Pictured above is the old Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) sewing room and the ladies who worked there, including my mother, Helen (Koble) Dillon (upper right-hand corner, leaning against the wall).

The photograph was taken most likely around 1938. The building was located on the corner of Fifth and I streets across from the County Courthouse (now a parking lot). The courthouse’s tall clock tower could be seen for miles. In addition to my mother, the only other woman I can identify is Mrs. Hauck (center front). Being the “boss lady,” she was not required to wear a smock, though everyone else was.

Smocks were a must on the job. In fact, on their first day of work, the women would cut out their smocks, sew them, and have them ready to wear within a day or two. It was also mandatory to wear dresses. According to my mother, one of the ladies came to work one day wearing slacks and Mrs. Hauck sent her home, docking her a whole day’s pay. The salaries ranged from about $36 or $42 a month so, in the case the unfortunate woman in slacks, losing a day’s pay was not so good.

The ladies made clothes which were distributed to families on welfare. They sewed shirts, dresses, blouses, even men’s, women’s and children’s underclothes. Six thicknesses were cut at a time with very large scissors.

My mother, Helen, worked on the third floor or “cutting room.” There, the ladies stood on their feet eight hours a day, leaning over tables, cutting garments for the ladies on the second and first floors to then sew. Often, Helen would walk to work from 2161 Albee St. in order to save the nickle bus fare. The money might be used to send my two brothers and me to an occasional Saturday picture show (which cost a dime each).

There were always several trucks parked on the I Street side, loaded with wood for sale. Sometimes I would meet my mother after work and she would pay the driver the $5 for a load of wood. We would also get to ride home in the truck which was a great treat for us. The driver was kind enough to unload the wood in our yard. A good bargain: a load of wood, a ride home and direct delivery into the yard!

Helen bought the Albee Street home for $15 down and $5 a month. It was unusual at the time for an unmarried woman with three children to be buying a house but Mr. Walker of the Bank of Eureka (now the location of the Clarke Museum) apparently had great faith in my mother and the WPA because he approved the loan. Through the years, as she paid off that loan, she mentioned many times how she appreciated Mr. Walker and the trust he had in her. My mother is gone now, as is the WPA, but what a terrific woman she was. For the most part she was in good health all of her life, right up until her last weeks. She died at age 87.