Built in 1935-36, the Hinckley High School Gymnasium is part of the Public Works Buildings Thematic Nomination and is significant because it helps document the impact of New Deal programs in Utah, which was one of the states that the Great Depression of the 1930s most severely affected. In 1933 Utah had an unemployment rate of 36 percent, the fourth highest in the country, and for the period 1932-1940 Utah’s unemployment rate averaged 25 percent. Because the depression hit Utah so hard, federal programs were extensive in the state. Overall, per capita federal spending in Utah during the 1930s was 9th among the 48 states, and the percentage of workers on federal work projects was far above the national average. Building programs were of great importance. During the 1930s virtually every public building constructed in Utah, including county courthouses, city halls, fire stations, national guard armories, public school buildings, and a variety of others, were built under federal programs by one of several agencies, including the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), the National Youth Administration (NYA), the Works Progress Administration (WPA), or the Public Works Administration (PWA), and almost without exception none of the buildings would have been built when they were without the assistance of the federal government.
The Hinckley High School Gym is one of 233 public works buildings identified in Utah that were built during the 1930s and early 1940s. Only 130 of those 233 buildings are known to remain today and retain their historic integrity. This is one of 107 public school buildings that were constructed in Utah, 55 of which remain. In Millard County 10 buildings were constructed. This is one of 6 that remain, and one of 2 school buildings remaining of 5 that were built.
The Hinckley High School Gymnasium was built between 1935 and 1936. It was part of a larger Public Works Administration (PWA) project that the Millard County School District undertook that included, in addition to this building, a mechanical arts building at Delta High School and a gymnasium at Millard High School in Fillmore. Total cost for the 3 buildings was $130,000. Construction on all 3 buildings began in the summer of 1935 and was completed by June of 1936. The architects of all three were Carl W. Scott and George W. Welch, and the contractors were Talboe and Litchfield.
Carl W. Scott and George W. Welch were both prominent Utah architects. Scott was born October 17, 1887, in Minneapolis, Kansas, and graduated in 1907 from the University of Utah with a degree in mining. He was given credit for the idea of the concrete “U” on the hill that is still above the university campus. Following graduation he began a career in architecture as a draftsman for Richard Kletting. In 1914 he became partners with George W. Welch. Welch was born in Denver, Colorado, on May 15, 1886, graduated from Colorado College, and came to Salt Lake City to begin work as an architect. Active in political affairs while here, he was a member of the Utah House of Representatives from 1919 until 1921. Among the buildings that Scott and Welch designed were Salt Lake City’s Elks’ Club Building, South High School, the Masonic Temple, and many public school buildings throughout Utah including Hawthorne Elementary School and Bryant Junior High School in Salt Lake, Park City High School, Tooele High School, Blanding High School, and Cedar City Elementary School. They also designed a number of commercial buildings including the N. O. Nelson Manufacturing Company Warehouse, the Nelson-Ricks Creamery Building, and the Firestone Tire Company Building, all in Salt Lake City.
The Bonnyview School was one of Murray’s schools, a couple of the New Deal Funded Projects in Utah were related to the school, one to expand the school which is now demolished and another to build the rock walls that are still seen on the otherwise empty property.
I have loved driving by and seeing those rock walls, being reminded of the history.
The location is 4984 S Commerce Drive in Murray, Utah
Located at 12441 S 900 E in Draper, Utah and designed by School District Architect Niels Edward Liljenberg, the Draper Park School was constructed in 1912, replacing an 1883 school on the same site. The building was named in honor of Dr. John R. Park, a leading figure in Utah’s educational history and early school teacher in Draper. The school originally accommodated both elementary and junior high school students. Additions were made to the south of the building in 1928 and to the east in 1963. In 1938 a mural depicting the history of education in Draper was painted on the interior by artist Paul Smith as a WPA project. The school was converted into the Draper City Hall and community center around 1980 and is the home of the Draper Historical Society.
