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Wednesday, June 05, 2013

1930's: THE GREAT DEPRESSION

This Roll of Honor memorial was located on Perry Street at the intersection of North Warren Street. To those who are not familiar with the era that found America floundering in what was known as "The Great Depression," the American eagle atop the sign is sponsored by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's NRA or as it was more commonly known, the National Recovery Act. Many wealthy Americans lost everything in the stock market crash in 1929. There were frantic attempts to find enough money to eat and feed a family. One of the more serious but common scenes on city streets were men who only months ago, were financially secure. The crash found a number of destitute citizens standing on sidewalks selling apples for 5 cents. The Great depression hit the Glover family very hard. One of the saving graces was our rural location where we grew vegetables and had chickens and geese.

2 comments:

RALPH LUCARELLA said...

HI TOM...10 YEARS OF STRUGGLE WERE THE 30'S. LIKE YOU, WE LOST OUR HOME AND WERE LUCKY TO GET A HOUSE ON FRANKLIN ST. WITH THE MONEY MY FATHER GOT ON THE FORECLOSURE. AND WE ALSO ATE EVERYTHING THAT GREW IN OUR BACK YARD. MY MOTHER MADE HER OWN BREAD AND THE BAKERY COOKED IT FOR 5 CENTS A LOAF. IN SPITE OF ALL THE PROBLEMS, WE MANAGED LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, AND I GOT TO PLAY BASEBALL AT WETZEL FIELD AND WAS SELECTED BY JAKE MILLER TO PLAY WITH THE SCHROTHS IN THE AMEERICAN LEGION TOURNAMENT.

Tom Glover said...

ANOTHER TRUE "HARD LUCK STORY" BY MANY OF MY AND YOUR GENERATION, RALPH. WE LIVED NEXT DOOR TO THE ARENA FAMILY. MOM ARENA AND MY MOM USED TO BARTER OVER THE BACK FENCE. PASTA FOR MY MOM, AND CHICKEN FOR THE ARENAS. THEY WERE WONDERFUL NEIGHBORS.