Wyoming Sites

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted work at what Living New Deal believes is Riverside Cemetery (a.k.a. Cody Cemetery) in Cody, Wyoming. Cassity: "At Pine Bluffs, the water main was extended about a half mile so that it would reach the cemetery; to do so, the CWA workers dug a five-foot trench and laid three inch cast iron pipe, refilled the trench, and then placed four hydrants in the cemetery"

In 1939, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees constructed the Centennial Work Center in Medicine Bow National Forest near the small town of Centennial, Wyoming. CCC workers completed three buildings for use by the U.S. Forest Service, including an office, a dwelling, and a garage. Each building is a one-story log structure with a rubble base foundation. Work began in 1938, with crew members from the Mullen Creek CCC Camp (F-36-W) and Ryan Park Side Camp (F-22-W) cutting logs and laying the foundation for the site. Buildings were constructed by 1939,= and the landscaping was completed by CCC workers in 1940. Originally built to...

"Wyoming schools also benefited from the WPA Federal Art Project , which was responsible for a number of murals painted inside the buildings. Although the list of school murals is incomplete, it includes ... a set of murals for the Cheyenne High School library by Robert True ..." "The Cheyenne ... murals are believed to have been destroyed."

The Cheyenne Botanic Gardens were established well after the advent of the New Deal. However, some WPA efforts can be seen at the site. "The site for the Children's Village is centered in what used to be a city parks shop. This site included a large native stone garage (now the classroom/laboratory) and rock wall which now surrounds the Children's Village. The garage and wall were constructed in the early 1930s as part of the Works Progress Administration." (Wikipedia)

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted improvement and repair work at the former Cheyenne River School building in Niobrara County, Wyoming in 1933/4: "t also needs to be remembered that the schools were not just schools. At the Cheyenne River School (and elsewhere too), the justification was plain: “this school house, in addition to being an institution of learning is used as a meeting hall by all people of that part of the county. It is badly in need of the outlined repairs.”" Sources suggest that the former school building is still extant, about 23 miles south of Newcastle, Wyoming, at...

Cody, Wyoming's City Hall (originally Town Hall) was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project during the Great Depression. The P.W.A. supplied a $14,400 grant for the project, whose total cost was $32,660. Construction occurred between Oct. 1938 and Apr. 1939. The New Deal structure has been expanded into a larger facility. PWA Docket No. WY 1077

The Works Progress Administration built the Greybull City Hall in Greybull, Big Horn County. The one-story brick facility is still in service today and retains much of its original architectural features.

Laramie, Wyoming's city hall was constructed with the aid of the federal Public Works Administration (PWA) during the Great Depression. The PWA contributed a $64,575 grant toward the $130,752 total final cost of the project. Construction occurred between December 1938 and November 1939 (although the date over the entrance says 1938). The handsome building was built in Art Deco/Moderne style, popular at the time, and is distinctive in its use of yellow bricks.  It has an elegant entrance and detailing in white stone (marble?).  It has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building is still in use today...

The Rawlins city hall was constructed by the Federal Works Agency (FWA) in 1940. The building is currently home to police department.

The historic former post office building in Wheatland, Wyoming was completed in 1936 with federal Treasury Department funds. The building now serves as Wheatland's City Hall.

The historic former post office building in Worland, Wyoming was constructed in 1935 with federal Treasury Department funds. The building now serves as Worland's City Hall. An example of New Deal artwork created for the building has since been relocated to the downtown post office and federal building in Casper.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) constructed a clubhouse at a golf course in Riverton, Wyoming. The location and status of this facility are unknown to Living New Deal.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA), possibly succeeded by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), built a community building east of Shell. Cassity: In Shell, the CWA constructed a log “community house,” a building that was “equipped with a fine dance floor and the building will serve not only the people in the vicinity but will serve a large number from the entire county as this building is located recreational section of the Big Horn Mountains.” The exact location and condition of this building are unknown to the Living New Deal.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) constructed Lander's believed former Community Center on Buena Vista Drive in 1934-5. The structure was destroyed by fire in 2012 and has since been replaced.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) constructed a community center in Recluse, Wyoming. The location and status of the building is unknown to Living New Deal.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) constructed a community center in Farson, Wyoming. The building then "burned in 1936 and was reconstructed with insurance proceeds and WPA labor." Living New Deal believes the community centers were located on what is now the site of the current Eden Valley Community Center, constructed in 2011. Google Street View imagery shows a building that reasonably fits the description of a mid-1930s community center.

