Schenley Park

Schenley Park. WPA Structures, also, Plants and Trees. Side A , WPA Structures , The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was instituted by Presidential Executive Order under the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of April 1935 to generate public jobs for the unemployed during the Great Depression. , By 1936 over 34 million people were employed on various WPA programs. Furnished with an original congressional allocation of $4.8 billion, the WPA made work accessible to the unemployed on an unparalleled scale. , The WPA was charged with selecting projects that would make a real and lasting contribution. During its tenure, WPA workers constructed 651,087 miles of roads, streets and highways and built, repaired or refurbished 124,031 bridges, 125,110 public buildings, 8,192 parks and 853 landing fields throughout the U.S. In addition, workers cleaned slums, revived forests and extended electrical power to rural locations. , Examples of WPA work can be found throughout Pittsburgh, such as the Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh campus, and in the major parks. In Riverview Park, elaborate bus shelters, and the park administration building, and the park entrance all bear the WPA brand. In Schenley Park, over a dozen stone bridges along the trails and the stone steps leading up the Café and Visitor Center were built in 1938 and '39 using WPA funds and workers. The bridges were constructed using stone and fill over concrete pipes. , , Tufa Bridges , The other prominent and unique trail bridges near Panther Hollow are made from tufa, a naturally occurring calcium-based building material. Bureau of Parks Superintendent Director George Burke designed and built two such bridges in the Panther Hollow Lake area of the park in 1908. Tufa was also used to construct many of the original raised planting beds still visible in the original Palm Court at Phipps Conservatory. , , Side B , Plants and Trees , Plants in urban areas come from a variety of places. Some are natives found naturally within the Pittsburgh region while others have traveled greater distances. Some were brought into the country intentionally by people and some unintentionally, having hitched a ride as seeds hiding in other plant stock. , Here is a sample of the common plants found throughout Pittsburgh's great parks, such as white snakeroot, and some that are focal points at Schenley Park, such as katsura trees growing underneath the Panther Hollow Bridge. , , photos and descriptions of various plants (illegible)