The Draper Park School, 1912, is significant as a structure illustrating the growing educational needs and desires of one of Salt Lake City’s rapidly growing suburban areas. Named after Dr. John R. Park, a leading figure in Utah’s educational history, the school remains a tribute to Park who also served as an early local school teacher in Draper. In addition, the building houses a mural painted by artist Paul Smith in 1938 as a Works Progress Administration project. The mural depicts the history of education in Draper utilizing real characters as models, and allows present residents one opportunity to appreciate visually their past.
Draper was settled about 1850 and from its beginning showed a special interest in education. Proud of its local reputation as the “Cradle of Education” the history of Draper is marked by the construction of several school buildings to meet the educational needs of the community’s youth. The work of John Rocky Park was regarded as the first rural high school in Utah, he later became president of the University of Utah.
By 1860 Draper had outgrown its first school house. A small adobe building called the Vestry was erected. In 1863 the main hall was added. It was in this “Old White Meetinghouse” that Dr. John R. Park taught his famous village school. He came to Draper in the fall of 1861 and went to the home of Absolom W. Smith where he asked for work. Mr. Smith told him that most of the farm work was done , but he could stay there if he wished. Park told him that he would rather work; so after a good meal, Mr. Smith put him to work husking corn. Mr. Smith was a councilor to Bishop Isaac M. Stewart and also acted as one of the local school trustees. He soon discovered that Mr. Park was an intelligent, well-educated man holding an M.D. degree. Mr. Smith, with the help of other leading men, persuaded Mr. Park to remain in Draper as a school teacher. He boarded that winter at the home of Bishop Stewart and received a salary of $60 per month, one third in cash, one third in potatoes and one third in wheat.
In 1883 a new school was built where the present Draper Park School stands. This building was known as the Central School. William M. Stewart was the first principal and taught for four years. By 1890 two other schools had been built, one in the eastern part of town known as the East Side School, the other in the southern part of the community known as the South side School. These three schools operated about seven months each year and had one teacher. In 1898 the three schools were consolidated and all the pupils went to the Central School. The East Side School was torn down and the South Side School was remodeled into a residence.
Draper probably had the first rural high school in the state of Utah. In 1861 Dr. Park introduced high school subjects into the curriculum and this practice continued whenever the teacher was qualified to give such instruction. In 1902 a recognized high school was begun with J.C. Spiers as principal. It’s credits and diplomas were accepted by the University of Utah.
In 1912 the Draper School again felt the need to expand. The old building was razed and the present building was erected. It contained eleven classrooms and the principal’s office. Sources indicate the architect was N. Edward Liljenberg, architect for the School District, with C.A. Talboe awarded the contract. Nils Edward Liljenberg, a native of Sweden, was considered a leading Utah architect. He designed buildings for the Y.M.C.A. and Westminster College in Salt Lake City, and designed “many” public schools.
To provide more room and facilities for the junior high school, a new wing was added on the south of the building in 1928. This wing provided an auditorium, work shops, a domestic science section, a music room, stage, locker space, showers and restrooms. It was designed by the firm of Scott and Welch.
With some improvements and changes this building housed the junior high and elementary schools until 1954. In that year the Mount Jordan Junior High School was completed in Sandy, Utah, and students in the seventh, eighth and ninth grades went to school there. The Draper Park School was then remodeled with a new wing being added on the northeast corner. The interior was also redecorated to take care of the six elementary grades. It has thirteen classrooms equipped with modern visual aids, teachers, work-rooms, a faculty room, a sick room, auditorium, music room, library, and an up-to-date cafeteria and a modern gas heating plant.
In the lower main hallway of the Draper Park School is a beautiful mural. It depicts the history of education in Draper. The theme of the mural is “Onward and Upward”.
Current plans are to use the building as a community center.
Built in 1935-36, the Mount Pleasant High School Mechanical Arts Building is part of the Public Works Buildings Thematic Resources nomination and is w significant because it helps document the impact of New Deal programs in Utah, which was one of the states that the Great Depression of the 1930s most severely affected. In 1933 Utah had an unemployment rate of 36 percent, the fourth highest in the country, and for the period 1932-1940 Utah’s unemployment rate averaged 25 percent. Because the depression hit Utah so hard, federal programs were extensive in the state. Overall, per capita federal spending in Utah during the 1930s was 9th among the 48 states, and the percentage of workers on federal work projects was far above the national average. Building programs were of great importance. During the 1930s virtually every public building constructed in Utah, including county courthouses, city halls, fire stations, national guard armories, public school buildings, and a variety of others, were built under federal programs by one of several agencies, including the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), the National Youth Administration (NYA), the Works Progress Administration (WPA), or the Public Works Administration (PWA), and almost without exception none of the buildings would have been built when they were without the assistance of the federal government.
