Public Works Administration
The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recovery Act in June 1933 in response to the Great Depression. It built large-scale public works such as dams and bridges, warships, hospitals and schools. Its goals were to spend $3.3 billion in the first year, and $6 billion in all, to provide employment, stabilize purchasing power, and help revive the economy. Most of the spending came in two waves in 1933-35, and again in 1938. Originally called the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, it was renamed the Public Works Administration in 1939 and shut down in 1943.
Lake Placid News, March 30, 1934
3700 WORKERS REGISTERED IN LOCAL NRS FILES
Gordon Schutzendorf, District Manager Here, Points Out Projects Needing Men — Two Big Lake Placid Jobs in Prospect
Registration of men and women from the Essex-Franklin county district with the National Reemployment Service now totals 3700, according to figures released Tuesday morning by Gordon Schutzendorf, district manager of NRS with offices in the town hall, this village. This figure includes both skilled and unskilled labor, Mr. Schutzendorf states.
Approval and the starting of work on three PWA projects, with approval for two additional projects expected at an early date, indicates, Mr. Schutzendorf points out, that many more workmen will be employed as soon as spring weather permits construction of highways and buildings.
Approved projects, on the first two of which work has already started, are the re-construction of the Saranac Lake-Lake Placid highway; the Wawbeek road in Franklin county; and the new high-school building at AuSable Forks.
Contracts Are Let
Warren Brothers of Cambridge, Mass., have the contract for the Ray Brook-Saranac Lake end of the new highway, while Louis Mayersohn, Inc., of Albany, is the contractor far the section from Lake Placid to Ray Brook.
Two additional PWA projects, which should be approved within a few weeks are the $300,000 addition to the Lake Placid high school and the new $78,000 post office building, also in Lake Placid.
All workers on PWA projects, except supervisors, must be residents of either Essex or Franklin county for a period of six months, depending upon the county in which the job is being done. Rates of pay range upward from 40 cents per hour for unskilled labor.
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See also Works Progress Administration
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