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…

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…

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…

The Collegiate Peaks Stampede Rodeo Grounds southwest of Buena Vista was built in 1940 using funds from the Works Progress Administration. The rodeo grew out of Buena Vista’s annual Head Lettuce Day celebration and gradually developed into a two-day…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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 …

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…

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 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…