties of the U.S. Maritime Commission on Hoffman and Swinburne Island in New York Bay" in New York City. Each island was previously artificially created and was, at the time, being used for the U.S. Merchant Marine as a training station. WPA work on the islands included "reconditioning buildings, grounds, utilities and facilities; excavating; back-filling; draining; painting; improving roads and walks; installing electrical and heating facilities; grading and landscaping grounds; doing carpentry and demolition work ..." Approximately $210,000 was dedicated to these projects as well as work to "the Maritime Ship 'Tusitala' at...

These WPA archive photos show WPA electricians, mechanics, and workmen installing a new power plant and field lights at Syracuse Municipal Airport. The airport closed down in the late 1940s.

This park in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn was built by the Department of Parks in 1934. The press release announcing its opening described the facilities as including "a general girls' play field a boys' play field, a wading pool, basketball court, and an area for outdoor playground apparatus. Handball courts are also provided for boys. A brick recreation building with toilet facilities and indoor playrooms is being constructed.” The NYC Parks site also says that several Pin oaks were planted "in the hope that they might provide much needed areas of shade in the future." Although these sources do not...

"Under the auspices of the New York Department of Sanitation, between 1937 and 1944, three new wastewater treatment plants were constructed — Wards Island in Manhattan, and Bowery Bay and Tallman Island in Queens. These facilities were designed to reduce pollutants in the Harlem River and in the East River, whose dark and murky waters had some of the lowest dissolved oxygen concentrations in the harbor. During the summer months, dissolved oxygen levels were often zero, which caused unpleasant odors. The city and its waterways benefited from an infusion of funds from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), an ambitious public...

"In 1933, thanks to labor provided by the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration, PIPC was able to transform the former quarry site into a popular recreation center, with a swimming pool, picnic areas, and facilities for field and court games."

This 1936 WPA mural by Rufino Tamayo is on extended loan to the New York Museum of Modern Art. The history of the mural before it was placed in the museum is unknown to the Living New Deal.

The federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) conducted improvements ca. 1940-1 at what was then the Tank Combat Range in Schuyler Falls, New York. The exact location and status of this facility is unknown to Living New Deal.

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 three modest stretches of Taylor Avenue: (a) between Lacombe and 'Sound View' Avenues; (b) between Watson and Gleason Avenues; and (c) between East Tremont and Van Nest Avenues.

Bertram Goodman completed this mural, entitled "Evolution of the Book," in 1936 with funds provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

After the mid-1930s, the WPA demolished tenement housing in New York City, Long Island, and Brooklyn in an effort to create new, modern housing units. In some cases, such as the Williamsburg Houses (Ten Eyck Houses), the demolition work was performed by the WPA, while the construction of the new units was done by the PWA. Along with slow housing construction, the demolitions contributed to a minor housing shortage in the five boroughs. (Williams 2013)

These tennis courts in Schuylerville were constructed by the WPA.

Photo caption: "The Hempstead Library, located on the northwest corner of Fulton and Terrace Avenue between 1927 and 1951. A federal WPA project underway on Terrace Avenue is visible at right of photograph." The exact nature of this infrastructure project is presently unclear to Living New Deal.

"The Horse Tamers, by Frederick MacMonnies (1863-1937), is one of many sculpture groups in the outdoor collection of New York City’s parks. Dedicated in 1899, the Horse Tamers flank the Park Circle Entrance of Prospect Park... Horse Tamers is an allegory of the Triumph of Mind over Brute Strength. The sculptures depict nude young men riding bareback on rearing, unbridled horses. To achieve their great dynamic energy, MacMonnies sculpted the horses after live Andalusian models. The full-scale plaster models (no longer extant) were exhibited to great acclaim in the Parisian Salon of 1898 and at the Universal Exposition of 1900. One...

New York City's Parks Department writes: "Once known as the “Pauper Burial Ground”, “Colored Cemetery of Flushing” and “Martin’s Field”, this site was renamed in 2009 “The Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground”. "The Queens Department of Parks acquired this property on December 2, 1914 at which time the land served as a ‘town commons’ or ‘green’ for the neighborhood. ... During the excavation , WPA workers came upon evidence of the site’s previous use as a burial ground, including pennies placed upon the eyes of the dead—an archaic burial practice that was also observed in excavations of the African Burial Ground...

