Friday, April 26, 2024
Judge Miller displays the WPA stone, which was located on the old Coryell Hospital.
The Work Projects Administration cornerstone, which had been attached to the old Coryell Memorial Hospital building for 80 years, was recently removed during the demolition of the building and given to Coryell County Judge Roger Miller.
Miller said that the stone would either be given to Coryell Health Hospital for display or to the Coryell Museum and Historical Center.
The hospital was constructed between 1942 and 1943 by the Work Projects Administration (WPA), originally known as the Works Progress Administration. Over its eight years of existence, the WPA put roughly 8.5 million of Americans to work. The WPA workers built more than 4,000 new school buildings, erected 130 new hospitals, laid roughly 9,000 miles of storm drains and sewer lines, and built 29,000 new bridges.
In constructing the hospital in Gatesville, the WPA workers quarried Coryell County Limestone to construct the walls of the structure. A few other WPA buildings still remain in Coryell County.
