Utah Sites

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of improvements at the Kanab School in Kanab. Docket # 1013-R (Utah). The Public Works Administration funded several projects at Kanab School. In 1933 - 34, PWA funds allowed leveling and enlarging the school hill. In 1934, outside walls were rebuilt, a new roof was put on, and ceiling lights were added. In 1937 - 38, rock walls, a stadium, and locker rooms were added, steps were widened, and grounds landscaped. The architect of record for parts of these efforts was Ashton and Evans. Total WPA funds for these projects was $6000.  

The Kaysville City Hall was one of 226 New Deal buildings constructed in Utah. Of the 226, a total of five buildings were constructed in Davis County. The Kaysville City Hall is the only one of the five that is extant. In November of 1940, Kaysville Mayor Thornley K. Swan announced construction of a $55,000 city hall building. In 1941, a bond election was held. Part of the project ($20,000) was paid for by WPA funds. After the United States entered World War II, PWA labor was reassigned to the Hill Field project and WPA funds were eliminated. Construction was recommenced...

The federal Public Works Administration (PWA) approved the provision of funds for the construction of a town hall in Lewiston, Utah in 1934. The building, now the Lewiston Community Building, was constructed between Nov. 1934 and Aug. 1935. The PWA supplied a grant of $16,008 for the project, whose final cost was $56,173. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (PWA Docket No. UT 1281)

Several school construction projects in Murray, Utah were undertaken during the New Deal with the help of the Public Works Administration (PWA). One was at the Liberty Elementary School, turning the basement into three new classrooms and constructing a kitchen and cafeteria.  These improvements were completed in Fall 1939. The school has since been replaced.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook several projects in Little Cottonwood Canyon, southeast of Salt Lake City.  These works included a stone bridge, improvements at the fledgling Alta ski area and improvements to the road up the canyon.  Exactly what part of the road was done by the WPA teams is unknown. There is a plaque at the Little Cottonwood Creek bridge that states the road project took place from 1935 to 1937.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA), in conjunction with Salt Lake County, constructed this elegant, three-arch stone bridge across Little Cottonwood Creek at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon. The stone is undoubtedly taken from the famous Temple Quarry, which is just a few hundred yards up the creek. The site has a plaque on a boulder (see photo) The WPA also contributed to building the road up Little Cottonwood Canyon to Alta Ski Resort, where WPA teams worked on the ski area in its earliest days. On the downstream side of the bridge is a diversion canal for either irrigation or urban water...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed a basic USDA Forest Service campsite next to Sheep Creek in the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.

The Works Progress Administration constructed a bridge across Mead's Wash in Price, Utah. The structure has almost certainly been replaced.

The historic former Ephraim High School Mechanical Arts Building was constructed as a New Deal project. Work began under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and was completed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). he exact location and status of the building is presently unknown to Living New Deal.

The historic Moroni High School Mechanical Arts Building was constructed as a New Deal project. Work began under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and was completed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The building is now privately owned. National Register of Historic Places nomination: "This is one of three high school shop buildings constructed in Sanpete County that use the same basic design. The other two are in Ephraim and Mt. Pleasant, both of which are still standing and are eligible for nomination. All three of these buildings are large, two-story box-like structures with rectangular plans and centrally placed two-story entrance...

The historic Mt. Pleasant High School Mechanical Arts Building was constructed as a New Deal project. Work began under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and was completed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The building is now privately owned. National Register of Historic Places nomination: "This building is one of three high school shop buildings constructed in Sanpete County using the same basic design. The other two are in Ephraim and Moroni, both of which are still standing and eligible for nomination. All three of these buildings are large, two-story box-like structures with rectangular plans and centrally placed two-story entrance porticos....

The Utah National Guard was funded by the New Deal to built several armories.  One of those is in Mount Pleasant. The exact year of construction is unknown to us.. "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  . The building is now utilized by the city of Mt. Pleasant as its Recreation Center, a.k.a. Memorial Hall.

The WPA conducted extensive work on Memory Grove Park, or Memory Park, including landscaping, building rock walls, cutting paths, and so on.

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Mendon School in Mendon, Cache County, in 1935. The building had four classrooms, and it was part of a larger effort to modernize schools across the United States. The school was designed by the architecture firm K.C. Schaub of Logan, Utah. The contractor of record was Tolboe & Lichfield of Provo, Utah. The school was demolished on October 7, 1991.  

The Morgan Middle School contains a building that was formerly named the Morgan High School Mechanical Arts Building.  A new high school was built one block east of this site, but the Morgan Middle School still uses the building. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the building in 1936 as part of a $155,000 Public Works Administration (PWA) building program in the Morgan County School District.  Also included in the project was the construction of the Morgan Elementary School and extensive remodeling at Morgan High School. The architects of the building are not known for certain but are likely Scott & Welch...

