New Deal Accomplishment: 1,640 projects to build, improve, and create more humane jails, prisons, and reformatories

Above: In 1937, the editors of The Albuquerque Tribune wrote of their city's jail: "Now this immediate emergency confronts us: dispassionate observers declare the jail is worse than the Black Hole of Calcutta. They say it spreads disease, is inhuman, filthy, intolerable. After an inspection we agree. The jail is terrible" ("The Jail Problem," February 25, 1937, p. 8). Not long after the editorial was written a much more humane facility was built with funding from the New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA), as shown above. This newspaper excerpt is part of a longer story about the jail, appearing in The Albuquerque Tribune, August 26, 1939 edition. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Newspaper archives are full of stories about New Deal improvements to jails and prisons that made confinement more humane. This excerpt is from The Ogden Standard-Examiner (Ogden, Utah), November 21, 1940 edition, p. 8. The report later explains that "The present [pre-New Deal] 36-year old building is too small, lacks facilities for segregating first offenders from hardened criminals, presents a problem in maintaining sanitary conditions and has no special quarters for women or juveniles." The new jail was completed by the WPA a year and half later ("Work Finished On Box Elder Jail Building," The Ogden Standard-Examiner, March 26, 1942, p. 11-A). Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: A new prison for West Virginia, in Huttonsville (Randolph County), funded by the PWA, 1938-1940. It was explained at the time that the new facility "not only provides relief from the overcrowding at Moundsville [West Virginia's main prison complex at the time] and in county jails, but also marks a distinct departure from the more or less indifferent attitude of the state toward the care of its prisoners... Prisoners who are deemed most likely to be reestablished to an acceptable place in society are being sent to Huttonsville from the penitentiary and county jails... There are no prison walls at Huttonsville. The honor system has been used from the very beginning  and is a complete success" (Charles Lively, Clerk of the West Virginia Senate (ed.), West Virginia Blue Book, Charleston, WV: Jarrett Printing Company, 1940, pp. 691-692). Also see the Living New Deal's project page, "Huttonsville Correctional Center - Huttonsville WV." Photo from the cited Blue Book.

Above: The description for these two photographs--taken in Carroll County, Georgia, between 1933 and 1942--reads, "A modern jail supersedes the old cages on wheels as convict barracks in Carroll County, Georgia. PWA made this improvement possible." The PWA noted: "Many of the jails replaced by new structures have been 'disgraceful,' according to the applications. In Atlanta the city jail was both inadequate and overcrowded. Before the new structure was erected, prisoners slept on the floors of the multiple cells or 'tanks'... One application gave a grim picture of conditions in the old Barton Co., Mo., jail. 'Jail erected shortly after the Civil War, of pine boards laid flat and spiked together. Jail always wet and moldy... Inmates bathe in a washtub and no hot water... Vermin, mice, and rats abound, and rats had to be killed with a target rifle... Jail bars easily cut in two with corset steel handmade files..." (Public Works Administration, America Builds: The Record of PWA, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939, pp. 199-200). Photos from the National Archives.

Above: A new prison for Tattnall County, Georgia, courtesy of the PWA, 1936-1937. Photo from: C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown, Public Buildings: A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental Bodies Between the Years 1933 and 1939 with the Assistance of the Public Works Administration, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939.

Above: A close-up of the main entrance to the PWA-funded prison in Tattnall County, Georgia, showing a cupola-like structure at the top, as well as artwork, columns, and engraved stone, "1936." Photo from Short and Stanley-Brown, see previous caption.

Above: A closer look at the sculpture on the Tattnall County prison, depicting scenes of work and recreation.

Above: A CWA project to repair and renovate the Talbot County Jail in Easton, Maryland, 1933-1934. The job, which had to be completed by a private contractor after the CWA program ended, was mildly criticized for making the jail too nice: "Altogether the appearance of the jail is excellent. There is plenty of light and air in the upper tier at least, and the lower tier is not bad. The place is clean and sanitary. It is far too comfortable for some prisoners, who no doubt will find it more comfortable this winter than their own home" ("Remodeling Of Talbot County Jail Completed," The Easton Star-Democrat, August 31, 1934, p. 1). Photo from the University of Maryland College Park Archives.

Above: A new WPA-built jail for Jasper, Texas, 1937. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: The description for this photograph--taken between 1933 and 1942--reads: "Awnings add a homelike touch to this modern jail in Cleveland, Tennessee. This building was constructed by PWA." Photo from the National Archives.

