Champaign County and Roosevelt's New Deal Programs

By Selina Cochran

In 1929, Americans were plunged into an economic depression with the Wall Street crash, also known as Black Thursday. By 1935, the American unemployment rate had dropped to nearly 20%, with no signs that the situation would improve. To combat this, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed executive orders to create the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1933 and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1935 as part of his New Deal. The PWA focused on larger projects that the government provided funding for, utilizing private Labor. The WPA focused on small local projects that put unemployed community members on the federal payroll.(1) The program funded primarily blue-collar public works projects across America, creating and supporting approximately 8.5 million jobs at its peak.(2) Though the project was extremely risky, it benefited the American public on multiple levels and helped the country out of the Great Depression. 

However, as we depart further from this period, the historical significance and positive impact the PWA and in particular, the WPA, made within individual communities and the lives of Americans are being forgotten. Both programs had a significant presence in Champaign County, specifically in the Champaign-Urbana area, employing hundreds of men and making great improvements to its infrastructure. If you know where to look, a few physical reminders remain of that history and each area’s triumph over hardship. 

Across the country, roads and sidewalks were the main projects assigned through the WPA, as was the case in Champaign County. At the very start of the program, Urbana received a $201,205 ($4,865,768 in 2026)  grant from the WPA for its street and park improvement program. Part of this grant funded the first-ever WPA project in Urbana: the renovation of Fish Alley (the back end of Crane Alley that exits onto Race St.). In the previous years, Fish Alley had become a major hazard as a large tile beneath its surface had broken without anyone noticing, leaving virtually nothing to support the road and the vehicles driving on it. Thirty-five workers were tasked with repairing the road’s foundation and repaving it. This usually meant tearing up the bricks and flipping them over to a side that was not worn, then replacing the ones that were beyond repair.(3) Most street projects weren't this intensive. They simply focused on reversing bricks on roads and sidewalks. The most notable roads they worked on in Urbana include Lincoln(4), Oregon(5), Matthew,(6) Nevada, and Coler(7). You can still see the bricks renovated by WPA workers on Nevada and the sidewalk along Oregon.

Fig 1: Oregon St Sidewalk Improvements

Another early project that Champaign County proposed to the WPA, alongside all of the road renovations, was a major restructuring of Champaign’s famous Boneyard Creek. Their original plan was to cover one of its branches in Champaign while simultaneously making its bed along Wright Street wider and deeper by about 4 feet. This, in theory, would have made the Boneyard’s infamous flooding less frequent and destructive. The project faltered due to its high price tag of $750,00 ($18,137,351 in 2026).(8) The city still wanted to partner with the WPA to improve the Boneyard Creek, so they proposed a new renovation that only cost $2,500 ($60,458, in 2026), of which the WPA agreed to pay $2,454 ($59,345 in 2026).(9) In 1935, 14 men began work straightening the banks of the creek and riprapping the edges. Riprapping is a process where one places rough, sloping, jagged stones on the shore of a body of water, which prevents erosion and slows water flow as it passes through gaps between stones.(10) Though the project was much smaller than the city had originally hoped, its benefits and the employment of local labor still made a difference.

Fig 2: Boneyard Creek Riprapping

Many discussions of the WPA center around blue-collar working men, but women were employed through the program as well. On October 2, 1935, women within the community began work at the Urbana Free Library rebinding deteriorating books in its collection. Their crew was small, consisting only of three women: Marie Sanford, Ruth Green, and Leatha Henning.(11) Despite this, the three made incredible progress, repairing 1,110 books in just 4 months. A fourth unidentified woman was hired later that year. The image below, taken by the Daily Courier, depicts the trio invested in their work as it is displayed by the librarians, celebrating their accomplishments and discouraging careless reading practices.(12)