The Works Progress Administration built a one-room country school in Worland, Washakie County. The location and status of the facility are presently unknown to Living New Deal.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed Crazy Woman Canyon Road in Johnson County, Wyoming, southwest of Buffalo. The 13.2-mile road connects U.S. 16 and Old Highway 87.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to improve the 1921 David Street Fire Station, also known as Fire Department Station 1, in Casper, Wyoming. Cassity: "The beautiful, but already aging, David Street Fire Station in Casper gained its share of attention when workers painted and applied a calcimine, chalky solution to the walls and ceilings."

"The Dayton Community Hall is a community building located at 410 Bridge St. in Dayton, Wyoming. The hall was built in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration. The people of Dayton used the hall for community gatherings, as their previous community hall was no longer safe for activities. The hall was the largest such hall in the county, and the dances it hosted each Saturday night drew visitors from up to 50 miles (80 km) away. In addition to dances, the hall also hosted basketball games, Dayton Benefit Club meetings, local school events, and political functions. The hall continues to...

Devils Tower is a dramatic igneous rock formation rising 1,267 feet above the surrounding area. It and the surrounding area were declared a national monument in 1906. "From 1935-1938 a CCC camp was located there. Practically all the improvements on the area at the present time are the results of their efforts. New roads were built, modern water and electrical systems installed, footpaths were laid out, picnic areas were established with tables and comfortable benches, and trailer and overnight camping areas were provided the visitors. Residences for employees, workshops and machine shops were erected. In 1938 a museum of sturdy log...

The Works Progress Administration built the Municipal Golf Course and club house in Douglas, Converse County, Wyoming. The facility is still in service today and operates under the name Douglas Community Club.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed a road up Dreadman Draw for access to the then-new fire lookout tower atop Mount Pisgah in eastern Wyoming. The road now appears to be privately owned. Cassity: The Federal Government is now constructing good, graveled highways to each of these towers and the roads that wind up these mountains, are in many places, truly feats of Civil Engineering.

In Torrington, Wyoming "the electric light system for the community was repaired by workers."

In Upton, Wyoming the Civil Works Administration (CWA) "built a power plant and installed electric lines."

In Lingle, Wyoming, a Civil Works Administration (CWA) "project repaired and rebuilt the municipal electrical distribution system. The final report for that project noted, “This project is a great improvement to the town of Lingle, as the light system has long been in need of repair, and could not have been without CWA funds”" (Cassity).

Federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds enabled the construction of the elementary school in Sinclair, Wyoming during the 1930s. The school continues to function in that role today. PWA photos at the National Archives actually deem this project the Parco school, Parco being the old name for Sinclair. The original owner of this project was listed as being Sweetwater County School District #3, though Sinclair is actually in Carbon County. C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown write about the PWA school: "The new building replaced a leased 4-room dilapidated wooden structure and two apartments rented for classrooms in an apartment building. It provides...

"The CWA also supported the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), a six-month project that was a precursor to later New Deal arts projects. PWAP resulted in only a few works in Wyoming, one of which was the creation of a mural and decorative frieze adorning the library in McCormick Junior High School in Cheyenne. ... Local sign painter Frank Stuart Lewis painted a decorative frieze in the library, comprised of famous personages in Wyoming history." The former McCormick Junior High School facility in downtown Cheyenne is now known as the Emerson Building.

"The CWA also supported the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), a six-month project that was a precursor to later New Deal arts projects. PWAP resulted in only a few works in Wyoming, one of which was the creation of a mural and decorative frieze adorning the library in McCormick Junior High School in Cheyenne. Two Cheyenne artists, Libbie Hoffman and Jeanette Kaiser, painted the mural." "The mural portrays an episode from the lore of frontier Wyoming — the reading of Shakespeare's work to Scout Jim Bridger. Bridger is reputed to have traded a yoke of oxen for a volume of...

