Greenbelt towns would rival ‘Green Projects’ today In the midst of The Great Depression, a New Deal program called the Greenbelt Town program, built a series of highly rational garden cities that would rival “Green projects” today. Only three small projects were built. Greenhills, Ohio is one of only three “Greenbelt Towns” built in the […]
Tag: Great Depression
Dust Bowl sends many to Klamath Basin [amazing photographs from the 1930s]
The Dust Bowl, also known as the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the US and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The migrants moved from terrible living conditions back home to not much better living conditions in California. The photographs below were taken by […]
These [1938 photos] show how valuable the general store was in rural Arkansas
Lake Dick is located northeast of Pine Bluff and south of Altheimer, Arkansas. A New Deal program which supported farming projects, established the community on the shore of Lake Dick in 1936. The Lake Dick Cooperative Association was responsible for farming the land and for operating the community’s cooperative services. These services included a general […]
This town can boast to having the oldest strip mall in Ohio [see pictures from 1939]
The city of Greenhills, Ohio is the home of one of the first shopping strip malls in Ohio. The photographs below were taken in October 1938 -1939 by photojournalist, John Vachon. Store building. Greenhills, Ohio Jan. 1938 by photographer John Vachon Stores at Greenhills, Ohio Jan. 1938 by photographer John Vachon Shopping center at Greenhills, […]
Here is how the hobos found a good meal in the Great Depression Days
Another great story from Author, Christie Seiler Boeke! Depression Days by Christie Seiler Boeke My mother and aunts often talked about their darkest years in the 1930s and the many hardships they endured. They told of soup lines and men on street corners with stacks of carefully polished apples for sale, hobo jungles and Hoovervilles […]
Circleville, Ohio [vintage pics] – “the other side of the tracks” – Hooverville 1938
The town of Circleville, Ohio had difficulty housing many of the farmers of foreclosed homes in town. Consequently, shanty towns built by homeless people sprang up on the outskirts of town and were promptly named Hooverville as were many other shantytowns were named throughout the country. The towns were named after President Herbert Hoover who […]
Income Tax Day was once on March 15 in 1930
Income Tax Day was once on March 15 in 1930 Though there had been income taxes collected for various reasons such as War before in the United States, the first official date for filing a federal income tax was March 1, 1913 and was changed to March 15, 1918. This date remained until 1955 when […]
You don’t know anything about how many people are living in trailers, till you ‘hit’ Florida”
Many people traveled to California from all over the country in the 1930’s seeking work due to the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. They traveled in many vehicles, by trains, trucks, cars and many were homemade trailers. Some even walked. Dorothea Lange, photograher captured many of these various modes of transportation. The song, A Traveler’s […]
The large family of William Rall in Sheridan County, Kansas were prepared for the winter in 1939 – great pics
Sheridan County, named for General Philip Sheridan, was organized by William Stevens; W. M. Rogers; W. C. Hausafus; and K. A. Ellithorpe, on June 2, 1880. Sheridan County contains the towns of Hoxie and Selden. Local legends in Sheridan County states that Sam Morgan was believed to be the earliest settler in the county, and […]
Homelessness in Oklahoma in 1939 – photographs from the Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl, also known as the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the US and Canadian prairies during the 1930s; severe drought and a failure to apply dry land farming methods to prevent wind erosion. Farmer and sons walking in the face of […]