The Mount Pleasant High School Mechanical Arts Building is one of 233 public works buildings identified in Utah that were built during the 1930s and early 1940s. Only 130 of those 233 buildings are known to remain today and retain their historic integrity. This is one of 107 public school buildings constructed in Utah, 55 of which remain. In Sanpete County 18 buildings were built. This is one of 11 that remain and are relatively unaltered.
The building was constructed between 1935 and 1936 as a Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) project. It was a duplicate of the Moroni High School Mechanical Arts Building that was constructed at the same time. The project was approved in November 1934; construction began in January of 1935 and was completed in April 1936.
Located at 180 North State Street in Mt Pleasant, Utah
This building is one of three high school shop buildings constructed in Sanpete County using the same basic design. The other two are in Ephraim and Moroni, both of which are still standing and eligible for nomination. All three of these buildings are large, two-story box-like structures with rectangular plans and centrally placed two-story entrance porticos. The Mt. Pleasant building, like the one in Moroni, is built of cream-colored limestone and has a low-pitched hip roof. The openings are arranged symmetrically around the entrance bay which has a gable roof, heavy cornice returns, a round arch upper story window, and a molded cornice over the door itself. There are low-relief quoins at the corners. The building remains in good original condition.
Built in 1935-36, the Moroni High School Mechanical Arts Building is part of the Utah Public Works Administration (PWA) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) Buildings Thematic Nomination and is significant because it helps document the impact of New Deal programs in Utah, which was one of the states that the Great Depression of the 1930s most severely affected. In 1933 Utah had an unemployment rate of 36 percent, the fourth highest in the country, and for the period 1932-1940 Utah’s unemployment rate averaged 25 percent. Because the depression hit Utah so hard, federal programs were extensive in the state. Overall, per capita federal spending in Utah during the 1930s was 9th among the 48 states, and the percentage of workers on federal work projects was far above the national average. Building programs were of great importance. During the 1930s virtually every public building constructed in Utah, including county courthouses, city halls, fire stations, national guard armories, public school buildings, and a variety of others, were built under federal programs by one of several agencies, including the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), the National Youth Administration (NYA), the Works Progress Administration (WPA), or the Public Works Administration (PWA), and almost without exception none of the buildings would have been built when they were without the assistance of the federal government.
The Moroni High School Mechanical Arts Building is one of 233 public works buildings identified in Utah that were built during the 1930s and early 1940s. Only 130 of those 233 buildings are known to remain today and retain their historic integrity. This is one of 107 public school buildings constructed, 55 of which remain. In Sanpete County 18 buildings were built. This is one of 11 that remain.
The building was constructed between 1935 and 1936 as a Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) project. It was a duplicate of the Mt. Pleasant High School Mechanical Arts Building that was constructed at the same time. The project was approved in November 1934; construction began in January of 1935 and was completed in April 1936.
I haven’t been able to find out exactly where this was located, if you know please comment on this page or let me know.
During the 1930s, UTNG used federal money, often supplied through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), to build or expand a number of UTNG facilities. The WPA funded eight armories and several garage and storage areas for the UTNG. By 1940, 13 armories were in use by the Utah Guard including” that in Cedar City.
The location of the historic armory is presently unknown to Living New Deal. The building has since been demolished.
During the 1930s, UTNG used federal money, often supplied through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), to build or expand a number of UTNG facilities. The WPA funded eight armories and several garage and storage areas for the UTNG. By 1940, 13 armories were in use by the Utah Guard including” that in Spanish Fork. The historic armory in Spanish Fork has since been demolished.(*)
During the 1930s, UTNG used federal money, often supplied through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), to build or expand a number of UTNG facilities. The WPA funded eight armories and several garage and storage areas for the UTNG. By 1940, 13 armories were in use by the Utah Guard including” that in Nephi.
