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  • Canal Street Station Post Office - New York NY
    The Canal Street Station post office in downtown Manhattan was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds in 1937. It was designed by architect Alan Balch Mills.  The  two story building in the Moderne Style is clad in terra cotta panels,  with a black base, buff walls and a silvery frieze along the top.  A Treasury Section of Fine Arts-funded sculpture was installed in the post office lobby in 1938. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
  • Canal Street Station Post Office Sculpture - New York NY
    The federal Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts funded a terra-cotta relief by Wheeler Williams entitled "Indian Bowman" to be installed in the newly constructed Canal Street post office. The sculpture was installed in 1938.
  • Canal System Dike - Whitehall NY
    In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a dike to mitigate flood hazards on New York State Barge Canal in Whitehall. What was then referred to as "Barge Canal" is known today as New York State Canal System. Whitehall is located at the junction of Champlain Canal and Lake Champlain (New York Canals).    
  • Canandaigua Lake Park Development - Canandaigua NY
    These archive photos show a park area along Canandaigua Lake under development by the WPA in 1937. Exact location of the WPA work is unknown to the Living New Deal. It may be Kershaw Park on the north shore.
  • Canarsie Beach Park - Brooklyn NY
    In 1941 The New York Times stated: "At present WPA workers are engaged in building Canarsie Beach Park on the Belt Parkway, a shorefront play area which will eventually offer bathing, fishing and boating."
  • Carl Schurz Memorial Restoration - New York NY
    The NYC Parks Department website explains: "This impressive monument to soldier, statesman and journalist Carl Schurz is the result of a collaboration between the distinguished sculptor Karl Bitter (1867–1915) and renowned architect Henry Bacon (1866–1924). Built in 1913, the monument consists of a full standing bronze portrait of Schurz in the center of a granite exedra (curved bench) with carved reliefs framed by two ornamental bronze luminaries. The entire monument is located within a large brick-paved plaza projecting from the promontory at Morningside Drive and West 116th Street. Other studio assistants and associates of Bitter may have worked on the side...
  • Carl Schurz Park: Catbird Playground - New York NY
    An August 1935 Parks Department press release lists what is now Catbird Playground in Carl Schurz 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 and adolescents. The playground was designed by Gilmore D. Clarke and opened on June 20, 1935. It was further renovated in 1965 and 2000. Although neither source identifies which federal agencies were involved, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that New Deal park projects developed before August 1935 would have been financed by...
  • Carolyn Road Improvements - Lake Placid NY
    The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) reconstructed Lake Placid's Carolyn Road in 1936. The Lake Placid News reported: The WPA has allowed a grant of $11,622.40 for improvements on Carolyn road. The town of North Elba project is designed to employ 34 men for four months to widen, grade, and build gutters on the road from Chubb Corners to the Lake Placid - Saranac Lake highway.
  • Carpenter's Brook Fish Hatchery - Elbridge NY
    "Located on picturesque countryside in western Onondaga County, the Hatchery was originally developed and operated as a joint venture between Onondaga County and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under a Works Project Administration Grant. One of only four county run hatcheries in the state, Carpenter's Brook has been in continuous operation since its inception in 1938 and produces 80,000+ Brook, Brown and Rainbow Trout annually." (Onondaga County Parks) The WPA wrote of the project in 1940: "One of the many far flung stations of federal government for rearing game fish, Elbridge hatchery has been reconstructed with series of new concrete...
  • Carroll Park Playground - Brooklyn NY
    Carroll Park has been a public park since the 1850s. A March 27, 1936 Department of Parks press release announced the opening of this new WPA playground in the park: "The Department of Parks will open ten new playgrounds Saturday, March 28, making a total of 125 added to the recreational system in two years. …at Smith Street, Carroll Street and First Place there will be four hand-ball courts, four shuffleboard courts and six horseshoe courts… All of these playgrounds were constructed es Works Progress Administration projects." Further improvements to the playground, including basketball courts and a play apparatus for older children, were announced...
  • Cascadilla Creek Retaining Walls - Ithaca NY
    The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed retaining walls along Cascadilla Creek in Ithaca, New York during the 1930s.  The channelized creek lies between North and South Cascadilla Avenue, and the historic photograph shown here was likely taken somewhere between Cayuga and Tioga Streets. The walls are still in good shape, working to control flooding along the creek.
