Washington Sites

A photograph at the U of Washington shows workers clearing land for an airstrip. E.R.A. - K.C.D., Proj. 2749, Mar. 19, 1934, Neg. 7; North Bend Airport From Google Maps, there is no trace of an airport at the location marked by topographic maps.

A grant from the Public Works Administration helped fund the construction of a new bridge to carry North Queen Anne Drive across the Wolf Creek ravine in Seattle's Queen Anne Hill district. Additional funding for the bridge, which cost $66,118, was provided by Seattle highway bonds. The steel and concrete bridge was built in 1936 and replaced an older wooden structure on the same site. Designed by the Seattle Engineering Department, the 238-foot-long bridge is considered noteworthy for its sleek functional design and efficient structural system, the most striking element of which is a pair of parabolic steel arches that...

"Twenty-five men from the WPA rolls will begin work Monday, November 8, on the final stages of the grading and landscaping at the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries laboratory, 2725 Montlake Boulevard, near the Seattle Yacht Club, it was learned yesterday with the announcement by Don G. Abel, state Works Progress Administrator that $4,810 in WPA funds have been allotted for the project. About five acres will be improved, with special attention to completion of the area formerly a logging canal. The schedule, Abel says, calls for excavating, the filling in of a pond and ravine, grading and seeding grounds, planting shrubs...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked to develop Olympic National Park, including constructing the park's headquarters, during the 1930s.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked to construct Olympic National Park Headquarters beginning in 1939. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided funds for the construction of the Headquarters district, which is now listed to the National Register of Historic Places. HistoryLink.org: "Like national and state parks around the country, the newly created Olympic park relied heavily on the CCC and other Depression-relief agencies of Roosevelt's New Deal for funding and labor. A headquarters was obviously a top priority, and nearly half the $470,000 that the federal Public Works Administration (PWA) allocated to the National Park Service in 1938 for the new park was...

In 1937, the Works Progress Administration came out and installed an outhouse at the farm where I now live. Apparently the farmhands were just going in the fields. To make it more sanitary, the WPA put in a beautiful little building, complete with two toilets, side-by-side, with wooden seats, covers that closed, and a concrete urinal. It's in remarkably good shape for being almost 80 years old. It even had electricity and a light so you could go at night!

This five room building was built by the WPA in 1938-1939.

Mount Rainier was the nation's fifth National Park, established 1899. During the Great Depression the New Deal's Civilian Conservation Corps greatly aided the park's development. Wikipedia: "The Paradise Ski-Tow Powerhouse was built to house a portable ski-tow system. Paradise was a significant skiing venue during the 1930s, but the Park Service did not permit a permanent ski lift facility. The ski-tow house was built in 1937 by the Civilian Conservation Corps with a steeply pitched roof similar to that of the ranger station." Based on a map on a National Register of Historic Places nomination form (wa.gov, .pdf page 21), Living New Deal...

One story published in 2011 states: "... the WPA also built a school in Kirkland and the old baseball field and bleachers at Peter Kirk Park, both now gone."

Built by the Works Progress Administration as a picnic shelter in 1937, still used for that purpose.

This totem pole stands in the middle of historic Pioneer Square, known as the "first neighborhood of Seattle". The Pioneer Square Totem Pole stands tall but unobtrusive in the middle of this square. It is actually a replica of a previous totem pole that was damaged by vandals in 1938 and restored by CCC woodcarvers and then restored again in 1972. It is one of three structures that are listed as a National Historic Landmark as well as being a contributing structure in the Pioneer Square Skid-Road District. It's also, coincidentally, listed as part of three structures in the National Register...

A WPA press release from Nov. 1937 reported: "More than 150 schools have been repaired and the grounds improved and landscaped , and five brand new schools in the state were erected entirely by WPA with a small percentage of sponsored funds," among which was a new school in Pomeroy, Washington. The precise location and the present status of the school building are unknown to Living New Deal.

A WPA press release from Dec. 1937: "The Port of Olympia is making a definite bid for world trade with the new harbor facilities made possible by W.P.A. grants new totaling more than $87,296, Don G. Abel, state W.P.A. director stated today. 'With harbor facilities rapidly assuming modern form under a fourth W.P.A. project, now approximately 60 per cent completed, the largest ocean-going vessels will be able to berth, be unloaded and loaded with the same dispatch offered by other important world ports.' Abel stated. No decisive effort to improve shipping conditions at Olympia was made until recently. This took no definite trend...

A WPA press release from Dec. 1937 reported that "Foot-paths are included in ground improvements for the Port Orchard Park with $1,207." It is likely that this park is now the facility known as Veterans Memorial Park.