The Palisades Interstate Park system, a major beneficiary of New Deal public works projects, spans New York and New Jersey and stretches from The Palisades--cliffs overlooking the Hudson River in sight of Manhattan--to forested hills dotted with lakes in the western Hudson Highlands. The park system was founded in 1900 through the activism of women’s clubs that fought to protect the Palisades
from quarrying. They were aided by some of the richest men in America, among them J.P. Morgan, the Rockefellers and the Harriman family. Mixing civic idealism and the desire to preserve the beauty of their own region, they purchased or...

Several different schools are located in this building. This untitled New Deal mosaic by Ilya Bolotowsky is located on the 3rd floor. It was installed in 1936.

Nassau County's Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building houses a set of four murals created as a New Deal project. They are located above the staircases, at the second floor of the building's rotunda. Created by Robert Gaston Herbert, these Federal Art Project-funded murals depict "important events in Nassau County's history," and were restored in 2007. Mural descriptions: Gov. Theodore Roosevelt laying the corner-stone of the Nassau Co. Court-house, July 13th, 1900. The Youngs Mansion, Oyster Bay, built in 1652 by Thomas Youngs. George Washington honored the house with an over-night visit in 1790. New York's counties were created in 1683 by Gov....

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 Theriot Avenue in the Clason Point neighborhood of the Bronx from Randall Ave. to Seward Ave.

The Thirteenth Avenue Retail Market in Borough Park was constructed in the 1930s as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project. Much of the structure's visual presence is still intact.

When the Department of Parks first developed a playground at Degraw and 3rd Ave. in 1935, it was leasing the property from a private owner. A press release announced the 1935 opening along with the opening of six other playgrounds, one of which was attended by WPA administrator Harry Hopkins. The City of New York formally acquired the property in 1938 and soon opened a larger, more developed playground on the site "occupying the entire block bounded by Douglass Street, DeGraw Street, Nevins Street and Third Avenue." The press release announcing the opening on October 8, 1939 explained: "This playground, planned to accommodate...

The land for Thomas Jefferson Park park was first purchased in 1897, but was greatly expanded in the 1930s under Commissioner Robert Moses. In September 1935, Moses and Mayor LaGuardia oversaw the opening of the north playground, "equipped with a wading pool, two soft ball diamonds, a roller skating track, play houses, seesaws, jungle gyms, etc."  The south portion of the park opened two months later, including at least some of the following: baseball, basketball, bocci, handball or horse shoe courts, and jungle gyms, swings, slides, playhouses, sand tables, see-saws, shuffle board courts, and  wading pools. In December 1936, Parks...

The WPA project in Jefferson Park "included the new pool complex, baseball diamonds, other athletic fields, playgrounds, and bocce courts." The pool opened on June 27, 1936. It was the second of 10 WPA pools to open that summer, and one of 11 WPA-pools to open in New York City (NYC Parks & Recreation).    

This small park in Queens was acquired by the City in December 1936. Less than a year later, in October 1937, Parks announced the opening of a new playground on the site: "he new playground is equipped with swings, see-saws, slides; playhouses, horizontal bars and ladders. A rectangular wading pool which is encircled by an oval shaped roller skating track, handball courts and a large play area for soft ball games, have also been provided. Shade trees which have been planted around the perimeter of the entire area and permanent concrete benches complete the design." Although the 1937 press release does not...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed stone retaining walls in Watertown, New York's Thompson Park during the 1930s. The exact location and status of these walls is unknown to Living New Deal.

The Cape Vincent Eagle reported that the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) was to improve several roads to the Lake Ontario shore in the Three Mile Bay area of Jefferson County, New York, during the summer of 1939. Roads included that "from the Chaumont-Three Mile Bay state highway 2.4 southeasterly to an improved town road."