Above: A new PWA-funded building for the State Reformatory for Women in Dwight, Illinois, ca. 1936. Photo from the National Archives.

A New Deal for Confinement

At the conclusion of its 1934-1935 program, the Work Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) noted that "Jails even more than courthouses were in need of repair. The North Carolina report is typical: 'The Surry County jail has been converted from a firetrap into a fireproof modern jail.' There were 96 jails and prisons constructed by the Work Division, and 486 improved and repaired."

After FERA, the WPA built 181 new penal institutions, and carried out 581 other projects to expand, reconstruct, or improve existing facilities.

The PWA, meanwhile, provided funding for 201 jails and prisons, plus another 95 jails that were part of PWA-funded city halls and courthouses. 

From these statistics, we can see that the New Deal had at least 1,640 projects to build or improve jails, prisons, and reformatories. These projects provided more living space; better healthcare; improved sanitation; expanded recreation, work, and job training opportunities; and more. 

Of course, not everyone was happy with the New Deal's efforts. For example, an opinion writer in Canada criticized a new jail in Pickens County, Georgia (a jail that had received both PWA and WPA assistance) as "babying" the inmates with air conditioning and a "plentiful supply of bathrooms" ("This Georgia Jail Not Likely To Scare Anyone: Has White Marble Walls, Shower Baths and Electric Razors," The Sault Star (Sault St. Marie, Ontario, Canada), November 17, 1938, p. 4).

Apparently, for some, a prison is not a prison unless there is a shortage of toilets. And sadly--but not altogether unexpectedly--prisoners in the United States still die from excessive heat in jails and prisons (see, e.g., "Federal judge orders Texas to air condition all prisons by the end of 2029," The Texas Tribune, September 22, 2026).

"To be sure, we do not wish for the prisoner to be pampered, but decent living conditions cannot be construed as pampering... The old idea was that a prison should be a place of dolor [mental anguish], gloom, dankness and utter deprivation. Society wanted the prisoner, however minor the departure from rectitude's path, to suffer day and night... There was something sadistic about that viewpoint, and prison reform, thank heaven, eventually got around to supplant it... No jail can be luxurious on the evidence that it is well-lighted and sanitary, and has modern plumbing. It will still be a jail to its inmates - but perhaps some of them will think better, because it is a decent jail, of the society that put them there to meditate."

--The editors of The Oregonian newspaper, commenting on a new jail that was started with New Deal funding ("Luxury in Jail?" November 3, 1943, p. 8).

New Deal Accomplishment: 22 million work-relief jobs; millions of private sector jobs created or preserved; and a post-World War II jobs abundance

Above: A CCC enrollee constructing a building in Virginia, between 1935 and 1942. The CCC created jobs for about 3,190,000 people, and about 2,926,000 of those were the enrollees - mostly young men, but also some older folks, e.g., military veterans (Perry H. Merrill, Roosevelt's Forest Army: A History of the Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942, 1981, p. 196). Photo from the Library of Congress.

Above: CWA workers at Antietam National Battlefield and Cemetery (Sharpsburg, Maryland). During the winter of 1933-1934, the CWA hired 4,263,000 people in need of jobs, and laid the groundwork for future work-relief programs, especially the WPA. Photo from the National Park Service.

Above: New Deal work programs were infrastructure-heavy, but there were lots of jobs for other types of workers too, such as these artists hired through the Work Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) to create educational visual aids for schools. From 1934-1935, the Work Division provided work for well over 2.4 million men and women (Work Division final report, p. 1). Photo from the Work Division's final report.

Above: A WPA road crew in Boise, Idaho, ca. 1937. Between 1935 and 1943, the WPA employed 8.5 million different Americans (WPA final report, pp. III and 46). They built airports, made housekeeping visits to those in need, watched over children in nursery schools, created or improved city parks, made art for public places, preserved family histories for millions of Americans, conducted free recreation activities, and much more. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: The WPA employed actors and musicians in need of jobs... to give free or low-cost performances to Americans all across the country. This is a WPA Theatre scene in Los Angeless, between 1935 and 1939. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: About 4,800,000 young men and women found employment in the National Youth Administration (NYA), such as these young adults running a children's camp in Chepachet, Rhode Island, ca. 1940. NYA workers did similar jobs as seen in the other work-relief programs, but there was a greater emphasis on job training. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: One of the many goals of New Deal work-relief programs was to get folks into more regular employment - in the private sector or regular government positions. This was done through job training--especially in the CCC and NYA--or simply by tiding workers over, with their modest-paying work-relief jobs, until they found job openings. The chart above shows where some NYA enrollees went after they left their NYA jobs. Image from the NYA's final report, p. 260.

