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  • Soldiers Home Improvements - Port Orchard WA
    A WPA press release from Dec. 1937 reported that "the Retsil Soldier's Home receive $6,040" in WPA funds for grounds and landscaping improvement work." Multiple similar projects were undertaken at the site. The facility is now known as the Washington Veterans Home in Retsil .
  • South Seattle Playground Improvements - Seattle WA
    In 1939 and 1940, WPA workers made several improvements to the South Seattle Playground, beginning with the demolition of the four-story former South Seattle School building, which had closed in 1932 but remained on the site. Much of the brick from the old school building was reused by WPA workers to build a shelter house for the playground in 1939. The following year, workers re-graded the south half of the field. The playground and shelter house were demolished as part of the South Seattle Industrial Park urban renewal project in the late 1960s.
  • Spokane International Airport (Geiger Field) - Spokane WA
    Previously known as Sunset Field, the property was renamed Geiger Field in 1941 and eventually became the Spokane International Airport. After the city leased the area to the military in 1939, the WPA and the army jointly cleared and leveled the land and prepared the runways.
  • Spokane St. Bridge (former) Improvements - Seattle WA
    The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) worked to improve Seattle's former Spokane Street Bridge ca. 1933-4. The bridge has since been replaced.
  • State Fair Grounds Improvements - Yakima WA
    A WPA press release from Dec. 1937 reported: "Word of $25,081 for WPA construction work in Yakima County was received today from the office of Don G. Abel, State Administrator, with the employment of 123 men from WPA rolls on projects to start December 28. The Washington State Fair grounds at Yakima will be landscaped, the trees topped and a cess-pool constructed. An allotment of $9,845 has been made by WPA, the Department of Agriculture, as sponsors, pledging $2,186. Forty-six men from WPA rolls will be employed five months. At the east city limits of Yakima the grounds will be cleared, leveled and...
  • Street Improvements - Bellingham WA
    A WPA press release from Dec. 1937 reported: "The largest project scheduled to begin next week is the Bellingham street improvement work with W.P.A. aid totaling $63,348."
  • Street Improvements - Blaine WA
    A WPA press release from Dec. 1937 reported that "a street and alley project gets underway at Blaine with $25.756 from W.P.A."
  • Street Improvements - Enumclaw WA
    "A city-wide WPA street construction and paving project 1s scheduled to get under way at Enumclaw, Monday, November 8 , with the aid of $12,160 in WPA funds and labor from the relief rolls, Don G. Abel, state Works Progress Administrator announced yesterday. Meeting the WPA allotment for the needed improvement, the City of Enumclaw is providing $15,44o, for materials and equipment for the project, which calls for the building of streets and alleys by excavating, paving, placing curbs, constructing catch basins, laying pipe drains and performing incidental work. About 25 men will begin operations with increasing enrollment as the work...
  • Street Improvements - Everett WA
    A WPA press release from Jan. 1938 reported that city streets in Everett, Washington were to be improved with a WPA grant of $38,024.
  • Street Improvements - Medical Lake WA
    A WPA press release from Jan. 1938 reported that city streets in Medical Lake, Washington were to be improved with a WPA grant of $10,309.
  • Street Improvements - Pe Ell WA
    A WPA press release from Dec. 1937 reported that "Pe Ell started a street project with $6,880 from W.P.A. funds."
  • Street Improvements - Shelton WA
    A WPA press release from Jan. 1938 reported that city streets in Shelton, Washington were to be improved with a WPA grant of $9,493.
  • Street Improvements - Tacoma WA
    One WPA project involved "considerable work to be done in Tacoma on Tacoma Avenue and Cleveland and Hendricks streets," a project which was "allotted $41,892 of WPA funds and will provide employment fer about 179 men to be taken from relief rolls."
  • Street Improvements - Whidbey Island WA
    A WPA press release from Dec. 1937 reported that a road project on Whidbey Island received $23,002 in WPA funds.
  • Street Lights - Wapato WA
    The extension of Wapato's street lighting system was a federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) project during the late 1930s.
  • Street Paving - Auburn WA
    A WPA press release from Dec. 1937 states: "An Auburn street paving project begins this week, giving 175 men jobs for nine months with a W.P.A. allotment of $93.509."
  • Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Totem Pole - La Conner WA
    The carving of the Swinomish Totem Pole was a WPA project on the Swinomish Indian Reservation from 1937-1938. Tribal member Charlie Edwards carved a 61’ log into a visual representation of traditional teachings and guiding spirits that had formerly been held privately by families on the reservation. He topped the pole with a likeness of F. D. R. in gratitude for Roosevelt's support of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, which allowed tribes to govern themselves after years of federal management. President Roosevelt and Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt were invited for the dedication on August 20, 1938, but, unable to attend, were...
