After the stock market crash of 1929, millions of Americans lost their jobs, wages fell, and drought and dust storms in the Great Plains deepened the hardship of many farm families. Congress responded with federal relief and recovery programs during the Great Depression, including the Works Progress Administration, created in 1935 to provide jobs for unemployed workers. In Republic County, WPA funds supported roads, bridges, sanitary privies in rural areas, pond construction, flood control, and renovation of public buildings. In Belleville, WPA assistance helped build the municipal swimming pool, band shell, tennis courts, park, and native stone grandstand at the North Central Kansas Free Fair grounds, where the grandstand served crowds drawn to auto races on the high-banked oval track. Federal support also aided construction of the post office west of the commercial district, and both the Belleville Post Office and the Republic County Courthouse on the square were built with help from the Public Works Administration, another New Deal recovery program. The post office also contains an interior mural by Kansas painter Birger Sandzen. Less widely known WPA efforts came through the Division of Women's and Professional Projects, which sought to employ white-collar workers and women who were heads of families. The Kansas Museum Project, intended to encourage interest in historic and cultural backgrounds and appreciation of contemporary creative expression, was created in one of only three states to establish such a museum project through the WPA. Workshops in seven Kansas communities, including Belleville, produced handcraft and visual aid materials for distribution to educational institutions across the state. In November 1938, the Belleville Public Library ordered models of industry, All Nation figurines, American Costume Dolls, Native Birds and Kansas Landmark prints by Margaret Whittemore, and wildflower paintings by Avis Chitwood. Today the library collection includes seventeen pairs of costume dolls, forty-three prints of Kansas landmarks, five paintings of Kansas wildflowers, eight intricate wooden models, and one horn carving.