The New Deal and Football

Above: The newly built football stadium at Fort Hill High School in Cumberland, Maryland. WPA laborers built the stadium in 1936-1937. Work included building the grandstand, installing the running track, and excavating & landscaping the playing field. Photo courtesy of the University of Maryland College Park Archives.

  Above: 1937 Thanksgiving Day football game between Fort Hill High School and Allegany High School. Photo courtesy of the University of Maryland College Park Archives.

Above: WPA workers building the football stadium. Photo courtesy of the University of Maryland College Park Archives.

 Above: The Fort Hill High School football stadium today, from the opposite angle of the three photos above. The school complex you see in the background was also built circa 1936-1937, with funds from the New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA). Photo by Brent McKee.

 Above: In November of 1936, WPA administrator Harry Hopkins addresses a crowd at Louisiana State University's (LSU) football stadium, recently expanded by WPA workers. The WPA project at LSU was just one of thousands of recreational projects performed by WPA workers. For example, the WPA built 2,302 new stadiums, grandstands, and bleachers across the nation (Final Report on the WPA Program, p. 131). Photo courtesy of the FDR Presidential Library and Museum.