🏛️ How the WPA Saved America’s Historic Landmarks (1938)

📌 This 1938 WPA report details the restoration of historic forts, battlefields, and monuments across the U.S. Discover how New Deal workers preserved America’s past—from Independence Hall to the Statue of Liberty—for future generations.

Collage of Sites of WPA Projects to Preserve Historic Shrines Include Ft. Raleigh State Park (North Carolina), Ft. Recovery (Ohio), Independence Hall (Pennsylvania), City Gates (St. Augustine, Florida), The Hermitage (Tennessee), Dock Street Theatre (South Carolina), Trent House (New Jersey), The Pontalba Building (Louisiana), Statue of Liberty (New York), Tuzigoot Restoration (Arizona), Ft. Negley (Tennessee). Inventory: An Appraisal of Results of the Works Progress Administration, Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1938. GGA Image ID # 151fbc8d3c

🏛 WPA Historic Shrines Projects - 1938

Preserving America’s Past Through New Deal Public Works

📖 The 1938 WPA report on historic shrine restoration highlights how New Deal programs played a crucial role in preserving America’s heritage. The WPA restored forts, historic homes, battlefields, monuments, and landmarks spanning every era of American history, from Native American settlements to early colonial sites, Revolutionary War landmarks, and even the boyhood home of Charles Lindbergh.

For teachers, historians, genealogists, and preservationists, this document serves as a goldmine of historical information about:

• How the WPA saved historic sites from decay or demolition.
• The role of federal funding in restoring national heritage.
• The types of projects undertaken and their cultural significance.

🏗️ This report provides an extraordinary look at how federal work relief programs protected America’s historic legacy for future generations.

Many an American community, busy with the problems of today and tomorrow, had put off the restoration of a cherished historical shrine. WPA work on hundreds of these shrines has prevented them from becoming ruins.

WPA Subject Matter Index Page Included under the heading, "Public Buildings" are Historic Shrines. Inventory: An Appraisal of Results of the Works Progress Administration, Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1938. GGA Image ID # 15201d82bc

When local officials found their own jobless workers available, at WPA pay, they hastened to provide materials and start the rehabilitation of old forts, old homes, and other sites at which significant bits of history once were enacted.

Often a historical association or some other agency had begun to restore a shrine and then had been unable to complete the work, until Federal aid was made available. Every period in America's history is represented, from the days of Indian supremacy to yesterday, in the scores of restorations that have been made by the WPA.

The broken walls of Tuzigoot Pueblo in Arizona have been excavated and partially rebuilt as they were when an agricultural race dwelt there two centuries before Columbus discovered San Salvador.

An ancient Mandan Indian settlement has been reconstructed in North Dakota, and a village of the Narragansetts in Rhode Island. For 350 years all that remained of Fort Raleigh, site of "The Lost Colony" on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, was the earthwork outlining its central blockhouse.

Now replicas have been built of the original stockade and dwellings. Fort Raleigh was the first English settlement in the New World and the birth- place of Virginia Dare, first child born of English parents in America.

Four nations have successively held fort Niagara on Lake Ontario—the Iroquois, French, British, and American. Nothing remains of La Salle's early palisade, but several buildings erected in 1725 have been restored in accordance with the original plans found in French War Department files.

Nearly two centuries after its destruction by fire the Dock Street Theatre, first playhouse in America, has been accurately reconstructed at Charleston, S. C. Early Spanish structures in the South and West have not been neglected, among them the San Gabriel Mission in San Bernardino County, Calif., and the much older Mission San Jose, "most beautiful, most prosperous, and best fortified of all Texas missions," at San Antonio.

Dozens of 18th-century shrines have been preserved. Among these is the 200-year-old New Castle Court House in Delaware, oldest continuously used chamber of justice in the country. Included also are two Boston buildings—Faneuil Hall, "Cradle of American Liberty," and Massachusetts' Old State House, before which the Boston Massacre occurred.

Linked even more closely with the American Revolution is famous Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was adopted, the Constitution agreed upon.

Besides this, many another building of that stirring period has been restored—the Jumel Mansion in New York City, used as headquarters by Washington, later home for a time of Aaron Burr and visited by such distinguished foreigners as Joseph and Jerome Bonaparte, Louis Philippe, and Talleyrand; Trent House in New Jersey, home of the founder of Trenton, where Washington, Lafayette, and Rochambeau were entertained; and "Rockingham," -at Rocky Hill, N. J., where Washington wrote his farewell address to the army.