“Construction of the National Guard armory in Nephi will be furthered with $34,669” in WPA funds, Provo’s Daily Herald reported.(*)
Built in 1936, the Fairview City Hall is part of the Public Works Buildings Thematic Resource nomination and is significant because it helps document the impact of New Deal programs in Utah, which was one of the states that the Great Depression of the 1930s most severely affected. In 1933 Utah had an unemployment rate of 36 percent, the fourth highest in the country, and for the period 1932-1940 Utah’s unemployment rate averaged 25 percent. Because the depression hit Utah so hard, federal programs were extensive in the state. Overall, per capita federal spending in Utah during the 1930s was 9th among the 48 states, and the percentage of workers on federal work projects was far above the national average. Building programs were of great importance. During the 1930s virtually every public building constructed in Utah, including county courthouses, city halls, fire stations, national guard armories, public school buildings, and a variety of others, were built under federal programs by one of several agencies, including the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), the National Youth Administration (NYA), the Works Progress Administration (WPA), or the Public Works Administration (PWA), and almost without exception none of the buildings would have been built when they were without the assistance of the federal government.
I was reading here that apparently it was demolished and then the some stone was used to rebuild it exactly the same from the exterior, with updated interiors.
The Fairview City Hall is one of 232 buildings constructed in Utah during the 1930s and early 1940s under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and other New Deal programs. Of those 232 buildings, 133 are still standing and are eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. This is one of 22 city halls built, 19 of which are still standing. In Sanpete County 17 buildings were constructed, 13 of which remain.
The local newspaper recorded the construction of the building as follows. “Work has just begun on the new Fairview City Hall and library to be built at Fairview as a government aid project.
“It will be a two-story building and will be constructed of sawed native rock, known as blue sandstone. The building will be erected on Main Street on the corner lot south of the amusement hall and will have accommodations for city hall, library, jail, Legion hall, kitchen and serving room and two rest rooms. “Thirteen men will be employed during January and 20 from then until June when it is expected the project will be completed, said Oscar Amundsen, foremen. “The plans for the building were drawn by Hugh Anderson of Fairview. $10,000 was appropriated for the building but this amount is not enough to complete the project, stated Mr. Amundsen “‘ Little is known about the construction careers of Oscar Amundsen and Hugh Anderson. This building has continued to the present to serve as the city hall and library for the town of Fairview. ” – Mt Pleasant Pyramid, Jan 31, 1936, p.1.
The Fairview City Hall, built in 1936, is a one-story stone building with a basically square plan, a raised basement, and a flat roof. There have been no major alterations made to the building.
This building represents an excellent example of the stark, abstract classicism associated with the PWA Moderne architectural style in Utah. The principal facade is symmetrically divided into three bays. The central bay is narrower and contains the front door, while the flanking bays have slightly wider windows on both the main and basement levels. The windows are Palladian-inspired and tripartite, and are topped by elliptical fanlights. A similar arch is found over the front entrance. Openings on the sides and rear are simple rectangles. The building is constructed of the local oolite limestone, finely dressed to a smooth ashlar surface. A band of low-relief dentils run beneath the cement coping at the edge of the roof. A very small concrete block addition was built on the rear of the building at an unknown date. Because of its small scale and its location at the rear, that addition does not affect the historical integrity of the building.
The Great depression was extremely hard on Utah, federal agencies gave funding as part of the New Deal for projects to keep people working.
I’ve seen the number of new deal funded buildings/projects in Utah reported usually as 232 but also as 233 and 226 but personally I’ve counted 377.
Below are listed the WPA (Works Progress Administration), PWA (Public Works Administration), CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) and other New Deal projects I’ve found and documented.
American Fork Training School (14 bldgs.) Elig., Part Doc. 5 dormitories, 2 parole cottages, superintendent’s residence, auditorium, custodial building, school building, dairy barn, employees building, shop building.
