During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established a works program in 1935 to help millions of unemployed Americans by creating building projects to provide jobs. The Works Progress Administration (or Works Projects Administration) was commonly known as the WPA. Throughout the U.S. these jobs put over 8 million people to work by building 650,000 miles of roads, thousands of parks and bridges, hundreds of airports, and over 100,000 public buildings. In addition, The Federal Arts Project employed artists to create public art.
In Oceanside the WPA was responsible for building Oceanside’s first permanent Post Office building in 1935. This historic building also contains two projects commissioned by the Treasury
Section of Fine Arts, which like the Federal Arts Project, provided murals and other art forms to decorate public buildings. A beautiful 16' x 6' mural of the San Luis Rey Valley and its Mission,
entitled “Air Mail” by Elise Seeds hangs in the lobby. A carved wooden eagle and grille over the front entrance was done by Stuart Holmes.