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Marine Villa in St. Louis, Missouri — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)
 

2008 Cherokee

Hard Times - 1933

— Cherokee-Lemp Historic District —

 
 
2008 Cherokee Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Devry Becker Jones (CC0), October 7, 2018
1. 2008 Cherokee Marker
Inscription.
One-third of the American workforce was unemployed. In January of 1933, anxiety about the economy led to panicked withdrawals from the banks. The anxiety grew into frenzy, and the withdrawals turned into a run on the banks. Banks all over St. Louis had to shut their doors. People feared reading the morning paper, afraid that it might report that the latest run on the banks had erased their savings.

By the Great Depression, this house, built in 1887, was already almost half a century old. It had been divided into three apartments. Machinist Herman Henning and his wife Margaret, who owned the home, lived on the second floor. The first floor was rented to Frank Zwick, a shoe worker, his wife Anna and their teenaged son. The third floor was home to a printer, Leroy Wacker, and his wife Emma. The families shoveled coal into stoves to heat their flats. All the residents were dependent on the outhouses in the back yard. Some things in the home had been updated. The original gas lamps were supplemented with new, electric light fixtures.

At that time, fewer than half the households in the neighborhood owned radios, then the latest in high tech communications. Those fortunate enough to have radios, invited friends and neighbors, so they could listen to Franklin Delano Roosevelt calm an anxious country with his remarkable
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inaugural address on March 4, 1933. In that era of despair, FDR stated, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." In the new president's fireside chat on the radio, they could hear the president explain his plans to rebuild the soundness of the American banking system.

The following year, the Hennings had a $800 mortgage on this house -- at that time a great burden for working people.
 
Erected 2007 by NiNi Harris.
 
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: CommunicationsGovernment & PoliticsIndustry & CommerceScience & Medicine. In addition, it is included in the Former U.S. Presidents: #32 Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the Missouri, St. Louis, The Cherokee-Lemp History Walk series lists. A significant historical month for this entry is January 1933.
 
Location. 38° 35.561′ N, 90° 13.281′ W. Marker is in St. Louis, Missouri. It is in Marine Villa. Marker is on Cherokee Street west of Wisconsin Avenue, on the right when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 2008 Cherokee Street, Saint Louis MO 63118, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. 2014 Cherokee (a few steps from this marker); At Home On Cherokee (within shouting distance of this marker); 1959 Cherokee (within shouting distance of
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this marker); Settlers' Homes (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); The Cigar Store (about 400 feet away); Life In The Fifties (about 400 feet away); The Elusive Cemetery (about 400 feet away); 2125 Cherokee (about 500 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in St. Louis.
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on January 30, 2023. It was originally submitted on October 9, 2018, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 305 times since then and 7 times this year. Photo   1. submitted on October 9, 2018, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.

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Apr. 25, 2024