‘New Deal’ Exhibit Opens Saturday at Stearns History Museum [AUDIO]

ST. CLOUD - A new exhibit featuring the New Deal programs during the Roosevelt administration opens tomorrow (Saturday) at the Stearns History Museum.  The exhibit is titled "Uncle Sam's New Deal" is on loan from the Minnesota Historical Society.

Bill Morgan is a local historian and retired history professor from St. Cloud State University.  He says Selke field in south St. Cloud was built through the Works Progress Administration.

St. Cloud Tech's Clark Field and Rockville's Clark school are a couple of the other major projects built during that era.

However, Morgan says the program was a whole lot more than just granite walls and structures.

Morgan says one of those murals was painted in the old St. Cloud Post Office, which later became the Federal Building, and is now the home of Netgain Technologies in downtown St. Cloud.  He says that mural can still be found in the lobby of that building.

Morgan says when President Roosevelt took office in 1993 13-15 million Americans were unemployed.  Between 1938 and 1942 the WPA program employed more than 5,100 workers in Stearns County alone.

Besides granite walls, they also helped construct 573 miles of roads, built six bridges, and renovated several public schools.

The exhibit at the Stearns History Museum will be on display from tomorrow (Saturday) through August 4th.