The Public Works Administration of 1933 (PWA) was a part of the first New Deal agency that made contracts with private firms for construction of public works. It was headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recovery Act in June 1933 in the midst of the Great Depression. It allotted 3.3 billion dollars to be spent on the construction of public works as a means of providing employment, stabilizing purchasing power, improving public welfare, and contributing to a revival of American industry. Simply put, it was designed to spend "big bucks on big projects."

Notable projects

Logan Fontenelle Housing Project - Omaha, Nebraska
Grand Coulee Dam - Grand Coulee, Washington
Siuslaw River Bridge - Florence, Oregon
Southwest High School (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Bourne Bridge - Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Sagamore Bridge - Sagamore, Massachusetts
Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge - Bourne, Massachusetts
Mark Keppel High School - Alhambra, California
Illini Union, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Urbana, Illinois
Natural Resources Building, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Urbana, Illinois