Fig 3: Marie Sanford, Ruth Green, and Leatha Henning at work

Another example of women’s roles in the WPA found its home in the Burr foundry building, a former mechanical shelter. Here, 22 women between the ages of 21 and 54 were instructed in and performed a multitude of textile labor. In one area, women worked in a room full of spinning wheels, looms, and other machines to process and create wool textiles. They carded, spun, wove, and loomed until they were left with beautiful tapestries, curtains, and rugs. Another room, dubbed “the fashion room”, produced clothes cut from burlap sacks or homespun fabric. Women also performed leather work, wood carving, block printing, batik work (textile painting), and stenciling. Their labors produced many wares like belts, scarves, tables, trays, and more. These objects were then either sold directly or by contract to other tax-supported institutions, and because they did most everything in-house and only needed to import raw materials, they netted a reasonable profit.(13) These facilities had existed before the WPA was established as part of other relief programs, but were undertaken by the WPA and concentrated in the foundry.(14)

One project that particularly benefited the community was an addition to the Burnham Hospital. The hospital had suffered greatly during the depression. They had many patients, a smaller staff due to a dwindling budget, and were forced to take out a loan to afford operating costs. In 1935, the Urbana city council voted to allocate funds for the building of a new wing. In early June of 1935, the project was submitted to the WPA, asking for a 100% grant ($250,000 in 1935 but $6,045,784 in 2026)(15), which would be rejected that August due to the program’s unwillingness to take on such large new construction projects.(16) As negotiations with the WPA faltered, the city sent the project to the PWA due to encouragement from the project’s local architect, George Ramey. Ramey’s hopes were not ill placed: the PWA agreed to provide just 30% of expenses, with the city picking up the other 70%. Construction began in December 1935 as the hospital’s isolation building was moved to make way for the major addition. The program first employed union men off the city relief rolls, then reached out to employed union workers, before dipping back into relief rolls to recruit any extra labor they might have needed. Some citizens disapproved of this decision, but the council explained that this strategy was primarily to ensure the workers on this project would be paid a fair wage and allow them to get a permanent job, at times moving men from WPA to PWA projects.(17) Additions made to the hospital included a new admitting room, library, medical records department, bookkeeping department, a solarium above the ambulance area, and a small house on the property for seniors. All 4 operating rooms were refurbished with new equipment. This major project was completed on January 27, 1937.(18)

The most notable mark these New Deal programs have left on Champaign County is the Champaign City Building. By the 1930’s, Champaign’s City building was in a state of disrepair, both unable to accommodate the needs of the city and aesthetically unappealing, one reporter of the News Gazette calling it a “disgrace to the community.”(19) The administration sent a proposal for a PWA grant, and on December 2, 1935, the Urbana Daily Courier reported that their grant had been approved, something that was very surprising, as a grant for an entire building had never been approved in Illinois until that point. George Ramey was chosen to design this project as well and is quoted as theorizing that the reason they received approval was due to the project’s potential to unite the city, giving it a new symbol as well as a place to gather. The original amount approved by the PWA was a grant totaling $81,000 ($1,958,834 in 2026)(20) for the project estimated to cost $165,000 ($3,990,217 in 2026). This amount likely grew as the cost of the building surpassed original estimates, ending at $210,000 ($5,078,458 in 2026).(21) Labor was sourced in the same fashion as the aforementioned Burnham Hospital project. It was originally set to open in December 1936, but this was repeatedly pushed back.(22) The outer parts of the building had been finished, but the inside lacked furniture. The final stages of the project dragged on for about another year until the PWA finally agreed to give another $3,000 ($72,549 in 2026) to the project.(23) In October 1937, the City Building was finally complete. It stands in Champaign to this day in all of its Art Deco glory. 

While it is true that the WPA and PWA primarily provided funding for labor and infrastructure, this was not their sole endeavor. The WPA also provided funding for programs benefitting the overall morale and culture of American communities. In Champaign County, the WPA funded a series of after-school programs that did crafts with young children and taught them small handy skills, mainly simple woodworking and sewing. This provided a place for children to go where they could socialize with one another and be safe while their parents worked.(24) The crown jewel of these efforts can be found in June 1936’s “Play Day.” On Play Day, the WPA sponsored events taking place across multiple parks and play areas in the Twin Cities. Activities included games like croquet, boat and foot races, campfires, handicraft demonstrations, story sharing, live music, and the annual kittenball game (softball adjacent) played between Champaign and Urbana city employees. The two teams, the Urbana Fathers and the Champaign Nine, made up of policemen, firefighters, and aldermen, played hard against each other, with local judges making tough calls. Each played well, but in the end, the Fathers beat the Nine with a score of nine to eight. This game, along with the rest of Play Day, brought in and entertained about 1,200 people. Because of this event’s popularity, smaller events were held and many more “leisure hour events” were planned, bringing communities together and giving them a small escape from a depression ridden world.(25)

