West Chester Sites

The historic 1905-7 post office on Gay Street in West Chester, Pennsylvania received a rear addition ("annex") that doubled its size during the New Deal era. Originally the main post office for West Chester, the long-serving facility is now known as the Gay Street Station post office. Per culturechesco.org: The next construction phase began thirty years later on October 26, 1935, when an annex was added to the rear of the structure nearly doubling its size. A one-foot setback can be seen about mid-point of the building where the back wall of the original Post Office was located. The outside materials and...

Then known as the West Chester State Teachers College, West Chester University of Pennsylvania benefited during the Great Depression from a large construction project enabled by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA). The PWA provided a $240,924 grant for the project, whose final cost was $770,533. Construction occurred between February 1938 and May 1939. (PWA Docket No. 1873.) Seven buildings were constructed on the campus, including a library addition, dormitory, laundry, and heating plant. The present status of these structures is unknown to Living New Deal.