Associated with the War of 1812 is Fort Sewall in Marblehead, Mass., off which the frigate Constitution, popularly known as "Old Ironsides," was once obliged to take refuge. The Flag House in Baltimore also has been re- paired.

Work has been done on The Cabildo, that handsome Louisiana building in which Jackson was honored after the Battle of New Orleans and in which Lafitte the pirate was imprisoned. One of the most stately shrines which the WPA has helped to preserve is "The Hermitage," last home of Andrew Jackson, near Nashville, Tenn.

Far different in appearance are the crude log houses in the Pioneer Lincoln Village at Rockport, Ind. The Civil War is represented by several forts, of which two are outstanding—Fort Negley at Nashville, built by impressed slaves and strongest Federal fortification in the South, and Fort Jefferson on the Dry Tortugas Key off Florida.

It was at the latter, American Devil's Island of the period, that an obscure Maryland physician named Samuel A. Mudd was incarcerated. He had set the leg of John Wilkes Booth, unaware that his patient was Lincoln's assassin.

Among many battlefields and outposts marking this Nation's expansion are Texas' San Jacinto Battleground, where Houston defeated Santa Anna and his Mexican Army in 1836; Fort Nisqually, early trading-center of Hudson's Bay Colony at Tacoma, Wash.; Forts Holmes and Wayne in Michigan, Forts Casper and Bridger in Wyoming, and Fort Vasquez in Colorado.

All these have been restored or reconstructed. There are shrines also to such men as Audubon, painter of American birds. For him, a museum has been erected at Henderson, KY. In the same State, at Danville, the Ephraim McDowell House has been restored, home of the pioneer surgeon who performed the first ovariotomy.

Work has been done at Westerville, Ohio, on the house in which Benjamin R. Hanby composed the Civil War song, "Darling Nellie Gray." Restored is the clapboard house at Camden, N. J., in which the Good Gray Poet, Walt Whitman, spent the last years of his life. Coming down to our own century, the boy- hood home of aviator Lindbergh has been turned into a museum, its grounds into a State park, near Little Falls, Minn.

Such colossal monuments as the stone shaft at Bunker Hill, Grant's Tomb, and the Statue of Liberty have been repaired, have had their grounds beautified, or have been otherwise improved.

Collage of the Sites of WPA Projects to Preserve Historic Shrines Include Flag House (Maryland), Old Court House (Delaware), Jumel Mansion (New York), the Cabildo Fireplace (Louisiana), Ft. Niagara (New York) Fort Pike (Louisiana), Lincoln Village (Indiana), Mcdowell House (Kentucky) Faneuil Hall (Massachusetts) Fort Jefferson (Florida). Inventory: An Appraisal of Results of the Works Progress Administration, Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1938. GGA Image ID # 151ff2f28b

"Historic Shrines," in Inventory: An Appraisal of Results of the Works Progress Administration, Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1938, pp. 33-36.

Why This Document is Important

📜 Relevance for Different Audiences

✔ For Historians & Researchers

🔹 Documents federal efforts to preserve historic landmarks.

🔹 Explores how the WPA contributed to national identity.

🔹 Highlights the impact of economic downturns on historic preservation.

✔ For Genealogists & Family Historians

🔹 Identifies potential ancestors who may have worked on WPA historic restoration projects.

🔹 Explores how historic landmarks shaped local communities.

🔹 Links family history to WPA-led preservation efforts.

✔ For Teachers & Students

🔹 Illustrates how public works programs intersect with history and heritage.

🔹 Provides case studies on the impact of the Great Depression on historic sites.

🔹 Explains how historical preservation supports civic identity.

📌 This report is an invaluable historical record of how the WPA safeguarded America’s most treasured landmarks.

🏗️ Restoring America’s Landmarks: The WPA’s Preservation Efforts

✔ Why This is Fascinating:

🔹 Hundreds of historic sites, from Native American ruins to Civil War forts, were restored or preserved.

🔹 Significant Revolutionary War landmarks, including Independence Hall and Faneuil Hall, were refurbished.

🔹 Pioneer settlements, missions, and forts across the U.S. received structural improvements.

✔ Key Takeaway:

The WPA saved many landmarks from ruin, ensuring their survival for future generations.

📌 This section highlights how the WPA combined historic preservation with economic recovery.

