The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the 138th Infantry Regiment Armory in St. Louis MO. Completed in 1937, the armory building has been converted to office space. Excerpt from Missouri Armories: The Guard’s Home in Architecture and… read more
Designed by Hal Lynch and J. Carl Jourdan and completed in 1939, this Art Deco style arena has been upgraded and well-maintained through the years. The stage is original.
The Hannibal Armory is constructed of rock that was obtained from a local quarry that also was the source for the adjacent Clemens field baseball field. There is a locked room that was previously used for arms, but the majority… read more
Affton High School was built by the PWA in 1935-37. The school has since been sold and repurposed into an extensive senior living center (The Village at Mackenzie Place). The old high school is at the front of the complex… read more
At Alley Spring, the CCC constructed many trails, rock walls, 11 buildings, campgrounds, roads, restored the mill including replacing the floor, and diverted the slough adjacent to the mill to insure that it did not silt in. The CCC unit… read more
WPA workers were active in the park from 1934 to 1937 and built several structures during that time, including a triple arch stone bridge, a look-out shelter, an open picnic shelter, and a grave shelter.
This nurses home was built in 1936 by the PWA on the Audrain Medical Campus to house nurses who worked in the hospital, and probably also nursing students. It is on the south side of the Medical Center.
“On August 20, 1930, Jacob Babler and his younger brother Henry Babler gave 868 acres of land to the State of Missouri, to be named the Dr. Edmund A. Babler Memorial State park. These were difficult and trying times in… read more
In 1934, the Public Works Administration (PWA) loaned the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad $900,000 for 16 streamlined cars, one diesel-electric locomotive [No. 50], and enough “… to rebuild a steam engine [the “Lady Baltimore”] to develop exceptionally high speed” (The… read more
When constructed by the WPA in 1937-39, Barretts Elementary School was a two room school built of limestone. The school has been extended several times since then, but the original WPA construction is still used as the school kindergarten today.
This densely forested area in the 30’s was marginal land having been logged and overgrazed. This prompted the purchase of these marginal farms which were nearly bankrupt and the formation of the Baskett Wildlife Research and Education Center, a function… read more
“This high school is planned so that when the need arises additions may be made. The present building is T-shaped in plan and two stories in height. It provides seven classrooms, teachers’ rooms, a principal’s office, a chemical laboratory, a… read more
Benjamin Allen Hall is named after an early 20th Century Lincoln University president and was built as a dormitory by the PWA in 1936. It served as housing for black legislators who could not find rooms at hotels in Jefferson… read more
This large 3 story brick building overlooks the east side of the Lincoln University campus and was “named in honor of Private Logan Bennett of the 65th U.S. Colored Infantry, who contributed money for Lincoln’s founding.” It was built in… read more
“Bennett Spring State Park is located in Bennett Springs, Missouri, approximately 12 miles (19 km) west of Lebanon on Highway 64. The park was established in 1923. It is centered around the spring that flows into the Niangua River and gives… read more
Walt Disney contributed drawings for WPA murals at the former Benton Grammar School (the school he attended as a boy, later renamed D.A. Holmes Elementary). The murals were completed by WPA artists and delighted children for decades. The school was… read more
The WPA constructed Benton High School in 1937. It was used as a high school until 1957, and then as an elementary school until 1970, after which it was put to community uses before being closed. It is a long,… read more
Blanchette Park is a large park overlooking the Missouri River Valley in northern St. Charles which was the first Missouri State Capital. The WPA’s work in the park included a swimming pool, lake, walks and fences, and remodeling of Memorial… read more
Tall rock wall with periodic columns for strength that is capped with concrete. It surrounds 3 sides of a large baseball field. One of the corners has a curved façade. The structure was completed with funds and labor provided by… read more
Blenheim Park was founded in 1922. In the late 1930s, Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers made improvements to the park.
Bois D’Arc Elementary School was constructed by the WPA in 1935-37.
This school building is a WPA project from 1937. It has rock work that is particularly well-done, though rather spare. The walls are predominately dark river rock with lighter colored rock under the eaves, at the corners, and surrounding the door and… read more
This small linear school was constructed as a PWA project in 1937. It features two gabled ends with a carved rock symbol of a lamp of knowledge. It is very similar to other schools of similar size in Missouri and… read more
This state office building was constructed in the Art Moderne style of Carthage marble in order to complement the state capitol which is north of the Broadway building. It was partly constructed with WPA funds.
Brownville Bridge, which carries U.S. 136 over the Missouri River between Nebraska and Missouri, was constructed as a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project. Completed in 1939, the now-free bridge originally featured tolls.
Pictured is some of the remaining original paving installed by the WPA along Brush Creek as a flood control project in 1935. The project has a controversial history due to its relation to political machine boss Tom Pendergast’s Concrete Company…. read more
The courthouse has an art deco design and includes light fixtures and the external façade. The use of a stylized “u” that looks like a “v” was widely panned at the time. In addition to the plaques for the present… read more
This sunken garden is chiseled out of the hill adjacent to the 1871 Governor’s Mansion that overlooks the Missouri state capital. The gardens were started in the late 1930s by the WPA. Work included extensive rock wall work. There is… read more
Large development of 2 and 3-story apartments just west of downtown St. Louis, interestingly just east of the up-coming and infamous Pruitt –Igoe public housing complex. Carr-Square Village is still in use, a testament to its forethought and sound construction…. read more
The Carter County Courthouse was a very early project ofthe Works Progress Administration, no. 168. Completed in 1936, it includes not only the courthouse itself, but the grounds and the surrounding native rock wall. This is the only native rock… read more
A 2012 Nation Register of Historic Places Registration Form describes the restroom structures built by the Works Progress Administration circa 1935: “Behind the school, near the southwest and northwest corners of the property are two stone privies. Thought to have… read more
CCC Company 1713 established Camp Smokey in Roaring River State Park in the 1930s and used it as a base from which to make extensive improvements throughout the area. The large CCC camp itself is still remarkably well-preserved. The camp… read more
Th Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Cedar County Courthouse in Stockton, in 1938. According to information published by the University of Missouri Extension, “Cedar County Courthouse is the third for the county in the first of this… read more
This WPA school was built in 1936-1937 as the Southwest High School. It is now the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School. This school has been added onto multiple times and the front of the original building is not… read more
This pool was designed by architect Wesley Bintz and constructed by the Works Progress Administration between 1937 and 1939 for $31,000. It is one of two above-ground pools designed by Bintz in the state of Missouri (Fayette has the other),… read more
The Cherryville, MO school project is on the east side of route 19, just north of route 49. The school and gymnasium were more recently built, with funds and labor provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The school is… read more
“Brentwood is a suburb of St. Louis, a short distance west of the city, and had a population of 2,819 in 1930. Its new city hall is erected in a residential district and provides space for a council chamber, offices… read more
Brentwood, Missouri’s city hall was constructed in 1935 with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds.
“Kansas City has a well-studied plan for its civic center and the city hall block in area and consists of a rectangular base six stories high from which a tower rises to a height of 429 feet above the basement… read more
