• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Our Depression legacy: WPA projects have left their mark on Janesville

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

Visitors to the Edgerton Post office are treated to the sight of an original piece of WPA created artwork in the form of a mural high on a wall of the main service space.

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

Visitors to the Edgerton Post office are treated to the sight of an original piece of WPA created artwork in the form of a mural high on a wall of the main service space.

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

Detail of an original piece of WPA created artwork in the form of a mural high on a wall of the Edgerton Post Office.

If you want to get the economy moving, put people to work.

In the midst of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration to provide jobs for the unemployed millions.

The results of those WPA projects and other New Deal-era schemes still can been seen in downtown Janesville, at the Rock County 4-H Fairgrounds and on the walls of local post offices.

Today, in a time when discussions of “shovel-ready” projects and “stimulus money” are as common as talk of the weather, a glance back in history reveals what projects Depression-era leaders believed were important.

WPA projects changed Janesville’s landscape in one especially significant way.

“The river wall in Janesville was built through WPA,” said Maurice Montgomery, local historian and former curator and archivist at the Rock County Historical Society. “That was probably the biggest project. It really protected the downtown business from flooding; it was a tremendous addition.”

In a November 1969 story in the Gazette, the river wall was cited as a project “that added to the river’s attractiveness.

“Before the river wall construction, both shores were unsightly, particularly in the resident section where accumulations of rubbish, tin cans and ashes presented an unpleasant view.

“In the spring high-water period, the river would often overflow its banks and rollover the ground to a point near the rear doors of a number of homes on Water Street, S. River Street and even S. Main Street.”

Other projects included work on new schools.

“At least two schools were partially funded by WPA—Roosevelt and Wilson,” Montgomery said.

What other work did WPA help pay for?

New curbs and gutters, work on a sewer plant and roadwork, roadwork, roadwork.

“There was a lot of paving done under WPA,” Montgomery said.

Local officials didn’t always wait for federal funds. In 1932, the city council agreed to pay $10,000 for library improvements.

The headline in the Gazette announced, “RELIEF PROJECT: Would Provide Work for Number of Men; Gives City Small Auditorium.”

“The major thought in mind was that such work should be done at this time as an important unemployment relief measure. It will put many Janesville men to work …”

The improvements included an auditorium, new book stalls, modernizing of electrical wiring and fixtures and “installation of equipment to supply the structure with hot water, which it now lacks.”

1941 guide offered colorful descriptions of cities and towns in region

The Works Progress Administration was designed to fund “shovel-ready” construction projects such bridges, roads, sidewalks, city and school buildings, sanitary sewer systems and dams.

But actors, artists, writers and craftspeople also benefited from WPA.

When Harry Hopkins, the head of WPA, was criticized for creating work for creative types, he responded, “Hell, they’ve got to eat just like other people.”

Among the most famous projects were the WPA guides to states. Unemployed writers toured the states, writing up their findings into “tours.”

Each guide contained photos, maps, a calendar of annual events and short essays about, religion, education, literature, the arts, industry and transportation, political history, recreation, labor, newspaper and radio and the American Indians who lived in the area.

In their travel writing, WPA authors seemed to relish the task of capturing the essence of a place with all of its attractions—and its quirks.

History is mixed with legend, the serious with the trivial and the beautiful with the frankly obnoxious.

Here are excerpts from the 651-page “Wisconsin: A Guide to the Badger State, compiled by the workers of the Writer’s Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Wisconsin.”

The book was published in 1941, but the population numbers listed after each city are from the 1930 census.

The complete guide is available at the Hedberg Public Library under the title “Writer’s Program Wisconsin” at Dewey Decimal System number 977.5 WRITE.

Albion, 200: “A somnolent and tidy village.”

Edgerton, 2,906: The city “has, like Stoughton, passed the flush of youth and seems well content to settle down peacefully in gardened homes built simply for comfort.”

Indian Ford, no population number given: “A handful of shacks and houses crouch at either end of a bridge spanning the Rock River.”

Janesville, 21,628: “Industrial city on the Rock River. In the eastern part of town, about the courthouse, old mansions reflect the wealth of their owners. Still farther east toward the city limits are numerous small houses, modern as today’s newspaper, equipped with air-conditioning and laborsaving devices. West of the river are the workers’ houses.”

- On the founding of Janesville by Henry F. Janes, who, in 1836, “carved his initials on a tree at the junction of present Main and Milwaukee Streets”:

“In 1839, however, feeling uncomfortably crowded in the growing settlement, Janes moved westward, giving his name to Janesville, Iowa, and Janesville, Minn.