⛪ Revolutionary War & Early American Landmarks

✔ Why This is Fascinating:

🔹 Independence Hall (Philadelphia, PA) – Restoration of the building where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

🔹 Faneuil Hall (Boston, MA) – Preservation of the “Cradle of Liberty,” a key site for American independence.

🔹 Fort Niagara (NY) – Restoration of 18th-century fortifications using original French War Department plans.

🔹 Jumel Mansion (NYC) – Washington’s Revolutionary War headquarters, later home to Aaron Burr.

🔹 The Cabildo (New Orleans, LA) – Site of the Louisiana Purchase transfer in 1803.

✔ Key Takeaway:

The WPA played a direct role in preserving the places where America’s foundational events occurred.

📌 This section connects the WPA’s work to the formation of American democracy.

🏰 Native American & Early Colonial Restorations

✔ Why This is Fascinating:

🔹 Tuzigoot Pueblo (AZ) – Reconstruction of ancient agricultural dwellings from two centuries before Columbus.

🔹 Mandan Indian Settlement (ND) – Restored a significant tribal village for historical study.

🔹 Narragansett Village (RI) – Preserved one of the oldest Native American settlements in New England.

🔹 San Gabriel & San Jose Missions (CA & TX) – Restored early Spanish mission buildings.

✔ Key Takeaway:

WPA efforts ensured the survival of Native American and early colonial sites, many of which would have otherwise disappeared.

📌 This section highlights how the WPA helped preserve indigenous and early settler history.

🪦 Civil War, Expansion Era, & 20th-Century Landmarks

✔ Why This is Fascinating:

🔹 Fort Negley (TN) – A major Civil War fortification built by enslaved laborers and later reinforced.

🔹 Fort Jefferson (FL) – The remote prison where Dr. Samuel Mudd, who treated Lincoln’s assassin, was held.

🔹 San Jacinto Battleground (TX) – Preserved the site of Texas' victory over Mexico in 1836.

🔹 Lincoln Pioneer Village (IN) – Restoration of key buildings from Lincoln’s early life.

🔹 Lindbergh Boyhood Home (MN) – Turned into a museum honoring the aviation pioneer.

✔ Key Takeaway:

The WPA preserved sites linked to both legendary American figures and pivotal historical events.

📌 This section connects the WPA’s work to Civil War memory, westward expansion, and modern history.

🗽 Monument & Memorial Preservation

✔ Why This is Fascinating:

🔹 Bunker Hill Monument (MA) – Repaired the iconic obelisk commemorating the 1775 battle.

🔹 Grant’s Tomb (NYC) – Refurbished the resting place of the Civil War general and president.

🔹 Statue of Liberty (NYC) – Received restoration work on both the statue and its base.

✔ Key Takeaway:

The WPA helped preserve and restore some of America’s most recognizable monuments.

📌 This section highlights how WPA projects enhanced national symbols of freedom and democracy.

🖼 Noteworthy Images & Their Significance

🖼 🏛️ "Collage of WPA Projects to Preserve Historic Shrines"

Features Forts, historic homes, battlefields, and national landmarks, visually demonstrating the WPA’s broad impact on preservation.

🖼 📊 "WPA Subject Matter Index - Historic Shrines"

Highlights the significant investment in restoring America’s cultural and historical assets.

🖼 🗽 "Collage of WPA Projects at Iconic Sites"

Displays work done on the Statue of Liberty, Fort Niagara, Lincoln’s boyhood home, and other sites.

📌 These images provide a compelling visual representation of the WPA’s contribution to historic preservation.

Bias & Perspective Considerations

✔ Pro-WPA Narrative:

The report highlights only the positive impact of WPA preservation efforts.

✔ Lack of Discussion on Labor & Cost Issues:

No mention of cost overruns, project delays, or opposition from private restoration groups.

✔ Little Discussion of Who Was Left Out:

No mention of racial or regional disparities—did WPA projects preserve diverse historical narratives, or did they focus mainly on Anglo-American heritage?

📌 While this document is a valuable record of WPA preservation, additional research is needed for a comprehensive view.

Final Thoughts: Why This Report Matters

"WPA Historic Shrines Projects - 1938" is a fascinating study of how New Deal programs helped preserve America’s most cherished historic sites. By restoring forts, monuments, homes, and battlegrounds, the WPA ensured that future generations could connect with the nation’s past.

🏗️ The legacy of these projects continues today, as many of these landmarks remain treasured historic sites across the country. 🏛️📜