Above: All of the New Deal's work-relief agencies had a presence in Puerto Rico, but especially interesting were the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration (PRERA) which managed FERA funds, and the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA). These agencies hired tens of thousands of unemployed Puerto Ricans to vastly improve the island's infrastructure, healthcare, natural resources, and educational facilities. Photo from a 1939 report detailing PRERA and FERA activities from 1934 to 1936.

Above: Another project in Puerto Rico, built with funding from FERA. Photo from a 1934 PRERA report.

Above: In addition to work-relief, some New Deal agencies, such as the Public Works Administration (PWA) and the United States Housing Authority (USHA), kept private contractors busy during the 1930s and early 40s. This and the general economic improvement caused by other New Deal public policies helped reduce unemployment from the 22.9% experienced in 1932 to 6% in 1941 (see next chart). Table above from the 1941 annual report of the Federal Works Agency.

Above: When Americans on work-relief (e.g., CCC and WPA) are factored in--the third and fourth columns in the chart above--the unemployment rates for the New Deal years are far lower than the numbers we've been accustomed to hearing. And it never made much sense to exclude them. If you're offered a job to help build a bridge, for example, and accept the job, start working on the job, and get a paycheck for the job, is that not a job? They were temporary jobs, yes, but so are contractual jobs, military enlistments, and jobs that unexpectedly end with layoffs. Do we count people in those groups as unemployed even as they're working? The chart above is from: Michael R. Darby, "Three-and-a-Half Millions U.S. Employees Have Been Mislaid: Or, an Explanation of Unemployment, 1934-1941," Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 84, No. 1 (Feb., 1976), pp. 1-16.

Above: A bottling plant in Christiansted, Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, 1941. The revival of industry in the Virgin Islands, for example, the sugar and rum industries, was carried out by the PWA-funded Virgin Islands Company and greatly relieved unemployment. Photo by Jack Delano, Farm Security Administration, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: Even after the core years of the New Deal (about 1933-1943) were over the New Deal continued creating jobs. For example, how many millions of jobs have been created by the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), either directly--such as the decades of employment in the hundreds of REA-financed electric cooperatives--or, through the businesses and industries they've powered for decades (a service which the private sector was not interested in providing)? In the book above, from 1965, the REA-financed Traverse Electric Cooperative tells us that "under the leadership of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Senator George W. Norris, Representative Sam Rayburn and others, the Rural Electrification program became a reality... Look about you in the early dark of evening or before dawn. A city of yard lights glow about. They are a monument to a great accomplishment of rural people with the aid of a wise government." Image scanned from a personal copy.

Above: Airplanes at the WPA-built La Guardia Airport, 1939 - one of the many airports America used to expand its economy after World War II. In the three decades after the war, America became the undisputed economic powerhouse of the world and the middle-class grew with a vibrancy not seen before or since. Credit for this expansion is almost always given--and often exclusively--to the war itself. But this overlooks or ignores the vast infrastructure created by the New Deal, not to mention the legislation, for example, Social Security, FDIC, protections for unions, and minimum working standards established by the Fair Labor Standards Act. While the war certainly played a role, the reality is that the economy expanded along New Deal roads, across New Deal bridges, out of New Deal airports, in the docks and warehouses of New Deal coastal seaports, through New Deal electric lines, and from a network of New Deal water mains and wastewater treatment plants (the arteries and veins that new communities and businesses need). Further, the technical expertise to develop new industries, and to train workers for those industries, was often formed and carried out in schools, trade schools, colleges, and universities that the New Deal built or improved - and that FDR made more accessible through the G.I. Bill. So, how many millions of jobs has the New Deal created in this regard? Tens of millions? Hundreds of millions? Photo from the National Archives.

The Real Job Creator

To sum things up...

The New Deal created about 22 million work-relief jobs and created (or preserved) many millions of private sector jobs during the 1930s and early 40s. The unemployment rate dropped substantially, but admittedly was not completely licked (it's important to note, however, that many industries were replacing workers with machines during this time frame). 

