South Carolina Sites

The historic former post office in Batesburg(, Batesburg-Leesville), South Carolina was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds in 1939. The building houses an example of New Deal artwork. In the 1980s, the cities of Batesburg & Leesville combined into one city and a new post office was constructed. As of 2013, the old New Deal Batesburg post office had been sold and left vacant by its new owners.

The historic former post office building in Easley, South Carolina was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which was completed in 1940, houses an example of New Deal artwork and is now privately owned.

"The Greer Post Office, constructed in 1935, is architecturally significant as an excellent example of a New Deal-era Colonial Revival post office produced by the Public Works Branch of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Architect Donald G. Anderson of New York City designed the Greer Post Office under the administration of Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect of the Department of the Treasury. The Greer Post Office reflects the designs favored by the Treasury Department at the time, exhibiting a restrained Colonial Revival style with minimal ornamentation. The new post offices in South Carolina built during this era reflect the...

The historic former post office building in Mullins, South Carolina was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which was completed in 1939, now houses a church.

The historic former post office building in Summerville, South Carolina was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which was completed in 1938, now houses civic offices.

The historic former post office building in Walterboro, South Carolina was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which was completed in 1937, is now privately owned.

The historic former post office building in Woodruff, South Carolina was constructed ca. 1939-40 with Treasury Department funds. The building is now privately owned.

The historic former post office building in Easley, South Carolina contains an example of New Deal artwork: "Cultivation of Corn," a bas relief commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

The New Deal mural "Peach Orchard" was created for the then-new Batesburg, South Carolina post office. It was painted in 1941 by Irving A. Block. In the 1980s, the cities of Batesburg & Leesville combined into one city and a new post office was constructed. As of 2013, the old New Deal Batesburg post office had been sold and left vacant by its new owners.

"New Deal mural entitled "Cotton and Peach Growing" painted in 1941 by Winfield Walkley. When the post office moved out in 1968, the building was renovated for use as City Hall. During that renovation, the mural was covered by paneling. You can see where wall studs were screwed directly through the mural. In 2008, when City Hall moved out, the Greer Heritage Museum requested the old Post Office as space for the Museum. During 2009 renovations for the Museum, the mural was uncovered and was visible for the first time since 1968."   (flickr)

The historic former post office building in Summerville, South Carolina houses an example of New Deal artwork: "Train Time – Summerville," a 1939 oil-on-canvas mural by Bernadine Custer. The work was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

The historic former post office building in Walterboro, South Carolina houses an example of New Deal artwork: "Past and Present Agriculture and Industry of Colleton County," a 1938 oil-on-canvas mural by Sheffield Kagy. The work was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

The historic former post office building in Woodruff, South Carolina houses an example of New Deal artwork: "Cotton Harvest," a 1941 mural by Abraham Lishinsky. The work was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

The historic former post office building in Mullins, South Carolina housed an example of New Deal artwork: "Tobacco Industry," a work by Lee Gatch that was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The current whereabouts of the 1940 work are unknown.

The historic former post office Gaffney, South Carolina was constructed in 1912. However, the building received a remodeling (and, possibly, an all-new addition to the rear)—a New Deal project—that was completed in 1940. The building, often referred to as the "grand dame" by locals, now houses Gaffney's Visitor Center as well as art studios.

The Chesterfield post office contains a 1939 plaster relief by Bruno Mankowski entitled "The Farmer's Letters," which was created under the auspices of the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The work is still displayed in the lobby of the post office.

This bleak and provocative map of cotton trade routes, flanked by scenes of men at work (on the left, it seems, from the American South, and on the right, “the East”), portrays the dominance of South Carolina’s exploitative cotton industry and the international trade system. The mural was painted in 1939 by Dorothea Mierisch under the auspices of the Section of Fine Arts. Mierisch also painted the mural, "First Official Air Mail Flight," in the McLeansboro Post Office in Illinois.

