After the 1929 stock market crash and during the Great Depression, the lumber industry demand began to wane and by the mid-1930s about half the woodworkers in North Idaho were laid off and the surviving mills were producing only 160 million board feet of lumber per year. Although it was a tough time, accomplishments during the Depression years included the establishment of Coeur d'Alene Junior College (North Idaho College) in 1933, the construction of Northwest Boulevard through the Works Progress Administration program in 1937, and the building of the popular Playfair Pier amusement park on the lake in the early 1940s. The Playfair Pier opened on July 4, 1942 (and existed until 1974) in City Park and included a variety of rides and attractions such as a miniature roller coaster, a Ferris wheel, a carousel, and some of the usual carnival games. Coeur d'Alene benefited from its proximity to the Farragut Naval Training Station, established in 1942 on the south end of Lake Pend Oreille, which employed 22,000 people and needed 98 million board feet of lumber to build 650 buildings.