"Thanks to the Works Progress Administration
(WPA)
employees' hard work during the Great Depression of the 1930's and early 1940's,
Ardmoreites are able to enjoy lake, meeting, entertainment and other facilities.
In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the WPA
as part of his New Deal plan to provide jobs on public work projects for
needy persons. Nationwide, the WPA
employees built highways, streets, bridges
and parks, wrote travel guidebooks as well as completed a multitude of projects
that would have a lasting value to society.
Even homemakers, artists, writers, actors and musicians received jobs
related to their professions.
Several sites around the Ardmore area today bring back
memories to some and appreciation from others of how the WPA benefited the
community.
The Municipal Exhibition Building is known today as the
Hardy Murphy Coliseum, a full sized covered and heated rodeo arena with seating
for about 6,000. The main building
was built by the WPA
from native limestone during the 1930's and 1940's, with
about 80,000 square feet of floor space in the arena....
Walker Stadium was built in 1936 and completed just in
time for the opening kickoff of Ardmore's first football game that fall against
Duncan Demons, September 18, 1936. The
stadium was to be dedicated that night as well...It was named for Mr. and Mrs.
E. A. Walker of Oklahoma City who donated the land it sits on.
WPA
and Public Works Administration (PWA) workers began
building the modern three-story city hall in 1936.
The City Hall was built on the site of the former city hall...
Also in 1936, the WPA
built the National Guard Armory,
located near Walker Stadium. It
too, was made from hand quarried native limestone...It was one of 52 armories
built in the 1930's...
According to Lake Murray Naturalist, Mark Teders, the WPA
built the following at Lake Murray: dam;
original cabins; bunk houses at the lodge arena (about 80 brown fisherman's
cabins); three group camps with dining halls, comfort stations and 30 to 40
cabins; park office; water towers at the lodge; Buzzard's Roost Campground; and
Tucker Tower.
'They worked most of the rock quarries. I think we had three from the lake: one was to provide rip
rap for the dam, one provided rock for Tucker Tower and other park buildings,
and one for all the bridges,' he said.
The lake and its facilities were built by many men who
provided their own mule teams and fresnos.
WPA workers worked in three or four-day work weeks in order that more
people could be employed. More than
16,000 people worked on the lake area. 'WPA
employees cleared all the trees in the lake basin and planted trees other
places, mainly pine and bois-deArc which was used to made fence posts’, Teders
said.
The WPA
Transient Camp, located where the Lake Murray
Stables are located today, was comprised of people who were relocating to
California during the dustbowl days. People
got off the train in Overbrook and were brought to the camp by wagon.
They worked for a month and were given $5.25 to live on as the made their
way to California...
...Tucker Tower was built by the WPA
crews originally as
a summer residence for Oklahoma's governors.
It was made from the hand-quarried blueish gray limestone found in the
Ardmore Basin where the lake now lies. The
tower failed to catch the approval of the busy state executives and stood for
many years lonely and uninhabited atop its cliff. In 1950, it was opened as a state natural history and
geological museum for park visitors and offers itself as a willing target for
photographers trying to capture new angles on film. The Tower displays the 500-pound Lake Murray meteorite...
...WPA employees also made repairs to Ardmore High
School, (then on North Washington), Plainview School and to flood damaged
roads...
...The WPA
restored self-respect to thousands of
Americans and gave them a new feeling of social security for themselves and
their families. Some of the WPA
took advantage and abused the system, and some workers committed crimes.
But overall, the WPA
provided a general elevation of morals and morale
and helped to avert serious trouble and danger from American citizens.
The intangible self-respect, the preservation of skills and the
stimulation of the economy by providing more purchasing power were Roosevelt's
goals when he began the program in 1935."
Information Links
Note 1: Excerpts
from an article written by Tina Steffen of the Daily Ardmoreite on July 19,
1987.
