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  • Converse Hall (JMU) - Harrisonburg VA
    James Madison University's Converse Hall, originally known as Senior Hall, was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $106,000 grant and $41,975 loan for the project, whose total cost was $147,476. Construction occurred between Mar. 1934 and June 1935. PWA Docket No. VA 1811
  • Creeds Elementary School - Virginia Beach VA
    Creeds School was constructed for the 1939-40 school year with funds provided by the Works Progress Administration. The twelve-room structure served students from first grade through high school in the rural community of Creeds in Princess Anne County, Virginia. In 1954 when a new high school was opened in the county, Creeds School no longer offered upper level classwork. Creeds Elementary School, now located within the city of Virginia Beach, remains a vital and vibrant part of the Creeds community.
  • Culpeper National Cemetery Improvements - Culpeper VA
    "During the 1930s, the cemetery was improved through several Depression-era federal make-work programs. In 1934, the original tool house was demolished and replaced by a new brick garage-tool-comfort station erected by the Civil Works Administration (CWA) at a cost of $8,000. Another CWA project in May 1934 included repairs to the lodge, raising and realigning 912 headstones, and constructing a concrete driveway and walk. In 1936, a Works Project Administration project accomplished the realignment and re-setting of 402 headstones. The old flagstaff was removed and replaced with a new one in 1938 and in December 1939 a brick and slate-roof...
  • D.C. Workhouse and Reformatory Historic District Improvements - Washington DC
    The Civil Works Administration and the Public Works Administration (PWA) completed improvements at the District of Columbia Reformatory and Workhouse (today’s “D.C. Workhouse and Reformatory Historic District”) between 1933 and 1940. “During the latter part of December 1933 an appropriation was obtained from the Civil Works Administration for the construction of 4 dormitory buildings and 2 buildings for officers' quarters. This work was handled as a Virginia project through the Fairfax County administrator. Work was started January 2, 1934, and when work was terminated on March 31, 1934, the 4 dormitories were about 90 percent complete, and the 2 buildings for officers' quarters...
  • Douthat State Park - Millboro VA
    A 4,545 acre park and one of the first six Virginia State Parks, includes original cabins. "Approximately 600 men from the Civilian Conservation Corps developed and constructed the majority of the modern-day park system."
  • Emporia Armory (former) - Emporia VA
    Emporia, Virginia's historic National Guard armory building was constructed with federal funds and labor. The building, presently owned by Greensville County, also served as a school gymnasium. It has housed operations for the local chapter of the Boys & Girls Club of America since the late 1990s. Local sources state that the armory was constructed in 1936 by the Army Corps of Engineers and was "built to last." According to a National Register of Historic Places registration form: "The Emporia Armory ... is located at the northernmost edge of the historic district. ... This building is 11 bays wide and is two...
  • Fairfax County Trunk Sewer - Falls Church VA
    The FWA constructed two sewers as part of the work done in Fairfax County. From the Washington Post: “The biggest sewer job in this area is the 20-mile Fairfax County trunk sewer costing approximately $1,500,000. There are two branches of the sewer. One starts at Lee Highway near Falls Church, and the other at Lee Highway a few miles beyond Falls Church which follows Tripps and Holmes Runs joining below the Barcroft Reservoir of the Alexandria Water Company. From that point the sewer follows Holmes and Cameron Runs to the lower part of the county and discharges into the Potomac...
  • Federal Building Extension - Newport News VA
    An extension to the Newport News Federal Building's main structure was built with Treasury Department funds. Construction was completed in 1941. The building, which is still in use, houses New Deal artwork. The original Newport News Federal Building was built in 1904. The building has two entrances. One is on the post office side on 26th street and the other is on the Customs side on 25th street.
  • Federal Building Sculptures - Newport News VA
    The Newport News Federal Building contains three unglazed terra cotta sculptures by Mary B. Fowler, completed with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds in 1943. The sculptures depict local history: "Captain Newport Brings News and Aid to the Starving Colonists," "Present Day Industries," and "Early Industries."
  • Federal Courthouse - Harrisonburg VA
    Originally the Harrisonburg United States Post Office and Court House, this Louis A. Simon-designed federal building opened in 1940. The GSA writes that the building "is located at the northeast corner of North Main and East Elizabeth Streets in the historic commercial and institutional center of the city. The building contains five floors, including a full basement and penthouse, and rises to a height of nearly 60 feet above grade. It is cruciform in plan, measuring approximately 104 feet wide from north to south by 142 feet long from east to west. Its masonry exterior features Classical/Colonial Revival detailing with Flemish-bond...
  • Federal Courthouse Mural - Harrisonburg VA
    The 5-foot-high fresco entitled "Country Fair, Trading, Courthouse Square" wraps around four sides of the room and was painted with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds.
  • Forest Hills Elementary School - Danville VA
    The historic Forest Hills Elementary School in Danville, Virginia was originally planned as a high school. Plans changed prior to construction and the school became an elementary school. It has operated as an elementary school since its construction.  The project was undertaken with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds.. PWA Docket No. VA 7126. As of 2024, Forest Hills Elementary is in the beginning stages of renovation and expansion planning.
