The Works Progress Administration (WPA) (renamed the Works Projects Administration in 1939) was formed in May 1935 by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. It was the largest New Deal agency of Franklin D. Roosevelt鈥檚 administration. The WPA provided jobs and income to unemployed people during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Nationally it employed 8.5 million people to do public works projects like constructing public buildings, roads, bridges and parks. In South Dakota, in September 1936, the peak of employment, the WPA has 49,469 workers. The total number of hours worked by South Dakota WPA workers was 131,588,238.[1]
Throughout South Dakota, WPA constructed or improved 18,780 miles of highways, roads and streets. Depending on the need of the locality, highway projects varied. Sometimes it involved creating new roads where none previously existed or improving existing highways, finishing roads with hard surface materials, installing guard rails or gutters. Street projects involved widening and paving, installation of curbs, sidewalks or bridges.
The WPA even employed musicians, artists, writers, actors, and directors for large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects. The agency dissolved on June 30, 1943, due to low unemployment and the worker shortages of WWII.
[1] Dennis, Michelle L. Federal Relief Construction in South Dakota, 1929-1941. South Dakota State Historic Preservation Office, 1998.