Work Projects Administration in Maryland

The stock market crash of October 1929 initiated a period of widespread economic depression accompanied by high levels of unemployment. The economic hardships that resulted severely taxed the resources of private, local, and state agencies attempting to meet the basic needs of the suddenly-impoverished population. When the efforts of several federal advisory committees failed to relieve the ever-mounting distress caused by unemployment, Congress took decisive action by passing the Emergency Relief and Construction Act, approved by President Hoover on July 21, 1932. This act provided a stop-gap measure of advancing loans to states for both direct and work relief.

As the crisis mounted, the need for direct federal participation in the relief efforts became increasingly apparent. In May of 1933, soon after Franklin D. Roosevelt assumed the presidency, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration was established by an act of Congress. The FERA granted funds to state and local relief agencies for direct and work relief and established and enforced the policies, procedures, and regulations governing the appropriation and use of funds by the regional and state divisions. The Maryland division of the FERA used federal funds primarily to sponsor a variety of construction projects, such as the building of an athletic stadium at Morgan College (now Morgan State University) in Baltimore.

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