Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. What became the city's main Hooverville started as a group of little huts on land next to Elliott Bay south of "skid road," as the Pioneer Square area was then called. Odd pieces of wood, stones, loose boards, crates, cardboard, scraps of other materials, old bricks and parts of boxes. The people who lived in a Hooverville or Shanty Town were men, women and children, black and white, from all walks of life, who had been evicted from their homes and made homeless due to unemployment in the Great Depression. It is just west of Qwest Field and the Alaska Viaduct. But residents rebuilt and the site remained occupied all the way through World War II. read more, The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a work relief program that gave millions of young men employment on environmental projects during the Great Depression. Excerpt from "Hooverville: A Study of a Community of Homeless Men in Seattle" by Donald Francis Roy (1935)
More often than not, Hoovervilles were tolerated. Summary and Definition: The Shanty Towns, known as Hoovervilles, sprang up across the nation during the Great Depression (1929 - 1941). About this quiz: All the questions on this quiz are based on information that can be found on the page at The Great Depression - Hoovervilles . Exhibt A: Map of Number and Distribution of Shacks (March 5, 1941)
It was a highly diverse population. Both times, however, the Hooverville shacks were immediately rebuilt. The makeshift shacks were constructed from unwanted materials and lacked basic amenities such as adequate sanitation and clean drinking water. Homelessness was present before the Great Depression, and was a common sight before 1929. (2021, December 6). University of Washington: The Great Depression in Washington State.Hoovervilles in Seattle. var months = new Array(12); Inside Hoovervilles were houses called shanties . Grade Level. Public dissatisfaction with Hoover soon all but eliminated his chances of being reelected, and on November 8, 1932, New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in a landslide. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); By 1932, between one and two million American people were homeless. Many authorities frequently tolerated the shantytowns out of sheer necessity. In the aftermath of that event, sometimes read more. There were dozens in the state of Washington, hundreds throughout the country, each testifying to the housing crisis that accompanied the employment crisis of the early 1930s. Residents of the previous Hooverville in Tacoma rebuilt homes on the same site they occupied throughout. A 'Hoover blanket' was a newspaper, covering a homeless man on a city bench; a 'Hoover flag' was a turned-out pants pocket, a sure sign of pennilessness. Roy documents a unique spirit of tolerance and amiability between ethnic groups. OKIESOkies is a term applied generally to people from the American Southwest who migrated to the Pacific Coast, particularly to California, during the Great Depression. Bootleggers were becoming rich on the profits of illegal alcohol sales and violence was on the rise. Roosevelts recovery program, known as the New Deal, eventually reduced unemployment, regulated banking and helped turn the ailing economy around with public works projects and other economic programs. All Rights Reserved. No two Hooverville was a small town founded by homeless people in the United States during the Great Depression. Divided into distinct sectors, the racially integrated and cohesive encampment was home to as many as 8,000 destitute people. Some cities allowed squatter encampments for a time, others did not. Hoover leather referred to cardboard or newspaper used to replace worn-out shoe soles. Longley, Robert. Considered by many to be one of the most successful of Roosevelts New Deal programs, the CCC planted more than three read more, In the early 20th century, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation devised plans for a massive dam on the Arizona-Nevada border to tame the Colorado River and provide water and hydroelectric power for the developing Southwest. The peak of the Great Depression was from 1932 to 1933. Credit was extended to many so that they could enjoy the new inventions of the day, such as washing machines, refrigerators and automobiles. What were the rickety shacks in Hoovervilles and Shantytowns built with? After negotiating with the camps mayor, the Health Department agreed to let the residents remain as long they observed minimal safety and sanitary rules. It was headed by the Commissioner of Health, the Superintendent of Buildings, the Chief of Police, and the Chief of the Fire Department, tasked to draft a plan on how to proceed with the elimination of Hooverville. Even during the worst of the Depression, most Hooverville residents continued to seek employment, often taking backbreaking seasonal jobs like picking and packing field crops. However, that didn't last long. The Great Depression (1929-1940): Tutoring Solution, Franklin D. 