Mendota Work Camp No. 1

During the Great Depression of the early 1930's, when more than 25 percent of the nation's workforce was unemployed, the Works Progress Administration employed 8.5 million people over eight years and completed projects including 650,000 miles of roadways, 125,000 public buildings, 13,000 playgrounds, and 8,000 parks. For homeless men, the government built transient camps across the country, including 25 in Minnesota. Mendota Work Camp No. 1 was established in 1935 and officially opened on January 8, 1936, on 8 acres of land with 10 buildings designed to house up to 200 men, including barracks, workshops, a recreation hall, and an administration building. It was originally the only African-American camp in Minnesota. The men, who averaged 40 years of age, earned from $15 to $25 per month along with room and board, built their own baseball field for recreation, and played other camps and local teams. The camp's principal objective was roadside development, and its projects included grading slopes along Highway 55, restoration work on the Jean-Baptiste Faribault house in Mendota, and construction of the scenic overlook just south of the camp, using much of the stone quarried from nearby limestone bluffs. As World War II began and the improving economy reduced the need for WPA camps and other New Deal programs, Mendota Work Camp No. 1 closed in 1941, and most of its buildings were demolished or moved, leaving only the building foundations and the ornate limestone chimney of the recreation hall.

Mendota Heights, Minnesota · United States