The post office contains a 1939 Section of Fine Arts mural by Arnold Friedman entitled "Rice Growing." "Arnold Friedman (1874–1946) was an American Modernist painter. He was born in Corona, Queens, worked for the Federal Art Project and studied at the Art Students League of New York under the tutelage of Robert Henri and Kenneth Hayes Miller. In 1909, he took a six-month leave of absence from his job to study art in Paris. During this time, he was introduced to the styles of Impressionism and Cubism. He exhibited with many of the most avant-garde venues and dealers of the period, including...

The historic post office building in Ware Shoals, South Carolina houses an example of New Deal artwork: "American Landscape," a Treasury of Fine Arts-commissioned mural by Alica Kindler. The work was installed in the post office lobby in 1940.

Like many New Deal post office murals, Auriel Bessemer’s oil painting, “Industrial Tapestry,” depicts a pastoral landscape, fusing the agricultural world with the industrial and perhaps portraying the influence of Roosevelt’s rural electrification programs in South Carolina's cotton and tobacco fields. The mural’s title might allude to the ways in which the textile industry was woven into the fabric of South Carolina’s sprawling farmland. In a journal entry dated 12 December 1938, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote after seeing another post office mural: “I think these post offices are making the country more and more conscious of decorative, artistic values.”   (https://www.bethesdanow.com)

According to the National Register of Historic Places nomination form for the Poynor Junior High School in Florence, South Carolina: "A two-story brick wing was built onto the south elevation ca. 1935 by the Works Progress Administration ..." The building is located on the west side of S. Dargan St. south of W. Palmetto St. in Florence.

Preston College, a dormitory building on the University of South Carolina campus in Columbia, SC, was constructed in 1939, "part of the extensive building program undertaken during the New Deal, which allowed the University to continue its physical expansion after financial constraints of the Depression. The Public Works Administration paid 45 percent of the cost of the building, and dormitory-revenue bonds provided the rest." (USC) The building is located south of the Horseshoe on the north side of Greene St.

A yearlong road-paving project was undertaken in Anderson, South Carolina during the Great Depression using funds provided by the federal Public Works Administration. (PWA Docket No. SC 961)

By the early twentieth century, the area that would become the Robert Mills Manor site consisted of a large assemblage of dilapidated late-19th and early-20th century residences and tenements surrounding the county's jail on the corner of Franklin and Magazine Streets. Conditions at the site had deteriorated to the point where contemporary accounts called it: "the worst disease breeding spot in the lower section of the city. Its existence was a constant police problem and fire hazard. Its crowded poorly lighted, evil smelling tenements depreciated the entire section of the city." In its 1937 report published in the City Year Book,...

The Robert Mills Manor public housing project in Charleston, South Carolina was constructed with New Deal funds, likely under the auspices of the Public Works Administration (PWA). The Library of Congress: "The Robert Mills Manor Remains as Charleston's earliest and most intact example of a locally initiated public low-income housing project. During the 1930s, the Federal government began a subsidy programs for the development of low-income housing and for slum clearance. The City of Charleston quickly took advantage of these programs, developing several large low income projects, the first of which was the Robert Mills Manor. Its associations with prominent local architects...

"The federal government’s New Deal programs, specifically the Works Progress Administration and the Public Works Administration, also played a direct role in Rock Hill’s economic recovery. Building projects included ... a gym at Rock Hill High School ..." (sc.gov) "1935: The first separate high school gymnasium is built, thanks to federal money." (https://rh.rock-hill.k12.sc.us/)

Rosewood Center in Liberty, South Carolina was originally built as Liberty Colored High School, a segregated school, with the assistance of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. "The school had an auditorium, four classrooms, and offices. The auditorium stage also served as the lunchroom. Originally, the basement had separate restrooms for the boys and the girls." (Wikipedia)

Rutledge College, is building on the University of South Carolina campus in Columbia, South Carolina. The building was improved with New Deal funds. The school's building history pages state: "When South Carolina College first opened its doors January 10, 1805, the building now called Rutledge was the college. The only building on the campus at the time, it served as dormitory, lecture hall, chapel, library, faculty housing, and laboratories." "In 1934 a Civil Works Administration grant paid for repairs to LeConte, Davis, Sloan, Rutledge, and DeSaussure colleges and other buildings." Rutledge College is located along the south side of the Horseshoe.

