Cat and mouse at the WPA sewing program
Glens Falls Common Council members, reviewing the monthly vouchers, were suspicious of the unusual payment for the Glens Falls Works Progress Administration sewing program.
“Three cans of milk and a can of cat food.”
Kathryn McCarthy, manager of the sewing program, had a logical explanation.
The milk and cat food were to feed Glendy, “an enticing blond” cat that was stationed in the program’s storage room to keep mice away.
“Glendy, who is the happy mother of two kittens, was said to be a pretty keen mouser, and since her advent in the storage room the rodent situation has been entirely satisfactory,” The Post-Star reported on Nov. 23, 1940.
During the Great Depression, the local WPA sewing program employed women to sew garments which were distributed to needy families in the area.
Other towns and villages in the region also had WPA sewing programs.
The Glens Falls program, which operated at City Hall and later other locations downtown, had 32 employees in 1935, The Post-Star reported on Dec. 5, 1935.
In 1937, the program was relocated to the Masonic Temple.
In 1941, the budget was $31,242 — the equivalent of $656,239 in 2023 dollars.
Fabric scraps were distributed for other uses.
“Four thousand yards of waste material from the WPA sewing rooms in Glens Falls and Saratoga County has been shipped to the New York State Hospital for incipient tuberculosis patients of Ray Brook to be used by them in making rugs and other articles,” The Post-Star reported on June 26, 1937.
Workers in the program developed strong connections.
“Mrs. Florence DeLoria, 100 Bay Street, secretary and timekeeper at the WPA sewing room the past year, was honored at a party in the rooms yesterday afternoon when fellow workers presented her with gifts. Mrs. Deloria will resign from the duties Tuesday,” The Post-Star reported on Feb. 1, 1941.
On May 21, 1941, Mayor John Bazinet hosted a reception at the sewing room as part of “This Work Pays Your Community Week,” highlighting the role of the WPA in the economy.