  • Fort Belvoir (Fort Humphreys) - Alexandria VA
    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,...
  • Fort Hunt Park - Alexandria VA
    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...
  • Fort Monroe (former) Improvements - Fort Monroe VA
    The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve Fort Monroe. $53,924 was allocated for the project in November 1938.
  • Fort Monroe Bandshell - Hampton VA
    In 1934 several New Deal Programs provided funding and employed Fort Monroe laborers in the construction of the Fort Monroe Bandshell in Continental Park. The new bandshell replaced the previous one that had been destroyed by hurricanes in 1933. Capt. Harrington W. Cochran designed the bandshell for the 2nd Coast Artillery Band which played there for the first time in April 1934. Robert Kelly, Casemate Museum Historian at the Fort Monroe Authority, notes that Capt. Cochran's diary "documents Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Public Works Administration (PWA), and the Civil Works Administration (CWA) all either funding projects and/or providing labor for improvements across the post."
  • Fort Myer Improvements - Arlington VA
    Fort Myer is a US Army post adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery. Along with many other military installations throughout the country, it received significant funding and improvements from New Deal agencies. One result was a new NCO housing area: "The NCO housing on Sheridan Avenue represents the effort to improve installations nation-wide. The Georgian and Colonial Revival elements of these buildings are typical of the construction on Army installations during this era."   (Fort Myer, Virginia: Historic Landscape Inventory) The “Microfilmed Index to WPA Projects” at the National Archives describes WPA work on the site in 1940-41: "Construct water and sewer lines, septic...
  • Fort Myer, South Post (former) - Arlington VA
    Originally known as the Arlington Cantonment and then as South Post, this area was a part of Fort Myer. In 1940, WPA labor was used to: "Construct, improve and rehabilitate buildings, including installing plumbing, heating and electrical facilities, public utility systems, water supply and purification, water and sewer lines, roads and walks at Arlington Cantonment, grade and drain grounds, perform incidental and appurtenant work." South Post has since been demolished and the grounds have become a part of Arlington National Cemetery, located directly adjacent to the rest of Fort Myer.
  • Franklin Road Bridge - Roanoke VA
    The Franklin Road Bridge was paid for by the New Deal-era Public Works Administration during the Great Depression. The 363-foot span carries vehicular traffic over railroad tracks to eliminate dangerous train-car accidents. The Art Deco ornamentation on this bridge is not as ornate as that on bridges built in the 1920s, but featured lights that "used sodium vapor to illuminate the bridge at night." This was new to Roanoke in the 1930s. "The Virginian Railway and the City of Roanoke received federal funds to build bridges that would cross above railroad tracks and remove dangerous at-grade crossings. The Franklin Road and...
  • Galax Elementary School - Galax VA
    Galax, Virginia received a new school in 1937 with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The facility replaced a building that burned in 1936. Living New Deal believes the facility to be what is now Galax Elementary School. Construction occurred between January and December 1937. PWA Docket No. VA 1187.
  • George Washington Middle School - Alexandria VA
    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...
  • Greensville County Training School (former) Addition - Emporia VA
    A 1934 addition to Emporia, Virginia's old Greensville County Training School was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA contributed $16,957 toward the project, whose final cost was $56,533. (PWA Docket No. VA 3495.) According to a National Register of Historic Places registration form: "In 1934, an 8 by 12 foot addition containing classrooms was built onto the rear west wing of the building." The building, abandoned, has had its roof fall in and its windows boarded up. Its future is uncertain.
  • High Speed Wind Tunnel, Langley Research Center - Hampton VA
    "The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics constructed this 8-foot high-speed wind tunnel for test purposes. It is the largest structure of this kind in the world and is built of reinforced concrete throughout except that the air passages are lined with steel plates. Large-scale airplane models and full-sized airplane parts are investigated for the effects of air velocities varying from 85 miles per hour up to the speed of sound. The tunnel is equipped with an 8,000-horsepower motor which drives a 18-blade propeller 16 feet in diameter. The working space in the dome is at a...
  • Holden Rhodes House Restoration - Richmond VA
    The City of Richmond, Virginia utilized Civil Works Administration funds to restore the Holden Rhodes House, a ca. 1840 Greek Revival granite house. An inappropriate addition of a two-story wraparound porch was removed and new porches constructed. In addition, handrails were restored to the steps leading to the house.
  • Holliday Lake State Park - Appomattox VA
    The area encompassing Holliday Lake State Park and the surrounding state forest was cleared in the 1800s for farmland. In the 1930s, the federal government, through the Resettlement Administration, began buying the farms to return the land to its former productive hardwood forest status. Construction of a dam was begun at Fish Pond Creek; however efforts were relocated to Holliday Creek where a lake could be developed. The park was established in 1939 and acquired in by the state of Virginia 1945. Holliday Lake State Park, formerly Holliday Lake Recreational Area, was renamed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation...
  • James Madison University Development - Harrisonburg VA
    James Madison University (JMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia received several new buildings during the Great Depression with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds: Cleveland Hall, Converse Hall, and what is now known as Carrier Library.
