Charleston Sites

The Works Progress Administration completed improvement work on Capitol Street in Charleston, Kanawha County.

One of several fire stations built in the City of Charleston under the New Deal.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a community center for African American residents of Wilson Hollow, Charleston, Kanawha County. The exact location and condition of this structure are unknown to the Living New Deal. The May  7, 1938 the Charleston Gazette notes that construction started in 1936 and “WPA Grant for Negro Social Center Received.” The Charleston Daily Mail, 6 May 1938 also reported that “Negro Center Fund Granted.” Article cites work began “two years ago” and could resume. Noted allocation of $2,246 for the project with funds “practically all for labor.” “The building including an auditorium and classrooms is used instead as a social, recreational and training...

The Works Progress Administration built a sewer system running from East Avenue, Charleston to Montrose Drive, South Charleston. “Construction of brick sewer to connect storm and sanitary sewer with sewer from East avenue to Kanawha river, also to connect under Montrose drive. South Charleston.” East Avenue is now called MacCorkle Avenue. The general location of the project is in the vicinity of the river.

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Elk River Bridge, which carries Lee Street across the Elk River, in Charleston, Kanawha County. The structure is 500-feet long and is one of four bridges located at the point where Elk River meets Kanawha River. It was built between 1938 and 1939. Plaques installed on the pillars on each side of the northern end of the span read: “Lee Street - Fayette Street Connection and Elk River Bridge, Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, Project No. W. VA. 1218 F”

The Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (Public Works Administration) provided funding for the construction of Fire Station No. 5 in Charleston, West Virginia. This is one of several fire stations built in the City of Charleston under the New Deal. Station No. 5 is located on the northeast corner of Bridge Road and Walnut Road in the Bridge Road Neighborhood near the Bridge Road Shops in South Hills, Charleston, West Virginia.

The Works Progress Administration completed grading and drainage work for German Settlement Road in Elk District in Charleston, Kanawha County. The exact location and condition of this road are unknown to the Living New Deal.

Kanawha Boulevard is the modern term for a route that was part of the original James River& Kanawha Turnpike, and previously known as First Street, Water Street, and Kanawha Street. This route was renamed in the 1920s as Kanawha Boulevard. In the 1930s, the Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the four lane Kanawha Boulevard that runs approximately 4.6 miles along the north bank of the Kanawha River, from 35th street to the Elk River. At this point, the boulevard crosses a bridge, also a New Deal Project, and continues along Columbia Boulevard to Patrick Street. Once connected by the bridge, Coleman Boulevard...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the Kanawha Boulevard Bridge in Charleston, Kanawha County. Located at the point where Elk River meets Kanawha River, the bridge was built in 1938 and rebuilt in 1984. Billy-Joe Peyton (2013) writes that “Construction funds first became available in August 1937 after the Roosevelt administration approved a $450,000 PWA grant to partially cover the costs to erect a 500-foot bridge over Elk River, which consulting engineer C.P. Fortnoy claimed to be longest continuous girder span in the world. Requests for bids on the bridge were delivered from the PWA regional office in Chicago...

Kanawha State Forest—seven miles south of Charleston, West Virginia—offers 9,300 acres of nature and recreation. Activities in the park include camping, hiking, picnicking, horseback riding, and hunting & fishing. There is also a swimming pool, a shooting range, and playgrounds (see source #1 below). These activities are possible, in part, due to the labor of the Civilian Conservation Corps, as pointed out by the West Virginia Humanities Council: “The West Virginia Conservation Commission acquired 6,705 acres in Kanawha County for the creation of Kanawha State Forest. Redevelopment of the land, which had been heavily mined and timbered, began the next year by...

The Works Progress Administration completed improvements for Magazine Branch Road in Charleston. The work consisted of setting the stone basing of the road. The exact location and condition of this road are unknown to the Living New Deal. The road was likely what is now called Garrison Avenue, which appears to be one of the two Magazine streets listed on the Sheet 240 of the 1933 Sanborn Maps.

Two-story neo-classical building of granite and limestone was built by the Algeron Blair Construction Company of Montgomery, Alabama out of thirty bids placed for the project. The building features six over six double hung windows sash windows, pedimental entrance, Greek keys on the lintels. A 1974 brick expansion was built to the east. The Algeron Blair Construction Company also built the low-cost housing project called Littlepage Terrace in west Charleston. The construction began in November 1940. The building opened on 22 June 1942. It was limited in height to two stories because of war-time restrictions, but designed to have three additional...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the Municipal Auditorium in Charleston, WV. According to WOWK: "The history of the Charleston Municipal Auditorium in West Virginia’s capital city started with debate from citizens. According to the auditorium’s Statement of Significance to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999, the debate on whether or not to have the auditorium in downtown Charleston began in the 1930s. It says people for the auditorium said it was needed because it would attract performers and bring culture to the capital city. On the other side, people said it would be an 'unnecessary...

The Works Progress Administration built a retaining wall along Pfeiffer Hollow Road in Charleston. The exact location of the wall is unknown to the Living New Deal. The former Pfeiffer Hollow Road appears to be the same as the present day Hanna Drive.

Constructed by the WPA during 1936-1937, the South Side Bridge in Charleston, WV, a.k.a. the Dickinson Street Bridge, is a through truss span that crosses the Kanawha River. The structure was rehabilitated in 1990 and it is still in use today.

The West Virginia historical marker program began in 1934 with the beginning research for the markers with the intention of placing markers around the state to encourage tourism. Dr. Roy Bird Cook, a Charleston druggist, a longtime commission member, and avocational historian worked on the project. 5,000 sites were collected with 440 markers selected by the commission for placement. Most of these along 44 state and federal highways. The money came from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). In addition to the markers, a book of the 440 markers was published in a format easy to...

The Works Progress Administration completed improvement work on Staunton Road Charleston, Kanawha County.

The Works Progress Administration repaired and painted the Thomas Jefferson High School in Charleston. The school is located at the corner of Quarrier and Morris Streets. When a new Charleston High was built about three blocks away, the old one was renamed Thomas Jefferson Junior High School. Like many schools in the area, the Thomas Jefferson High might have operated initially as a high school and later became a junior high or middle school. In 1998 the Virginia State Legislature authorized the sale of the land and the three-story brick structure that was the former Thomas Jefferson High School. The featured historic photographs of Thomas Jefferson and Woodrow Wilson are...

Before November 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed sewer lines along Venable Avenue, between 15th and 20th Streets, in the Kanawha City area of Charleston. It appears that work crews left behind such muddy conditions that Chamberlain Junior High (now Elementary) principal complained in a letter to WPA officials. At the time, the streets were known as 15th (now 44th Street) and 20th (now 49th Street). 20th Street was also known as Main Street.  

Before November 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed sewer lines along Washington Avenue, between 15th and 20th Streets, in the Kanawha City area of Charleston. It appears that work crews left behind such muddy conditions that Chamberlain Junior High (now Elementary) principal complained in a letter to WPA officials. At the time, the streets were known as 15th (now 44th Street) and 20th (now 49th Street). 20th Street was also known as Main Street.  

The Works Progress Administration completed improvements and repairs for the Woodrow Wilson School in Charleston. The work consisted of “painting and repairing.”