A federal program designed to put unemployed people to work during the Great Depression left a lasting legacy in Luzerne County.
From constructing sewers in Kingston to creating state Route 315, John McKeown remembers the many improvements the Works Progress Administration was responsible for.
When he was but a youth of 20, the now-93-year-old Wilkes-Barre resident served as chief clerk of the local WPA office, which oversaw public works projects throughout the region.
"They did a lot of great work," he said of the WPA.
When the Great Depression was at its worst in the mid-1930s and millions of people were unemployed, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt launched the Works Progress Administration - later the Work Projects Administration - the largest scale of his New Deal programs.
The WPA, started in 1935, aimed to put people to work on projects that would benefit the general public. The program ran until World War II created a labor shortage and economic upturn in 1943.
These projects included forming musical groups such as the Wilkes-Barre WPA Orchestra to give public concerts. There was a clothing distribution center for the needy at 701 Market St. in Kingston. Paintings with historical themes were popular WPA arts projects, and Kingston's post office features a mural, "Anthracite Coal," done in 1940 by George Harding through the WPA.
But the largest proportion of WPA projects were infrastructure-related, and McKeown was tasked with keeping track of them.
McKeown got into the National Youth Administration, designed to provide work and education to young people. While attending Coughlin High School and Bucknell Junior College (now Wilkes University), the youth program gave him a small allowance and employment two days a week.
According to the Sunday Independent for Jan. 2, 1938, a total of 898 Luzerne County youths worked on 130 projects in 1937. These included clerical and office work, soil erosion control, tree care, compiling police records, constructing rabbit traps, making surgical supplies and being laboratory assistants.
McKeown was assigned to help out at the WPA office, and when they needed a chief clerk, an engineer recommended him.
There were four engineers in charge of WPA projects at the time: Carl Keller, who was originally with the WPA State Highway Department; Howard West, John Flanagan and William Kazlusky, McKeown recalled.
The regional WPA office was at 325 Ash St. in Scranton, but the local office was at 221 S. Washington St. in Wilkes-Barre, later moving to Cuba Street in Kingston, McKeown said.
A municipality or county would apply for a project, detailing what work was needed, and this sponsor would have to guarantee 20 percent of the total cost, usually equipment and material, McKeown said.
The cost of labor was picked up by the WPA, he said. Since there were so many unemployed, there was a big pool to draw from.
"We were able to get top-notch people to do the projects," McKeown said.
Unfortunately, WPA pay wasn't so hot. Wages were $52.50 a month for an unskilled laborer, $63 a month for a semi-skilled laborer and $85 a month for a skilled laborer, he said.
But, he noted, "It was the Depression, and it was either that or go on relief."
McKeown still has a book of projects the local branch of the federal agency oversaw from 1939 through 1943.
Most municipalities took advantage of the WPA program, and there was a lot of work throughout Luzerne County, McKeown said.
One of the big projects he recalls was when the road from the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Plains Township to Dupont was constructed by the WPA state Highway Department, using crushed stone beneath the paving so the road would last. It's now known as state Route 315.
After the March 1936 flood, the WPA recruited workers to clean up the damage, and while McKeown was with the office, the WPA worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on repairs to the levee. The WPA also did flood control on the Lackawanna River in Duryea.
Projects recorded in McKeown's book include rebuilding Parnell, Market and Tedrick streets in Pittston Township; improvements to the Hazleton City buildings and Hazleton State Hospital, and side sidewalks in Forty Fort.
Guy Walker, the city's engineer at the time, had a lot of work done in Wilkes-Barre, McKeown said. Projects he remembers included retaining walls on Hazle Street and North Main street, concrete stanchions to hold up street signs, storm sewers, and pools at Miner's Park and Hollenback Park.
Kingston in particular used the WPA extensively. Projects included improvements to Pierce, Page, Main, Schuyler and Pringle streets; making street signs; a traffic survey; building a recreation park; work on Hoyt Library and extensive sewering.
"I was surprised at the number of sewer projects there were in Kingston," McKeown said.
Before WPA a lot of places didn't have sewers or roads, McKeown said.
Avoca, Conyngham Township, Nanticoke, Nescopeck, Plains Township, Plymouth Borough, Shickshinny, Swoyersville, West Hazleton and West Pittston were among the municipalities that also took advantage of the WPA for sewer improvements.
The agency built roads in Nanticoke, White Haven and Black Creek Township, and also in Goss Manor in Dallas Borough in hopes of spurring further development.
In rural areas where sewers weren't practical, the WPA helped build outhouses, and McKeown recalls how they used to kid the foremen of those projects.
Many schools were either built, modernized or made more attractive as a result of the WPA. Projects included construction of the Wright Township School, improvements at all the Dupont and Hazle Township schools, and, in Jenkins Township, to the Sproul school in the Sebastopol section and the schools in the Port Blanchard section.
When war broke out, McKeown joined the Army Transportation Corps and served as a military personnel officer at the Norfolk, Va. Army base from 1942 to 1945.
He married the former Margaret Watkins in 1942 and they had six children.
After the war, McKeown worked as personnel director at the VA Hospital for many years, and later as part-time administrator of allied health programs at King's.
"I was very fortunate employment-wise, too," he noted. "I was a people person, and that's how I got into personnel work."
McKeown still recalls his days with the WPA and its many contributions to the region's infrastructure.
"It was very worthwhile," he said. "A lot of good came out of it."