Side1 The Reconstruction Finance Corporation. (RFC) granted a $410,000 relief loan to South Dakota in 1932, the third year of the Great Depression, Garretson became one of five towns in the county allotted funds.
Its City Council then proposed to give work to 47 unemployed men by building a dam "across Split Rock River." RFC funds were to be used for wages with SD Fish & Game to provide materials. Men were not paid in cash, only in orders for food and clothing from local merchants.
In 1935 Works Progress Administration (WPA) replaced the RFC. It approved Councils plans
Side 2
to build a stone bath house, add four feet in height to the dam, prepare a beach, and build a "bridge across Gulch stream."
Garretson celebrated the completion of its new civic projects during a, three-day "Festival of Progress" that began July 16, 1936. On opening day almost 7000 persons attended while five high school bands gave concerts. New improvements formally dedicated were Split Rock Park, including the dam and bath house, the stone fishing bridge, and a municipal airport. The woman who submitted the name chosen for the, new park was awarded $5.
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