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  • Adams Elementary School - Logan UT
    Adams Elementary School was built in 1936 with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA). The design was by local architect K.C. Schaub. It is a long, single-story, brick Moderne structure with subtle bas-relief columns and minimal decoration. The Adams School is still in use today.
  • Alta Ski Resort Development - Alta UT
    The New Deal gave a huge boost to the development of Alta Ski Resort in the 1930s and early 1940s.  The work involved the US Forest Service, the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration. Alta is the second or third oldest downhill ski resort in the United States. It began when the last silver mine closed in the Great Depression and the bankrupt owner deeded land to the U.S. Forest Service in lieu of back taxes. It is not clear who thought of creating a ski resort there, since miners had been skiing the canyon for years. In 1935, the Forest Service hired...
  • American Fork School Improvements - American Fork UT
    The Works Progress Administration built tennis courts and completed landscaping at the American School in American Fork, Alpine School District. Docket # 2799-R (Utah).
  • Amphitheater at Quail Cove - American Fork UT
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built an amphitheater as a recreational facility for the old Utah State Training School for the disabled.  The school has grown and changed its name to the Utah State Development Center and the part of the grounds  with the amphitheater have passed to the City of American Fork at Quail Cove Park. The magnificent amphitheater, built of local stone (no doubt from Rock Canyon), is banked into a hillside landscaped with pines. In front of the amphitheater are a stone wall and graceful curved steps leading to a large lawn bordered with trees and shrubs. The...
  • Arches National Park - Moab UT
    Arches National Monument was established in 1929 with only 4,500 acres and enlarged dramatically to over 33,000 acres by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1938 (Arches became a National Park in 1971).  Some of the first improvements to the monument were made by workers of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  CCC camp NP-7 was established in nearby Moab UT in April 1940 and lasted until March 1942, one of the last in the country to be closed. CCC 'boys' worked on roads, trails and erosion control, and notably a headquarters building and bridge over the wash that often blocked access to the...
  • Armory - Fillmore UT
    "During the 1930s, UTNG used federal money, often supplied through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), to build or expand a number of UTNG facilities. The WPA funded eight armories and several garage and storage areas for the UTNG. By 1940, 13 armories were in use by the Utah Guard including" that in Fillmore. "A bronze plaque on the east pilaster on the north elevation reads: “Fillmore Armory Constructed by Utah State Armory Board, Fillmore City and the Works Progress Administration 1937.”  The Fillmore Armory was designed by Niels P. Larsen, an architect who designed many buildings while working with the Works...
  • Armory (demolished) - Cedar City UT
    "During the 1930s, UTNG used federal money, often supplied through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), to build or expand a number of UTNG facilities. The WPA funded eight armories and several garage and storage areas for the UTNG. By 1940, 13 armories were in use by the Utah Guard including" that in Cedar City. The location of the historic armory is presently unknown to Living New Deal. The building has since been demolished.
  • Armory (demolished) - Logan UT
    "During the 1930s, UTNG used federal money, often supplied through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), to build or expand a number of UTNG facilities. The WPA funded eight armories and several garage and storage areas for the UTNG. By 1940, 13 armories were in use by the Utah Guard including" that in Logan. The location of the historic armory is presently unknown to Living New Deal. The building has since been demolished.
  • Armory (demolished) - Spanish Fork UT
    "During the 1930s, UTNG used federal money, often supplied through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), to build or expand a number of UTNG facilities. The WPA funded eight armories and several garage and storage areas for the UTNG. By 1940, 13 armories were in use by the Utah Guard including" that in Spanish Fork. The historic armory in Spanish Fork has since been demolished.
  • Armory (former) - Garland UT
    "During the 1930s, UTNG used federal money, often supplied through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), to build or expand a number of UTNG facilities. The WPA funded eight armories and several garage and storage areas for the UTNG. By 1940, 13 armories were in use by the Utah Guard including" that in Garland. The building was under construction in 1940. The location of the historic armory, and its current status, is presently unknown to Living New Deal.