Originally started during the Hoover administration and completed in 1933, Cheyenne's Federal Building was expanded with Treasury Department funds during the New Deal era. GSA: "The fourth story was added in 1937 by dismantling the buildings parapet wall and elevator penthouse, constructing the new story, and reconstructing the salvaged elements. The buildings structural capacity was designed to accommodate four stories above the original three constructed, a unique forethought towards the buildings potential growth needs. This addition consists of brick masonry exterior walls with buff-colored face brick to match the original building. The fourth story has simple brick detailing including lintels, sills...

As part of a Civil Works Administration (CWA) project in Casper, Wyoming: "the fire alarm system, a separate system by which businesses were connected to a central fire alarm center through lines on poles, was extended and rebuilt; in this case, workers cut poles from Casper Mountain and installed them in town."

Between 1935 and 1938, the WPA performed structural renovation and historic restoration work at this site. From the Bridger Valley Pioneer: One of the Valley projects funded by WPA was the artesian well in Fort Bridger. It still runs today, but sits in a sad state of disrepair. A local group, the Fort Bridger Beautification Committee working as a state centennial committee approached the Uinta County Commissioners to be able to improve the lot and make the well site a nice area for the community. The committee even received state grant to improve a small portion of the available property....

The Civil Works Administration (CWA), Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) performed structural renovation and historic restoration work at this site. Casper Star-Tribune, 1934: "Dedication of the new traps today at the Izaak Walton league park near the old site of Fort Caspar will afford the Casper public opportunity to view extensive Improvement work carried on there for several months as a CWA project. Progress made in construction of a spacious, rustic lodge of logs, and a fence of the same material, and the planting of hundreds of trees and shrubs will be open to inspection. When...

"Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site includes a visitor's center with exhibits, videos, a bookstore, and self-guided tours of the fort grounds and outlying sites. The tour marks the archaeological remains of the fort's buildings. A cabin built by the Civilian Conservation Corps has been furnished to depict the period quarters of an officer's wife and a non-commissioned officer’s quarters. Visitors can also tour the nearby battlefields which are located within a five mile radius of the visitor center and include interpretive trails." A headline in Montana's Big Timber Pioneer newspaper suggests that the project was completed in 1938.

"Wyoming schools also benefited from the WPA Federal Art Project , which was responsible for a number of murals painted inside the buildings. Although the list of school murals is incomplete, it includes ... seven panels for the Fort Washakie dining room by Willie Spoonhunter." "The ... Fort Washakie murals are believed to have been destroyed."

Fremont Lake, north of Pinedale, Wyoming, is a large natural lake created by glacial scouring and a terminal moraine that has been expanded by the construction of modern dams.  Today, the lake is about 12 miles long and 1/2 mile wide.  It lies entirely within the Bridger-Teton National Forest. In the 1930s, a concrete and rubble stone dam was built that raised the level of the lake by 2 feet.  Relief workers from the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) participated in the construction of that dam. We do not know exactly which years the work was done. A...

The Works Progress Administration built an airport hangar in Gillette, Campbell County. The airport is still in service today under the name Gillette-Campbell County Airport.

The Girl Scout Little House at 1011 Bonnie Brae Street was constructed during the Great Depression with New Deal work relief labor. Approved as a Civil Works Administration (CWA) project, the Little House was constructed in 1934-5 and completed under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA).

In 1934-35, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers stationed in the Bridger-Teton National Forest constructed five new buildings to create the Goosewing Guard Station, including a central dwelling, two gashouses, a barn and a garage. Originally built as a winter shelter for rangers monitoring elk grazing conditions, the U.S. Forest Service utilized Goosewing Guard Station until it fell into disrepair in the early 2000s. All five buildings were built following standard architectural plans created by U.S. Forest Service regional architect George L. Nichols. Because of Nichols’ contributions to the region in the 1930s (made possible through New Deal funding and labor), the majority...

A grade school in Lingle, Wyoming was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project during the Great Depression. The P.W.A. supplied a $39,383 grant for the project, whose total cost was $87,761. The New Deal structure, which lies on the north side of 3rd Street, is now part a larger educational campus. PWA Docket No. WY 1073