  • Swinomish Model Village - Swinomish Reservation WA
    In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt allotted $2,000,000 in emergency rural rehabilitation funds to the U.S. Office of Indian Affairs (OIA). Out of this sum, OIA sent $32,000 (about $607,000 in 2020 dollars) to the Swinomish Indian Reservation for an 18-house homestead community. The community was completed in the late summer of 1936 and helped relocate families away from nearby (and less stable) floating houses. The cluster of homes still exists today and is known as the “Swinomish Model Village.” In a special 1936 edition of Indians at Work (a publication of the U.S. Office of Indian Affairs), Martin J. Sampson,...
  • Tacoma County Bridges - Tacoma WA
    One of many PWA and WPA projects in Washington state: "$314,768 was allocated for the replacement and repairing of 11 bridges in Tacoma/ Pierce County. All of the bridges were either already shut down or were scheduled to be shut down for safety reasons. The structures were needed to maintain normal flow of traffic in Tacoma."
  • Tacoma Narrows Bridge (former) - Tacoma WA
    "The bridge connects Tacoma to areas such as Gig Harbor on the Kitsap Peninsula. Funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA), it was 2,800 feet between the two the two towers. “Everyone marveled, at the gossamer of a structure so long”, Murray Morgan said the bridge. It was indeed a long and skinny structure, but that was the problem. In 1940 the bridge was hit with bad cross winds and after some violent twisting and shaking it broke. It took ten years to get the bridge back, partly due to the limited resources because of WWII. The rebuilt bridge stands...
  • Tacoma Water Supply - Ravensdale WA
    " Tacoma Water Supply Program for 1937 The Water Division of the City of Tacoma has plans completed for a construction program during 1937 amounting to $1,566,000. An application for a $705,000 PWA grant on this project has already been made. This program includes: construction of a 160x244 foot reinforced concrete building for stores and shops; reconstruction and metering of 21,160 flat-rate water services; construction of a Tide Flat trunk main extension consisting of 10,800 feet of 36 inch steel pipe, 1200 feet of 28 inch steel pipe, and 3625 feet of 24 inch steel pipe, with all appurtenant equipment; and...
  • Terminal 91 Improvements - Seattle WA
    A WPA press release from Dec. 1937 announced: A project, "giving employment to 150 men, will operate in Seattle cleaning up Smith Cove Piers 40 and 41. It is designed to lead the way to the modernization of these two largest piers in the world. The WPA allotted $35,227 to carry on this project." Piers 40 and 41 were subsequently renamed. "In 1944, the military instituted a name change for all piers on the waterfront and Smith Cove Piers 40 and 41 became Piers 90 and 91. The property altogether became known as Terminal 91, and included much of what we know...
  • Tolmie Peak Fire Lookout - Mount Rainier National Park WA
    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. The CCC constructed numerous fire lookout towers, including that atop Tolmie Peak in 1933. Elevation: 5,939 feet.
  • Town Hall - Friday Harbor WA
    "Friday Harbor’s Town Hall was built in 1936 using Works Progress Administration (WPA) funding. The project was developed to house a new town government building and the  public library. The Town’s attorney, Elmond Genest and Mrs. Leon (Minnie) Little had less than a year to plan, propose and build the new building before the federal program ended. It was constructed locally of pressed concrete, known as Boede block, from the Boede Cement and Tile Company – this building survives today on Nichols Street."   (https://historicfridayharbor.org)
  • Town Hall (former) Improvements - Monroe WA
    "City officials of the town of Monroe, were today advised that the Town Hall and the Library were due for remodeling to the extent of $2,400, it was learned from the office of Don G. Abel, State Administrator of the Works Progress Administration, through whose approval the city fathers were granted $1,822 of federal funds for this work. The city of Monroe is supplying an additional $578. The project is slated to begin on November 11 and will supply work for 15 men, taken from WPA rolls, for about two months. The improvements. will bring the public library and city hall...
  • Toy Workshop - Centralia WA
    A WPA press release reported a WPA toy workshop project in Centralia, Washington in Dec. 1937: "Old Kris Kringle is getting some valuable help in Centralia. where a staff of 15 women are busy making new toys and repairing old ones for childproof of needy families in Lewis County. Don G. Abel, State Works Progress administrator announced yesterday that $1,652 in WPA funds have been allotted for the work which will be carried on through the holiday season. The State Department of Social Security, as official sponsor of the project, has provided supervision quarters, lights, heat, water and telephone. Things oro humming...
  • Tri-City Country Club Golf Course - Kennewick WA
    From 1938 to 1939, the WPA constructed the first nine holes of the Tri-City Country Club golf course. From the course website: "The original Twin City Golf Club was formed in 1938. Back then the city of Kennewick purchased the property known as Hover’s Fountain Park from the KID for $100 for the purpose of creating a golf course. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked with the members of the Twin City Golf Club built the original 9 hole course. Kennewick specified in the first lease to the club that none of the materials or labor had been provided by...
  • University of Washington Campus - Seattle WA
    A WPA press release from Dec. 1937 stated: "The finishing touches to the creation of what is said will be the most beautiful college campus in tho west will begin this week with the opening operations of a new Works Progress Administration project. The plans designed, under a series of projects of which this is the culminating one, will give the University of Washington a campus second to none in boauty of landscape, according to the university buildings and grounds engineers. The WPA grant for the present project is the largest single federal allotment to the university and, according to present estimates,...