  • Armory (former) - Manti UT
    "During the 1930s, UTNG used federal money, often supplied through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), to build or expand a number of UTNG facilities. The WPA funded eight armories and several garage and storage areas for the UTNG. By 1940, 13 armories were in use by the Utah Guard including" that in Manti. The building is now privately owned.
  • Armory (former) - Nephi UT
    "During the 1930s, UTNG used federal money, often supplied through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), to build or expand a number of UTNG facilities. The WPA funded eight armories and several garage and storage areas for the UTNG. By 1940, 13 armories were in use by the Utah Guard including" that in Nephi. "Construction of the National Guard armory in Nephi will be furthered with $34,669" in WPA funds, Provo's Daily Herald reported. The location of the historic armory in Nephi is presently unknown to Living New Deal. The building now houses municipal functions.
  • Aspen Grove Camp Improvements - Mount Timpanogos UT
    In 1933-34, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made improvements at the Aspen Grove Family Camp owned by Brigham Young University. The Aspen Grove camp was established after land was donated to Brigham Young University in 1921 and BYU started an Alpine Summer Camp there in 1922. (https://aspen.byu.edu) Working with BYU, the CCC enrollees planted lawns and installed 5,000 feet of pipe for a new sprinkling system, plus adding parking spaces, stoves, campsites and a new trail (Baldridge, p. 309). The CCC enrollees worked out of Camp F-5 at Granite Flat (Baldridge, p. 309).  The exact location and survival of these improvements is unknown...
  • Avalon School - Uintah County UT
    We often think of New Projects as going smoothly, but Avalon School is an exception. The educational situation in the Ouray Valley had stuggled: schools and boarding schools had been built beginning in 1885 for the Uncompahgre Ute people but they were consistently consolidated, closed, and reopened. In 1905 homesteading was allowed in the valley. By 1928 Avalon had been settled and only a few years later (1934) the school board was entertaining a FERA-funded school. Construction began with brick being formed and burned near the property, and men going via sleigh 'to the mountains' to get lumber. In Feb 1935...
  • Barrier Canyon Mural - Price UT
    A portion of Lynn Fausett's  Barrier Canyon mural hangs in the Prehistoric Museum at Utah State University Eastern. It is part of an enormous, 82-foot canvas painting done by Fausett in 1940 under the auspices of the Works Projects Administration (WPA) Arts Project (WPAAP). The segment of the mural on display in the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum is the smaller of two (12 x 22 ft.) and depicts approximately the left hand one-fourth of the Great Gallery. The larger section of the mural hangs in the Museum of Natural History at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.    The mural...
  • Barrier Canyon Mural, Natural History Museum of Utah - Salt Lake City UT
    The largest portion of Lynn Fausett's WPA-funded Barrier Canyon mural hangs at the back of the entry hall of the University of Utah Museum of Natural History at the eastern flank of the University of Utah campus (a smaller portion hangs in the Natural History Museum in Price, Utah). The canvas mural measures 12 x 60 feet and depicts ancient native pictographs/petroglyphs that Fausett had observed at the Great Gallery in Canyonlands National Monument (now a National Park), in what is known as the "Barrier Canyon Rock Art" style.   The mural was originally painted to be hung at the Museum of Modern...
  • Bear Canyon Campground - Mt Nebo UT
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built Bear Canyon Campground at the end of Salt Creek canyon road, FR 048.  CCC camp F-9 was located a few miles up the road and enrollees working from there are known to have built several campgrounds in the area.  Bear Canyon campground has the telltale signs of CCC stonework. The CCC probably built nearby Cottonwood Campground, as well, but it is more non-descript and may be a later Forest Service addition. There are stone retaining walls along Salt Creek behind Bear Canyon campground, which might have been constructed by CCC teams -- but a local resident thinks...
  • Bear River High School - Tremonton UT
    The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Bear River High School, in Tremonton, Box Elder County. Docket # 1018-R (Utah). The architect of record was J. Nelson. The condition of this structure is unknown to the Living New Deal.
  • Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge - Brigham City UT
    The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge was created by Congress in 1928 to protect waterfowl on the flyway through the Great Salt Lake Basin.  It covers 80,000 acres of marshes, sloughs and uplands at the delta of the Bear River, flowing out of the northern Wasatch Mountains.  Early efforts to improve habitat and water quality for migratory birds in the 1920s had come to naught, so local hunters and conservationists sought the aid of the federal government.   The newly-renamed Bureau of Biological Survey took over management of all national wildlife refuges in 1933 under President Franklin Roosevelt, the number of...
  • Bingham High School Athletic Fields (demolished) - Copperton UT
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built football and baseball fields for the former Bingham High School in Copperton, Utah.   Over the last 150 years, there have been five successive Bingham High Schools in the Bingham Canyon Area, part of the present  Jordan School District, including the current one in the town of West Jordan. The WPA athletic fields were built for  the fourth version of the high school, located in the town of Copperton. The High School transitioned to a Junior High School in 1996 and the fields were still in use then. The football stadium was demolished in 2002. Remnants...
  • Bonnyview School Addition and Remodeling (demolished) - Murray UT
    Several school building and renovation projects were undertaken in Murray, Utah during the 1930s, with the aid of the Public Works Administration (PWA): a new  Arlington School, a two classroom addition at Bonnyview, finishing the basement into classrooms at Liberty, and an addition to the high school gymnasium.  At Bonnyview School, a brick addition to the old building added two classroom, and restrooms were installed inside the building.  A separate building, formerly housing the first and second grades, was remodeled into a combined auditorium, playroom, and cafeteria. Bonnyview School served mostly families of industrial workers living near the railroad and families living on...
  • Bonnyview School Grounds and Rock Wall - Murray UT
    The Bonnyview School was expanded in the 1930s with the help of the Public Works Administration (PWA).  At the same time, the Bonnyview grounds were landscaped and   220 feet of rock retaining wall were built, along with entrance steps.  The school district furnished the materials at a cost of $980, while WPA provided the labor from the ranks of locally unemployed men (estimated at three months of work for twenty men). The school has since been demolished and the site left empty, but the elegant rock wall and entrance steps remain (though the concrete steps are deteriorating).
  • Box Elder High School Gymnasium - Brigham City UT
    "In Brigham City, the PWA sponsored another public building, the Box Elder High School Gymnasium. This was a more ambitious project, one of twenty Utah school gymnasiums built during the 1930s. Of red brick, the building cost $106,000. Its construction provided work not just for Brigham City laborers but for the Joseph Nelson architectural firm, an Idaho general contractor, a city building inspector, a Utah plumbing/heating/ventilating contractor, and a roofing/sheet metal specialist. The design, acceptable for the time, provided for two gyms: a 7,000-square-foot boys' gym with seating for 1,000 and a girls' gym one-fourth that size. There was also a...
  • Bryce Canyon Airport Hangar - Bryce Canyon UT
    "The Garfield County Airport Hangar is significant as an unusual example of a log hangar. The hangar was built of local ponderosa pine by the Works Progress Administration in 1936. The hangar's gabled roof is supported sawn wood trusses spanning 83 feet (25 m). The trusses are expressed on the outside and infilled with half-rounds of log, giving a half timbered effect. The hangar and airport were built by Garfield County and the WPA with the aim of attracting tourism to Bryce Canyon National Park, which had been designated in 1928. The timber used in the hangar shows the marks of the...
  • Bryce Canyon National Park Improvements - Bryce Canyon UT
    Bryce Canyon was originally designated as a national monument by President Warren G. Harding in 1923 and became a national park through an act of Congress in 1928. The park covers 35,835 acres in south-central Utah. The New Deal greatly improved Bryce Canyon National Park.  Along with the National Park Service, the Public Works Administration (PWA) provided special funds, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked continuously in the park, and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was also active. The National Park Service recognizes the CCC's contribution on its website for Bryce Canyon NP, but not that of the PWA or WPA:  “During the 1930s...
