Description: Dated 1935-1939, this photograph shows the construction of a comfort station in Alms Park, Cincinnati, Ohio, in Hamilton County. The photograph's caption reads "District #16. Project #16-31-747. Construction of comfort stations in Alms Park, Cincinnati, Ohio. Project started November 12, 1935, employs an average of sixteen men, and will cost a total of $16,119, of which the W.P.A. is furnishing $7,018. Photo by W.P.A. Photographer, Federal Project No. 1. (Writers') 6-22-36." The Frederick H. Alms Memorial Park is located at 710 Tusculum Avenue on Mount Tusculum, in Cincinnati, Ohio, overlooking the Ohio River. The park was given to the Park Board by Frederick Alms' wife in 1916. Alms was born in Cincinnati on February 26, 1839 and died July 25, 1898. A former solider and successful businessman, Alms is best remembered as an extraordinarily generous philanthropist. He married Eleanora C. Unzicker on November 9, 1870. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F08_001_1
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio); Alms, Fred H.; Parks--Ohio--Cincinnati; Parks--Cincinnati (Ohio); Works Progress Administration of Ohio (U.S.)
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)