  • Casleton Ave. Sewers - Staten Island NY
    This WPA photo shows WPA workers "cleaning, straightening, and improving storm drain" on Casleton Ave. in Staten Island (then known as the Borough of Richmond).
  • Cathedral Station Post Office - New York NY
    The historic Cathedral Station post office in New York, New York is located on West 104th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam 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 'H' until its redesignation as Cathedral Station on June 1, 1947. The building's cornerstone, and an interior plaque, put the dates of construction at 1935 to 1937. The building is still in service. Plaque text: This building was erected under the act of Congress dated June 16, 1933 and was completed during the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt,...
  • Cato-Meridian Middle School - Cato NY
    The historic Cato-Meridian Central School building was constructed ca. 1939-40 with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds.
  • Caton Avenue Improvements - Brooklyn NY
    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 Caton Avenue from McDonald Ave. to Fort Hamilton Pkwy.
  • Cayuga Medical Center Sculptures - Ithaca NY
    The Cayuga Medical Center is home to eight sculptures, completed by six Works Progress Administration (WPA) artists in the late 1930s. The sculptures are between two and three feet tall and depict animals. They were originally installed at the children's playground at the Herman M. Biggs Memorial Hospital, north of the current Cayuga Medical Center. The sculptures were recently cleaned and restored under conservator Kasia Maroney.    
  • Cazenovia Park Improvements - Buffalo NY
    Cazenovia Park and the nearby South Park in Buffalo were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the late 19th century. Improvements to the park continued throughout the early 1900s. In 1935, the WPA built a pedestrian suspension bridge across a creek in the Cazenovia Park golf course. The WPA photo pictured here also shows a swimming pool listed as being "South Park Swimming Pool - Cazenovia Park." This may well be the swimming pool in Cazenovia Park, which was also constructed in 1935.
  • CCC Camp (former) - Boonville NY
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) had a camp (S-122) just east of Boonville, New York.  The site lies within the Hogsback State Forest on the south side of Woodgate Road (County Road 61) leading to State Route 28, which runs across the Adirondack Park. From this camp, the CCC 'boys' carried out forestry projects around the west side of the park, such as planting trees, forest thinning, eradication of pests, and fire suppression. They built truck trails for fire fighting around the hamlet of Otter Lake and reforested 1700 acres around Lyonsdale.  Boys from this camp also built Pixley Falls State Park...
  • Cedar Avenue Railway Station (demolished) Reconstruction - Staten Island NY
    The Cedar Avenue railway station was rebuilt as a concrete structure 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 station was located around Cedar Avenue, at about Jackson Ave. and Retner St. Long since abandoned (as the line was discontinued in 1953), the structure has since been demolished. 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.
  • Cedar Playground - Bronx NY
    The New York City Department of Parks announced the opening of Cedar Playground, along with twelve other playgrounds, in December 1935. Although the release does not explicitly mention federal funding, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here why "it is safe to say that every single project completed by the NYC Park Department during the 1930s was federally funded to some degree." After April 1935, the WPA was especially involved in the development of the New York park system.
  • Cedarhurst Sewage Treatment Plant (former) - Cedarhurst NY
    Cedarhurst's old sewage treatment plant and its sewer system were constructed as part of a federal Public Works Administration project during the 1930s. The plant was located at the northwest corner of Peninsula Blvd. and Hanlon Dr., and is next to Lawrence's present high school. The plant has been (if not fully) largely decommissioned; "flow was diverted from the Villages in 2011." (Nassau County) The "buff-color" brick plant building and its adjacent treatment tanks still stand as of 2014. The PWA project, which was completed November 1935, replaced an "outdated septic tank" and the total construction cost was $445,474. The...
  • Cemetery Road Improvements - Cape Vincent NY
    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 "Cemetery, leading from Rosiere county road easterly for 1.8 miles."
  • Central Court Building Improvements - Brooklyn NY
    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 Central Court Building, which presently houses the Kings County Criminal Court.