  • Bryce Canyon National Park: Cabins - Bryce Canyon UT
    Several cabins for Bryce Canyon National Park employees were built by New Deal agencies over the course of the 1930s.  They appear  in the residential area of the Park near the lodge. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built a 3-room employee cabin in 1937; the Public Works Administration (PWA) built two employee cabins in 1934; and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) build a rangers' dormitory in 1939 and remodeled a mess hall as a residence in 1938. It is not certain which of the present cabins are from the New Deal and which were built later; some park rangers believe that all of the cabins...
  • Bryce Canyon National Park: Rainbow Point - Bryce Canyon UT
    Rainbow Point was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) in 1939, and it has three different components.  First is the overlook area.  This has been refurbished in recent years, but the original stone and metal railings can be seen outside of the newer stone and log rails. Second is the "museum" at Rainbow Point.  The museum is not a building but an open structure with display cases featuring natural habitat, geology, etc.  The structure is relatively large (20 x 10 feet).  This is the most noted CCC project in Bryce Canyon National Park Third is the Bristlecone Trail at Rainbow Point.  This is a short, 1 mile...
  • Bryce Canyon National Park: Road Work - Bryce Canyon UT
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) performed road work in Bryce Canyon National Park from 1934-1941.  The CCC made grading improvements on the Rim Road (the 20 mile-long road through the park) and built service roads.  The exact locations of such work cannot be ascertained today, but the roads are still there. The CCC also built parking lots at the Bryce Canyon Lodge and the headquarters building in 1936 and 1939. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) did some road work as well, in 1938-1941.
  • Bryce Canyon National Park: South Campground - Bryce Canyon UT
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) laid out the first campground in Bryce Canyon National Park in 1934.  Several campsites are leveled using tell-tale CCC stone-work.  Water and sewer lines were laid.  The original tables no longer exist but metal fireplaces appear original. Also at the South Campground is the amphitheater, build by the CCC in 1934.  Originally called the "lecture circle," it has a simple wooden stage (which can be opened like a giant closet door) and rows of benches.  The old wooden benches have been replaced by plastic ones.
  • Bryce Canyon National Park: Trail Work - Bryce Canyon UT
    From 1934 to 1940, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built or improved major trails in Bryce Canyon National Park, greatly expanding the park's trail system.  The most impressive is the Under-The-Rim trail, running from Bryce Point to Rainbow Point (18.8 miles).  The second longest is the Rim trail from the administration area to Bryce Point.  The CCC also made improvements to the Fairyland Trail and trails from the South Campground to the rim. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) also did some unidentified trail work at Bryce Canyon National Park from 1938-1941.
  • Camp W.G. Williams Hostess House - Riverton UT
    The WPA and FERA built the "Hostess House" at the recently opened Camp Williams National Guard training site in 1935. From the National Register of Historic Places: "This public works-sponsored building is an example of the Period Revival/ English Tudor style. It is a 1-story building with a broad steeply pitched gable roof. The plan is basically rectangular and there are two projecting gables placed off-center on the principal elevation. Marking the location of the main entrance, these gables are slightly off-set and serve to emphasize the asymmetry of the English Tudor design. Half-timbering, another trademark of the English Tudor style,...
  • Campgrounds and Trails - Mill Creek Canyon UT
    Mill Creek Canyon lies east of Salt Lake City in the Wasatch Mountains and is a popular recreation area for city dwellers.  It is part of the Unita-Wasatch-Cache National Forest In 1936-37, crews paid under the Employment Recovery Act made extensive improvements to Mill Creek Canyon Park (whether state relief workers or Works Progress Administration crews is unclear). It is likely that Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) crews were also involved in Mill Creek Canyon, since they were active in the vicinity, working out the Big Cottonwood Canyon CCC camp. New Deal workers built an extensive system of trails, campgrounds and stone supporting walls....
  • Capitol Murals (State Capitol Rotunda) - Salt Lake City UT
    In early 1934,  the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) sponsored ten local artists to decorate the Utah State Capitol, led by Lee Greene Richards. The others included Ranch Kimball, Henri Moser, Gordon Cope, Florence Ware, J.T. Harwood, Walter Midgley and Millard Mallin. Two large half-circle murals grace the ends of the huge central hall of the capitol building. The cupola of the rotunda has a circular mural, about six feet high, and there are four large murals at each corner atop the pillars.  They all depict romanticized scenes from Utah's past: trappers, native people, pioneers, covered wagons, the transcontinental railroad, and so forth. Millard...