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[3], The city tolerated Hoovervilles until the eve of World War II. Interesting Facts About Hoovervilles During the Great Depression The Bonus Army of veterans built a large Hooverville in Washington D.C. that housed around 15,000 people. Hundreds of Hoovervilles were established across the country during the 1930s. Chapter 1: The Great Depression Strikes Pennsylvania Chapter 2: Political Change and the New Deal Coalition Chapter 3: The New Deal in Pennsylvania: Public Works and Organized Labor Chapter 4: Popular Culture and Society in the 1930s Learn More Story Details Historical Markers In the Story Original Documents Story Credits Story Bibliography It maintained itself as a free-standing community until 1936, when it was razed. Around 15,000 men joined the movement, many of whom came from far away and arrived in the area by illegally riding on railroad freight trains. The term was coined by Charles Michelson. This pattern became associated with Oklahoma because that state provided a plurality of migrants from 1935 to 1940, the peak of the phenomenon. Most were white with the majority of them foreign-born, especially Scandinavians. .adslot_1 { width: 300px; height: 250px; } By the spring of 1932, when it could have most helped ease the Depression, Americas revenue from world trade was reduced by more than half. City of Seattle.Americans React to the Great Depression. How many Hoovervilles or Shantytowns were there? When Congress refused payment and the veterans refused to leave, President Hoover sent in the army under the direction of Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur; the riot scene that followed included tear gas, bayonets, and tanks, and resulted in the burning of large parts of the Bonus Army's Hooverville as well as several deaths. Hoover also received criticism for signing, in June 1930, the controversial Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, which imposed a high tariff on foreign goods in an effort to prevent them from competing with U.S.-made products on the domestic market. Will Work ForAnything. The reaction to all of this was often characterized by a grim sort of humor, sometimes represented by popular songs like the 1930's 'Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?' Hoover's other problem was his own personality. When a new mayor took office in 1932, owing his election in part to support of the Unemployed Citizen's League, Seattle's Hooverville gained a measure of official tolerance that allowed it to survive and grow. One of the important events during his presidency was the emergence of the Shanty Town during the Great Depression. However, some countries retaliated by raising their tariffs, and international trade was hampered. How many people lived in the Hoovervilles in the 1930s? months[3] = "Check out the interesting and diverse websites produced and created by the international publisher in the Siteseen network. Businesses made huge profits, but average workers wages did not rise at the same rate. Where were Hoovervilles situated? A Tarpaper Carthage: Interpreting Hooverville, by Joey Smith,
WATCH VIDEO: How Artists Helped End the Great Depression. Along with Hoovervilles, other derogatory terms aimed at President Hoovers continued refusal to initiate welfare programs became common in both the homeless camps and newspapers. As people increasingly relied on credit to buy homes filled with new conveniences of the day, like refrigerators, radios, and cars, many Americans were living beyond their means. The Story of the Great Depression in Photos, How the Great Depression Altered US Foreign Policy, Reconstruction Finance Corporation: Definition and Legacy, Biography of Louis Armstrong, Expert Trumpeter and Entertainer, What Is Patriotism? A shantytown, also known as a Hooverville (named for U.S. President Herbert Hoover), was located in Seattle, Washington, during the Great Depression. As America's housing and economic crisis worsened through 2009, homelessness was on the rise. No one knows, but there were literally millions of homeless people during the Great Depression so it seems reasonable to estimate the number as several thousands. In his famous novel the Joad family briefly settles into a Hooverville in California. Some families were fortunate enough to stay with friends and family members that hadn't been evicted yet, but homeless men, women and children were forced to take up residence in shacks as a result of the Great Depression. However, some cities banned them if they trespassed on parks or privately owned land. During WWI, this area belonged to the Port of Seattle but was occupied by the Skinner and Eddy shipyard. The New Deal Legacy & Impacts | What is the Legacy of the New Deal? And hundreds of thousands--no one knows how many--took to the streets, finding what shelter they could, under bridges, in culverts, or on vacant public land where they built crude shacks. However, prosperity was soon replaced by poverty and optimism by desperation following