New York Sites

Wendell Jones painted the oil-on-canvas mural "Barn Raising" in 1942 for the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. Originally painted for the city's then-new post office, the mural is currently viewable in the lobby of Rome's City Hall.

Artist Rosalind Bengelsdorf was "ne of the youngest members of the American Abstract Artists... In 1935, she entered Hans Hofmann's atelier as one of the many scholarship students he took on. The following year, she joined the abstract artists working on WPA murals under Burgoyne Diller's enlightened leadership... "Abstraction, which relates to a WPA mural (now destroyed) Bengelsdorf painted for the Central Nurses Home on Welfare Island , balances simple geometric forms through position and color."    (https://americanart.si.edu)  

A WPA photo (pictured) shows a bathhouse and two swimming pools built by the WPA for what was then the Buffalo City Hospital. The hospital was renamed the Edward J. Meyer Memorial Hospital in 1939, and has since been expanded into the Erie County Medical Center. Google images show that the bath house building and pools (now empty) are still standing. Their current function is unknown.

The building housing FDNY Engine 70, Ladder 53 on City Island was constructed in 1939 by the Work Projects Administration. This firehouse has a plaque confirming its New Deal origin. This is one of the few New Deal plaques in New York. The City Island Firehouse plaque reads. CITY OF NEW YORK F. H. LA GUARDIA MAYOR FIRE DEPARTMENT JOHN J. McELLIGOTT FIRE CHIEF & COMMISSIONER DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION UNDER THE SUPOERVSION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS IRVING V. A. HUIE COMMISSIONER ERECTED BY WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION 1939 The building is still in service and houses two fire companies and two trucks. In 2012, the firehouse was proposed for closure, as part of Mayor Bloomberg's...

City Island Road, between Pelham Bridge and the City Island Bridge, was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

The WPA developed a "wholly new sewage system" for City Island, which had previously "depended on an antiquated system of individual street sewers, cesspools and septic tanks."

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Temporary Emergency Relief Administration (TERA) constructed the historic Potsdam civic center. NRHP nomination form: "The Potsdam Civic Center shares salient associations with Depression-era New Deal programs and politics, particularly as manifested in the process that led to its construction. It is representative of local community planning efforts by those who endeavored to build it, and remains an important social history document given its use for a wide range of social gatherings since its completion in the mid-1930s. The building is additionally significant as an example of Neoclassical-style civic design, and one which incorporated an existing...

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 no-longer-extant Civil Prison at the southeast corner of Willoughby Ave. and Raymond Ave. (now Ashland Pl.). The land is now occupied by The Brooklyn Hospital Center.

The Claremont Inn was first built in 1804 and was located along the Hudson River, just north of where Grant’s Tomb stands today until its demise in 1951. For years, a succession of aristocrats lived in the house, including Joseph Bonaparte, ex-King of Spain and Napoleon’s brother. In the 1840s it was converted into a “road house” and in the 1870s, the building was acquired by the City as part of Riverside Park. The inn’s heyday lasted until the 1920s, with visitors and shoppers stopping at the inn for expensive luncheons. With Prohibition, however, the Claremont’s popularity declined. Only in the...

The 17-acre Claremont Park in the Bronx was extensively renovated and improved in 1940 by the Works Progress Administration. The renovated park opened on December 7, 1940. A press release from opening day describes WPA work in the park: "This park has been redesigned by the Department of Parks and constructed by the Work Projects Administration to provide wider year round usage for all ages and groups of citizens of the surrounding community. Besides three new children's playgrounds which were opened on September 14 of this year, the old playground at the East 170 Street end of the park has been...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked to develop during the 1930s what is now known as Clarence Fahnestock Memorial State Park. NYSParks.com: "The original core of land around and including Canopus Lake was developed through the use of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps which were established in the park and began development of the picnic area and campground, comfort stations, bridle paths, shelters, roads, and dams at Pelton Pond, Canopus and Stillwater lakes."

Clearwater Reservoir, located under what is now La Salle Park (formerly Centennial Park) along the shores of Lake Erie in Buffalo, New York, was a massive federal Work Progress Administration project completed in 1936. The project put thousands of local laborers to work. The water supply reservoir was "roofed over with a concrete platform to provide a much needed auto parking space." Buffalo's Courier Express discussed the dedication of the project on December 30, 1936, writing of the $1,000,000 project. Buffalo's then-Mayor George J. Zimmermann stated: "With completion of this reservoir Buffalo's water system will be equalled by no other city." He...

