Oklahoma City Sites

The Works Progress Administration built a culvert on 10th Street in Oklahoma County, in 1939. Contributor note: "This culvert is located about 200 feet east of the intersection of 10th Street and Peebly Road. This culvert carries water north-south from a small pond northeast of the culvert. Run-off must be quite severe at times, as the culvert opening is about 3 ft. by 6 ft. As with much of the culvert road in this area, this culvert was constructed in 1939 by the WPA."

"The native sandstone wall around the football field is a WPA project. Capitol Hill High School is located at 500 S.W. 36th Street. Built in 1928, it is still in use today. On the west side of the school, the C.B. Speegle Stadium is home to the Capitol Hill Redskins. Surrounding the field is an approximately 8 ft. high wall made of the traditional Oklahoma sandstone seen in the greatest number of WPA projects in the State. At the east end of the football field, the sandstone wall attaches to a 10 ft. high white stone ticket booth area. This wall has a...

"Alice Harn Park is located at 13th and Shartel. The land was donated as a gift to the children of Oklahoma City in 1910. The park is a green belt - a long strip with two circular ends, much like a barbell. At the south end of the park, a native stone wall has been constructed. The wall is approximately four feet high and twelve feet long, with a center section which rises another three feet. The wall and bench area are accessed by wide, two-tiered stone steps. Facing this wall are two large semi-circular stone benches. To the south of...

"This is one of the small WPA projects that you stumble across in your travels. Highley Park is a small neighborhood park located on N. Virginia Avenue, between N.W. 7th and 8th. The park has a large grassy area, and a playground. No other facilities are provided. At the southwest and northwest corners of this park, adjacent to the sidewalk, are two native sandstone walls approximately three feet in height, and thirty feet long. Two sections run parallel to the sidewalks, connected with a curved section. Built during the 1930s, this is one of the projects which provided employment to local men during...

From Waymarking.com: "Lincoln Park is a large area on the east side of Northeast Lake and the Oklahoma City Zoo. The CCC was responsible for the construction of the lake, and several buildings in the zoo were constructed by the CCC and WPA. In Lincoln Park, there are dozens of picnic tables built by the WPA in 1936, located throughout the wooded picnic areas. They are actively used by the citizens of Oklahoma City. They consist of a rusticated native sandstone cube on top of which is a poured concrete table top. Each table has four seats which have a rectangular...

The WPA built these unique stone "castles" at McKinley Park in Oklahoma City. "...he most fascinating thing to see, as you come in the park from the east, are two small native stone buildings constructed to look like small castles. They are located on each side of the main drive into the park. The north building is boarded up and appears to possibly have been for storage. The south building has barred windows and a few tables and chairs can still be seen inside. It was difficult to tell whether these buildings are currently in use. The buildings are constructed of native...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) contributed to the improvement of Oklahoma City’s McMechan Park in 1940. “McMechan Park at Oklahoma City, Okla., will be expanded to a 17-acre development,” a reporter noted in January 1940, “according to plans disclosed by Donald Gordon, superintendent of parks. A $12,000 WPA project which will include landscaping, tree planting, grading, and establishment of play areas on the site will be submitted.” According to the Parks and Recreation Department, the WPA expanded the park to include land on both sides of McMechan Parkway. The park still serves as a recreation site for Oklahoma City residents today.

Also known as the Civic Center Music Hall, this PWA Art Deco building was erected in 1937. A 1939 book on PWA buildings describes the site: "Before the erection of this auditorium, Oklahoma City had no place which could seat more than 2,000 people where public meetings could be held. The new municipal auditorium has remedied this condition. It contains an auditorium with a seating capacity of 6,000, a small theater seating 400, a convention hall seating 900, 22 small committee rooms, and an exhibition hall with a floor area of 38,000 square feet. The auditorium stage is sufficiently large and well...

“Many large schools built in Oklahoma during the New Deal era are still being used. In Oklahoma City, Northeast High School occupied a gym and four classrooms added with WPA funds, after the original building of Carthage stone was made possible with a PWA grant. The school board used WPA funds for excavating to make the Northeast High School property ready for construction, and again for work around the school after it was finished. It has not been determined if any WPA labor was used in the initial building phase. Northeast High School was slated to be one of the city’s...

"Zoo Lake was originally known as Northeast Lake. It is located in the northeast quadrant of Oklahoma City, on Grand Avenue, east of Martin Luther King Blvd. This is a 68-acre lake which is a mecca for bird watchers and fisherman... The lake and the dam were constructed by the WPA in the 1930s. The dam is located on the north side of the lake, and the coordinates shown above are from the dam. A rock spillway is located just south of the dam. In the 1940s, the lake was used for swimming, and folks would come from all over the...

