• 1940 Air Terminal Museum - Houston TX
    Federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds enabled the construction of the old terminal at what was then known as Houston Municipal Airport. The Art Deco building at William P. Hobby Airport now serves as the 1940 Air Terminal Museum.
  • Airline Drive Overpass - Houston TX
    The Texas Highway Department and the Federal Works Agency Public Roads Administration built an overpass in 1941 to separate the grade of Airline Drive and the Houston Belt and Terminal Railway tracks. The overpass is currently open to traffic.
  • Austin High School - Houston TX
    The Stephen F. Austin Senior High School in southeast Houston, Texas was constructed as a New Deal project with the aid f Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The three-story building, featuring "44 classrooms, a large auditorium, a cafeteria, a gymnasium, a swimming pool, a library, sewing, cooking and home economics rooms and administrative offices," opened in 1937.
  • Bob Casey Federal Building and Courthouse Mural - Houston TX
    "Houston Ship Canal--Loading Oil" Medium: oil on canvas Size: 6'6" x 6'6"
  • City Hall - Houston TX
    "During the Depression, plans for constructing the City Hall were temporarily sidetracked. In 1933, however, the City applied for a federal Public Works Administration grant to help finance the construction of a new City Hall. Straw votes on building a new City Hall were taken in 1933, 1934 and 1935, In 1934 voters rejected a proposition to build the City Hall, but also voted that if one were to be built, it should be put on the Civic Center site rather than at Market Square. On August 8, 1937, the City Hall W.P.A. grant was approved... In October 1937 the...
  • DePelchin Children's Center Development - Houston TX
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) contributed to the early development of the De Pelchin Faith Home and Children's Bureau. "Construction of the present nine main units began in 1937. The home had on hand $103,000; the City of Houston voted a bond issue of $30,000 for the buildings, and the Work Projects Administration appropriated $72,765. Ground breaking ceremonies were held on December 13, 1937."
  • Emancipation Park - Houston TX
    Emancipation Park in Houston, Texas was dramatically transformed and improved by construction projects enabled by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA) during the Great Depression. The park "was donated to the City of Houston in 1916. For more than twenty years, Emancipation Park was the only public park in Houston open to African-Americans. In 1938-39, the Public Works Administration constructed on the park site a recreation center, swimming pool, and bathhouse, designed by prominent Houston architect William Ward Watkin, on the site. The buildings are important examples of PWA construction in Houston and have been used since their construction for after-school...
  • Harris County District Attorney's Building (demolished) - Houston TX
    Houston's historic Harris County District Attorney's Building was constructed as a federal office building and post office during the 1930s. The building, whose construction was funded by the Treasury Department, was completed in 1939. Harris County purchased the building in 1978.
  • Highway Development and Road Improvements - Houston TX
    Several large highway and road development projects, which included improvement work such as street paving, were undertaken in Houston during the Great Depression and were enabled by federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. PWA grants covered nearly half the construction costs. Federal assistance to the city amounted to millions of dollars (not even adjusting for inflation). Work began as early as 1933 and would continue for several years. (PWA Docket Nos. TX 1292, 1312, W1041, W1333, W1958)
  • Houston Garden Center (demolished) - Houston TX
    The Houston Federation of Garden Clubs (HFGC) was founded by several Houstonian women in 1936 with the goal of building a garden center to hold their meetings and educational forums. That dream bore fruition five years later when Mayor Oscar Holcombe applied and was approved for fifteen thousand dollars in labor by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Originally, the HFGC ladies raised $1,100 through flower shows, fashion shows, and train trips east. The involvement of the whole city illustrated the extent of manpower for funding the garden center. In 1939, four-hundred volunteer garden club ladies along with sixty-five businessmen from...
  • Houston Ship Channel Dredging - Houston TX
    The Houston Ship Channel officially opened in 1914 after the 52-mile long waterway that runs from the Gulf of Mexico to a tuning basin at the Port of Houston was dredged to a depth of 25 feet. The depth of the channel was increased to 30 feet in 1922. In 1933, the United States Department of War and the United States House Committee on Rivers and Harbors approved a plan to increase the depth of the channel from 30 feet to 34 feet and widen the Galveston Bay section from 250 feet to 400 feet. The Public Works Administration provided $2,800,000...
  • Jefferson Davis Hospital (demolished) - Houston TX
    Houston, Texas's old Jefferson Davis Hospital was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project during the Great Depression. The PWA supplied a $1,003,500 grant toward the eventual $2,388,686 total cost of the project. Work occurred between March 1936 and December 1937. The facility was demolished in 1999. (PWA Docket No. TX 1014)
  • Julia Ideson Building (Public Library) Murals - Houston TX
    Oncell: "In 1934, as part of a local Public Works Art Project, three Houston area artists were commissioned to paint murals in the Houston Public Library (HPL) building.  The murals found on the first and second floors of the Julia Ideson Building now constitute the largest collection of depression-era murals found in the city of Houston. This triptych, or three piece set, found in our first floor hallway depict Spanish scenes and symbols painted by artist Angela McDonnell of Galveston.  In 1930, Miss McDonnell had obtained passage on a cargo ship leaving Houston and ended up in Barcelona, Spain. ...
