By Ben Conley, The Dominion Post
MORGANTOWN — A city built in the hills is built on retaining walls.
Take a look around. They’re everywhere.
Earlier this week, Morgantown Mayor Joe Abu-Ghannam announced that three such structures have received a joint historical designation for their association with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and other New Deal programs implemented in the 1930s as a response to the Great Depression.
Deckers Creek Wall
The Deckers Creek Wall is an ashlar-stone retaining wall located along the Monongahela River tributary near downtown Morgantown.
The wall, built to prevent erosion of land into the creek, is 1,270 feet long and nine-to-10 courses, or block layers, tall depending on the location.
According to the application submitted to the U.S. Department of the Interior, there is historical documentation in Morgantown City Council minutes linking the wall to the early Reconstruction Finance Corp. and the Civil Works Administration, as well as the WPA.