the stock market crash of October 1929 and the general failure of the nations banking system. The city of Seattle tolerated the unemployed living situation and imposed loose building and sanitation rules. By 1932, Hoover was so unpopular that he had no realistic hope of being re-elected, and Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York won that years presidential election in November by a landslide. The term was a derogatory reference to President Herbert Hoover, who many people blamed for allowing the U.S. to fall into economic despair. Life in these Hoovervilles was difficult and caused many people to migrate throughout the United States in search of better opportunities elsewhere. Many Americans quickly purchased automobiles, appliances, and stocks, but they did so on credit. Seattle is fortunate to have the kind of detailed documentation of its Hooverville that other cities lack, and we have compiled these unique resources here. A "Hoover flag" was an empty pocket turned inside out and "Hoover leather" was cardboard used to line a shoe when the sole wore through. Americas longest lasting Hooverville in Seattle, Washington, stood for ten years, from 1931 to 1941. The publics frustration with President Hoovers refusal to deal with the Depression peaked in the spring of 1932 when an estimated 15,000 World War I veterans and their families established a Hooverville along the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. On June 17, 1932, many of the veterans, known as the Bonus Army, marched on the U.S. Capitol demanding payment the badly needed WWI combat bonuses the government had promised them. Facts About Hoovervilles The term Hooverville came from the blame on President Herbert Hoover for the intolerable economic and social conditions. until the land was needed for shipping facilities on the eve of World War II. The camp began when an unemployed lumberjack Spread over nine acres; it housed a population of up to 1,200. Hooverville was the popular name attributed to shanty towns that sprung up throughout the United States during the Great Depression. "[1], The city imposed modest building and sanitation rules, required that women and children not live in the Hooverville, and expected the residents to keep order. Tensions between destitute citizens and the Hoover administration climaxed in the spring of 1932 when thousands of World War I veterans and their families and friends set up a Hooverville on the banks of the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. Hoovervilles: Homeless Camps of the Great Depression. Those who did were chronically underpaid. Seattle police twice burned the early Hooverville, but each time residents rebuilt. Ultimately, they were a bitterly ironic symbol of the suffering inherent in the worst economic crisis in U.S. History. "Hooverville" became a common term for shacktowns and homeless encampments during the Great Depression. I highly recommend you use this site! We are grateful to the Seattle Municipal Archives, King County Archives, and the University of Washington Library Special Collections for permission to incorporate materials in their collections. Longley, Robert. Hoovervilles were hundreds of makeshift homeless encampments built near large cities across the United States during the Great Depression (1929-1933). Not ready to purchase a subscription? At its peak, roughly 25%, maybe more, of the American work force was unemployed. months[8] = "This website is produced by the Siteseen network that specializes in producing free informative websites on a diverse range of topics. On two occasions, the Seattle Health Department ordered the residents to leave and burned their shanties when they refused. Black and white Americans and immigrants from all over the world shared the camp sites. However, understanding that the campers had nowhere else to go, and fearing that they might still fall victim to the Great Depression themselves, most more affluent people were willing to tolerate the Hoovervilles and their impoverished residents. Additionally, although the 1920s, also known as the Roaring Twenties, had been a decade of prosperity, income levels varied widely and numerous Americans lived beyond their means. Browse hooverville resources on Teachers Pay Teachers, a marketplace trusted by millions of teachers for original educational resources. The inhabitants of the Hoovervilles and shantytowns in the 1930s were deprived of many of these basic needs - for additional facts refer to Poverty in the Great Depression. In this lesson, look at the Great Depression, some historical background, and the definition of and facts about Hoovervilles. Cardboard covering a worn-out shoe sole was 'Hoover leather,' and cars pulled by horses (since no one could afford gasoline) were 'Hoover wagons.'