The text below is taken from the nomination form for the national historic register listing (#64000871):
The buildings included in the Public Works Buildings Thematic Resources nomination are significant because they help document the impact of New Deal programs in Utah, which was one of the states that the Great Depression of the 1930s most severely affected. In 1933 Utah had a unemployment rate of 36 percent, the fourth highest in the country, and for the period 1932-1940 Utah’s unemployment rate averaged 25 percent. Because the depression hit Utah so hard, federal programs were extensive in the state. Overall, per capita federal spending in Utah during the 1930s was 9th among the 48 states, and the percentage of workers on federal work projects was far above the national average. Building programs were of great importance. During the 1930s virtually every public buildings constructed in Utah, including County courthouses, city halls, fire stations, national guard armories, public school buildings, and a variety of others, were built under federal programs by one of several agencies, including the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), the National Youth Administration (MYA), the Works Progress Administration (WPA), or the Public Works Administration (PWA). Almost without exception none of the buildings would have been built when they were without the assistance of the federal government. Only 33 of the 130 potentially eligible public works buildings currently meet the 50-year requirement for National Register listing, therefore they are the only ones being nominated at this time. Nine public works buildings have previously been either listed in the National Register or determined eligible.
During the decade of the 1930s the United States experienced the most serious economic disaster in its history, and Utah was seriously affected. Every generation before 1930 had experienced a time of mass unemployment. Often it happened several times in one person’s lifetime. Usually the slide into the pit was steep and the climb out slow. But the depression that began in 1929 was different. It came harder and faster; it engulfed a larger part of the population; it 1 aster longer; and it did far more and far worse damage than any before or since. Men groped for superlatives to express the meaning and impact of the crisis. Writer Edmund Wilson compared it to an earthquake. Former governor of New York, Alfred E. Smith, said that the depression was equivalent to war, while Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis declared that it was worse than war. All agreed with Philip La Follette, governor, of Wisconsin, that “we are in the midst of the greatest domestic crisis since the Civil War.”
The chain reaction of unemployment spread slowly. At first those in marginal jobs were hit hardest while those in better jobs moved downward. In time, However, millions who had never been unemployed for any length of time were jobless and unable to find work. In 1929 3 million people in the United States were without work; by 1933 the total was 16 million. In 1939 10 million people were still unemployed. Based on a study of 31,159 jobless men, a Pennsylvania commission reported that the typical unemployed person in that state was 36 years old, native-born, physically fit, and with a good previous work record. A study in Utah found that people employed on Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects had essentially the same kinds of characteristics.
In Utah at the beginning of 1930 a total of 8,700 people out of a work force of 170,000 were unemployed. In 1931 unemployment in the state rose to over 36,000 and in 1932 it reached 61,500. That was 35 percent of the workforce, more than 1 of every 3 workers, and the fourth highest unemployment rate in the nation. Between 1932 and 1940 the unemployment rate never fell below 20 percent, and for the period as a whole it averaged 26 percent. Income per person fell sharply as a result of the decline in employment and the reduction in wages for those who had jobs. In 1929 annual per capita income in Utah was $537. By 1932 it had dropped to half that, $276, and in 1940 had risen to only $480. By March 1933 more than 161,000 people in Utah 32 percent of the population were receiving all or part of their food, clothing, shelter, and other necessities from government relief funds.
To some the solution seemed to be a return to the farm, but the economic dry rot of the 1930s afflicted the countryside as well as the city. Between 1929 and 1932 gross farm income in the United States fell by more than half, to a point lower than it had been for 40 years. Season after season individual farmers suffered from the miserably low prices they received for their products, and it made little difference whether they were Alabama cotton growers, Iowa hog farmers, Wisconsin dairy producers, California citrus ranchers, or Utah sheepmen. All of them considered themselves lucky if they could sell their products for enough to meet their costs of production. By 1932 the farm prices of crops in Utah had decreased to 60 percent of the 1926-1931 average and the price of livestock to 48 percent. Overall farm income had declined by 50 percent.
me had declined by 50 percent. Faced with a depression of unprecedented proportions, the people of the United States finally turned to the federal government for help. The problems of industrial capitalism had proven too heavy for individuals, private charities, or local governments to handle. The federal government responded with the New Deal, a barrage of government programs designed to provide relief and jobs, and also to reform the economic system in way that would prevent future depressions.