The increased government spending of World War II virtually eliminated the remaining unemployment; and the war itself was won, by the way, with earlier New Deal investments: in people (especially the CCC and NYA); in infrastructure (roads, bridges, airports, electricity); and in equipment and facilities for the armed forces (ships, shipyards, military base improvements).

After World War II, the working-class and economy expanded on a foundation of sturdy New Deal public policy and public works. Unemployment never again reached Great Depression levels, or the levels caused by the Panic of 1893. For about 30 years after the war, the working-class saw dramatic increases in wages, levels of home ownership, personal savings, and retirement security. There were bumps along the way, of course, but it was generally an era of economic and working-class abundance - the best we ever had. 

Since about the 1980s, with the development of anti-New Deal, supply-side, and neoliberal economic policies and philosophy--consisting of shareholder primacy, financial deregulation (e.g., allowing more stock buybacks and repealing Glass-Steagall), large tax cuts for the wealthy, and exporting good-paying manufacturing jobs to lower-paying foreign labor markets--the working-class has seen stagnant wages, stagnant levels of home ownership, reduced personal savings, and less retirement security. 

The response to the downfall of the working-class, from many policymakers, wealthy political donors, and media personalities, has been to blame the working-class ("they're lazy," "they're jealous," "they just want free stuff"); to undermine unions (unions being one of the main roadblocks to the concentration of wealth into fewer and fewer hands); to buy-up the media (in order to control the framing of issues); and to attack the social safety net (e.g., cutting Medicaid and food assistance, and relentlessly trying to raise the age at which workers can begin receiving their Social Security benefits). In other words, trickle-down economics has not delivered on its promises, so now its promoters are blaming and burdening workers.

The New Deal was the real job creator, catapulting the U.S. economy and its labor force to the top - with jobs that paid well and provided good benefits. American workers would benefit from remembering this history... and then demanding a return to those policies and programs.

New Deal Accomplishment: Hundreds of thousands of maps and land models

Above: A street map of Hilo, Hawaii, also showing points of interest, created by the WPA between 1935 and 1943. Image from the Hawaii State Archives.

Above: A close-up section of the Hilo map. Old maps can be fun to look at - to see things that used to be there, and then research whether they're still there. For example, trains no longer run through Hilo, after the railroad's tracks and bridges were destroyed by a tsunami in 1946 (not long after this map was made); but using Google Maps, we can see that the tennis courts between Ululani Street and Kinoole St.--constructed by the New Deal's CWA and FERA work programs--are still there today. Indeed, they're getting renovated right now: "Popular tennis courts at Lincoln Park in downtown Hilo getting face-lift," Big Island Now, May 31, 2026.

Above: Another close-up section of the map.

Above: Working on maps, as part of a WPA Ocean Climate Survey Project, sponsored by the U.S. Weather Bureau, between 1935 and 1943. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: The WPA made many maps showing the locations of their projects. Image from a WPA progress report.

Above: A 1942 map of the Chicago Zoological Park--the "Brookfield Zoo"--created by WPA artists (the zoo itself was created by the New Deal too). Image scanned from a personal copy.

Above: A close-up section of the WPA's Brookfield Zoo map. For patrons of the zoo today, this map would be interesting for comparison purposes (the layout of the zoo today, compared to 1942).

Above: An exhibit of WPA accomplishments, at the Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, 1939-1940. Image from a 1940 report on WPA activities at the fair.

Above: The WPA built an enormous model of San Francisco, 1938-1940. It is 37.5 x 41 feet and "made of individual blocks which can be removed for study or replaced when changes are made. Every building and structure is shown in its exact position" ("S.F. To Become A Model City," The San Francisco News, December 2, 1939, p. 3). The model has spent most of its life stored away and forgotten, but will soon be on full display again. Photo from the San Francisco Department of City Planning Records (SFH 465), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.