  • Lamar High School - Houston TX
    A Public Works Administration package of school construction grants of $3,821,000 helped build Lamar High School in Southwest Houston, along with other schools in the city. The Moderne style school was completed in December 1937. There is a large bas-relief map of Texas carved over one entrance.
  • Looscan Elementary School - Houston TX
    The Houston Independent School District and the Public Works Administration (PWA) erected the Adele Looscan Elementary School in 1936 under PWA project number TEX-1057R. Looscan is still an active elementary school for the Houston ISD.
  • Memorial Park Development - Houston TX
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) contributed to the development Memorial Park. "At the close of the war, when the camp was abandoned, part of the site was acquired by the Hogg brothers, who, in 1924, turned 1,000 acres over to the City at cost. Later, an additional 503 acres were obtained. Hare and Hare, Kansas City landscape architects, planned the improvement work which was carried out during the succeeding years, first as a local, then as a State relief project, and finally under the supervision of the Work Projects Administration."
  • Milby Park Development - Houston TX
    "The W.P.A. undertook construction of recreation buildings in Emancipation Park and Milby Park."
  • Milroy Park Club House - Houston TX
    The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Milroy Park Club House, which serves as a community center in Houston TX. 
  • Robertson Stadium (demolished) - Houston TX
    Robertson Stadium was "constructed as a joint project between HISD and the Works Progress Administration by the Fretz Construction Company." Originally Named Public School Stadium it was completes in 1942. Houston Independent School District renamed the stadium Jeppesen Stadium. In the 1970's the stadium was renamed Robertson Stadium after being aquired by the University of Houston. It was home to many University of Houston, Texass Southern, and Houston Independents School District events until it was demolished in 2012.
  • Roy G. Cullen Building (Old Science Building, UH) - Houston TX
    The University of Houston's old Science Building, now known as the Roy G. Cullen Building, was constructed as a New Deal project. Houston, a history and guide: "Directly opposite the reflection pool is the SCIENCE BUILDING (open day light hours, Mon.-SatJ, forming the north boundary of the central quadrangle. Of modern architecture and faced with Texas limestone, the two-story structure is designed to harmonise with the earlier building. Wings and offsets break the monotony of long walls void of other ornamentation. The main entrance faces the pool. The Science Building contains 15 laboratories large enough to accommodate a total of 300...
  • Sam Houston Coliseum and Music Hall (demolished) - Houston TX
    The Public Works Administration contributed $1,329,508 toward the construction of the Sam Houston Coliseum and Music Hall. The architect of record was Alfred C. Finn. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held on November 4, 1936 and dedication was held on November 26, 1937. The buildings housed circuses, concerts, athletic events, stock shows and conventions. The coliseum and music hall were demolished in 1998. The former site of the coliseum was redeveloped into the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, which opened in 2003.
  • Storm Sewers - Houston TX
    A large sewer construction project in Houston, Texas was enabled during the Great Depression byfederal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a grant covering nearly half the total cost of the project ($310,053 of $676,777, not adjusted for inflation). Work occurred between December 1937 and May 1939. (PWA Docket No. TX 1142)
  • Technology Annex (UH) - Houston TX
    The University of Houston's old Industrial Building, now known as the Technology Annex, was constructed with the assistance of the Work Projects Administration, a New Deal agency. Houston, a history and guide: "Newest of the units is the INDUSTRIAL BUILDING (open workdays), north east of the central quadrangle. The first of a six-structure center planned for industrial training in a proposed north quadrangle, the one-story building harmonises in design with the other edifices and, like them, is finished in Texas limestone. Over-all dimensions are 310 feet by 150 feet. Following the industrial style, windows almost completely encircle the building. Its central facade...
  • Union Pacific Railroad Underpass - Houston TX
    In 1936, the Texas Highway Department and the United States Bureau of Public Roads built an underpass to separate the grade of Wayside Drive and the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad (now Union Pacific).
  • University of Houston: Landscaping and Improvements - Houston TX
    The University of Houston's old Industrial Building, now known as the Technology Annex, was constructed with the assistance of the Work Projects Administration, a New Deal agency. Houston, a history and guide: "Most of the heavily wooded campus was made available through donations of the Settegast and Ben Taub estates, of 75 acres and 35 acres respectively. The school board purchased a small tract. On the grounds are 101 varieties of trees and shrubs. This campus in 1941 was being improved by a large-scale landscaping program designed by Hare and Hare of Kansas City, Missouri, in cooperation with the Work Projects...