The Great Depression changed the American people’s conception of the proper role of government in the economy. Buffered and bewildered by the depression, Americans abandoned once and for all the doctrine of laissezfaire. The previous conviction had been that depressions were inevitable, natural disasters, like dust storms, that occurred periodically and about which nothing could be done. In 1931, for example, President Herbert Hoover criticized those who “have confidence that by some device we can legislate ourselves out of a world-wide depression. Such views are as accurate as the belief that we can exorcise a Caribbean hurricane.” Hoover’s views, however, were soon rejected. From the experience of the depression, people came to believe that something could and should be done when economic disaster struck and that the federal government was the one to do it.
Almost everything the federal government did during the depression era made inroads into the hitherto private preserves of business and the individual.
The federal government subsidized farmers, guaranteed bank deposits, provided unemployment compensation and social security payments, subsidized the arts and low-income housing, and assisted labor unions in organizing. Most of those new measures survived the period of the crisis to take their place as fundamental elements in the structure of American life. In fact, much of what is taken for granted today as the legitimate function of government and the social responsibility of business began only with the legislation of the 1930s.
Because the depression hit Utah so hard, federal programs in the state were extensive. Between 1933 and 1939 federal agencies spent nearly $300 million in federal assistance in Utah. That, to the total spent in many other states, was not a high absolute amount but it was 15 times more money than the amount of federal taxes that Utahns sent to Washington during the same period, and overall per capita federal spending in Utah was 9th among the 48 states. Utah, for example, ranked 1st in per capita expenditures from the Home Owners Loan Corporation, second in the amount of benefits per capita from the Social Security Administration, 5th in National Youth Administration (NYA) expenditures per capita, 8th in Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) expenditures per capita, and 18th in Works Progress Administration (WPA) expenditures per capita.
Among the myriad of New Deal agencies established were ones that provided relief to individuals. It was of two kinds: direct relief, that is the provision of food, clothing, medical care, and other services and commodities; and work relief, that is employment on government public works projects for those people unable to find employment in the private sector.
There were 6 main agencies that provided work relief: the Civil Works Administration (CWA); the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA); the Public Works Administration (PWA); the Works Progress Administration (WPA); the National Youth Administration (NYA); and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). With the exception of the CCC, all of these agencies undertook the construction of new buildings (as well as the remodeling of old ones) as part of the work they carried out.
The CWA was the New Deal’s first work relief program. Established in November 1933, it lasted only 5 months but during that time employed more than 4 million people, undertook 400,000 projects nationwide, and spent $1 billion. It undertook a variety of projects including the construction or improvement of roads and highways, schools, parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, airports, waterways, in short the kind of construction projects that subsequent New Deal agencies would typically be involved in.
In Utah the CWA employed more than 20,000 people during its few months of existence and spent $5.2 million.
The FERA succeeded the CWA. It had both a works division and a direct relief division and was funded jointly by the federal government and by each individual state. In Utah a special session of the legislature in August 1933 established a 2 percent general sales tax to provide state funds for the FERA (known in Utah as the Utah Emergency Relief Administration, or UERA). It existed from the spring of 1934, when it succeeded the CWA, to the fall of 1935. During that time the federal government provided about 90 percent of its funding and the state of Utah about 10 percent.
To be eligible for funding a project had to be of “a public character and of economic or social benefit to the general public or to publicly-owned institutions.” Projects uncompleted by the CWA were taken over by the FERA and carried to completion and subsequent projects included the range that CWA projects had, from construction of public buildings to building water supply reservoirs.
With the establishment of the WPA in 1935 the projects of the FERA were transferred to it. The longest-lasting and most extensive New Deal relief program, in Utah and the rest of the nation, it continued until 1943. In addition to a construction or “Works” division, the WPA had a vast array of programs: art; music; writer’s; historical, cultural records surveys and inventories; adult education; recreation; library services, clerical assistance; public administration; surveys and investigations; clothing; commodity distribution; food preservation, gardening; school lunch; health; and child protection.
