Courtesy Tacoma Public Library. Beyond the waters lie two rugged mountain ranges, the Olympics to the west and the Cascades to the east. There was no work, people were starving and the local police repeatedly burned down the camp. [1] There were hundreds of Hoovervilles across the country during the 1930s.[2]. Banks closed, and factories shut down; thousands and then millions of jobs were lost. Throughout the country, Hoovervilles, or makeshift shanties, would spring up to provide shelter wherever possible, often near water sources or the soup kitchens operated by churches and charities. As such, he was highly reluctant to shift the federal government into high gear to try and solve an economic crisis. By 1932 millions of Americans were living outside the normal rent-paying housing market. These camps came to be called Hoovervilles, after the president. While the goal of the tariffs was to protect U.S.-made products from foreign competition, most countries retaliated by raising their tariffs on U.S. goods. Thousands of World War I veterans, calling themselves the Bonus Army, had arrived in the nation's capital to demand early payment of a bonus they had been promised at the end of the war. 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. Many squeezed in with relatives. With such a well-developed social order, the camp maintained itself as a functional separate community from 1930 to 1936, when President Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal sweeping economic recovery plan allocated federal funds for its removal. This website helped me pass! Almost 6,000 shanty towns, called Hoovervilles, sprang up in the 1930s. Next: Unemployed Citizens League and Poverty Activism. A "Hooverville" was a shanty town built during the Great Depression by the homeless in the United States. It maintained itself as a free-standing community until 1936, when it was razed. Seattle's main Hooverville was one of the largest, longest-lasting, and best documented in the nation. months[1] = "Find information about the instructive websites produced by international publisher Siteseen Ltd. "; Sign Up. In May 1942, shortly after Seattle destroyed its Hooverville, the Tacoma Fire Department burned fifty of the "Hollywood" shacks. The government refused to pay, citing Depression-era budgetary restrictions. How many people lived in the Hoovervilles in the 1930s? These are ready-to-use Hooverville worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Hooverville, which was a small town founded by homeless people in the United States during the Great Depression. "; (2021, December 6). It began after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. When most of the veterans refused to leave their shacks, Hoover sent in U.S. Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur to evict the Bonus Army. Many felt that the government had to help those who lost work in the 1930s. var current_date = new Date(); month_value = current_date.getMonth(); day_value = current_date.getDate(); year_value = current_date.getFullYear(); document.write( months[month_value] ); was the 31st American President who served in office from March 4, 1929 to March 4, 1933. 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 Hoovervilles were dotted with vegetable gardens, and some individual shacks contained furniture a family had managed to carry away upon eviction from their former home. Nonwhites comprised 29% of the colony's population, including 120 Filipinos, 29 African Americas, 25 Mexicans, 4 Native Americans, 4 South Americans, and 2 Japanese. [2], However, not every Hooverville fits this description. 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. Many features of life during the Great Depression were given bitter connotations with Hoover's name. Probably the most famous Hooverville was the one founded on Anacostia Flats, just outside Washington, D.C., in 1932. Roy found the relaxed social atmosphere remarkable, describing "an ethnic rainbow" where men of many colors intermingled "in shabby comraderie. 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. Facts about Shantytowns and HoovervillesThe following fact sheet contains interesting facts and information on Shantytowns and Hoovervilles. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was an ambitious employment and infrastructure program created by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935, during the bleakest days of the Great Depression. Homeowners lost their property when they could not pay mortgages or pay taxes. Home Facts Privacy About Blog Contact Terms. To find out more, see our cookie policy. [2] Jesse Jackson, "The Story of Seattle's Hooverville," in Calvin F. Schmid, Social Trends in Seattle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1944), 286-93. Inside Hoovervilles were houses called shanties . "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. However, some countries retaliated by raising their tariffs, and international trade was hampered. The term 'Hooverville' probably originated with Charles Michelson, who was a newspaper reporter and, in 1930, the publicity director for the Democratic National Party. 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. The makeshift shacks were constructed from unwanted materials and lacked basic amenities such as adequate sanitation and clean drinking water. Named for President Herbert Hoover, the ramshackle settlements ranged in size and were set up across the nation. Click the Edit button above to get started. https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/hoovervilles. 