Bethlehem Sites

"Stone retaining walls that line streets and highways throughout the region -- along Route 611 in Easton, Spruce Street in Tamaqua and Carlton Avenue in Bethlehem -- were WPA projects." This approximately 350-foot-long retaining wall begins on Carlton Avenue halfway between W 8th and W 9th Streets, then curves to the west on W 9th St. to Hess St. The wall is identified by an inscribed stone at its north end (on Carlton Ave.): "Erected by W. P. A. 1935"

Among the WPA projects in the Lehigh Valley area were "... the stone retaining walls that run along the banks of the Lehigh River in Bethlehem." The exact location and status of these structures is presently unknown to Living New Deal.

The Durner-Fritzsche organ at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania's Liberty High School was constructed in 1933. "The organ was installed in 1933-34, answering to an invitation to bid advertised by Mr. Clifford F. Frey; Sec. School District of the City of Bethlehem. The instrument installed met the requirement in the bid advertisement for a "used instrument in guaranteed condition". The project was a joint effort by the fledgling Fritzsche Organ Co., (formerly the Durner Co.), Organ Supply Co. of Erie, PA and the Civil Works Administration of Northampton County (CWA)."

The WPA constructed stone walks, walls, benches, tables, fireplace, pavilions, and footbridges to build Monocacy Park between 1936 and 1937. A swimming pool was also constructed above the dam, but this feature is no longer in use due to sediment. Mcall.com: "The Monocacy Park bridge features two 30-foot towers of hand-cut stone. The creek had to be diverted, most likely with sandbags, to enable the stone masons to erect the towers. Block and tackle, a series of ropes and pulleys, had to be used to set the pieces in place." As of 2016 the park is under restoration.

CWA retaining wall project at the River Street ramp of the Hill-to-Hill Bridge was approved in 1933 and construction began in January 1934. In addition to the retaining wall, the roadway was rebuilt "to provide proper drainage" (Projects, 1935, p. 18). Northampton County experienced delays in a number of CWA projects approved in 1933, and the Hill-to-Hill Bridge work was one of the two (other was City Hall project in Easton) that were priority resumptions when others were delayed. River Street is located on Sands Island.

Mcall.com article: Union Terrace, Jordan Park, Fountain Park and the Lehigh Parkway in Allentown and Saucon Park, Monocacy Park and Franklin Park at Sand Island in Bethlehem were built under WPA and its precursor ...   "Probably it would have taken 50 years of slow progress to accomplish what has been done under WPA in two years," Robert J. Wheeler, then-secretary to the Allentown Planning Commission, told The Morning Call in 1937.

Saucon Park was one of numerous parks in Bethlehem, PA developed by New Deal agencies during the Great Depression. Mcall.com article: Union Terrace, Jordan Park, Fountain Park and the Lehigh Parkway in Allentown and Saucon Park, Monocacy Park and Franklin Park at Sand Island in Bethlehem were built under WPA and its precursor ...   "Probably it would have taken 50 years of slow progress to accomplish what has been done under WPA in two years," Robert J. Wheeler, then-secretary to the Allentown Planning Commission, told The Morning Call in 1937. " compares the WPA work to what the ancient Egyptians achieved when they...