  • Central Islip State Hospital Improvements - Central Islip NY
    The no-longer-extant Central Islip State Hospital "was the largest psychiatric institution ever to exist in the United States." Two WPA projects at the hospital involved the following: 1. "Painting brick walls of various buildings of institution, $23,557." 2. "Removal of old wood floors and installation of tile floors at institution, $9,755.46."
  • Central Library (former) Expansion - Jamaica NY
    The former Queens Central Library, located at 89-14 Parsons Blvd., "opened in 1930 and was expanded with WPA funds in 1941." "The current Central Library is a product of its era. In the mid-1960s, instead of renovating the existing library at 89-14 Parsons Boulevard, officials chose to build an entirely new structure at 89-11 Merrick Boulevard, six blocks east. The older building was recycled as a courthouse. Its facade has since been incorporated into an apartment building called the Moda."
  • Central Library Improvements - Brooklyn NY
    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 Brooklyn Public Library's Central Library.
  • Central New York Regional Market - Syracuse NY
    Syracuse's Central New York Regional Market was built during the Great Depression. Its construction was enabled by funds provided by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA). The PWA supplied a $450,000 loan and $486,728 grant for the project, whose final cost was $1,124,783. Construction started in December 1935; the market opened in 1938. PWA Docket No. NY 5438.
  • Central Park Improvements - New York NY
    Central Park was originally established in the 1860s, but New Deal workers carried out massive improvements to the park from 1934 to 1938. In addition to the many specific projects listed by name, there were any number of improvements done with the help of the New Deal.  As Frank da Cruz explains,  New Deal funds, labor, and designers reconstructed the park, with thousands of men working in three shifts around the clock in all weather.   They built new walls and entrance markers; removed dead trees and pruned others; plowed, seeded, planted, and revived the landscaping; created new footpath, trails, and drainage; and...
  • Central Park Zoo - New York NY
    The Central Park Zoo was built over the course of eight months in 1934 by workers employed by the Civil Works Administration and, after that program’s demise, by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. It succeeded the old Central Park Menagerie, a once popular attraction that by the early 1930s was so severely dilapidated that Parks Department officials feared its lions and tigers would break out of the rotted wood structures that housed them. Newly-appointed Parks Commissioner Robert Moses set about replacing the menagerie, not with a full-sized zoo, but with what he called a “picture-book zoo”—a smaller-scale facility meant as...
  • Central Park: 107th Infantry Memorial Restoration - New York NY
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to restore the 107th Infantry Memorial at 5th Ave. and 67th St. in Central Park during the mid-1930s.
  • Central Park: Adventure Playground - New York NY
    On May 4, 1936, the Department of Parks announced the opening of "three new perimeter playgrounds for children of pre-school age" in Central Park. One, at 68th St. and Central Park West, appears to be what is now known as Adventure Playground. Although the 1936 press release does not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, the New Deal transformed much of Central Park in the 1930s. Furthermore, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that almost all New York City Parks Department projects between 1934 and 1943 were accomplished with New Deal funds and/or labor, and that after April 1935,...
  • Central Park: Alice-in-Wonderland Sculpture - New York NY
    Works Progress Administration (WPA) artist Frederick George Richard Roth, who worked for the WPA as head sculptor at the Parks Department, and who also created several other sculptures in Central Park including the Dancing Goat, the Dancing Bear, and Mother Goose, plus the animal friezes at the Central Park Zoo, created this Alice-in-Wonderland themed sculpture commemorating Sophie Loeb (1876-1926). Sophie Loeb was a writer who advocated for children and for playgrounds in Central Park. Mayor LaGuardia and Robert Moses attended unveiling ceremony on October 2, 1936. The statue was originally created for Heckscher Playground, but was later moved to Levin Playground...
  • Central Park: Arsenal Improvements - New York NY
    The Central Park Arsenal was built 1847-51, but served only briefly in that function.  After 1853, it was a police precinct house, the American Museum of Natural History, a menagerie, an art gallery, the Municipal Weather Bureau, a restaurant, and, finally in 1914, the Manhattan Parks Department. In 1934, the five borough Parks Departments were consolidated into a unified New York City Parks Department. Then, the Arsenal was overhauled by Depression-era relief labor paid for by New Deal programs.    The architect for the project was Aymar Embury II, who was the chief designer for New Deal/Parks Department projects around the city (the Wikipedia entry on Embury says that, "it is...