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 "between the county road and Clines Point, 2.4 miles."

A graceful Art Deco bridge carries Clinton Street over Chenango River in downtown Binghamton, New York. The project was enabled by funding from the federal Public Works Administration (Docket No. NY 1321-R). The PWA provided a $162,297 grant for the project, whose total cost was $562,763. Dedication plaques can be found at both the bridges northeast and southwest corners. Construction occurred between Mar. 1936 and Jun. 1937. Nearby, a parallel underpass construction project, which carried rail traffic over Clinton Street, was also enabled by the PWA.

Two bridges carry rail traffic over Clinton Street, just west of the Chenango River, west of downtown Binghamton, New York. This grade-separation project was enabled by funding from the federal Public Works Administration (Docket No. NY 1322-R). The PWA provided a $82,188 grant for the project, whose total cost was $217,779. The bridges still stand today, though some of the original Art Deco embellishments appear to have been destroyed or otherwise removed. However, dedication plaques can be found at both the north bridge's west end, and the south bridge's east end. As of 2018 the latter is visible, though part...

SILive.com: "Among the other major WPA projects on the Island were ... development of park lands at Clove Lakes Park."

A former military facility, the Coast Guard Air Station at Floyd Bennett Field was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. "The City of New York under the direction of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, deeded a portion of New York City's only municipal airport at that time, Floyd Bennett Field, to the Coast Guard air arm on 9 July 1936.  The station was constructed at a cost of $399,800.00. Dedication ceremonies were set for 23 April 1938." CGAS Brooklyn was decommissioned May 1998.  

Completed in 1934, and opened as the K-12 Cohocton Central School. Later became Wayland-Cohocton Elementary School. As of 2022, it became Wayland-Cohocton Prekindergarten School. The tower is octagonal. Possibly this is a reference to Cohocton's Orson Squire Fowler, the great 19th-century popularizer of the octagon house. Total cost of the building was $110,000. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided both a grant and a low-interest loan.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved Cold Brook Road outside Saranac, New York. Work began October 19, 1936 and was slated to put 30 men to work for six months.

This brick fire hall was constructed as Colden's Fire Station #1 by the WPA: "In the 1930’s plans were drawn for a new Station #1 to be located across the street from the hall of the time next to Cazenovia Creek. Near the end of the Great Depression Colden managed to have this hall built through the Works Progress Administration. This hall included one truck bay, a downstairs meeting room and an upstairs gymnasium that was used for basketball games, dances, and other social events. In the 1940’s two additional truck bays were built on the side of the original hall."  ...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) contributed to the development of what is now College Point Boulevard, prior to the advent of the 1939 World's Fair. Then called Lawrence Street, WPA efforts involved "the widening and paving of important approach to Whitestone Bridge." The New York Times: "The Lawrence Street improvement, which will employ fifty men for the next two months, will create a street eighty feet wide from building line to building line between Northern Boulevard and Thirty-second Avenue, where Lawrence Street joins Willetts Point Boulevard at the north end of the West Bridge," since redeveloped as the Whitestone Expressway,...

The historic College Station post office in New York, New York on West 140th St. was one of many post offices in Manhattan constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the New Deal era. This project was implemented by the Public Works Administration. The building's cornerstone, and an interior plaque, put the dates of construction at 1935 to 1937. The building is still in service. C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown: "This delightfully designed postal station is on West 140th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues and serves a district bounded by the Harlem River on the east, St. Nicholas Avenue on the west, and a depth...

The federal Work Projects Administration worked to improve New Rochelle's, New York's former Columbus Branch Library (a.k.a. Feeney Park Library; opened 1931) during the 1930s. The exact location and present status of the building that housed the library, which was used as such until 1980, is presently unknown to Living New Deal. One WPA project, which involved numerous municipal buildings in New Rochelle including this one, was described by the WPA in its project rolls: "Work includes performing carpentry, masonry, and sheet metal work; excavating and constructing walls; painting, placing tile, and roofing." WPA Official Project No. 665-21-2-635.

Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) laborers landscaped and conducted other work at Columbus Circle in Syracuse, New York. Work concluded in 1936.

Columbus Park, located in Manhattan's Chinatown, was one of the city's earliest major parks. By the early 1930s, it was quite rundown. New Deal programs greatly remodeled and upgraded the park and its facilities. In October 1934, the Department of Parks announced the opening, presided over by Mayor LaGuardia, of the newly remodeled Columbus Park, saying: "This old park with its fine big trees formerly included a small play area, which was in reality only a broken surfaced area containing poorly arranged rusted swings and slides. It has been replanned to double the size of the play area and provide...