The colossal Santee Cooper Project in South Carolina was enabled by a $31 million grant-loan by the Public Works Administration (PWA), "the most expensive PWA project on the East Coast." A state law enabling the project was passed years before work was able to begin thanks to court challenges. The dams, lakes, and electricity created by the project have had immense positive long-term impacts on the state. The project entailed the clearing of 160,000 acres of land using manual labor, mostly utilizing Work Projects Administration (WPA) labor; constructing a dam to impound Lake Marion; constructing a power station and a dam...

"Sesquicentennial State Park is a state park in the Sandhills region of South Carolina. Located in the suburbs of the state capital, Columbia, Sesquicentennial State Park's 1,419 acres (5.74 km2) include a 30-acre (120,000 m2) lake. Sesquicentennial State Park also includes many hiking trails, meeting facilities, a dorm, a ropes course, and a dog park. The park was donated in 1937 by the Sesquicentennial Commission. Many of the buildings in Sesquicentennial State Park, as well as the stone entrance to the park, were built by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps."

"The federal government’s New Deal programs, specifically the Works Progress Administration and the Public Works Administration, also played a direct role in Rock Hill’s economic recovery. Building projects included ... a new city-wide sewer system." The PWA supplied a $188,000 loan and $70,631 grant for the project, whose total cost was $258,835. Construction began October 1934 and was completed June 1935.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed sewers in Georgetown, South Carolina during the Great Depression. According to the Georgetown Times, "Among construction projects underway was ... installation of sewers in 26 blocks by the WPA."

The old Siloam School near Eastland, South Carolina was constructed with assistance from the federal Works Progress Administration ca. 1936. It served as a segregated school for African-American children until 1956.

Sims College, a dormitory building on the University of South Carolina campus in Columbia, SC, was constructed in 1939, "part of the extensive building program launched on the campus in the late 1930s as part of the New Deal. Forty-five percent of the cost was paid by a Public Works Administration grant." (USC) The building is located a couple hundred feet south of Greene St. between Bull St. and Pickens St.

Sirrine Stadium, in Greenville, South Carolina, was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds in 1936. The stadium, as of 2014, was last renovated in 2002. Greenville schools: "Sirrine Stadium has a long and rich history of tradition in the Greenville Community. Once the home of the Furman University Paladins, it also supported the Greenville Senior High School Raiders. Fall weekend nights and afternoons around Sirrine Stadium have been filled with the noise and hoopla of football for generations of Greenvillians. The efforts to preserve this center of cultural and athletic tradition have culminated in a outstanding center...

Sloan College, a building on the University of South Carolina campus in Columbia, South Carolina, presently houses the school's Department of Art. The building was improved with New Deal funds. The school's building history page states: "In 1934 a Civil Works Administration grant paid for repairs to LeConte, Davis, Sloan, Rutledge, and DeSaussure colleges and other buildings." Sloan College is located northeast of Gibbes Green off Pickens St.

Hans E. Prehn created this plaster sculpture "Saw Mill," financed by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, for the old post office. It was moved to the Cotton Museum in the early 2000's and is not viewable in the front lobby.

The Spartanburg Municipal Airport opened in 1927. The Civil Works Administration graded the field, erected two runways and completed a new lighting system in 1933-1934. Work was noted to be started by 22 December 1933 and was to be completed by 15 February 1934. A Spartanburg Herald 1933 article noted that the city sought out an appropriation of $200,000 for the improvement program.

The federal Civil Works Administration provided the labor for the construction of what is now South Carolina Route 41 north of Georgetown, South Carolina. "Civil Works Administration employees work on SC Rt 511 in a c.1933 photograph. ... SC Rt 511 was renumbered in the early 1950s and became SC Rt 41. " (Georgetown County Digital Library) A photo of the work is available at the source link below.

The federal Civil Works Administration provided the labor for the construction of what is now South Carolina Route 51 north of Georgetown, South Carolina. "Route #51, near Peter's Creek, C.W.A. Project #104". The Civil Works Administration was formed in early November 1933 and was formed to build bridges and buildings." (Georgetown County Digital Library) A photo of the work is available at the source links below.