This small green space between Riverside Dr., Seaman Ave. and Dyckman St. in Manhattan was "provided with shade trees and benches for passive recreation" by the Department of Parks in October 1936. Although the press release announcing the completion of this work does not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that almost all New York City Parks Department projects between 1934 and 1943 were carried out with New Deal funds and/or labor, and that after April 1935, the WPA quickly became the main source of this support.

The federal Public Works Administration (PWA) sponsored a large school construction project in Tioga Center, New York during the Great Depression. The PWA provided a $129,766 grant for the project, whose total cost was $245,216. Construction occurred between Dec. 1938 and Nov. 1939. PWA Docket No. NY X1803.

The federal Work Projects Administration conducted fire prevention and landscaping work at Tobey Beach and the neighboring then-bird sanctuary in southern Nassau County during the 1930s. WPA Official Project No. 665-21-2-440.

The stretch of Todt Hill Road in Staten Island, New York between Schmidts Lane and Ocean Terrace was paved and widened as part of a sponsored federal WPA project during the 1930s.

A railway-crossing bridge carrying Tompkins Avenue was built during the mid-1930s as part of a massive grade separation project along what was then the South Beach Branch of the Staten Island Railway. The line has long since been abandoned (as the line was discontinued in 1953) and the space beneath the bridge has been filled in. Traces of the bridge structure can be seen by way of the different cement used along 260 feet of Tompkins Avenue, and the dropoff from Tompkins Avenue to the west. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $1.46 million grant for the $6 million grade crossing elimination project, which included...

This sizeable Manhattan park has served as a recreational space since the early 19th century. In the 1930s it was redesigned under Parks commissioner Robert Moses. On October 1, 1936 Parks announced that the: "north half of the park from Ninth to Tenth Streets between Avenues A and B has been redesigned and reconstructed and includes basket ball, volley ball, shuffle board, paddle tennis and horse-shoe pitching courts; complete play apparatus and e wading pool." Although the press release announcing the completion of this work does not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that...

New York State's Office of Children and Family Services website states: "he Tonawanda Indian Community House (TICH) located in Akron, New York ... a two-story cypress log structure, was erected by Native Americans under the Works Progress Administration and dedicated on May 13, 1939. It was built to meet the social, cultural, recreational and health needs of the Tonawanda Reservation. In addition to a gymnasium/auditorium, locker room area, kitchen and various meeting rooms, TICH houses a library and medical clinic funded by the New York State Department of Health. Genesee County and the New York State Office for the Aging...

Tony Dapolito Recreation Center is located at the northwest corner of 7th Ave. S and Clarkson Street in Manhattan. The large outdoor pool was built by the WPA and designed by Aymar Embury II. The Department of Parks announced the official opening of the new pool and renovated bathhouse on June 10, 1939. The ceremony was attended by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, Alexander MacGregor of the Works Progress Administration and others. The press release described the WPA's work on the site: "The new outdoor pool is 50' x 100' with a diving pool 50' x 26' and will provide much needed...

Formerly Tottenville High School, Totten Intermediate School was constructed during the mid-1930s as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project.

The elevated Tower Hill railway station was constructed during the mid-1930s as one link in a massive grade separation project along what was then a freight and passenger railway (the North Shore Branch of the Staten Island Railway). The structure opened Feb. 1937. Long since abandoned, the station—which is located between Sharpe and Treadwell Avenues—still stands. 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 Rush Town Hall was originally built in 1935 as a Works Projects Administration (WPA) endeavor, during the Depression. The style of architecture chosen for the building was Colonial Revival, a prevalent form of the day. The cornerstone was laid and the dedication of the building was held on September 28, 1935. The newly built town hall was not only used to conduct town business, but it also served as a community center, library and home for the Fire Department. In 1973 the Fire Department moved from the north side of the Town Hall to its current location on Rush-Mendon Road. The...

Yorktown, New York's town hall was built during the Great Depression with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $20,000 loan and $7,200 grant; the total cost of the project was $26,620. Work occurred between August 1935 and March 1936. The building is still in use today, though the original structure has had wings added to either side. (PWA Docket No. NY 7262)

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement and repair work at the Town Hall in Edwards, New York.