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Akron Gymnasium

The Akron Gymnasium was a New Deal project built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938–40. Designed by the prominent Denver architect Eugene Groves, with a distinctive domed roof and skylights, it served as Akron’s main gymnasium and…

American Legion Hall (Eads)

The American Legion Hall at the Kiowa County Fairgrounds near Eads was a New Deal project built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1937–38. The hall is one of the best-preserved WPA buildings in Eads and remains an important site for community…

Burlington Gymnasium

The Burlington Gymnasium was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938–41 and served as a gym, auditorium, and community center until 1999. Located on Senter Avenue between Ninth and Eleventh Streets, the two-story Art Deco facility was…

Englewood Post Office

The 1938 Englewood post office building on South Broadway is notable for its large lobby mural by Boardman Robinson (1876–1952), an important art educator, political cartoonist, and founder of the American mural movement. The work is Robinson’s only post…

Florence Post Office

The Florence Post Office was built in 1936–37 as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project. The building has a simple Neoclassical design with some Art Deco details and a mural by Olive Rush in the lobby. In 1986 the post office was listed on the…

Hartman Gymnasium

The Hartman Gymnasium was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in about 1938–39 and quickly became an important center for athletic events and community gatherings. The school to which the gymnasium was originally attached was demolished in…

Holly City Hall

Located at the corner of East Cheyenne and South Third Streets, the Holly City Hall was built in 1938 as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project designed to consolidate the town of Holly’s administrative offices and departments. It never…

Holly Gymnasium

The Holly Gymnasium was built in 1936–38 as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. The two-story Modernist building is made of local Niobrara limestone and was the only gymnasium in Holly until a new school complex was constructed in 1965. Since…

Hugo Municipal Pool

Located at the corner of Fourth Street and Sixth Avenue in Hugo, the Hugo Municipal Pool was built in 1936–38 as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project designed to provide employment and improve quality of life during the Great Depression. The…

Indian Reorganization Act (Indian New Deal)

Passed by Congress in 1934, the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) was a wide-reaching set of reforms designed to improve conditions for Indigenous people, especially those living on federal reservations. As the centerpiece of the “Indian New Deal,” the IRA…

Julesburg Public Library

Located at the corner of East Fourth and Cedar Streets, the Julesburg Public Library was built in 1937, after the Julesburg Woman’s Club led a long-term effort to get a permanent library building for the community. Designed by Stanley Morse in the Art…

Kit Carson County

Kit Carson County, named for fur trapper and Army scout Kit Carson, covers 2,162 miles of the Great Plains in eastern Colorado. One of the state’s most productive agricultural counties, Kit Carson is bordered to the north by Yuma and Washington Counties,…

La Junta City Park

La Junta City Park is a prime example of a New Deal project on Colorado’s eastern plains. As a result of work carried out between 1933 and 1941, a poorly drained park became the city’s primary outdoor recreation space, complete with stone walls, benches,…

Lamar Post Office

The Lamar Post Office was built in 1936 as a Public Works Administration (PWA) project. Designed by Pueblo architect Walter DeMordaunt, the building is the only Spanish Colonial Revival post office built as part of the New Deal in Colorado. It is still…

Lands End Observatory

Perched on the edge of Grand Mesa in western Colorado’s Mesa County, the Lands End Observatory was built in 1936–37 and gives visitors a spectacular view of the Gunnison and Grand River Valleys, the Uncompahgre Plateau, the San Juan Mountains, and the La…

Lincoln County

Lincoln County, named after President Abraham Lincoln, covers 2,586 square miles of Colorado’s Great Plains southeast of Denver. It is bordered to the north by Washington County, to the east by Kit Carson and Cheyenne Counties, to the southeast by Kiowa…

Morgan County Courthouse and Jail

Morgan County’s 1921 jail and 1936 courthouse in Fort Morgan replaced the county’s original facilities after the county had outgrown them. The courthouse was funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and designed by the modernist Colorado architect…

New Deal in Colorado

As the United States entered the third year of a great economic depression triggered by the 1929 stock market crash, many Americans put their hope in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his pledge to give them a “new deal.” During his first term …

Notch Mountain Shelter

The Notch Mountain Shelter was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933 as a shelter for pilgrims coming to see nearby Mount of the Holy Cross. Located on the south shoulder of Notch Mountain at an elevation of about 13,100 feet, the rustic…

Prowers County Welfare Housing

The five-building Prowers County Welfare Housing complex on the north side of Lamar was built in 1938–41 as a series of Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects. The one-story sandstone buildings were the only New Deal public housing complex…

Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre

Located just west of Denver near the town of Morrison, Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre combines awe-inspiring natural scenery with natural acoustic splendor. The 868-acre park stands 6,450 feet above sea level between the Great Plains and the Rocky…

Tigiwon Community House

The Tigiwon Community House was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933–34 as a meeting spot for pilgrims coming to see Mount of the Holy Cross. Located along Tigiwon Road south of Minturn at an elevation of about 10,000 feet, the rustic…

Wiley Rock Schoolhouse

The Wiley Rock Schoolhouse, built by the Works Progress Administration in 1938, is located on Main Street in the Prowers County town of Wiley (603 Main Street in Wiley, Colorado). Originally built as an annex for the adjacent Wiley High School, Wiley…

Willow Creek Park

Willow Creek Park in southeast Lamar was built primarily by the Civil Works Administration and the Works Progress Administration from 1933 to 1938. Using local labor and materials, the New Deal agencies built a series of dams for flood mitigation and…