  • Capitol Reef National Park - Torrey UT
    Preservation of Capital Reef began with the declaration of Capitol Reef National Monument on August 2, 1937, via Proclamation 2246 signed by President Franklin Roosevelt.  The original area set aside was only 37,711 acres. Administration of the new monument was placed under the control of Zion National Park and the National Park Service, but Capitol Reef National Monument did not officially open to the public until 1950.  It became a National Park in 1971, under President Richard Nixon, with a much expanded area of 241,000 acres.  The park is 100 miles long but narrow, running north to south, in south-central Utah. It...
  • Carnegie Library (former) Expansion - Provo UT
    In the late 1930s, the historic Carnegie Library in Provo, Utah was greatly expanded with a grant and labor provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The Provo Library website tells us that, "On December 1, 1908 the Library moved into a new building provided by a grant of $17,500 from Andrew Carnegie. By 1924 it was noted that 'the institution is greatly in need of more room.' With $59,000 from the WPA the remodeled and expanded facility opened on July 28, 1939." The building is now privately managed.
  • Castle Amphitheater - Provo UT
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built an extensive Recreation Center on the grounds of the Utah State Hospital for the mentally handicapped.  The recreation center is popularly known as the "Provo Castle" or Castle Amphitheater. It includes an 800-seat stone amphitheater with attached interior rooms and a grass-covered play area on a 3-acre site.  The original intention was to build a much larger recreational facility for the hospital, but that plan was never realized. The Provo Castle is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is still used for public events.
  • CCC Camp - Callao UT
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established a camp near the town of Callao, west-central Utah. It is unknown to us which years the camp operated. From their base of operations in the camp, CCC workers constructed a road over Sand Pass and erosion terraces, fences, and reservoirs on range lands. They also built campgrounds (possibly in what is now Big Basin National Park). When the camp closed, one of the camp buildings was moved to the town of Callao UT, where it was used first as a Mormon Church and later as an elementary school.  A site presently known as 'CCC campground', lying...
  • CCC Camp (former) - Vernal UT
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) operated multiple camps in Uintah County, Utah, including one at the county fairgrounds in Vernal, now known as Uintah County Western Park.  We do not know the exact years the camp was in place. Nothing remains of the camp and its structures, as far as we know. A report on historic sites in and around Vernal, Utah, says that there were several New Deal projects, including street work and sewers in Vernal, work at the dinosaur quarry at Dinosaur National Monument,  41 reservoirs, 150 miles of roads and 20 bridges.  These were done by various New Deal...
  • CCC Camp F-30 (Hobble Creek) - Springville UT
    In 1934, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up Camp F-30 in Hobble Creek Canyon, about six miles east of Springville.  It was a summer season camp, consisting only of tents on wooden platforms.  Hobble Creek Camp (F-30) was located in what is now Cherry Campground (moving there from another nearby location in 1934). The US Forest Service website says that F-30 only operated in 1934-36, with operations shifted to Camp F-40 in Provo, a few miles north of Springville, up to 1941. Baldridge (p 122) contradicts this, saying that F-30 continued to be used as a summer spike camp until...
  • CCC Camp F-38 (demolished) - Big Cottonwood Canyon UT
    Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) Company 3340 worked out of camp F-38 at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, Salt Lake County Utah, from the summer of 1935 through 1942.  Camp F-38 was under the direction of the US Forest Service. The hundreds of CCC enrollees assigned to camp F-38 made many improvements to recreational facilities along the Wasatch Front east of Salt Lake City, including work in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Little Cottonwood Canyon and Mill Creek Canyon. They built trails, roads, bridges, campgrounds, shelters, ski facilities, amphitheaters and more, and even carried out a couple rescue operations, as well. A panel near...
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