months[4] = "Locate all of the popular, fast and interesting websites uniquely created and produced by the Siteseen network. [3] Report of the Sanitation Divison December 31, 1935 as quoted in Excerpt from the Health Department Annual Report 1935, Seattle Municipal Archives: http://www.seattle.gov/CityArchives/Exhibits/Hoover/1935ar.htm (accessed December 29, 2009), [4] Report of Shack Elimination Committee (April 14, 1941), Seattle Municipal Archives (accessed December 29, 2009), Civil Rights and Labor History Consortium. It helped me pass my exam and the test questions are very similar to the practice quizzes on Study.com. This photo shows a team of two work horses hitched to a wagon with farm house visible in the background in Beltsville, Md., in 1935. Technically, these settlements were often in violation of state or local law; and even though they were often raided, it became common practice for authorities to endure them. Seattle's developed into a self-sufficient and organized town-within-a-town. In 1932, Hooverville was established in Anacostia, District of Columbia, to house a group of. When disaster struck, Americans looked to their President for leadership and compassion, but Hoover seemed to be short on both counts. 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Some claim to have been made up of men, women, and children, while others claim to only have had men. Although a common factor among Hooverville residents was unemployment, inhabitants took any work that became available, often laboring at such backbreaking, sporadic jobs as fruit picking or packing. They were named after Herbert Hoover, who was President of the United States during the onset of the Depression and was widely blamed for it. 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. Letter from Housing Authority to City Council (March 4, 1941) A Tarpaper Carthage: Interpreting Hooverville, by Joey Smith, Unit densities soared in the early 1930s. These communities of shacks or shanties were called Hoovervilles, after President Hoover, who refused to help the growing number of homeless. He explained that the population was fluid, as men sold their shacks to newcomers and moved on, and at its maximum during the winter months when it reached as hight as 1,200. A "Hooverville" dweller, Circleville, Ohio, c. 1938. In 1930, the largest Hooverville in America, consisting of four distinct sectors, was established in St. Louis. 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. As America's housing and economic crisis worsened through 2009, homelessness was on the rise. Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors. For webquest or practice, print a copy of this quiz at the Great Depression - Hoovervilles webquest print page. By the early 1940s, Roosevelts New Deal programs had turned the economy around and many of the Hoovervilles had been abandoned and demolished. Thousands of Hoovervilles began to appear all over the country. Dwellings in the Hoovervilles were little more than shacks built of discarded bricks, wood, tin, and cardboard. It is just west of Qwest Field and the Alaska Viaduct. The effect was the virtual freezing of international trade. Did you know? Tacoma had a large encampment that spanned six blocks. University of Washington: The Great Depression in Washington State.Hoovervilles in Seattle. 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. WATCH VIDEO: How Artists Helped End the Great Depression. [8], One exceptional Hooverville of Seattle, Washington held a structured government and collected extensive documentation. There was no work, people were starving and the local police repeatedly burned down the camp. [3], The city tolerated Hoovervilles until the eve of World War II. Unsanitary conditions in the camps left both their residents and the nearby communities at risk of disease. Petition for community bath houses in Hooverville (May 15, 1935) Most Hoovervilles operated in an informal, unorganized way, but the bigger ones would sometimes put forward spokespersons to serve as a liaison between the camp and the larger community. This sort of fatalism was especially apparent in the language that developed around the iconic representation of the Great Depression --the Hooverville. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. As the optimism of the 1920s gave way to fear and desperation, Americans looked to the federal government for relief. https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/hoovervilles. This page was last edited on 16 February 2023, at 00:48. Response from Health Department (May 23, 1935) As high winds and choking dust swept the region from Texas to Nebraska, people and livestock were killed and read more, The New Deal was a series of programs and projects instituted during the Great Depression by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that aimed to restore prosperity to Americans. President Herbert Hoover lost the election in 1932 to Franklin D. Roosevelt. WATCH VIDEO: Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Mark has a Ph.D in Social Science Education. In June, many of the so-called Bonus Army marched to the Capitol to request early payment of the government bonuses they had been promised for their military servicemoney that would have alleviated the financial problems of many families. As the Depression deepened, the sheer number of homeless people became overwhelming. Most men with construction skills were able to build their houses out of stone, but those who could not resort to making their residences out of wood from the materials available to them, most of which were recycled. Sign Me Up, Editing resources is available exclusively for KidsKonnect Premium members.To edit this worksheet, click the button below to signup (it only takes a minute) and you'll be brought right back to this page to start editing! It is a city built on hills and around water, in a mild marine climate that encourages prolific . He offers fascinating observations about social mores and culture of the community, including the easy racial relations and tolerance of homosexuality. Why was the Shanty Town called a Hooverville? Writer John Steinbeck featured a family who lived in a California Hooverville and sought farm work in his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939. READ MORE:Life for the Average Family During the Great Depression, In addition to the term Hooverville, President Hoovers name was used derisively in other ways during the Great Depression. "Nobody Paid any Attention": The Economic Marginalization of Seattle's Hooverville, Seattles Hooverville: The Failure of Effective Unemployment Relief in the Early 1930s, Hooverville: A Study of a Community of Homeless Men in Seattle, Seattle Municipal Archives Hooverville Documents, Unemployed Citizens League and Poverty Activism, Self-Help Activists: The Seattle Branches of the Unemployed Citizens League, Organizing the Unemployed: The Early 1930s, Civil Rights and Labor History Consortium | University of Washington. Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support. They were named after Herbert Hoover, who was the President of the United States during the start of the Great Depression and was given the blame for it. Small camps and sites in towns sprang up in any available space. In 1933, it was 25%, with 1 out of every 4 people out of work. Homeowners lost their property when they could not pay mortgages or pay taxes. A look at how people lived, especially in the makeshift dwellings they constructed, gives a better sense of this, as does an understanding of the bitter humor behind the naming of these dwellings, known as 'Hoovervilles'. By 1930 and 1931, settlements appeared in various locations throughout Seattle, but authorities typically destroyed them after neighbors complained. Ultimately, they were a bitterly ironic symbol of the suffering inherent in the worst economic crisis in U.S. History. Jackson was also the chairperson of the Vigilance Committee. Its unofficial mayor was Jesse Jackson, who led the city in tolerating the homeless and imposed lax building and sanitation regulations. The nation turned to Herbert Hoover expecting help, but he had none to give. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. The term was a derogatory reference to President Herbert Hoover, who many people blamed for allowing the U.S. to fall into economic despair. Hoovervilles varied in size from a few hundred residents to thousands of people in larger cities like New York City, Washington, D.C., and Seattle, Washington. If you reference any of the content on this page on your own website, please use the code below to cite this page as the original source. Some of the men who were forced to live in these conditions possessed construction skills, and were able to build their houses out of stone. Named for President Herbert Hoover, the ramshackle settlements ranged in size and were set up across the nation. Some homes were not buildings at all, but deep holes dug in the ground with makeshift roofs laid over them to keep out inclement weather. Many Americans in need believed the resolution to their problems lay in government assistance, but Hoover resisted such a response throughout his presidency. The Great Depression was the most severe and enduring economic collapse of the 20th century, and included abrupt declines in the supply and demand of goods and services along with a meteoric rise in unemployment. 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. In May 1942, shortly after Seattle destroyed its Hooverville, the Tacoma Fire Department burned fifty of the "Hollywood" shacks. Some cities allowed squatter encampments for a time, others did not. Many of us spend a great deal of time imagining what we'd do if we had a lot of money--if we won the lottery, for example.