The WPA (and possibly CCC) conducted extensive work to create Miller Park from 1935 to 1936. From the Intermountain Antiquities Computer System (IMACS) report: Site 42SL000711 is Miller Park, a historic public park, with seven built features, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The features consist of a stone double staircase (F-01 ), a stone platform wall and culvert (F-02), a stone bridge (F-03), two stone benches and stairs (F-04, a stone bench and raised platform F-05), a metal bridge (F-06), and stone retaining walls (F-07). Two maintained walking trails run along the east and west sides of the park. The park...

The US Bureau of Reclamation built the Moon Lake dam and reservoir in 1935-38. Water supply from the reservoir began in 1938.  The curb and parapet were added in 1940-41. Funding came from the Public Works Administration (PWA). Moon Lake Dam is an earth-fill, rock-faced dam, 101 feet high and with a volume of 513,000 cubic yards.  It dams the west branch of the Lake Fork River and the reservoir covers a former natural lake, also called Moon Lake.  The Uinta Mountains rise dramatically upstream of the lake. Moon Lake reservoir is the principle storage facility for the Moon Lake Reclamation Project...

The US Bureau of Reclamation built the Moon Lake Reclamation Project in 1935-41, with the assistance of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  It provides irrigation water for the the Moon Lake Water Users Association in the Duchesne Valley of northeastern Utah. The CCC established a camp, BR-11, under the sponsorship of the Bureau of Reclamation.  It was located near Bridgeland, a hamlet between Duchesne and Myton, on the north side of the Duchesne River.  There is no recognizable trace of the camp left that we could find. Moon Lake Dam and reservoir, built by the Bureau of Reclamation, is the principle element of...

The US Bureau of Reclamation built the Moon Lake Reclamation Project 1935-41, with the assistance of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  It provides irrigation water for the Moon Lake Water Users Association in the Duchesne Valley of northeastern Utah Moon Lake reservoir is the principle storage facility for the project. Moon Lake Dam was built by the Bureau of Reclamation. A secondary storage reservoir, now called Lake Boreham, was created by the CCC-built Midview Dam, The three main distribution canals for the project were built by the CCC:  •The Duchesner Feeder Canal (1934-35), running north-south for 15 miles from the Duchesne River to the...

Midview Dam was constructed between 1935 and 1937 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), working under the supervision of the Bureau of Reclamation.  It was built as off-stream storage for the Moon Lake Reclamation Project in the Duchesne Valley of northeastern Utah.   Midview Dam is an earthen dam with a height of 54 feet and length of 1900 feet at its crest. The CCC also built a dike 21 feet high and c. 2,500 feet long to secure the reservoir along its northeastern flank.  The dam is owned by the Bureau of Reclamation, but the reservoir is operated by the local...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made extensive recreational improvements on Mt. Nebo, the highest and southern-most peak of the Wasatch Mountains.  The CCC teams worked out of three camps: F-9 at the south end of the Mt. Nebo Loop, F-3 at Hubble Canyon and F-40 near Provo, from 1933 to 1938 – and possibly to 1941 when the last camp closed. After building the Mt Nebo Loop Road (Scenic Byway), the CCC enrollees created several campgrounds, picnic areas and many trails. Not all this work can be identified precisely, but some can be verified from reliable sources. As more information comes...

Starting in 1933, the young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the Mount Nebo loop road in Utah (and part of Juab) County, Utah. Today, it is forest road FR 015 and officially designated as the Mt. Nebo Scenic Byway by the US Transportation Department. Mount Nebo is both the southern-most and highest peak in the Wasatch Mountains, at 11,929 feet. It is snow covered all winter and the Mt. Nebo road is closed for the winter season. Mt. Nebo Loop Road travels from Payson to Nephi, climbing over the back of Mt. Nebo at more than 9,000 feet, with...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made extensive recreational improvements on Mt. Nebo, the highest and southern-most peak of the Wasatch Mountains.  The CCC teams worked out of three camps: F-9 at the south end of the Mt. Nebo Loop, F-3 at Hubble Canyon and F-40 near Provo, from 1933 to 1938 – and possibly to 1941 when the last camp closed. After building the Mt Nebo Loop Road (Scenic Byway), the CCC enrollees created several campgrounds, picnic areas and many trails. Not all this work can be identified precisely, but some can be verified from reliable sources. The trails laid out by...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established its first camp in the state of Utah near Provo in Utah County and began work on a host of projects, including soil conservation, recreation and water resources. One of those projects was contour terracing to stop erosion in Little Rock Canyon behind Provo in the Wasatch Mountains.  As Holzapfel puts it: "A flurry of activity in Utah County began in 1933 when the CCC began to manage land erosion in several ways. A pilot program of range reseeding proved a success in Sheep Creek...and mountain contour terracing was successfully completed in Little Rock Canyon near...