  • University Station Post Office - Seattle WA
    Seattle's historic University Station post office was constructed ca. 1937 with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which houses New Deal murals, is still in use today.
  • University Station Post Office Murals - Seattle WA
    Multiple Section of Fine Arts murals hang in Seattle's University Station post office. The murals by Jacob Elshin were painted in 1939 and are entitled Historical Review of Education and Present Day Education and Present Day Education. The murals are in their original location, but what used to be the post office lobby is now work space/storage and is not generally accessible to the public. "Born in Russia in 1892, Elshin moved to Seattle in 1923. He also painted a mural for the Renton Post Office and a WPA Federal Art Project Mural located in West Seattle High School. His University...
  • Van Asselt School Playground - Seattle WA
    The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) worked to develop and improve the playground at Seattle's Van Asselt School. A photo at the U of Washington shows a field of stumps and clearing efforts with the caption "State of Wash., E.R.A. - K.C.D., Project # 508, Dec. 28, 1933, Neg. No 47; Van Asselt School playfield." The Van Asselt school was built on donated land from the late 19th century from an early settler Henry Van Asselt, Built in 1909 - 1950. Rebuilt in 1950 - 2000. Closed in 2000 and moved to the current school a few blocks south.
  • Vancouver Barracks Improvements - Vancouver WA
    "Uncle Sam's fighting men, stationed at the Army barracks at Vancouver, Wash., will have special cause for celebration next Fourth of July , for the day before is expected to see completion of WPA repairing and general improvement work scheduled to start November 4 , with the aid of $37,631 in WPA funds and labor, it was announced today at the office of Don G. Abel, state Works Progress Administrator. A WPA crew will be busy for eight months replacing foundations, roofs, chimneys, porches, gutters and downspcots, painting, calcimining, plastering and performing incidental work in all parts of the fort, says...
  • Wagner Performing Arts Center - Monroe WA
    The Wagner Performing Arts Center in Monroe, Washington was originally the auditorium of Monroe Junior High School, built in the late 1930s with the help of PWA grant funds. Construction of the auditorium and school began in September, 1938 and was completed within a year. The dedication ceremony was held September 15, 1939. Governor Clarence D. Martin was the keynote speaker, and declared the building to be one of the finest of its kind in the state. PWA representative Francis Grant was in attendance, as well as architect William Mallis of Seattle, Mr. Tait of the Tait Engineering Company of Everett, and...
  • Wapato Park - Tacoma WA
    “Wapato Park was the site of a major WPA work project. Sherman Ingalls, Metropolitan Park District Supervisor at Wapato directed the project and designed the park improvements. The WPA built bridges, boat and bathhouse, modern kitchen with hot and cold water; installed electrical outlets; graded, leveled and seeded the park; built modern ball fields, a sandy bathing beach, and a stone entrance; cleared roads and pathways, and developed Alpine gardens and a lily pond.” ("History of Wapato Park.")
  • Washington Park Arboretum - Seattle WA
    The Washington Park Arboretum is a public park, run as a joint project between the University of Washington and the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation. "In 1933, the Public Works Administration did some rough clearing in Washington Park, but it was not until 1935 that real progress began... Governor Martin proposed the Arboretum as a candidate for additional Works Progress Administration (WPA) funding to Washington Senator Lewis B. Schwellenbach, who approached the WPA with the suggestion. The Arboretum was designated an official project of the WPA, which authorized the employment of 800 workers at a cost of $1.5 million. The WPA funding...
  • Washington Park Improvements - Yakima WA
    "Final approval of two improvement projects for the City of Yakima was announced today by Don G. Abel, Works Progress Administrator. ... project, slated to be under way December 13, will consist of revamping the landscaping in Washington Park, building of cinder paths, improvement of old ones and a general realignment of the natural setting. Eighteen men will be allotted to the project. While this project will cost the City of Yakima only $288, the WPA will invest $3,351, Abel stated." The exact location of Washington Park in Yakima, Washington is unknown to Living New Deal.
  • Washington Secretary of State Office Assistance - Olympia WA
    A WPA press release from Dec. 1937 announced that $5,800 was "allotted to the Secretary of State's Office, Olympia. The Olympia project is for the purpose of folding, binding and covering pamphlets and books. The help provided the Secretary of' State will not displace any regularly employed person in that Office."
  • Water Mains - Blaine WA
    A water main construction project was undertaken in Blaine, Washington with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. Construction occurred in 1934. PWA Docket No. WA 2372
  • Water Mains - Kettle Falls WA
    A water main construction project was undertaken in Kettle Falls, Washington with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. Construction occurred during 1935. PWA Docket No. WA 5699
  • Water Mains - Naches WA
    A water main construction project was undertaken in Naches, Washington with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. Construction occurred during 1935. PWA Docket No. WA 2959
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