(based on letters to the Wash Cnty Post)
The WPA (Works Progress Administration) was established in 1935 as part of the New Deal to help America get out of the Great Depression. It used local laborers to build infrastructure such as roads, bridges, schools, libraries, courthouses, hospitals, and post-offices.
Two Cambridge projects considered but never implemented were (1) a new post office; and (2) a new Village office.
Residents were complaining about the current post office at 10 West Main (between Hotel and Rice Mansion).
- Volume of mail had increased
- Narrow street, no room for parking
- Parking on wrong side of street
- Last mail sorted at 6:30pm created a logjam as everyone stopped to pick up their mail before sitting down to dinner
- Narrow alley for the mail truck
- D&H discontinued passenger and mail service, so let’s update and use the old Depot
Hudson Falls, Granville, and Fort Edward each got new post offices approved in 1935 without spending one dime of local taxpayer money. Hudson Falls cost $46,000 ($1.1M in today’s money). Local laborers were employed.
The J.J.Gray Engine House (11 West Main) also served as the Municipal Building, but in 1935 it was already unfit. The newly purchased fire engines were housed in garages around the village because the Engine House was too narrow and too rickety. The turnout for the 1935 village election was very low, some speculated because residents were afraid to go into the dilapidated building.
But, it was another 20 years before either of these buildings were addressed.