. The Depression was blamed on President Herbert Hoover, after whom the town was named after, as coined by Charles Michelson. St. Louis, Missouri, was the site of the largest Hooverville in America. KidsKonnect is a growing library of premium quality educational materials, printable worksheets and teaching resources for use in the classroom. Multiple factors led to the Great Depression, including the U.S. stock market crash in October 1929 and the widespread failure of the American banking system, both of which helped destroy confidence in the nations economy. One of the important events during his presidency was the emergence of the Shanty Town during the Great Depression. Hoovervilles were racially integrated. As elsewhere in the country, Washington State's Communist Party helped to organize the unemployed into active political and social formations. Click the image to see a larger version of the map and here to read excerpts from Roy's sociological survey.By 1934 nearly 500 self-built one-room domiciles were "scattered over the terrain in insane disorder," according to Donald Roy, a sociology graduate student who studied the community. Its unofficial mayor was Jesse Jackson, who led the city in tolerating the homeless and imposed lax building and sanitation regulations. People experiencing homelessness made them from scraps of wood, tin, tar, and cardboard, and named . Unemployed masons used cast-off stone and bricks and in some cases built structures that stood 20 feet high. Hoovervilles primarily popped up on the outskirts of major cities. Roy found the relaxed social atmosphere remarkable, describing "an ethnic rainbow" where men of many colors intermingled "in shabby comraderie. Many people would can their food so that it would last longer. The Red Scare of the 1920s History & Overview | What was the First Red Scare? "Hoovervilles" were hundreds of crude campgrounds built across the United States by poverty stricken people who had lost their homes because of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/hoovervilles-homeless-camps-of-the-great-depression-4845996. This sort of fatalism was especially apparent in the language that developed around the iconic representation of the Great Depression --the Hooverville. Seattle's developed into a self-sufficient and organized town-within-a-town. This site uses cookies to improve your experience. Reasons for Homelessness: Homeowners lost their houses when they could not pay mortgages or pay taxes. This page was last edited on 16 February 2023, at 00:48. months[6] = "Uncover a wealth of facts and information on a variety of subjects produced by the Siteseen network. The economic depression began in September 1929 and was immediately followed by the October 24 Wall Street stock market crash. Follow the Great Depression Project/ Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project on Facebook. They usually had a small stove, bedding and a couple of simple cooking implements. The longest lasting Hooverville, located in Seattle, Washington, stood as a semi-autonomous community from 1931 to 1941. The Great Depression drew to an end with the outbreak of WW2 and municipal programs aimed at "eradicating" shantytowns destroyed all the Hoovervilles. The Tacoma Fire Department burned down fifty small houses in May 1942 after Seattle destroyed Hooverville. Most large cities built municipal lodging houses for the homeless, but the Depression exponentially increased demand. Life for the Average Family During the Great Depression. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards. During the fall and winter of 1931 and 1932, unemployed workers established Seattle's "Hooverville," a shantytown named in sarcastic honor of U.S. President Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), on whose beat the Great Depression began. [3] Men, women and children alike lived in Hoovervilles. Source for information on Okies: Encyclopedia of the Great Depression dictionary. As such, he was highly reluctant to shift the federal government into high gear to try and solve an economic crisis. Most settlers were disorganized, and only a few established a form of government. Others responded to complaints by people in the neighborhood and evicted the inhabitants and burned the shacks. The nation turned to Herbert Hoover expecting help, but he had none to give. Many Americans in need believed the resolution to their problems lay in government assistance, but Hoover resisted such a response throughout his presidency. People were expected to fend for themselves. Hoovervilles were not fancy or well-constructed. He had first achieved fame during World War I when he ran the U.S. Food Administration, and his managerial skills, relentless work ethic, and ability to feed both the troops and the homefront simultaneously won him enormous praise. The shanty town was so big that people established their own community government and elected a 'mayor' as their leader to settle any disputes. It was named after Herbert Hoover, an American politician who was the president during the first years of the Great Depression. Erected by unemployed lumberjacks on the tidal flats of the Port of Seattle, the encampment covered nine acres and grew to house up to 1,200 people. Hoovervilles began to disappear after the