Norfolk Sites

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded and provided labor for an improvement and beautification program in Norfolk’s Ballentine Park in 1937. The WPA allocated $12, 836 for the project with the city adding an additional $4,884. “The project call for the extension of drains, building of a culvert, excavation for a lake, the grading and building of walkways and the planting of shrubs and trees.” The efforts of WPA work crews resulted in a beautiful park that shared property with the old Ballentine School. In recent years, the vacant school building was demolished and replaced by new townhouses and lofts. Nonetheless, the...

The Norfolk Botanical Garden is a 155 acre garden with 12 miles of paved trails and 65,000 plants. It receives about 300,000 visitors every year. Among the many interesting things at the Garden are tram tours, boat tours, a library, and a Children’s Adventure Garden. The beginning and early development of the Norfolk Botanical Garden is described on the Garden’s website (see source note below): “On June 30, 1938, Representative Norman R. Hamilton announced a Works Progress Administration (WPA) grant of $76,278 for the Azalea Garden project. Since most of the male labor force was at work with other projects for the...

"The original application for a grant from the P.W.A. of $45,900 contemplated an annex to the existing school at an estimated cost of $102,000. Investigation disclosed that the old building was a fire hazard, so the city demolished it and without an additional grant constructed a new building which contains 24 classrooms and an auditorium. The construction is reinforced concrete throughout, the exterior walls being stuccoed. The project was completed in March 1939 at a construction cost of $246,754 and a project cost of $264,059."

"A sports stadium was constructed at the Norfolk Division in 1936. The stadium cost approximately $300,000; money was appropriated through municipal funds and from the Virginia Emergency Relief Administration and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). During the summers, the stadium and a swimming pool in the Administration Building were used as a temporary summer camp for approximately 125 Norfolk boys and girls. ...The stadium continues to serve as a home to ODU's field hockey and lacrosse teams."   (https://www.lib.odu.edu)

"The Administration Building, complete with a library, offices, six classrooms, two gymnasiums and a swimming pool, opens in September 1936. Funded by a loan and grant from the federal Public Works Administration, the cost is $123,000. In continuous use ever since, this Federal Revival-style facility is named for Old Dominion's third president, Alfred B. Rollins Jr., in 1996."   (https://www.odu.edu)