Location: Gilmer County
The Fink Creek Bridge is a steel stringer bridge located on WV 47, overlooking the Fink Creek. Located in Troy, Gilmer County, this bridge is just one of many that were built by the WPA in Gilmer County as part of an initiative to help the very rural county out with it’s infrastructure. The WPA was particularly active in Gilmer County, and their funding also assisted in the creation of the Shock Pony Truss bridge, the Grandcamp Road Slab bridge, the Stumptown bridge, the Gilmer Station bridge and the Tanner Ridge Frame bridge. The Fink Creek Bridge was finished in 1939 and was built with the help of CCC labor.
The WPA in Gilmer County also contributed funding to the National Youth Administration (NYA) which granted scholarships to local high schoolers and to students attending Glenville State College. Glenville State College benefited in other ways as well, as the WPA contributed to building their Luis Bennett Hall, and the county jail and garage in Glenville. The CCC employed 460 youths in the county, and the New Deal Sewing Project which was sponsored by the Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA) instituted sewing rooms in Glenville and Sand Fork.
The bridges of Gilmer County built by the WPA are still largely in use today, and replaced many bridges that were built in the 1800s and were no longer suitable for vehicle traffic. Overall, Gilmer County greatly benefited from the work the WPA did in the county, and still uses a lot of the infrastructure provided by New Deal programs throughout the state.
For more information
West Virginia Historic New Deal Trail 