During the 1930s, the Michigan State Police modernized many of their posts with the help of New Deal funds. Evan Kalish, our Researcher at Large, traveled to Michigan recently to research several of these stations. Spurred by a major, state-wide departmental building program, these posts were built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The brick buildings were constructed according to a standardized layout that allowed them to be completed efficiently and at lower cost. Evan’s extensive inventory shows that the structures were almost identical across Michigan. The Seventh District Headquarters, the Gaylord Post, the Traverse City Post, the Cheboygan Post, the Alpena Post, the Cadillac Post show the use of the same prototype design. Such cost-saving measures might have allowed for the application of more elaborate design elements and for modern features such as radio broadcasting stations. See Evan’s inventory here.