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. 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. Will Work ForAnything. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Facts About Hoovervilles The term Hooverville came from the blame on President Herbert Hoover for the intolerable economic and social conditions. The Hoovervilles varied in size from just a few shacks clustered together to communities of over 1000 rickety shacks covering acres of unused or public lands. When Roosevelt took office in 1933, he acted swiftly to stabilize the economy and provide jobs and relief read more, The Stock Market Crash of 1929 occurred on October 29, 1929, when Wall Street investors traded some 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. 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! Usually built on the edges of larger cities, hundreds of thousands of people lived in the many Hooverville camps. Some Hoovervilles even received assistance from churches and private donors. Hoovervilles Appear Nationwide As the Depression worsened and millions of families lost their jobs and depleted their savings, they also lost their homes. The Great Depression drew to an end with the outbreak of WW2 and municipal programs aimed at "eradicating" shantytowns destroyed all the Hoovervilles. Whenever possible, Hoovervilles were built near rivers for the convenience of a water source. It was named after Herbert Hoover, an American politician who was the president during the first years of the Great Depression. [3] Men, women and children alike lived in Hoovervilles. Some people . Robert Longley is a U.S. government and history expert with over 30 years of experience in municipal government and urban planning. 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. 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. Hoover also didn't think it would work and that a crisis such as this one would have to blow over on its own. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/hoovervilles-homeless-camps-of-the-great-depression-4845996. In "The Grapes of Wrath" the camp is described as filthy, filled with hopeless, despairing residents. But they eventually returned because they had nowhere else to go, and they were soon allowed to stay, owing to public sympathy. "; Sign Me Up. months[5] = "Explore the interesting, and fascinating selection of unique websites created and produced by the Siteseen network. The suffering in the Great Depression, from 1929 to 1941, is hard for modern Americans to wrap their minds around. Police officers doused the little structures with kerosene and lit them as spectators watched. [2] Among the white population, nationalities included English, Irish, Polish, Spanish, Italian, and Russian. Americas longest lasting Hooverville in Seattle, Washington, stood for ten years, from 1931 to 1941. Black and white men would share homes out of convenience and, likewise, exemplify camaraderie and friendship. Homelessness was present before the Great Depression, and was a common sight before 1929. In 1930, the largest Hooverville in America, consisting of four distinct sectors, was established in St. Louis. As the Great Depression worsened, so too did people's moods. Definition, Examples, Pros and Cons. Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images. Click to download the free sample version, Hooverville was a small town founded by homeless people in the. 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? lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. Many people would can their food so that it would last longer. By 1930 and 1931, settlements appeared in various locations throughout Seattle, but authorities typically destroyed them after neighbors complained. In turn, a new lexicon came into being -- words like "Hoovervilles," "Hoover blankets" and "Hoover hogs." 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. As America's housing and economic crisis worsened through 2009, homelessness was on the rise. University of Washington: The Great Depression in Washington State.Hoovervilles in Seattle. 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. 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. It became the most widespread crisis of the twentieth century, affecting several countries worldwide. Signed in June 1930, the decidedly protectionist law placed extremely high tariffs on imported foreign goods. A Brief Look at the U.S. Department of Labor. Between 1929 and 1932, the value of world trade declined by more than half. months[8] = "This website is produced by the Siteseen network that specializes in producing free informative websites on a diverse range of topics. The name was a reference to Herbert Hoover who was the President of the United States during the at the start of the Depression and widely blamed for it. Most of them did not find work. By 1932, between one and two million American people were homeless. They are crowded, dirty, miserable, and they are places where the homeless gather to build temporary homes. Migrant workers and immigrants greatly suffered from the lack of work and made up a large portion of the Hoovervilles across the country.[2]. On two occasions, the Seattle Health Department ordered the residents to leave and burned their shanties when they refused. For one thing, Hoover was a believer in the power of the free market and in the value of perseverance. Unit densities soared in the early 1930s. 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