Life on the Prairie

 

Grace

Though times were hard, young Grace was not sad,

Each day she found reasons to be glad.

 

Families and friends would closer be

If they survived dust and no money.

 

Scarred from losses, humanity would mend,

When the Great Depression came to an end.

 

 

This blog changes on the first and third weeks of the month.

Prairie Girls

Grace

This is Grace again, and I am excited. Momma and Daddy said we are moving to Wichita! The aircraft industry in that town is hiring workers. Daddy will find a job there I’m sure.  I will miss my friends here and especially Christine, our boarder, but I know I will make new friends.

After we move to Wichita we will be closer to my cousin Ginny and her family. Momma said we might see them more often. I would like that. We will live with Daddy’s brother until we find a place of our own. Uncle Alan’s house is big enough I will have my own bed again.

 

Cemetery Wall

                                        by Collette

 My grandfather on my mother’s side worked for the WPA for a short time. The agency provided construction in this part of the state. Nearly every dirt road in the county had a low water bridge or at least a concrete culvert in place over creeks or areas where water collected. At one time there were two rainbow bridges built over rivers near town. Only one remains. Most of the surviving structures are stone and can be found around our local park and zoo.

The cemetery wall remains the most striking feature of this stonework. It begins at the outskirts of the town and continues for blocks as one drives into the residential area on the main street of the city. It surrounds the cemetery on four sides and runs beside the park, as well. It is one of the longest cemetery walls in the state. On closer inspection, one can see the patterns and artistry in the placement of the rocks. When I discussed this wall in my American History classes, I was amazed how many students actually studied the wall and commented on what they had seen.

The WPA construction in my hometown provides a legacy and an historical record of what the local men, including my grandfather, did to survive the Great Depression.

The History Fact

The WPA

                                       by Collette

The Works Progress Administration became one of the largest and most successful welfare programs during the New Deal days under President Franklin Roosevelt. Enacted by Congress in 1935, the program provided job for mostly unskilled, unemployed men. At its peak in 1938, more than 3,000,000 men worked at various jobs and projects. The public projects included the building of highways, roads, bridges, courthouses, libraries and schools. The local or state work also included swimming pools, bookmobiles, recreational areas, hospitals, post offices, sidewalks and even hot lunches at schools. Nearly 40,000 new structures were erected and 85,000 were improved.

A much smaller project, but one of the best, was the employment of artists, performers, musicians, actors and writers to bring the arts into areas where people had not been exposed to culture found only in larger cities. Writers chronicled the Depression and wrote instruction or guide books for people’s use.

Artists painted murals on public buildings often depicting the lives and struggles of people in the region. Songs were written and performed across the country, and actors brought plays to the people. Oral history became a part of recorded history as writers travelled around the nation. These recordings stored in the Library of Congress included the only live recordings of what life was like in the South as a slave.

More information about the impact the WPA had on Americans can be found at the following sites:

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Progress_Administration
www.wpamurals.com
www.vintagraph.com/collections/wpa-posters
http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/works-progress-administration/15175