The St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project: An Oral History of the Greatest Construction Show on Earth

6. Off the Project

213 6 OfftheProject the 1950s had often been portrayed as the final stage of the development of the American consumer economy and the decade when people began to believe they could attain the good life. Members of all classes earned higher salaries, which equated to new purchasing power and a love of life. According to Douglas T. Miller and Marion Nowak, individuals spent one-sixth of their personal income on leisure activities.1 The consumption of alcohol, illegal gambling, and partying skyrocketed among both the male and female members of the working, middle, and upper classes. Americans traveled to new places for vacations and to seek employment, purchased automobiles annually, and became firsttime homeowners. Federal government officials supported this new lifestyle in 1955 when they raised the minimum wage from $0.75 to $1.00. By the end of the decade, the average worker took home $5,000 a year, a 61 percent increase from 1950.2 Citizens rushed to spend the money and catapulted the nation to a level of prosperity not seen since before the Great Depression . However, pockets of poverty still existed across the United States in rural areas and small towns where the lives and incomes of farmers and factory workers remained unchanged. During the St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project in Massena and Cornwall, men and women who participated in this new culture of prosperity collided with residents of a town whose social and financial progress had stood still for decades. Based on this insular attitude, many workers and their families described their tenure in Massena as trying to make the best out of a difficult situation. Harry H. McLean, a concrete engineer from Uhl, Hall, and Rich, discussed his and his co-workers’ impressions of the area and their 214   |   The St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project interaction with local residents in a five-minute speech to the Massena Toastmasters Club in 1956. “During the time I have been in Massena, I have heard many newcomers talk of their impressions of the community. Nearly all who speak are critical; those who approve are silent. I believe in time to turn this about and give constructive criticism, to talk about how guests should treat their hosts. We came to Massena on September 15, 1954, and in a surprisingly short time we did know that Massena cared. Churches, clubs, organizations, but perhaps best of all our next-door neighbors showed an interest in us and helped us feel at home. I find it difficult to listen when some guests of Massena expound on the faults of Massena. He will never admit the advantages and benefits.”3 These words 25. Ex-president Harry Truman views the murals painted by his friend Thomas Hart Benton at the visitor’s center at the main power dam. At the left is Robert Moses, chairman of the New York State Power Authority, and Charles Poletti, trustee of the New York State Power Authority and former governor of New York State. Courtesy of Alfred Mellett. Off the Project   |   215 exposed the mixed experiences of workers and their families in Massena and Cornwall. In 1956 Alan Emory, in an article for the Watertown Daily Times, praised investors, contractors, and lead agencies involved in the St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project for garnering the area national exposure in a segment on Wide Wide World. He also highlighted how workers and tourists had infused money into area businesses. However, he bemoaned the increase in traffic and the effect workers and their families had on Massena ’s already dismal housing market, stating that trailer parks and rundown boarding houses and homes made the “shabby areas of town even shabbier.” He also inferred that residents felt that their personal safety had beensacrificedalongwithmanyoftheirfamilyhomesteadsandlandmarks. Massenans locked their doors and no longer let their children out alone.4 Welcoming editorial writers tried to overshadow the negative commentary . Many realized that the workers and their families were moving to the area regardless of whether the town wanted them to or not. In November 1955 Dick Peer, in his column “Peering at Massena,” welcomed newcomers and said that the two best places in the world were Massena and their hometown. He added that he hoped that workers and their families would get to know local residents better by attending churches, lodges, and fraternal organization meetings, and by taking part in community affairs and helping the community become bigger and better...