{"id":15155,"date":"2022-02-02T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.renthop.com\/content-manager\/?p=15155"},"modified":"2022-02-02T15:01:32","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T20:01:32","slug":"when-central-parks-great-lawn-was-a-shantytown-called-hooverville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.renthop.com\/blog\/when-central-parks-great-lawn-was-a-shantytown-called-hooverville\/","title":{"rendered":"When Central Park\u2019s Great Lawn Was a Shantytown Called \u201cHooverville\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

If Central Park had any real estate to offer today, it would likely house the upper crust<\/a>: New York City’s<\/a> wealthiest and most-privileged residents. But back in the 1930s, Central Park’s Great Lawn was once a dilapidated shantytown called “Hooverville,” a place where homeless squatters found refuge during the Great Depression.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The park’s first shanty consisted of wooden planks, cardboard boxes, and other scrap materials. It popped up on October 16th, 1930. Soon thereafter, the Great Lawn became an encampment for people who had lost their jobs during the economic downturn: former bricklayers, masons, and other blue-collar workers who had held trade occupations before the Wall Street Crash of 1929.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How “Hoovervilles” Got Their Name<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Hooverville settlements were named after then-President Herbert Hoover, whose single term in office was not only dwarfed by the Great Depression. It was consumed by it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The stock market crash of 1929 marked one of the bleakest periods in U.S. history. During the Great Depression, the nation’s economy went to the dogs and unemployment rose astronomically. The Depression hit New York City particularly hard, as it held much of the country’s workforce.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

By 1932, one-third of workers in NYC, or approximately 640,000 people, were suddenly unemployed, forced to make ends meet. And to make matters worse, more than nine million Americans across the U.S. were out of work.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Some historians believed that Central Park’s Hooverville could have been prevented. They criticized President Hoover’s handling (or mis<\/em>handling) of the economic downturn, arguing that he did little to ease the suffering of those affected by it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

President Hoover’s successor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, would eventually instate several financial reforms and social welfare programs designed to revive the economy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But this series of programs called \u201cThe New Deal\u201d wouldn’t start until 1933. Till then, Hoovervilles were appearing not only in New York City but all over the U.S.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Notable ones included the Hoovervilles in Seattle and St. Louis. Seattle had eight of them during the 1930s. St. Louis, on the other hand, was home to the largest Hooverville in the nation: a shantytown with approximately 1,000 residents who tried to make the most of their despondency. For example, St. Louis’ Hooverville had churches and other gathering spaces that promoted a social atmosphere. Not to mention an unofficial mayor to oversee it all.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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