Portage Park – Chicago IL

Portage Park is located between West Irving Park Road to the South, West Berteau Avenue to the North, North Long Avenue to the East, and North Central Avenue to the West; it occupies four city blocks and has an area of 37 acres . It was established in 1913, as a means to increase property values for the neighboring homes and provide residents with space for recreational and cultural activities.

Originally, the park was essentially its own park district, one of 22 individual “districts” existing in Chicago at the time. In 1934, William Martin was elected as head of the Southwest Portage Park district. He had served as president before and was noted for his civic and improvement club work over the prior seven years . Later that year, under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal funding for the Works Progress Administration, the Chicago Park District was created, unifying the 22 individual commissions which were at the time financially struggling. Approved by voters, the Park Consolidation Act of 1934 helped streamline operations and manage funding more efficiently. The WPA also provided $82 million dollars of funding for improvement projects throughout over 130 CPD parks and beaches, including Portage Park.

Funding provided by the WPA to Portage Park allowed for many improvement projects, including necessary repair work as well as simply beautification. The following are some of these improvements:

• A new pool was funded in April of 1937, at an estimated cost of $9000 . The pool was originally a natural lagoon and was repaved with help from WPA dollars in an attempt to stem the spread of polio . The pool has since been replaced with an Olympic sized pool in 1959, in preparation for the Pan American Games that took place.

• The field house, designed by Chicago native Clarence Hatzfeld and completed in 1922 , gained “comfort stations” and became the scene of cultural activities and performances. In the late summer of 1940, it was the stage for a performance of “Midsummer Night’s Dream” . The field house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995viii and is used to this day as a cultural center for the community.

• WPA workers added plantings of trees and flowers throughout the park. In January of 1937, two flower shows were mapped to take place at Portage Park.

In addition to beautifying the space with new plantings, elaborate stonework was also done as a part of the New Deal funding. The stonework includes beautifully whimsical arches, gateways, and fountains. The archway located on the Southwest corner of Irving Park and Central, as well as the gate entrance to the park in the middle of Irving Park Road are still a welcoming and notable characteristic to visitors of the park today. The park is still maintained by the Chicago Park District.

Avalon Park – Chicago IL

Avalon Park was one of the last projects of the WPA that was approved by Harry Hopkins and Controller General J.R. McCarl in 1935 and was an example during the Great Depression of how the government was interested in giving pleasurable entertainment and culture to the community of the Chicago South Side. The park is located between 83rd and 85th streets, with South Kimbark Avenue on the east side and is approximately 28 acres . Pre-New Deal, in 1931 landscape architect Robert Moore created a plan for the park and Alderman Michael F. Mulcahy was also involved in jumpstarting plans for the park. Robert J. Dunham, who was president of the Chicago park district and WPA administrator for Illinois, played a large role in originally approving the request for the park before sending the file to Washington for final action . $445,000 was budgeted for Avalon Park – a high cost due to “the large ratio of hand labor insisted upon by WPA regulations and the amount of extra installations of sewers and lights.”

Avalon Park included several ambitious features for the time including a shelter house, shower and locker room, as well as an outdoor swimming pool 100 feet long and 50 feet wide, two outdoor gymnasiums and a running track, a baseball diamond, football field, tennis courts, and a wading pool. The park is used today and there is a track field, a swimming pool, basketball and tennis courts, and the baseball field.

Guest Essay: ‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world

May 16, 2013

By Stephen Seufert

“We cannot continue to deny and postpone the demands of our own people while spending billions in the name of freedom elsewhere around the globe. No nation can exert greater influence or power in the world then it can exercise over the streets of its own capital” –Robert F. Kennedy

In Washington, the focus has been about cutting spending and balancing the budget. We’re told by politicians on both sides of the aisle that the United States has to start “living within its means.” I believe that narrative is throwing gas on a raging fire and must be extinguished for the nation to see shared prosperity again.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will cost at least $2.4 trillion by 2017. Couple this with the Bush Tax cut, which total over $2.8 trillion in lost revenue, plus an additional $3.4 trillion lost in revenue over the last ten years due to slow economic growth and it’s clear why there’s fiscal instability.

The effects of this fiscal instability can be seen in cities such as Camden, Trenton and Reading. Unemployment, homelessness, hunger, and poverty rose steadily in these cities over the last decade while hundreds of billions of dollars were spent on wars halfway around the world. Their education system is in shambles, emergency services are overburdened and buildings are becoming increasingly dilapidated due to neglect or abandonment.

During the Great Depression, $32 billion(about $500 billion today) was spent by FDR’s New Deal to combat unemployment, homelessness, hunger, and poverty. The New Deal contributed substantially to ending the Great Depression, even though it took World War II to restore full employment. However, the New Deal served the general welfare of the nation with projects that still stand to this very day. Conversely, the Federal government spent $288 billion($3.4 trillion today) to fight World War II. Massive spending by the Federal government propelled the American economy into unprecedented post-war power and wealth.

