Iroquois Amphitheater, the official amphitheater of Kentucky, was built in 75 days by 275 WPA employees and opened with a sold-out production of Naughty Marietta on July 4, 1938. Its main attraction was a dazzling water curtain. In 2000, the amphitheater began an $8.9 million restoration that preserved portions of the original structure. Created by Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration at its height employed 73,000 Kentuckians in literature, construction, and arts projects. Among its most prominent Louisville projects were the runway and Art Deco building at Bowman Field and the Iroquois Amphitheater.
