- City:
- Richmond, VA
- Site Type:
- Education and Health, Colleges and Universities
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Quality of Information:
- Moderate
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
The Richmond Professional Institute (RPI) was an educational institution established in 1917. It eventually merged with the Medical College of Virginia to become the Monroe Park Campus of the Virginia Commonwealth University. In the 1930s, as the Richmond Professional Institute, it received significant support from the WPA:
“When the Great Depression hit and RPI continued to receive no state support, the federal government stepped in to fill the gap. With the help of the Works Progress Administration, many of the buildings were renovated during the depression. In fact, Dr. Hibbs was quoted as saying,
That if it had not been for the WPA, the Richmond Professional Institute would not have amounted to much. In the days before the legislature made appropriations to RPI the WPA enabled us to survive and even grow a little.[9]
In 1939 the school was renamed the Richmond Professional Institute of the College of William and Mary.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Professional_Institute#Hib73)
The campus now contains a mix of new and old buildings, many of which were surely improved by the WPA.
Source notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Professional_Institute#Hib73 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Commonwealth_University#Monroe_Park_CampusContribute to this Site
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