Built for the People

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) is the centerpiece of the New Deal, creating most of the jobs. Although its programs end in 1943, it leaves a national legacy still serving millions of Americans, every day.

WPA built the big dams that still power the rural electricity grid. But it's also responsible for a staggering array of construction projects everywhere, including, airports, golf courses, playgrounds and even swimming pools.

Almost every city, however small, contains buildings, parks and amenities that might never have been built without New-Deal funding. We sometimes imagine they're just another reflection of America's natural abundance.

But they're all a response to our great national nightmare. We survived the Depression with a million small acts of courage, but also with the backing of federal funding, which left reminders of our national heritage all around.
WPA's lasting legacy

  Still With Us Today
This page celebrates the results of WPA vision that remain with us today, making America a more interesting and pleasant place than it would otherwise be, left to corporate enterprise alone.

WPA airports and stadiums

  Thanks, WPA
Airports weren't built because companies thought airplanes needed a place to land. Like many community sporting venues, they were the deliberate act of government planners, creating a path forward while helping families eat.


municipal buildings

  Thanks Again, WPA
Corporations are responsible for creating great industries, but people live in communities. They need auditoriums and courthouses just as much as blast furnaces, locomotives and shopping malls.


WPA schools and libraries

  If it's Old and Brick, it's Probably WPA
We often assume that our schools, libraries and playgrounds were built using local tax dollars. But where facilities are more than 80 years old, and built of brick, the funding was probably provided by New-Deal programs. 


WPA parks and recreation

  Little Things, Too
When you search for inexpensive local recreation opportunities, chances are that many of sites you find were actually established way back in the 1930s. By the WPA.


WPA art and artists

  Even Paintings
Many older public buildings are adorned, here and there, with murals that seem a bit dated. That's because they are. They were created back in the 1930s, by WPA artists.