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Matanuska Colony Community Center
The Matanuska Colony Community Center, also Palmer Historic District, is a cluster of buildings near the center of Palmer, Alaska that were the centerpiece of the Depression-era Matanuska Valley Colony. This federal rural resettlement program was intended to give needy families resources and land to improve their condition. The colony's buildings were erected beginning in 1935, and those that survive represent a well-preserved example of government community planning. It is centered on a city block bounded by East Dahlia Avenue, South Valley Way, South Denali Street, and East Elmwood Avenue, and extends to the north and south. The buildings on this block are organized around a grassy quadrangle, laid out in 1935. Prominent buildings include the Palmer Depot and three churches, located in the block just southeast of the quadrangle, one of which, the United Protestant Church, is a distinctive log structure. The colony's Central School, now added to several times, houses the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palmer, Alaska
Palmer is a city in and the county seat, borough seat of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, United States, located northeast of Anchorage on the Glenn Highway in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, Matanuska Valley. It is the List of cities in Alaska, ninth-largest city in Alaska, and forms part of the Anchorage, Alaska, Anchorage Anchorage metropolitan area, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city is 5,888, down from 5,937 in 2010. Palmer hosts the annual Alaska State Fair, and is also the headquarters of the National Tsunami Warning Center. History The city was named after George Palmer, a trader. In the late 19th century, the U.S. government began to take interest in the Matanuska coal fields located north of Palmer. This interest sparked financiers to consider constructing the Alaska Railroad, Alaska Central Railroad in 1904. The advent of World War I created a need for high-quality coal to fuel U.S. ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Williams (Alaska Architect)
David Williams was an American architect and community planner. He worked in the Washington, D.C. office of Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). Early in his professional career he worked in Tampico, Mexico for Gulf Oil as a civil engineer. He designed a building for prefabrication that was widely used by Gulf and other oil companies. In 1935, he met with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was "fascinated" with David's ideas. A number of his works are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Works include: * Berry House, 5805 N. Farm Loop Rd., Palmer, Alaska (Williams, David), NRHP-listed * Bailey Colony Farm, 3150 N. Glenn Hwy., Palmer, Alaska (Williams, David), NRHP-listed * Herried House, 4400 N. Palmer-Fishook Hwy., Palmer, Alaska (Williams, David), NRHP-listed *Matanuska Colony Community Center, roughly bounded by S. Colony, E. Firewood, S. Eklutua, E. Elmwood, S. Denali and a line N of properties on E. Dahlia, Palmer, Alaska (Williams, Dav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads. It was set up on May 6, 1935, by presidential order, as a key part of the Second New Deal. The WPA's first appropriation in 1935 was $4.9 billion (about $15 per person in the U.S., around 6.7 percent of the 1935 GDP). Headed by Harry Hopkins, the WPA supplied paid jobs to the unemployed during the Great Depression in the United States, while building up the public infrastructure of the US, such as parks, schools, and roads. Most of the jobs were in construction, building more than of streets and over 10,000 bridges, in addition to many airports and much housing. In 1942, the WPA played a key role in both building and staffing Internment of Japanes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matanuska Valley Colony
In 1935, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration created an experimental farming community known as the Matanuska Valley Colony as part of the New Deal resettlement plan. Situated in the Matanuska Valley, about 45 miles northeast of Anchorage, Alaska, the colony was settled by 203 families from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. The colony project cost about $5,000,000 and, after five years, over half of the original colonists had left the valley. By 1965, only 20 of the first families were still farming the valley. History The Matanuska Colony was part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal plan to help move the United States out of the Great Depression. It was one of many rural rehabilitation colonies to be established by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). Others included Cherry Lake Farms in Florida, Dyess, Arkansas, Dyess Colony in Arkansas, and the Pine Mountain Valley Rural Community in Georgia. In 1935, Americans in rural areas of northern states were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