The historic post office in Anacortes was completed in 1938 with funds provided by the Treasury Department. It is also the site of Kenneth Callahan's mural, entitled "Halibut Fishing," completed in 1940 with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and viewable in the lobby.

Constructed in 1937 through the U.S. Treasury Department.

The post office was constructed by the Treasury Department in 1939.

The post office in Centralia was constructed by the Treasury Department in 1937.

Constructed by the US Treasury in 1941.

Constructed by the US Treasury in 1936-38.

The post office in Kelso was constructed by the US Treasury in 1936.

The historic post office in Lynden, Washington was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which was constructed ca. 1940, houses New Deal artwork and is still in use today.

The historic post office in Montesano, Washington was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which was constructed ca. 1935, is still in use today.

The historic post office in Omak, Washington was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which was constructed ca. 1935, is still in use today.

Constructed by the Treasury Department in 1934.

Constructed by the US Treasury in 1935.

The historic post office in Puyallup, Washington was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which was constructed in 1935-6, is still in use today.

The historic post office in Raymond, Washington was constructed in 1939-40 with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which houses an example of New Deal artwork, is still in service.

Constructed by the US Treasury in 1939.

The post office in Shelton was completed in 1938 with funds provided by the Treasury Department. It is also the site of Richard Haines's 1940 mural, "Skid Row," completed with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and viewable in the lobby.

The historic post office in Sunnyside, Washington was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which was constructed ca. 1937, is still in use today.

Constructed by the US Treasury in 1937-38.

The old post office (now Wenatchee Valley Museum) contains a 1940 Section of Fine Arts mural by Peggy Strong, The Saga of Wenatchee. "Peggy Strong, an artist from Tacoma, won a statewide competition to paint the mural. Strong had been injured in a car accident in 1934 and, as a result, she painted the mural from a wheelchair, raising and lowering a platform." (depts.washington.edu)

Zygmund Sazevich completed the three carved wood panels, collectively titled "From Far Away" for the Treasury Section of Fine Arts in 1941. They hang by the counter in the customer service lobby of Kent, Washington's downtown post office.

Under the Treasury Section of Fine Art, "Seattle artist and museum curator Kenneth Callahan completed  'Fishing' in 1940. The mural provoked some outcry from the local community, who didn't entirely agree with Callahan's depictions of fishing. "Callahan, one of the founders of the Northwest School (a Pacific Northwest art movements) served as a curator at the Seattle Art Museum between 1933-1963." (https://depts.washington.edu)

The post office contains a 4' x 24' 1938 Section of Fine Arts oil-on-canvas mural by Ernest Norling entitled "Northwest Logging." The mural was restored in 1994-95. "Norling completed two Washington State Post Office murals during the New Deal period, one in Bremerton and one in Prosser. He also painted documentary images of the state's CCC camps for the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). During an oral history interview in 1964, Norling reflected on his knowledge of the logging industry and how that helped him with the mural: "I knew pretty well the lumbering industry. I'd work when I went to high...

The post office contains a Section of Fine Arts mural by Douglas Nicholson, Beginning of a New World, 1941, Egg Tempera on Wall. "A California artist, Nicholson traveled to Washington to complete the mural in person. Approximately 5' x 13' in size, the piece highlights the land and its physical and human resources including lumber, dairying, agriculture and fishing. Section administrators in Washington D.C. were not overly impressed with the mural and encouraged Nicholson to make many changes." (https://depts.washington.edu)

The post office contains a 1938 Section of Fine Arts mural by Kenneth Callahan entitled  "Industries of Lewis County." "Callahan, one of the founders of the Northwest School (a Pacific Northwest art movements) served as a curator at the Seattle Art Museum between 1933-1963." (https://depts.washington.edu)

The post office contains a 1939 Section of Fine Arts mural by Edmond J. Fitzgerald entitled Hudson's Bay - The Pathfinders. "Born in Seattle, Fitzgerald studied at the California School of Fine Arts and with Mark Tobey. According to the National Register Nomination submitted to the National Park Service for the Colville Post Office, the mural "symbolizes the role of Hudson's Bay company trappers and traders in the development of the Pacific Northwest."  Included is a trapper paddling a birch bark canoe, a log fort and three Native American men before a tepee on the near side."

The post office contains a Section of Fine Arts mural entitled "Incidents in the Lives of Lewis and Clark" painted in 1938 by David McCosh. "This mural, by Oregon artist David McCosh, captures a wide variety of scenes in the history of the western United States. According to the 1991 National Register nomination for the Kelso Post Office, the project's total cost in 1938 was $1,165. It "depicts various early western scenes including Northwest Coast Indian fishermen, the Lewis and Clark camp site, a farmer examining his plow, and a group of people receiving mail. The backdrop is the rugged forest...