Fig 4: Champaign-Urbana Play Day

After the depression, many of those brick roads were paved over, the Boneyard underwent countless renovations, and the Burnham Hospital was torn down. Eventually, all remaining examples of the work these projects sponsored will be gone, and though this is sad to think about, it is important to remember that the greatest things they built were intangible. From their decision to fund the new city building to their backing of handicraft programs, leisure hours, and Play Days, it becomes evident that the program’s aims lie far beyond the economic and infrastructural. They succeeded greatly in those areas, but those miles of road and towering buildings are no match for the ways they made individuals feel. The WPA returned dignity to individuals who had been struggling to find work, allowing them to get off aid programs and earn a living, something deeply important to that generation. Their projects also helped foster deeper connections in the community, not simply because citizens themselves were making improvements to the county, but because they funded spaces and programs that brought people together at an extremely isolating time. Things as simple as Play Day or after-school programs may seem trivial to us today, but at a time when people worked themselves to the bone to put only morsels of food on the table, having the opportunity to escape, to get a treat, play some games, and connect with other people meant the world. Knowing this history and understanding its greater impact on the community makes the objects and stories it has left behind into reminders of the significance of hard work, community, and finding light in dark times.

Works Cited

1. Brittanica, “Public Works Administration,” Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., Mar. 20, 2026.

2. HISTORY.com Editors, “Works Progress Administration (WPA),” HISTORY, A&E Television Networks, May 28, 2025.

3. “Urbana Using WPA Crew to Repair Alley,” Urbana Dailey Courier, October, 29, 1935.

4. Urbana City Clerk, “City Council Minutes,” (Meeting minutes, Urbana City Council Meeting, Urbana, IL, January 17, 1938).

5. “Relaying Brick Sidewalks,” Evening Courier, December 28, 1935.

6. “Fish Alley is Reopened,” Urbana Dailey Courrier, November, 15, 1935.

7. “State Assistant Inspects Local Works Progress,” Daily Illini, December, 8, 1935.

8. “$10,500 Needed for Boneyard if Job is Approved,” Urbana Dailey Corrier, October, 8, 1935.

9. “Riprapping of Boneyard Wins WPA Approval,” Urbana Daily Courier, November, 19, 1935.

10. “What Is Riprap and How Does It Prevent Erosion?” Science Insites, March, 11, 2026.

11. “Marie Sanford, Ruth Green, Leatha Henning…” Evening Courier, December 28, 1935.

12. “Women employed on the WPA book repair project…” Evening Courier, January, 25, 1936.

13. “Foundry Shelters WPA Project,” Daily Illini, January, 19, 1938.

14. “Three Sewing Rooms Closed by IERC,” Urbana Daily Courier, October, 1, 1935.

15. “Ask WPA Cash for Hospital,” Urbana Dailey Courier, July, 27, 1935.

16. “WPA Rejects $250,000 Dollar Job at Hospital,” Urbana Dailey Courier, August, 23, 1935.

17. “Union Labor will be Used in City Work,” Urbana Daily Courier, December, 17, 1935.

18. Blakeman, TJ, “Julia F. Burnham Hospital,” Champaign History, Champaign History, Apr 20, 2020.

19. Blakeman, TJ, “102 North Neil Street - Champaign City Building,” Champaign History, Champaign History, Feb 14, 2022.

20. “Flynn Confident of $84,000 Grant,” Daily Illini, November 2, 1935.

21. “Busy Installing Intercom System in City Building,” Daily Illini, July 9, 1937.

22. “Mayor, Council to Ask Extension,” Daily Illini, November 19, 1936.

23.  “Busy Installing Intercom System in City Building,” Daily Illini, July 9, 1937.

24. “Youth of Champaign Urbana…” Evening Courier, December 12, 1935.

25. “Games, Races, Campfire, Kittenball, are Features of WPA’s ‘Play Day’,” Daily Illini, June 25, 1936.