The National Youth Administration (NYA), a branch of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for students and unemployed young people, built the Municipal Building in Roosevelt, Utah, in 1941. The Municipal Building is a modest, one-story structure in brick with very simple decoration (a zig-zag line in a white band above the front entrance).  Over the entrance is a cast-concrete plaque with the name and NYA 1941 on each side (see photo). The building sits next to the public library in the town's Central Park.  Presumably, it once was the town hall, but it presently houses a city ambulance garage (a later addition...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded half the cost of the handsome Municipal Building in Price UT, constructed in 1938-39.  The building includes city offices, a large auditorium and an enormous mural cycle by native son Lynn Fausett in the foyer of the auditorium.   The design is minimalist Neoclassical Moderne clad in desert-buff brick. The city offices have been completely altered, but the foyer with its murals  and the auditorium with its wooden seats with streamline sidebars (photos below) are both still intact.  The cornerstone attributes the building to the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (the formal name for the PWA). The...

The National Youth Administration (NYA) contributed work teams to the construction of a new power plant for the municipal power system of Murray, Utah (the NYA was a part of the Works Progress Administration of the New Deal). A team of 85 NYA workers also helped in the conversion of an old theater in town into offices for the Municipal power system. The town of Murray municipalized its local electric power system in 1912, along with its water and sewage systems.  The power plant has been modified, but is still in use as part of the city power system.  

The Murray UT City Center (city hall and police station) occupies the former Arlington School building, constructed with the aid of the New Deal. The school was replaced at another site and the building renovated in the 1980s. 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.  The largest project was a new Arlington  School constructed on State Street in front of the older...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the amphitheater at Mutual Dell camp in 1936.  It is a modest sized outdoor theater with a concrete and stone stage and wooden plank seating for about 200 people. It was constructed by CCC enrollees working out of Camp F-43 in Pleasant Grove UT. Mutual Dell is a girls camp run by the Latter Day Saints (Mormon) Church. The amphitheater is still actively used for camp programs.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the Myton Grade School in Myton NV for the Duchesne County School District. The school was designed by the architecture firm Scott and Welch. The contractor of record was Tolboe & Tolboe. The New Deal school, which was constructed c. 1939, has been replaced in recent years by a new structure at the same site.    

Navajo Lake in Kane County, UT is a natural lake formed by a prehistoric lava flow.  The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) added a dike to raise the lake level and extend the recreational boating, swimming and fishing season.  This is one of several projects undertaken by the CCC in Dixie National Forest during the 1930s, under the supervision of the US Forest Service.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of an addition to the North Cache High School in Richmond, Cache County, Utah.  North Cache High School was demolished in 1999. The school addition, done in a subdued brick Moderne style, was designed by the architecture firm K. C. Schaub of Logan, Utah. The contractor of record was Johnson & Mickelson of Logan, Utah.

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the North Ogden Elementary School in North Ogden. Docket # 1011-R (Utah). The architect of record was E. Pierce and the contractor was Curtis Johnson. The structure was demolished in 2010.    

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the North Summit Grammar School in Coalville, North Summit School District. Docket # 1016-R (Utah). The condition of this structure is unknown to the Living New Deal.

Crews from the nearby Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp in Leeds, UT, built the road to Oak Grove and completed the Oak Grove Campground sometime between 1933 and 1942. The campground featured a tennis court, wading pool, and playground.

Ogden High School is an excellent example of New Deal school building, featuring elegant architecture and all the modern features of the time.  It is still in use today and appears to have been little altered over time. From the PWA report of 1939: "It is one of the largest high schools in the State and will care for an enrollment of 2,000 students. The classroom section, which is 4 stories in height, contains 40 classrooms, domestic arts and science rooms, a cafeteria, 69 by 122 feet, physics, chemistry, and biology laboratories, and a library, 60 by 80 feet. The gymnasium section...

The PWA provided funding for the construction of the Ogden Municipal Building in 1939-1940.  The brick and terra cotta building was designed by the same team, Hodgson & McClenahen, as Ogden High School.  The building is still in use and has been put on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Ogden River Project provides irrigation water for 25,000 acres of land along the Wasatch Front around Ogden UT, as well as supplemental water for the City of Ogden. The anchor of the project is Pineview Dam in Ogden Canyon and the resulting reservoir created from the waters of Ogden Creek.   Pineview Reservoir feeds a system of distribution canals to water users on the plains in and around Ogden.   The system is fed by the 5-mile long Ogden Canyon Conduit running down the north side of the canyon wall.  From there, a 25-mile long Ogden-Brigham Canal runs north toward Brigham...

The Ogden River Project provides irrigation water for 25,000 acres of land along the Wasatch Front around Ogden UT, as well as supplemental municipal water for the city of Ogden. The anchor of the project is Pineview Dam in Ogden Canyon and the resulting reservoir created from the waters of Ogden Creek.   The project includes a distribution system of canals branching off from Ogden Creek where it leaves the canyon: the Ogden-Brigham Canal, the South Ogden Highline Canal, and the lesser irrigation ditches that supply the farmers of the Weber Basin Conservancy District. The Ogden River Project was officially approved by...

The Public Works Administration funded improvements at the Utah State Industrial School in Ogden. Docket # 1112-R (Utah). Now called Ogden-Weber Technical College.