Provo Sites

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...

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.

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.

In 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up Camp F-40 at the Provo Fairgrounds (now the Provo Airport).  It was a permanent camp with wooden buildings that operated until 1941.  It housed CCC Company 958, which moved there from Camp F-30 in Hobble Creek Canyon -- first in the winters of 1934 and 1935, then full time from 1936 on. The letter F meant that CCC projects at this camp were carried out under the direction of the US Forest Service, in what was then the Wasatch National Forest (now Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest). The name "Rock Canyon" may be a...

The New Deal's Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed sidewalks along Center Street in Provo in 1939.

The J. Will Robinson Federal Building occupies the former Provo main post office building, constructed c. 1936. The building bears an unexpected cornerstone from 1965, owing to the building's extensive renovation at that time. The building houses multiple federal agencies today, as well as the original post office mural.

Provo's J. Will Robinson Federal Building houses a New Deal mural, "Early and Modern Provo," by Everett C. Thorpe, completed in 1942.  The work was commissioned by the federal Treasury Section of Fine Arts for what was then the main Provo post office.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of what appears to have been an addition to the Franklin School in Provo UT. The original school building dated to the turn of the century, judging from the Utah Valley University archives. The above photograph appears to show an addition built by the PWA. A photograph of the original school at the FamilySearch.org link (below) seems to corroborate this interpretation, but more information is needed to be certain. The entire Franklin School site appears to have been cleared for a new school sometime prior to 1993, judging from Google Earth.

The historic former Joaquin Elementary School in Provo, Utah was a New Deal project constructed with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds during the late years of the Great Depression. The building has since been demolished.

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 Pioneer Museum in Provo UT was built with substantial aid from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1935-37.  It was started as a project of the Sons and Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, who ran out of funds by 1935.  The City Commission of Provo applied to the federal government and received a WPA grant of $11, 735.  The WPA provide the labor and the city the materials for the building, and the Sons & Daughters of the Pioneers raised money for the interior furnishings. The Pioneer Museum sits in the middle of North Park in Provo.  The building is...

 Timpanogos Elementary School in Provo, Utah is now on its third incarnation. The original school on the site was built in 1892.  That school was demolished in 1938 and replaced by a New Deal school constructed with Public Works Administration (PWA) funds in 1938.  The New Deal version of the school was demolished in 2007 and replaced with a third version of the school at the same location (photo below).

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made extensive improvements to the Utah State Hospital for the mentally handicapped in 1936-37.  WPA workers constructed a Recreation Center (now the Castle Amphitheater) and a Superintendent's Residence (now the Hospital Museum), as well as remodeling the Central Administration Building, upgrading the heating plant, and doing maintenance work on the 320-acre grounds of the hospital.    The former Central Administration Building was a large Victorian structure and apparently the WPA renovation work included removal of gothic spires from the old building. Unfortunately, that historic building has been demolished and replaced by a modern administration building of...

The Museum at the historic Utah State Hospital for the mentally handicapped was formerly the Superintendent's Residence, which was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1936-37 as part of a general improvements to the state hospital complex.  That work included renovations to the Central Administration Building and a Recreational Center (now the Castle Amphitheater).