Above: 500 WPA workers built a huge relief map--designed to be walked through (and perhaps also over, on a bridge)--for the Hall of Western States Exhibit, at the Golden Gate International Exposition, 1939-1940. The map was built in San Francisco using pantograph machines, had dimensions of 110 x 100 feet, and showcased industrial expansion across the west. It consisted of 555 parts, was described as very colorful and with lights, and gave visitors a modeled viewpoint from 10,000 feet. Governor Culbert Olson accepted the map on behalf of California during dedication ceremonies in the Hall of Western States, June 17, 1939. There seems to be very few photographs of this amazing work and the model was apparently destroyed after the Exposition, in the rush to make Treasure Island a U.S. Navy facility. (Sources: Lodi News-Sentinel (Lodi, CA), 10-10-1938, p. 2; The Napa Journal (Napa, CA), 1-13-1939, p. 2; The San Francisco News, 6-15-1939, p. 13; and The Salt Lake Tribune, 6-19-1939, p. 16). Photo above from the United Press, appearing in the Lodi News-Sentinel, 10-10-1938, p. 2, and newspapers.com; used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: The description for this photograph, ca. 1938, reads: "Youth on the art project of the NYA in S.F., California is shown putting the finishing touches on a scale model of the Holly Park Housing Project." The Holly Courts Housing Project was a New Deal / United States Housing Authority project that still provides affordable housing today. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: An NYA worker shows a map that she and others are creating for the residents of the Holly Courts Housing Project in San Francisco (also see previous photo), May 1940. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: NYA workers creating maps and globes for schools (unknown location, ca. 1935-1938). Photo from Betty and Ernest K. Lindley, A New Deal for Youth: The Story of the National Youth Administration, New York: The Viking Press, 1938, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: This is an NYA land conservation model that was exhibited in Washington, DC, between 1935 and 1943 (no other details are known). Photo from the National Archives.

Above: The description for this 1937 photograph reads in part: "A 38.5 by 22.7 diorama-relief map of Chicago... with all streets, tracks, parks, bridges, principal buildings and other structures in their exact locations, is being completed as a WPA Illinois work project... [the buildings] will be colored according to their construction... red for brick, white for concrete or stone, and yellow for wood." Photo credited to "ACME," scanned from a personal copy, and used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: "Sensitive fingertips lightly trace a geographic course over this WPA Braille map. Perkins Institute for the Blind, Watertown, Mass., July 22, 1936" (also see, "WPA Maps," Perkins School for the Blind, accessed July 14, 2026). Photo and quote from the National Archives.

Above: CCC enrollees helping the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) with mapping, between 1933 and 1942. Photo from: Hands to Save the Soil, a 1938 booklet produced by both the CCC and SCS.

Above: Part of a soil survey map for Berkeley County, West Virginia, 1966, from a Soil Survey publication of the Soil Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Image scanned from a personal copy.

Above: A close-up section of the Berkeley County, West Virginia soil survey map (see previous photo). The codes give us information about the land. For example, "WaB" stands for "Waynesboro gravelly loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes," and "BmD3" tells us the area has "Berks-Montevallo shaly silt loams, 15 to 25 percent slopes, severely eroded." To see the utility of soil survey maps, see "Soil Surveys Can Help You," Natural Resources Conservation Service (accessed, July 14, 2026).

New Deal Mapping and Modeling

We'll probably never know how many maps and land models the New Deal created because the numbers were so massive (especially the maps) while the record-keeping was not as sufficient as it could have been. There is also the problem of distinguishing statistics for individual maps vs. copies of maps (for example, one soil map might be printed several times).

In any event, here are some items to consider:

1. In 1939, it was reported that the WPA had drawn 116,000 maps through June 1938 (Federal Works Agency, Report on Progress of the WPA Program, June 30, 1939, p. 24.). This is the only cumulative statistic I've seen for WPA maps... and it's only for the first 3 years of the WPA's 8-year existence (I've never seen any land model numbers).

Between 1935 and 1943, WPA workers made maps of, and for: states, cities, and localities (e.g., point-of-interest maps for the WPA guidebooks); infrastructure (for example, maps showing water and sewer line locations); national defense (especially during the early war years); property boundary lines and tax assessments; housing and population surveys; historical sites; coal mines; Braille maps for schools for the blind; and more.

2. The New Deal's Soil Conservation Service (SCS, originally called the "Soil Erosion Service") immediately began surveying and making maps - on an industrial scale. For example, 1.9 billion acres of land (nearly 84% of the entire U.S. land mass) were surveyed and mapped as part of the 1934 National Erosion Reconnaissance Survey; by 1949 the SCS had 8 printing plants; and during fiscal year 1953, "More than 300,000 land capability and land use maps of individual farms and ranches were produced."

3. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) spent about 620,000 man-days on maps and models, in conjunction with the SCS, and probably many other agencies, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Forest Service, and Bureau of Reclamation. That's the equivalent of one man working on maps and models for 620,000 days, or about 1,700 years (A CCC map-making Methuselah!). 