The Oklahoma City Municipal Building was constructed in 1936-37 with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) and a City bond issue. "Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the State, having a population of 185,389 in 1930. The new municipal building provides quarters for all of the commissions and departments of the city government except the police department and the court which are housed in a new jail building, which was built at the same time and as part of the same P.W.A. docket. The structure is fireproof throughout with a steel and concrete frame, the exterior walls being select...

"The Oklahoma County Courthouse was constructed in 1936-1937 as a Public Works Administration project at a cost of $1.5 million. Designed by the well-respected firm of Layton & Forsyth, it is an Art Deco construction of Indiana limestone, with touches of the "new" material available in that day - aluminum. The south-facing main entrance has Cold Spring Minnesota granite steps and wing walls, with cast aluminum and etched glass lights atop each wing wall. The building is three stories to the east and west, and then soars in an additional ten story tower...Above these panels is an etched quotation from Abraham...

"The Oklahoma National Guard Armory located west of the Capitol at 200 N. E. 23rd Street, is an armory constructed in 1938 by the WPA. In the Depression torn 1930s, the federal government's WPA project kept food on many an Oklahoma table. Unlike so many of the native sandstone armories, this one is constructed of light colored brick. Its Art Deco features are classic. A two-story office area projects from the north and west of the main drill hall. The windows have six-over-six double-hung sashes. A panel of vertically set bricks decorates the area between all the first and second story...

"This is a two-story buff brick building, with an elaborate stone entrance surround. According to the Oklahoma Landmark Inventory database, the second floor to this school was funded by the WPA in 1940 at a cost of $43,143. As the construction work is highly detailed, it is most likely that the actual construction was completed by an outside building contractor. Above the main entrance is a stone faux balcony, with a scalloped parapet in a Mission style. At the ends of the building are also scalloped parapets with brick cross designs outlined in cast stone. The windows, patterned after the ground...

“Taft Stadium in Oklahoma City was one of the largest high school football stadiums built as a WPA project in Oklahoma. In fact, it took several approved projects to complete the facility.”  (Barton) A waymarking submitter describes the stadium as follows: "Facing May Avenue, this is a native rock wall, approximately three stories high. It is immediately recognizable as a WPA project with its distinctive look. High above the center of the wall, in stone is a circular monogram reading TAFT and beneath that STADIUM. There are six large, arched entries, and six ticket windows. All are filled with wood. High on...

"Will Rogers Courts is located east of S. Pennsylvania, south of Exchange Avenue. It was built by the WPA as a low-income housing project with an appropriation of $2,000,000. In 1939, it was taken over by the U.S. Housing Authority. Today, it remains a low-income housing addition under management by the Oklahoma Housing Authority. Rents range from $100 to $150 a month, with 354 units of efficiency, 1, 2 and 3-bedroom apartments. There are 85 red-brick building, with composition shingle gabled roofs. They are built on concrete slab foundations and have small concrete steps and porches. Most of the buildings...

"Development of this 118-acre park began in the 1930s as a joint project of the Oklahoma City Parks Department and the National Parks Service, with labor from the CCC and WPA. The CCC cleared trees and brush, pruned, built terraces and dammed two small tributaries of the North Fork River to form two small lakes. The WPA work consisted of many native sandstone structures, including picnic shelters, a wood and stone Rose Arbor, footbridges, low walls and terraces, curbing, gardens, curved roads, and a beautiful amphitheater. These stone structures are still used today and are in excellent condition. The coordinates...

"Memorial Park is located between Classen Blvd. and Western Avenue, just south of N.W. 36th Street. It was established in 1908 and is a beautiful, historic park. Winding through this area are numerous concrete walking paths, and every 10-15 ft. you will find etched in the concrete, the WPA shield with the inscription WPA 1941. The walkways are in surprisingly good condition after all these years. We have noticed many buildings in Oklahoma built by the WPA, but this was the first etched sidewalks we've come across. A pleasant surprise."   (https://www.waymarking.com)

"The Zoo Amphitheater was the first project completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in Oklahoma City. CCC Companies 875 and 895, consisting of about 400 young men of Oklahoma, lived in tents and later wooden barracks on the land north and south of Lincoln Park, adjacent to the amphitheater. Between 1933 and 1936, they laid the groundwork for the park, zoo, lake and this amphitheater. ... The amphitheater is large and will hold thousands of concert-goers. The sloped theater has native rock terracing, with wide grass areas where people can sit on blankets or chairs."   (waymarking.com)