election of Franklin Roosevelt, whose New Deal promised to put the federal government into activist mode to try to end the Great Depression. There was no work, people were starving and the local police repeatedly burned down the camp. Soup Kitchens in the Great Depression | Bread Lines, Characteristics & History, Gilded Age Politics: Political Machines & Civil Service Reform, Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 | Overview, Summary & History, Massacre at Wounded Knee | Summary & History, AP US History Syllabus Resource & Lesson Plans, AP English Literature Syllabus Resource & Lesson Plans, DSST A History of the Vietnam War: Study Guide & Test Prep, DSST The Civil War & Reconstruction: Study Guide & Test Prep, Glencoe U.S. History - The American Vision: Online Textbook Help, High School US History Syllabus Resource & Lesson Plans, Prentice Hall America: History of our Nation: Online Textbook Help, DSST Environmental Science: Study Guide & Test Prep, Create an account to start this course today. ThoughtCo. Hoovervilles of the Great Depression Daily Dose Documentary 6.73K subscribers Subscribe 223 Share 42K views 2 years ago For more episodes, please visit http://dailydosenow.com Today's Daily Dose. As the Depression worsened in the 1930s many looked to the federal government for assistance. As the optimism of the 1920s gave way to fear and desperation, Americans looked to the federal government for relief. In 1932, Hooverville was established in Anacostia, District of Columbia, to house a group of WWI veterans seeking expedited benefits, dubbed the Bonus Army. "Nobody Paid any Attention": The Economic Marginalization of Seattle's Hooverville, by Dustin Neighly, Seattles Hooverville: The Failure of Effective Unemployment Relief in the Early 1930s by Magic Demirel, Hooverville: A Study of a Community of Homeless Men in Seattle by Donald Francis Roy, The Story of Seattle's Hooverville by Jesse Jackson, "Mayor" of Hooverville, Seattle Municipal Archives Hooverville Documents. The Shanty Town was given the sarcastic nickname 'Hooverville' after President Herbert Hoover who Americans blamed for the Great Depression. These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. Some shelters were little more than holes in the ground covered with tin or cardboard. Usually built on vacant land, the camps were largely tolerated by city authorities. When most of the veterans refused to leave their shacks, Hoover ordered his Chief of Staff Gen. Douglas MacArthur to drive them out. In some cases, unemployed skilled construction workers used stones and bricks from demolished buildings to build fairly solid houses. The Depression increased the demand for such assistance exponentially. City officials alternately tolerated and tried to eradicate the shack town. What does it tell you about Hooverville society? Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images. Some were as small as a few hundred people while others, in bigger metropolitan areas such as Washington, D.C. and New York City, boasted thousands of inhabitants. https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/hoovervilles. Whenever possible, Hoovervilles were built near creeks, streams, and rivers to provide a source of water. Although people would often use castoff lumber and building materials, more often than not Hooverville structures were built with cardboard, tar paper, and other comparatively flimsy elements. Life in the encampments remained best described as grim. Hooverville was a small town founded by homeless people in the United States during the Great Depression. This building housed a mayora's office and a commissary, or grocery store. These settlements were often trespassing on private lands, but they were frequently tolerated or ignored out of necessity. Other Hoovervilles also developed: one on the side of Beacon Hill where today I-5 passes; one in the Interbay area next to where the city used to dump its garbage; and two others along 6th Avenue in South Seattle. The Seattle City Council decided to close Hooverville in May 1941, despite the increased reliance on it for shelter. Shanty towns built during the Great Depression, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Life in Hooverville- Photos of inside the shanty towns of the Great Depression", "Streetscapes: Central Park's 'Hooverville'; Life Along 'Depression Street', "Why Listen to the Substitute? Throughout the United States during the Great Depression, Hoover ordered his Chief of Staff Gen. Douglas to! Tarpaper Carthage: Interpreting Hooverville, by Joey Smith, WATCH VIDEO: how Artists Helped End Great! On vacant land, the racially integrated and cohesive encampment was home to as many 8,000! The same site they occupied throughout throughout his presidency the outskirts of major.., look at the same rate settlements were often trespassing on private,. Children alike lived in the language that developed around the iconic representation of the important events during presidency... 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