Today in History on April 8, 1935 the WPA was passed as part of the New Deal plan of Franklin D. Roosevelt to bring Americans out of the Great Depression. The CCC was closely related and formed in 1933. | History Seekers

In 1939 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a two-room jail house in Peoria, which had fewer than 2,000 residents at the time. The building housed the jail and police station and was in use through the 1960s. Later, the jail was designated Peoria Town Hall and was used for City Council Meetings until the completion of Peoria's current City Hall in 1991. Today, this historic building is preserved in Peoria's Old Town and is located on Washington Street between Osuna Park and the Peoria