Enrollee W.E. Richards of CCC Company 538 recalled building "a beautiful park on the bank of Lake Walcott Reservoir, Rupert, Idaho... [and] With one other enrollee we prepared a topographic map of the park." Richards recalled his time in the CCC as "undoubtedly the happiest and most rewarding months of my life." After the CCC, he went to work for the Wright Aeronautical Corporation and then became an Army pilot during World War II. (Perry H. Merrill, Roosevelt's Forest Army: A History of the Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942, 1981, pp. 78-79.) 

4. Other agencies of the New Deal, such as the National Youth Administration (NYA) and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), also made large numbers of maps but, again, good totals are not readily available. 

5. The U.S. Antarctic Service Expedition (1939-1941), which FDR played a significant role in creating and planning, mapped large portions of Antarctica.

Clearly, there were millions of maps and a great number of land models made by New Deal agencies--both individual and distinctly drawn maps, and copies of those maps--but good cumulative numbers just aren't available so, in keeping with my conservative estimates of the total New Deal product, let's keep it at, "Hundreds of thousands of maps and land models."

New Deal Accomplishment: 335,000 projects to construct, improve, or maintain buildings

Above: A firehouse built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in Taos County, New Mexico, between 1935 and 1943. Some of the most interesting architecture of the New Deal-era was (and still is, in many cases) located in New Mexico and Arizona. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: Young men in the New Deal's National Youth Administration (NYA) building an addition to the municipal power plant in Murray City, Utah, between 1937 and 1938. "The project entailed razing one wall of the existing diesel plant on Forty-eighth South Street, construction of an addition to the building and installation of a new 840 horsepower diesel engine, complete with auxiliary equipment... Youths working on the project range from 18 to 25 years of age and were taken from families whose income wasn't sufficient to provide basic needs. They are residents of both Salt Lake and Murray. Virtually all unskilled laborers, the youths have been given instruction in many phases of mechanics, electrical engineering, and steel and concrete work. They have also been provided free vocational training at night classes conducted three times weekly" ("NYA Youths Make $50,000 Improvement," The Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah), February 28, 1938, p. 3). Photo from the National Archives.

Above: A farmers' market constructed in Austin, Texas, with funds from the New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA), between 1933 and 1941. The New Deal aided farmers with market buildings, farm-to-market roads, low-interest loans, grants, purchases of surplus production (for distribution to lower-income Americans), soil erosion control projects, wells and irrigation, and tips for better harvesting (e.g., terracing). This assistance helped many farmers recover from the devastation that had been caused by overproduction (and the resulting drop in prices), the Great Depression, drought, and dust storms (see, e.g., "Farmers Face New Decade With Hope: Farm Income Rises From Depression Low Toward Pre-Depression Level," The Bristol Herald Courier (Bristol, Virginia and Bristol, Tennessee), January 1, 1940.) Photo from the National Archives.

Above: The magnificent Oregon State Capitol Building, in Salem, built with PWA funding, 1936-1938. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: Completed in 1935 this council house was "one of the many buildings constructed on the Navajo Reservation with P.W.A. funds." Quote and photo from C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown, Public Buildings: A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental Bodies Between the Years 1933 and 1939 with the Assistance of the Public Works Administration, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939.

Above: A PWA-funded jail in Lexington, Kentucky, between 1933 and 1941. New Deal prison and jail projects often replaced cramped, unsafe, and unsanitary facilities. "Many of the jails replaced by new structures have been 'disgraceful,' according to the applications. In Atlanta the city jail was both inadequate and overcrowded. Before the new structure was erected, prisoners slept on the floors of the multiple cells or 'tanks'... One application gave a grim picture of conditions in the old Barton Co., Mo., jail. 'Jail erected shortly after the Civil War, of pine boards laid flat and spiked together. Jail always wet and moldy... Inmates bathe in a washtub and no hot water... Vermin, mice, and rats abound, and rats had to be killed with a target rifle... Jail bars easily cut in two with corset steel handmade files..." (Public Works Administration, America Builds: The Record of PWA, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939, pp. 199-200). Photo from the National Archives.

