- City:
- Baton Rouge, LA
- Site Type:
- Parks and Recreation
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Description
“In the early 1930s, the federal Works Progress Administration converted a thick cypress-tupelo swamp into an urban lake in Baton Rouge’s growing southeast environs. A lake was infinitely more appealing than a swamp, local officials believed, especially in the part of the city that now housed LSU.
The campus had been relocated to its current site from downtown in 1926, and an eye-catching body of water served as the ideal gateway. University Lake joined the existing City Park Lake, which had been dug a decade earlier. Together, they have formed one of the city’s most enduring points of recreational activity and civic pride.”
(www.businessreport.com)
Source notes
https://www.businessreport.com/article/20120220/BUSINESSREPORT0401/302209996/0/BUSINESSREPORT0201 Leighninger Jr., Robert. "Building Louisiana: The Legacy of the Public Works Administration." (2007).Contribute to this Site
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