WILLOW CREEK — The federal Works Progress Administration has approved a grant of $4,200 for the construction of concrete sidewalks on both sides of Main Street, replacing the worn wooden boardwalks that have served the town since the 1890s and providing employment for twelve local men for the duration of the project.
The grant, announced this week by the Aroostook County WPA office, is the first New Deal public works project to reach Willow Creek. The sidewalks will run the full length of the commercial district, from the Gazette building at the north end to the Community Hall at the south end — approximately three-quarters of a mile in total.
The old boardwalks, built when Willow Creek was a younger town with a younger population, have deteriorated badly. Several planks are rotted through. Others have warped and lifted, creating tripping hazards that have injured at least three residents in the past year. The selectmen have received repeated complaints from elderly residents who find the uneven surface difficult to navigate.
“Those boardwalks have been there since my father was a boy,” said Seamus O’Donnell, whose General Store sits at the center of the project area. “They served their purpose. But a town that aspires to be modern — and Willow Creek does aspire — needs proper sidewalks.”
The twelve men employed by the project were selected from the pool of unemployed mill workers by the town relief committee. Their wages, paid entirely by the WPA, average $45 per month — slightly less than mill wages but substantially more than the $15 per month that state relief provides.
“It is not a fortune,” said Lucien Girard, one of the workers selected. “But it is honest work, and it puts food on the table without charity. I have been idle for eighteen months. I would rather be tired at the end of the day than tired of doing nothing.”
The project is expected to be completed by late November, weather permitting. The town will be responsible for maintaining the sidewalks after construction, a cost estimated at $50 per year.
Arthur Whitcomb, writing in this week’s Gazette, offers a measured endorsement: “The WPA is not a perfect solution to the Depression. It does not restore the mill’s prosperity. It does not bring back the jobs that have been lost. But it does something important: it puts men to work building something that will serve the town for decades. That is not nothing. That is a good beginning.”