WPA Categories
Source: Lawrence History Center — https://www.lawrencehistory.org/exhibits/newdeal. Artist unknown.

Whether fighting overseas, working in a factory or paying higher taxes, the American people shared the burden of war. The same could not be said for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the burden was left to the troops on the ground. Lets be honest with ourselves, nothing was asked of the American people. We continue to live in a bubble, unaware or indifferent to suffering at home or abroad.

The 2009 stimulus, totaling $787 billion, allocated $126 billion for infrastructure over a two year period. The vast majority of the stimulus was tax cuts for small businesses and the middle class. Thus, to claim the 2009 stimulus was a massive spending bill is simply untrue. Let me put that infrastructure spending in perspective. In 2012 alone, the United states Army requested $215 billion in funding. That’s more then the entire military of both China and Russia combined!

The 2013 ASCE report card for America’s infrastructure estimated the cost to rebuild and restore the infrastructure of the United States was $3.6 trillion. If the Federal government spent $3.4 trillion to fight World War II and $2.4 trillion in Iraq and Afghanistan, then it can surely invest the same amount on infrastructure here at home.

The president offers a weak plan on infrastructure and Republicans in Congress offer next to nothing. The only way the nation’s infrastructure is going to be restored is by annually investing at least an additional $100 billion over the next twenty to thirty years. Link the Army Corps of Engineers with the Department of Labor to create a 21st Century Works Progress Administration. In order to make the WPA a fixture in the Federal government, a WPA academy should be created similar to that of a West Point or Annapolis. Build the WPA academy within a poor city and make it the template for future renewal and growth across the nation. Once WPA officers complete their training, send them to various parts of the nation to assist in infrastructure projects and disaster relief.

This much is clear, the current policies in place by the Federal government are not serving the general welfare of the nation. This nation, if it is to endure, must realize challenges are ahead. Nearly every generation of Americans had a challenge, some greater then others. While a majority of Americans see failure and decline, I see prosperity. Reaching that prosperity won’t be easy, nothing worthwhile ever is. Bobby Kennedy once said, “Tis’ not too late to seek a newer world.” Let’s reach that newer world together as citizens united in common cause.

Stephen Seufert, Fairless Hills, has a bachelor’s degree in government and political affairs from Millersville University in Pennsylvania. He was the communications director of the Pennsylvania College Democrats and president of the Millersville Chapter of College Democrats from 2010-2011. He is currently the president of the Lower Bucks Young Democrats.

Another version of this essay was published on PhillyBurbs and in the NJ Times. Reprinted here with permission of the author.

is Project Manager for The Living New Deal. He is a trained cultural historian who teaches courses in U.S. History at the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University.

Email | View all posts by Gabriel Milner →

New Deal Archeologies: The Old Los Angeles Zoo

December 18, 2012

The landscapes we walk through every day are laden with New Deal structures; it’s not uncommon to “discover” long forgotten New Deal sites hidden from plain sight. One of our friends in Los Angeles was walking through LA’s Griffith Park recently and discovered the ruins of the Old Los Angeles Zoo. The zoo was active from 1912 to 1965. County relief workers, hired through the WPA, fortified the site with new walls, murals and other projects in the 1930’s.

We added the zoo immediately to our map, you can look at the page we’ve devoted to it here. Hint: Click on the main photo, then hover your mouse over the photo. You should see an arrow that you can use to scroll through all of the zoo photos. We love getting submissions for the map. Send us yours!

Rachel Brahinsky is the Living New Deal's managing director and postdoctoral fellow.

Email | View all posts by Rachel →

New Deal Art Disappearing from the Public Sphere

February 28, 2012

Carved redwood relief by New Deal Artist Sargent Johnson

Carved redwood relief by artist Sargent Johnson – Photo credit: Huntington Library

New Deal art is endangered as post offices are sold off, public buildings shuttered, and artworks are relegated to museum vaults and private collections. The New York Times reports that the University of California misplaced, then sold a 22-foot-wide carving by renowned African-American artist Sargent Johnson. The work, created under the Federal Arts Project, was valued at more $1 million. UC mistakenly sold it for $150. The Living New Deal and the National New Deal Preservation Association are working together to defend the New Deal’s legacy. We’re calling on UC to inventory its New Deal artwork, ensure its safekeeping, and publicly display another Johnson work that is currently in a locked conference room on the Berkeley campus. We’re also investigating the legal ruling the General Services Administration cited when it gave UC permission for the sale, and exploring how the Johnson carving can be returned to the public trust.