By , when the Great Depression reached its lowest point, some 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half the country's banks had failed. This Hooverville was established on lands owned by the Seattle Port Commission and lasted ten years from its establishment in until its final destruction in Definition and Summary of the Shantytowns and Hoovervilles By , between one and two million American people were homeless.
The Hoovervilles varied in size from just a few shacks clustered together to communities of over rickety shacks covering acres of unused or public lands. When people used cardboard to fix their shoes they called it Hoover leather. As the Great Depression came to an end, more people were able to get work and move out of the Hoovervilles. In , programs were put into place to remove the makeshift towns throughout the United States. Mobilizing the economy for world war finally cured the depression.
Millions of men and women joined the armed forces, and even larger numbers went to work in well-paying defense jobs. World War Two affected the world and the United States profoundly; it continues to influence us even today.
In Seattle, Washington stood one of the largest, longest-lasting, and best documented Hoovervilles in the country, standing for ten years, between to Breadlines were thus a necessity during the s. They were run by private charities, such as the Red Cross ; private individuals—the gangster Al Capone opened a breadline in Chicago; and government agencies.
They were named after Herbert Hoover, who was President of the United States of America during the onset of the Depression and was widely blamed for it. The Depression hit hardest those nations that were most deeply indebted to the United States , i.
For a brief period, Hoover Valley became a tourist destination. A former tight-rope walker named Ralph Redfield held performances. Central Park also provided sustenance. In June , a patrolman asked a man shaking a tree what he was doing. The man responded: "We do this every day. We eat the berries. You know in the Bible people life off fig trees, so we live off these mulberry trees here in the park.
Mitchell Jablons wrote about what people living in another one of New York's Hoovervilles were like. Jablons described them as "men gathered around open fires in empty oil drums much as we see today among the homeless. In September , even though Central Park's Hooverville residents maintained their appearances, a New York City health official said that unless the city fitted running water and sewerage, they had to go.
That month, 29 men were arrested for living in the Hooverville. In , the Hooverville was destroyed so that park workers could lay the new Great Lawn. Those who still lived there left peacefully. According to The New York Times, "in the end, as everyone else seemed to hope, they just sort of disappeared. Public official Robert Moses, who's often referred to as New York's "master builder" — and a controversial opponent of the poor and people of color — ensured any traces of the Hooverville were wiped away.
Nearly 90 years have passed since the Hooverville was destroyed, but homelessness has persisted in the US. In a single evening in , a year after the Great Recession hit, , people were experiencing homelessness the country. The numbers fell until the pandemic hit. But things are expected to get worse. The words of "Old" John Cahill, a man living in another one of New York's Hoovervilles, still sound relevant today: "Nobody's askin' us where we're goin'," he told a reporter in , as his Hooverville was cleared away.
Loading Something is loading. Renters fell behind and faced eviction. By millions of Americans were living outside the normal rent-paying housing market. Many squeezed in with relatives.
Unit densities soared in the early s. Some squatted, either defying eviction and staying where they were, or finding shelter in one of the increasing number of vacant buildings. 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.
Some cities allowed squatter encampments for a time, others did not. Click to see google map of shack towns in Seattle area and more photos and descriptions. In Seattle shacks appeared in many locations in and , but authorities usually destroyed them after neighbors complained. 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.
Today the nine acre site is used to unload container ships. It is just west of Qwest Field and the Alaska Viaduct. Seattle police twice burned the early Hooverville, but each time residents rebuilt. When a new mayor took office in , 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.
Donald Roy created this map of Seattle's Hooverville. Click the image to see a larger version of the map and here to read excerpts from Roy's sociological survey. In cities people lived wherever they could find shelter under bridges, on subways and in public parks. Americans in rural areas made homes in caves. During the winter months people even asked to sleep in jail cells.
Shanty Town Facts The Hoovervilles for kids Shanty Town Fact Inhabitants living in the primitive conditions of the shantytowns were subject to many health problems.
Inadequate sanitation, lack of clean drinking water and poor nutrition lead to a variety of diseases and illnesses such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, diarrhea, rickets, influenza, pneumonia and skin diseases. Shanty Town Fact The state described as 'absolute poverty' has been described as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information".
The inhabitants of the Hoovervilles and shantytowns in the s were deprived of many of these basic needs - for additional facts refer to Poverty in the Great Depression. It was called "Hoover Valley" and the shacks were referred to as "Depression Street".
In his famous novel the Joad family briefly settles into a Hooverville in California. In "The Grapes of Wrath" the camp is described as filthy, filled with hopeless, despairing residents. There was no work, people were starving and the local police repeatedly burned down the camp. Shanty Town Fact Many authorities frequently tolerated the shantytowns out of sheer necessity.
Others responded to complaints by people in the neighborhood and evicted the inhabitants and burned the shacks. Shanty Town Fact The Great Depression drew to an end with the outbreak of WW2 and municipal programs aimed at "eradicating" shantytowns destroyed all the Hoovervilles. Shanty Town Facts for kids: Hoovervilles - President Herbert Hoover Video The article on the Shanty Town provides detailed facts and a summary of one of the important events during his presidential term in office. The following Herbert Hoover video will give you additional important facts and dates about the political events experienced by the 31st American President whose presidency spanned from March 4, to March 4, Shanty Town Facts: Hoovervilles.
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