Above: A new building for the Girl Scouts, in Rocky River, Ohio, constructed by the WPA between 1935 and 1943. The New Deal built or improved many buildings for youth: Scouts, 4-H, recreation centers, clubhouses, etc. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: WPA workers cleaning and painting the top of the Washington County Courthouse in Blair, Nebraska, 1936. Other work at the courthouse included "cleaning, painting and varnishing in all rooms of the three-story building, construction of new rear stairs, laying of a new ground floor, waterproofing of the foundation and remodeling of the north front doors of the building" ("Courthouse Is To Be Repaired In $10,000 Job: WPA Courthouse Project Is Approved; Crew Of Men Now At Work," The Pilot-Tribune (Blair, Nebraska), January 16, 1936, p. 1). Photo from the National Archives.

Above: The Washington County Courthouse in 2010. The WPA's repair and improvement of the building (see previous photo) helped preserve it, and it is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Public domain photo, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (WC) and WC contributor "Ammodramus."

Above: A winter sports arena for Crookston, Minnesota, built by the WPA, 1938. This fantastic building served the community for about 72 years before being demolished in 2011. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: A community building in Williamsport, Maryland, constructed by WPA workers, ca. 1938. The WPA and other New Deal agencies built thousands of city halls, town halls, community buildings, recreation centers, and similar buildings for the American people to gather together for business or pleasure. Photo by Brent McKee, 2011.

Above: The CCC built this lodge in Cacapon State Park, West Virginia, 1936-1937, one of the many thousands of structures the Triple C's built in our nation's parks and forests from 1933 to 1942. The CCC's cabins and pavilions, especially, are still used by tourists and vacationers today. Photo by Brent McKee, 2012.

Above: A new hospital in Guayama, Puerto Rico, approved by the Civil Works Administration (CWA), and carried out with funding from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), 1934. This is one of the many buildings that the New Deal constructed or improved on the island - hospitals, schools, university buildings, housing, etc. Photo from a 1935 report of the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration (PRERA).

Above: FERA-funded homes under construction in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, 1934. Inset photo shows a completed home. A model for today's homeless problem? Photo from a 1935 report of the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration (PRERA).

Above: A Farm Security Administration (FSA) home for migratory laborers at Visalia, California, 1940. "Sanitary steel cabins are provided for each family." Could inexpensive homes like this be part of the solution to the lack of affordable housing that has plagued America for decades? Photo by Arthur Rothstein, FSA, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: The main post office in Santa Barbara, California, constructed in 1936, and one of the hundreds of post offices built by the New Deal. Photo by Richard Walker, 2019, Creative Commons.

Above: A new state highway building for Montgomery, Alabama, courtesy of the WPA, 1938. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: A postcard of the WPA-built highway building in Montgomery, Alabama (see previous photo). The back credits the post card to "The S.D. Winn Cigar Co., Montgomery, Ala.," and also "Colourpicture Publication, Cambridge, Mass." Image used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Buildings, Buildings, and More Buildings

Here are some statistics from most of the major work and construction programs of the New Deal:

CCC: 51,160 projects to construct new buildings, and 30,019 projects to maintain existing buildings - barns, cabins, lodges, fire lookout towers, etc. (CCC final report, p. 104, not including "latrines and toilets").

PWA: 12,597 projects - educational buildings, hospitals, other public buildings (America Builds: The Record of PWA, 1939, p. 291).  

CWA: 33,810, and Work Division of FERA: 43,500 projects to to construct or improve buildings (Works Progress Administration, Analysis of Civil Works Program Statistics, June 1939, p. 27). These numbers may include mutliple buildings within a single project, e.g., 1 project to paint 3 county schools, because earlier in the report it is noted that the CWA repaired or constructed 60,500 buildings (p. 10).

WPA: 36,256 projects to construct new buildings; 4,972 projects to create additions to buildings; and 88,081 projects to reconstruct or improve existing buildings. These buildings included schools, airport buildings, garages, warehouses, courthouses, firehouses, hospitals, etc. (WPA final report, pp. 131-132).

NYA: 35,180 projects to construct new buildings, add to buildings, or reconstruct or improve buildings - schools, libraries, gymnasiums, armories, etc. (NYA final report, p. 139).  

In addition to these, there were buildings constructed by other programs, for example, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the United States Housing Authority (USHA), the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA), and the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Also, the WPA and other agencies built 2.8 million sanitary privies (there is a separate blog post for them, and so they're not included here).

Adding up the CCC, PWA, CWA, FERA, WPA, and NYA numbers we get 335,575. Some of these projects crossed over from one agency to another, for example, a school started by CWA and completed by FERA (but this might still be considered two projects, depending on one's viewpoint), but again, we're not counting a number of other building projects, so the 335,000 figure still seems a reasonable one.