Potomac State College: Improvements, Repairs, and Maintenance – Keyser WV

Description

Potomac State College (PSC) in Keyser, West Virginia, received a great deal of aid from the New Deal’s National Youth Administration (NYA). As early as October 1935, 45 PSC students were in the NYA program (34 men and 11 women), with their financial assistance ranging from “thirty dollars, the lowest amount allotted any individual a term, to one hundred dollars” (The Pasquino, 10-9-1935).

A year later, with NYA enrollment growing to over 50 students, Ernest E. Church, the president of PSC, summarized the arrangement: “The whole N.Y.A. program is to assist worthy students to secure a college education by providing necessary funds to help in defraying their expenses while in college. The program also provides work or services which the student is to do in exchange for the monetary value he receives” (The Pasquino, 10-14-1936).

For each academic year from 1935 to 1942, several dozen PSC students were enrolled in the NYA program. Academic year 1939-1940 was the most robust, with 71 students enrolled. Enrollment dropped off dramatically in the final year of the program, with only 17 students enrolled for 1942-1943.

A review of The Pasquino student newspaper archives shows an impressive volume and variety of work performed by NYA, including: refilling fire extinguishers; cleaning and painting dormitories; redecorating and refurnishing the restroom in the women’s dormitory; electrical equipment installation in the men’s dorm; sidewalk lighting; clerical and secretarial work; janitorial services; agricultural work; bookstore assistance; raking and burning leaves; snow removal; operating the furnaces in the men’s dormitory, women’s dormitory, and faculty homes; and “the excellent macadam tennis court at the rear of the gymnasium; the remodeled chemistry laboratory; the changed zoology lecture and laboratory room” (The Pasquino, 3-11-1939)

Perhaps the most impressive project of the NYA students was their extensive tree-planting from 1936 to 1937, turning the PSC campus from a “Gobi Desert” to a “beautiful campus” (The Pasquino, see our project page, “Potomac State College: Tree and Grass Planting – Keyser WV”).

In 1940, NYA workers built concrete bleachers at PSC’s Stayman Field (the bleachers are no longer extant).

Very little of the NYA’s work still exists today—perhaps some trees, old electrical work, or a remodeled room—but their improvements helped create a more modern and aesthetically-pleasing campus. On the south side of PSC’s Farm Shop, towards the back of the building, there is a weathered stone engraving, “NYA Boys 1941-1942.”  This is the only readily apparent, yet fading reminder of their presence and work.