  • Joseph L. Fisher Post Office - Arlington VA
    The old main post office in Arlington VA was constructed in 1937 by the Treasury Department to consolidate postal services in the surrounding area. "As the first federal building in the County, the post office provided a focal point for establishing the identity of Arlington and unifying the area’s disparate suburban villages into a single community." (Arlington webpage) The architecture is Federalist/Colonial/Georgian Revival – not unusual for East Coast post offices built during the New Deal – and was designed by the team under Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect of the Treasury. It features a central domed portico flanked by tripartite...
  • Joseph L. Fisher Post Office Murals - Arlington VA
    The old Main Post Office in Arlington VA, opened in 1937,  contains seven New Deal murals by Auriel Bessemer in its lobby.  The mural series is titled, "Agricultural and Industrial Scenes – Sketches of Virginia."  They were commissioned by the Treasury Department Section of Fine Arts, painted in 1939 and installed in 1940.   Auriel Bessemer was a local artist and the panels show familiar scenes of Virginia life in the past.  The seven panels depict Indians on Analostan Island, Captain John Smith and the Indians, tobacco picking at the Lee mansion, Robert E. Lee receiving his Confederate commission in Richmond, a...
  • Lebanon Middle School Ground Improvements - Lebanon VA
    The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)'s "constructive project work" in Russell County, Virginia included "the Lebanon school ground." Living New Deal believes this facility to be the historic 1925 high school building in Lebanon, now Lebanon Middle School.
  • Library - Purcellville VA
    Purcellville, Virginia received a new public library in 1937 with the aid of a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) grant. Virginia.edu: "In 1936, however, the Blue Ridge Library board elected to build a new building for a Purcellville Public Library and Community Center. Funds came from benefit concerts and shows and a grant from the Federal Public Works Administration, and the new library was completed on 13 September 1937. The Purcellville Library still exists today as part of the Loudoun County Public Library System." PWA Docket No. VA 1199
  • Lucy F. Simms Continuing Education Center - Harrisonburg VA
    Originally the Lucy F. Simms School, the Lucy F. Simms Continuing Education Center in Harrisonburg, Virginia was constructed with the aid of a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) grant. Construction occurred between July 1938 and June 1939; the grant supplied $45,000 toward the building's $98,870 total cost. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
  • Lynchburg City Stadium - Lynchburg VA
    This ballpark (also known as Calvin Falwell Field) was built with the assistance of WPA funds is currently home to the Lynchburg Hillcats, a Minor League baseball team. "The ballpark project began in 1936, after the city purchased 28 acres of land ... for $30,000. City Stadium was completed in 1939, thanks in part to a $100,000 grant from the Works Progress Administration. The city contributed the remaining $190,000."
  • McIntire High School (former) - Charlottesville VA
    Charlottesville, Virginia's historic former McIntire High School building was constructed during the 1930s with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The building now houses a private Christian school, The Covenant School.
  • Mount Vernon Memorial Highway and George Washington Memorial Parkway - Alexandria VA
    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...
  • Municipal Building (former) - Front Royal VA
    The historic former Municipal Building ("Town Hall") in Front Royal, Virginia was built with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $10,707 grant for the project, whose total cost was $38,235. Construction occurred between June 1935 and early 1936. A plaque on the building offers more information about the its functions and history. PWA Docket No. 5744
  • Municipal Improvements - Occoquan VA
    In 1933-34, the CWA erected a wharf in Occoquan. The PWA and CCC also worked on other nearby improvements. The original docks and wharves have been replaced over time due to disastrous floods in 1965 and 1974, but the photos shown here the documented site where New Deal works were conducted in Occoquan.
  • Museum of the Shenandoah Valley: Fletcher Painting – Winchester VA  
    According to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), Anne Fletcher’s WPA oil painting, “Iris Garden,” was completed in 1939 and placed in the Home Economics Center (or, “Home Economics Cottage”) in Berryville, Virginia.  This building appears to have been part of, or had some relation to Berryville High School.  In 1970, the high school was set for demolition and nearby schools were permitted to take things from the abandoned building that would benefit their own schools.  A principal and two students from Boyce Elementary School took up the offer and transported some items from the high school to their own. ...
  • National Guard Armory - Portsmouth VA
    WPA Constructed National Guard Armory, built in Portsmouth, VA. GIS gives a sale (completion?) date of December 5, 1936.
  • Newport News Shipyard Improvements - Newport News VA
    The New Deal made substantial improvements to the Newport News Shipyard in the 1930s.  Several federal agencies were probably involved, including  the National Industrial Recovery Administration, Public Works Administration (itself created by the NIRA), Civil Works Administration, and Works Progress Administration. The Public Works Administration (PWA) also financed the construction of two aircraft carriers at the Newport News Shipyard: tjhe Yorktown and the Enterprise. Indeed, Newport News Shipyard was one of the top warship producers at the time. As for improvements to the shipyard itself, we know from the Department of the Navy Bureau of Yards and Docks history website that U.S. shipyards,...
  • Norfolk Botanical Garden - Norfolk VA
    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...
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