Attention turns Thursday to the history of Iola’s WPA projects.
The Allen County Historical Society will have its fall meeting at 7 p.m. at the Frederick Funston Meeting Hall, 207 N. Jefferson Ave. Donna Houser, historical society president, will outline Iola’s many WPA projects that not only helped the unemployed find jobs during the Great Depression, but continue to serve the community to this day.
Many of the structures in Riverside Park were built by WPA workers, including the swimming pool, football stadium, ball fields and the dike.
Other projects included the North Community Building, Jefferson and Lincoln school buildings, and the dam across the Neosho River. Numerous county roads and infrastructure projects also were completed.
WPA stands for Works Progress Administration, created in 1935 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. The goal was to provide employment for those who were suffering during the Great Depression, in a way that preserved their skills and self-respect, and to stimulate the economy. Grants were made for projects with a stipulation that for each $1,000 allotted, one person must receive employment for a year.
During the program’s eight years, about 8.5 million people worked for the WPA. Before the program, in 1934, the U.S. had over 11 million unemployed. The WPA cost the federal government about $11 billion and produced more than 650,0000 miles of roads; 125,000 public buildings, 75,000 bridges, 8,000 parks and 800 airports.
The WPA reported it had employed an average of 208 Allen County residents per month in 1935, 377 per month in 1936 and 378 in 1937, according to a retrospective from Iola Register Publisher Emerson Lynn in 1970. Unskilled laborers were paid 30-cents per hour while semi-skilled workers earned 40-cents.
His report lists projects in various towns and county-wide, including 181 miles of roads graded and surfaced with rock, 162 culverts installed, two large bridges and two dams.
A Register article from January 1942 reports the WPA employed an average of 380 employees in 1941, and about a quarter of them worked in sewing rooms, housekeeping, school lunches, commodity distribution, adult education and library work. At that time, as World War II raged across Europe, many were training in occupations considered essential to national defense, such as auto mechanics, electricity, metal work, aircraft, welding and radio.
HOUSER’S program is designed as a stationary version of her popular Fearless Fred Trolley Tour about Iola’s WPA projects.
The program should be available as a Facebook Live. Snacks and refreshments are available.
The public is invited to attend. Members of the historical society are encouraged to vote during the business meeting.