In Utah the Works Division undertook a variety of projects. It constructed nearly 5,000 miles of new roads and highways and repaired another 2,000 miles. It built or improved 13,700 bridges and culverts, 30 parks, 161 playgrounds and athletic fields, and 23 swimming pools. It built 421 new buildings or additions to existing buildings and remodeled or “improved” 746 more.
The peak of WPA employment in Utah was in the fall of 1936 when more than 17,000 Utahns were at work on WPA projects. Average WPA employment for the life of the agency was about 12,000.
The PWA was established in 1933 to stimulate industry and put men back to work by constructing public buildings, bridges, and other heavy and durable facilities and helping state and local governments in building their own public works. During most of the time it was in existence, from 1933 to 1939, projects were financed by a 45 percent grant from PWA funds with the remaining 55 percent of the cost supplied by the local applying agency. In some instances PWA not only advanced 45 percent of the cost by outright grant but loaned the applicant part of the remainder of the cost as well. During its lifetime the PWA spent more than $6 billion and employed 4 million people on over 34,000 projects. The estimate is that it built more than 70 percent of the new educational buildings in the United States during the 1930s and 35 percent of the hospitals and other public health facilities.
The NYA was established in 1935 to provide jobs for young people between the ages of 16 and 25 both in and out of school. From 1935 to 1939 the NYA program in Utah expended $540,000 of which about half was spent for work projects to employ out-of-school youth and the other half for jobs to employ high school and college students. Mainly high school students were employed in such jobs as clerical work for principals and teachers, supervision of playground activities, assistance in libraries and cafeterias, and repair of classroom equipment. College students worked in college offices, libraries, museums, assisted professors with research, graded papers, and were employed in the care and keeping of campus grounds. The NYA undertook only a small building program in Utah, mainly of modest buildings. Under it fewer than half a dozen new buildings were constructed and 2 or 3 that many old ones were remodeled.
The result of this activity by these federal agencies was for more than a decade, throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s, virtually every public building constructed in Utah was done so under federal government programs. Those buildings included a diverse group: college and university gymnasiums, dormitories, administration buildings, and classrooms; elementary and high school buildings; buildings for various state agencies including the School for the Deaf and Blind, the State Training School for retarded citizens, the State Tuberculosis Sanitarium, the State Industrial School, and the State Mental Hospital; National Guard Armories; county courthouses; city and town halls; civic auditoriums; community recreation centers; libraries; fire stations; police stations; and miscellaneous buildings such as a city golf course club house and girl and boy scout cabins.
The buildings included in this nomination are significant, then, because they document in a clear, even dramatic way the impact the Great Depression and the relief agencies of the New Deal had in Utah.
February 1986 – Following is a revised statement of significance that justifies the exceptional significance of the resources included in this thematic nomination.
The buildings included in the Public Works Buildings Thematic Resources nomination are significant because they help document the impact of New Deal programs in Utah, which was one of the states most severely affected by the Great Depression. In 1933 Utah had an unemployment rate of 36 percent, the fourth highest in the country, and for the period 1932-1940 Utah’s unemployment rate averaged 25 percent. Because the depression hit Utah so hard, federal programs were extensive in the state. Overall, per capita federal spending in Utah during the 1930s was 9th among the 48 states, and the percentage of workers on federal work projects was far above the national average. Building programs were of great importance. They offered not only temporary work relief, but also provided long-term benefits to the communities and the state in the form of improved public facilities, including county courthouses, city halls, libraries, national guard armories, public school buildings, and a variety of others. During the 1930s virtually every public building constructed in Utah was built under federal programs by one of several agencies, including the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), the National Youth Administration (NYA), the Works Progress Administration (WPA), or the Public Works Administration (PWA). Almost without exception none of the buildings would have been built when they were without the assistance of the federal government. Over 230 public works buildings were constructed in Utah between 1933 and 1943 as part of the federal relief effort. Oust over half of those buildings remain standing and well preserved, and though many of them are less than 50 years old they are considered eligible for listing in the National Register because of the exceptionally significant role of federal public works building projects in Utah’s history.