“By 1849, he had reached the west coast and written to the Janesville Gazette: ‘… I have been constantly working westward till the nasty Pacific has made a stop to farther progress in that direction … and yet the sun sets west of me, and my wife positively refuses to go to the Sandwich Islands.’”

- On the social scene in those early days: “The tavern became an institution, posting such regulations as:

No more than five to sleep in one bed.

Organ grinders to sleep in the Wash House.

No dogs allowed upstairs.

No beer allowed in the kitchen.

No Razor Grinders or Tinkers taken in.”

- On GM: “By 1925, half of Janesville’s industrial workers were employed by General Motors; the prosperity of the city had become inextricably involved with the fortunes of the corporation.”

- On the Rock River: “Deceivingly well-behaved in summer but a terror in late winter and early spring when it goes on its annual rampage, flooding the flats on both sides, heaping up cakes of ice almost to the road.”

Beloit, 23,611: “In 1886, when times were hard and ‘Beloit was whistling to keep its courage up,’ local businessmen formed an association to publicize the city through a folder, intimating that Beloit was not only beautiful, but willing to make concessions to new businesses.”

Walworth County: “Cultivated for more than a hundred years, this farmland is still rich, its pasture kept fresh by underground water, numerous duck ponds and lakes. Recreation is important here … and intersecting state and county roads lead to tourist cabins, live-bait markets, golf courses, hotels and resorts.”

Twin Lakes, no population numbers given: “Straggling resort village.”

Lake Geneva, 3,073: “’The Newport of Chicago society.’ In 1870, the population was small, but within the next 10 years wealthy people began coming in large numbers, settling the pleasant lakeshore.”

On Geneva Lake: “It has a maximum depth of 140 feet, is partly spring fed, and contains such game fishes as large-mouth and small-mouthed bass, northern pike and the celebrated cisco.”

Whitewater, 3,465: “On Whitewater Creek stands an Old Mill, built in 1839. A store and tavern soon sprang up near the mill. Every morning, so local history has it, the surveyor hired to lay out the streets would start from the tavern, survey for a time, return for a drink, and then survey some more. Thus the streets were platted in their curiously irregular pattern.”

- On local educational opportunities: “The Morris Pratt Institute, founded in 1902 … is a duly organized and endowed school, designed to prepare its students for the Spiritualist ministry … In the psychic room, séances are held regularly every Thursday evening for the students of faculty members who wish to develop their psychic powers.”

Elkhorn, 2,340: “In 1918, the citizens persuaded the Frank Holton Musical Instrument Company Plant to move here from Chicago … The manufacture of wind instruments began, and Elkhorn became music conscious. Children got instruments and spent long hours puffing laboriously, singly or in groups.

“Today’s Elkhorn citizens, still music conscious, hope for renewed prosperity. Commonplace to them is the sight of a small boy astride a bicycle, wedged solidly in the serpentine coils of a Sousaphone, delivering papers as he pedals purposefully home from band practice.”

Delavan, 3,301: “Clean, shady and spacious.”

Founded by the Phoenix brothers, the town was named for E.C. Delavan, “a noted temperance leader of New York. The Phoenix brothers originally planned a temperance colony. It was no fault of theirs that the plan miscarried, for all the property deeds made out by them contained a clause forbidding the sale of alcohol.”

Footville, 358, and Orfordville, 502: “Both quiet farm trade centers.”

Brodhead, 1,533: “Old and pleasant.”

Walworth, 1,004: “Built around a shady square with a green slatted bandstand. Streets lead past small residences into open fields. An aged frame hotel fronts the square; nailed to one of the veranda posts is a sign announcing, ‘A lawyer will be here on Thursdays.’”

Evansville, 2,269: “Evansville is the central office of the Wisconsin Raccoon and Fox Hunters Association. In the fall, usually in October, as many as 5,000 spectators attend the Association’s field trails for coon and foxhounds. Raccoons are dipped in water, lead over a prescribed course and then placed in a tress. Dogs are unleashed, eight at a time, and the first to scent the trail and the first to bark at the treed coon qualify for the final trials.”

- On the local faith scene: “A sign, ‘Jesus Saves,’ announces the Hallelujah Campgrounds with its central building, tabernacle, refectory, small hotel and identical cottages bearing such names as Beulah, Ezekial, Mizpah, Rock of Ages and Genesis … During the three weeks’ revival meetings in August, three services are held daily; the rest of the tourist season the cabins are rented.”