"The City acquired this land on July 19, 1910, and since the 1920s Italian-Americans of Queens have gathered here to celebrate Columbus. The Board of Aldermen, on April 1, 1930, named the site for the famed explorer. The Italian Chamber of Commerce installed a bronze tablet here on October 12, 1937, indicating its intention to build a full monument to Columbus. In 1938, with funds from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Italian sculptor Angelo Racioppi was commissioned to create the seven foot tall bronze of a youthful Christopher Columbus standing in front of a ship’s tiller. At the unveiling event on...

Originally known as "City Park," the oldest park in Brooklyn dates back to 1836. The park became a popular place after the WPA significantly redeveloped the park in 1939-1940. The WPA relocated old trees and constructed baseball, football, basketball and handball facilities. On June 7, 1940, the Parks Department held a ceremony to celebrate the park's official re-opening. Robert Moses, Mayor LaGuardia and the NYC Work Projects Administrator presided, and the ceremony was attended by 2,000 people. The following year, the WPA completed further work, erecting chain link fences and portable bleachers for the park's two baseball diamonds.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) photo pictured here describes this project as "removal of island and building of dyke." The work took place in Como Lake Park in Lancaster, New York. The current status and exact location of the dike is unknown to the Living New Deal.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed this rustic shelter house in the 1930s for Como Lake Park in Lancaster, New York. More information is needed to determine the present status of the shelter and its location within the park.  

"The Coney Island and Brighton Beach boardwalks were rebuilt ."

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted a sewer construction project by Coney Island Creek at Shell Road in 1936.

One of the five restored Alice in Wonderland murals painted by Abram Champanier in 1938-40 is hung in the Cumberland Center at 100 N Portland Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11205.  The mural was originally created for the Gouverneur Hospital children’s ward in lower Manhattan, but was neglected and then restored in the early 1990s. The mural is listed on the New York Health and Hospitals Corporation art collection website, dated 2006. The present status of the mural is unknown to us. A 1994 New York Times article on WPA murals in NYC notes it is in the E.R. of Coney Island Hospital.

This PWA pumping station is still standing. A 1939 PWA publication described it as follows: "This interesting structure is approached by a wide walk between lawns which leads to the main entrance flanked by sculptured twin representations of Pegasus. The main floor is 12 feet below grade to permit the pumps to be placed below the intake water level, and at the grade level is a gallery extending around the entire building. An overhead traveling crane serves the five electrical pumps which are capable of discharging 13,500 gallons of water per minute at a pressure of 200 pounds per square inch. The...

The Coney Island Wastewater Treatment Plant came into operation in 1935. It was constructed with the help of the PWA.

The Conference House (also known as the Billopp House) is located on the southernmost tip of Staten Island in the Tottenville neighborhood. "The Conference House, a grand stone manor house built in 1680, is named for the unsuccessful Revolutionary War peace conference that was held here on September 11, 1776 between the Americans and the English. Despite their negotiations to end the fighting, no agreement was reached and the Revolutionary War continued for another seven years" (www.nycgovparks.org). The house is now a historic landmark and a museum. The restoration of the house began in 1926 and continued through the 1930s....

The federal Work Projects Administration worked to improve the Connecticut Hill State Game Management Area (then the Connecticut Hill State Game Refuge) in Newfield, New York during the 1930s. One project was described by the WPA in its project rolls: "learing, cutting boundary fire lanes, planting, constructing, and reconstructing roads" and performing related work.

Also known as the 174th Regiment Armory, the Connecticut Street Armory was 'overhauled' by federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor.

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 "Constance, leading from Hell street northwesterly to Clayton-Cape Vincent state highway, five-tenths of a mile."

Continental Army Plaza was built by the New York City Department of Public Works in 1903.   In 1936, Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds – and presumably workers – were used to renovate the plaza in order to improve access to the Washington monument, repair the stone balustrade, and install street lighting.  It looks to us like they also added chessboards and benches, as well.  In 1938 the plaza and monument were transferred to the custody of the Department of Parks. The department did a renovation of the park in 1997.  

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a stone wall at, and made other improvements to, what is now known formally as the Wilmington E. M. Cooper Memorial Public Library. Google Street View imagery shows the wall present as of 2014.