Alexandria Sites

"During the 1930s, the Civilian Works Administration (CWA) made general repairs to the lodge and outbuildings and erected a new flagpole."

Newspaper articles from the 1930s report that a mixture of New Deal funds and private spending in the amount of $975,000 were used to construct the Bureau of Public Roads Research Center.  According to the Bureau of Public Roads annual reports, 1937-1939, the new research facilities were constructed on the "Abingdon Plantation," also known as "the old Custis Estate near Gravelly Point."  This area today is roughly where the Washington National Airport parking garages are situated.  A small green area between the two garages is a remnant of the plantation  (the CCC did historic preservation work here). A 1939 Evening Star article says...

Originally called Fort Humphreys, this Army post was established during World War I. The name was changed to Fort Belvoir in 1935. "Title I of the Work Relief and Public Works Appropriation Act gave $13,942,572 in WPA funds and $52,283,400 in PWA funds for Army housing. Spent at 64 posts, 285 projects, 1091 sets of quarters. These projects had to be substantially completed by Jan. 1, 1940...Both Jadwin Loop Village and Gerber Village expanded in 1939 with the addition of row houses using PWA workers."   (https://www.fortbelvoirhousinghistory.com) WPA work on the site in 1938-40 included: "Improve grounds at Fort Humphreys…including rehabilitating roads and sidewalks,...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed the Fort Hunt site as a recreational park from 1936 to 1939.  The work was very extensive, including excavating a lake, a golf course, roads and parking areas, and a storm drainage system.  The CCC enrollees built 8 acres of picnic areas with tables, stone fireplaces, restrooms, water pipes and drinking fountains, plus a trail system for hikers.  Lastly, they constructed a park ranger home, shop buildings and an oil storage house, and planted trees and other landscaping. Little of the original work remains, since the park has undergone a great deal of renovation over...

George Washington Middle School in Alexandria, VA was completed in 1936. It was funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA) with a grant of $300,000 made in 1933.   It was originally the George Washington High School, which replaced two prior high schools in the city, Alexandria HS and George Mason HS. The building is a good example of brick Moderne architecture, with low-relief column between the windows and a monumental entrance flanked by columns with eagle heads at the top. The school was converted to a middle school in 1971 as part of a reorganization of the Alexandria City Public Schools System. A...

Today, the stretch called Mount Vernon Memorial Highway is located mainly in Alexandria, VA, but connects there to the stretch now called the George Washington Memorial Parkway which runs along the Potomac River mainly on the Virginia side. Though the first section connecting the Arlington Memorial Bridge to Mount Vernon was completed before the commencement of the New Deal, New Deal programs worked on both the Mount Vernon and the George Washington stretches of the road as part of a larger Capital Parks improvement program assisted by the PWA, WPA and CCC. New Deal work on and around the parkway included...

According to WPA records in the National Archives, in 1941 WPA labor was used to "Improve grounds at the U.S. Coast Guard Monitoring Station, including constructing fences; clearing trees, brush, and undergrowth; appurtenant and incidental work." Exact location and current status of this coast guard station unknown.

The index to WPA projects at the National Archives includes the following description of WPA efforts at the magazine and torpedo factory: "Rehabilitate buildings, roads, and walks at the Naval Magazine and Naval Torpedo Factory of the Navy Yard; Rehabilitate the Naval Torpedo Factory in the city of Alexandria, including painting, removing, reconstructing, raising and relaying floors, placing tile, overhauling and installing plumbing, heating and electrical facilities, installing foundations and resetting machinery, installing refrigeration facilities, constructing partitions."