  • Central Park: Arsenal Murals - New York NY
    In 1935-36, the Arsenal was renovated by the New York City Parks Department using Depression-era relief labor paid for by New Deal programs (WPA and FERA). Afterward, the lobby walls was covered floor to ceiling with murals by Allen Saalburg and his assistants.  Saalburg was the WPA's Director of Murals for the NYC Parks Department.     In the murals, "Saalburg depicted a series of scenes depicting recreational activities, notable park structures, and flagship parks. The project was funded by the Federal Works Progress Administration."   (www.nycgovparks.org) "In 1935, Juliana Force, the director of the Whitney Museum and organizer of the first Federal Art Program in New York, introduced...
  • Central Park: Bridle Paths - New York NY
    Though Central Park was created in the 19th century by Olmsted and Vaux, the New Deal helped the Parks Department carry out massive improvements to the park from 1934 to 1938. Work relief funds and labor were used to construct 4 1/2 miles of bridle paths in the park: one circling the Reservoir, one around the North Meadow and one at the southern end of the park.   (www.kermitproject.org)
  • Central Park: Columbus Monument Restoration - New York NY
    "The Columbus Monument at the south west (main) entrance to Central Park at 59th Street and Central Park West (and Broadway), created by Italian sculptor Gaetano Russo and dedicated in 1882. By the 1930s it was serverely stained by soot, its base was cracked by vibration, and natural veins in the sculpture itself were opened by vibration and weathering. It was cleaned and restored by the New Deal Monument Restoration Project under Karl Gruppe."   (kermitproject.org) As Carol Lowrey explains, “Gruppe was closely involved in the conservation of New York's public sculptures from 1934 to 1937, during which time, under the auspices...
  • Central Park: Conservatory Garden - New York NY
    "The Conservatory Garden is a six-acre formal garden named after a conservatory (i.e. greenhouse) that was built here in 1898. During the Depression, Parks commissioner Robert Moses (1888-1981) decreed the aging structure too expensive to maintain and had it demolished during a major renovation of the park in 1934 that was paid for largely with WPA funds. The garden that replaced the Conservatory was developed by architects Gilmore Clarke (1892-1982) and Betty Sprout (1906-1962) (who later married) and opened officially on September 18, 1937. The garden is divided into three separate sections: the central Italian-style garden, the southern English-style garden...
  • Central Park: Great Lawn - New York NY
    Though Central Park was originally established in the 1850s, New Deal workers carried out massive improvements to the park from 1934 to 1938. Work included the creation of the park's Great Lawn. The site was formerly the Lower Reservoir, which had recently been drained only to become a 'Hooverville' of people left unemployed and homeless by the Great Depression. With the help of CWA funding and labor in 1934 and most likely further WPA aid in 1935, the Parks Department had transformed the area into today's Great Lawn by 1936, featuring 8 ball fields and a promenade around the perimeter.   (www.kermitproject.org)  
  • Central Park: Harlem Meer Improvements - New York NY
    The Harlem Meer is an artificial lake at the north end of Central Park, added to the original park by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux on the site of a former marsh. The New York Times reported in Sept. 1941 that the WPA, in conjunction with New York's Department of Parks, was working to improve Central Park for Harlem residents in "the area from Conservatory Gardens to 110th Street." "Major attention," The Times wrote, was being "given to the fourteen-acre lake and the series of rocky knolls rising from its southern bank." The WPA constructed a masonry wall "a foot high"...
  • Central Park: Heckscher Playground Improvements - New York NY
    After the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was launched in April 1935 (renamed the Work Projects Administration in 1939), it quickly became the main source of relief funds and labor for the NYC Parks Department. Heckscher Playground in Central Park was one of many playgrounds in New York to be renovated or constructed with WPA funding and labor: "Before the New Deal, Heckscher Playground was the only playground in all of Central Park, and prior to 1926 there were no playgrounds at all. In 1935 a plan was announced for the "complete renovation and redevelopment of the area", to include a memorial...
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