Life in the Great Depression

Life in the Great Depression. Economic Collapse, Recovery and Change.

1929: Stock market crash. , 1932: PA unemployment at 35%. Banks fail nationwide. , 1933: President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated New Deal. , 1935: Social Security enacted.

, After world war one ended, industrial closures and consolidations plus declining farm incomes led to hard times for some Perry Countians. The population declined from 26,263 in 1900 to 21,644 in 1930 as workers sought employment elsewhere., In 1929, the Great Depression began nationally. By 1933, as unemployment peaked, a Newport relief charity supported over 300 persons with food and clothing. As tax delinquencies soared, local governments and school districts reduced salaries. The Clark's Ferry Bridge dropped its tolls from 10 to 5 cents., A New Deal program, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), in 1933 opened three camps in Perry County for young men. For $1/day, room, board and clothing, hundreds worked on trails, roads and reforestation., Almost every town supported new 'talkie' movie houses. The 1931 county fair supplemented horse racing with automobile racing. That same year, Governor Gifford Pinchot's program of 'Getting the farmer out of the mud' began paving rural roads, which alleviated some unemployment., As the 1930s progressed, the economy improved. In 1941, affluent citizens chartered the Perry County Country Club for golf and dining. In December 1941, war engulfed the nation and full employment returned. After the conflict, the Club became the Newport American Legion Post., County Historian H.H. Hain Wrote at Christmas 1932:

"With snow covering the ground and very little employment, many families are up against it. Some have very little to eat; others have too little clothing. Others have not enough bedspreads to keep them warm. Children are without proper shoes and in wet and damp feet lurks pneumonia, and some are without medicine. Stop just a minute and see if there aren't some such in your block, in your vicinity, in your valley, in your town, in your township, in your church, in your Sunday School, in your acquaintance and in need."

, [Captions:] , The 1936 Marysville train yard held 150 locomotives in storage waiting to be decommissioned., During the Depression, the Perry County Almshouse functioned at full capacity., The automobile allowed the Hiram Schleichter Burd family to gather more easily. For rural families, a garden and a few farm animals helped many to cope.