The Great Depression began in October 1929 with the largest stock market crash America had ever seen. In three days, investors lost $5 billion, and by the end of the year, losses reached $11 billion. By 1933, as many as 13 to 15 million Americans were without work and almost half of the nation’s banks had gone under.
For Iowans, the hard times started about 10 years earlier when prices for crops and land dropped, and machinery costs rose to very high levels. Most farmers couldn’t afford to pay off their loans, and banks were forced to close. Even before the collapse, many rural Iowans were struggling financially, and most farm families didn’t have electricity in their homes. When the Depression hit, things only got worse. The following photos show us a glimpse of what life was like back then, and will remind us all of what we have to be thankful for today.
- A couple farm workers shell corn for storage in a granary in Grundy County.
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- A group of spectators watch a cornhusking contest in Marshall County.
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- A couple children from Dickens reading the Sunday paper.
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- A child sits on his mother’s lap while she reads the newspaper.
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- A farmer near Estherville breaks the ice to water his mules.
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- A farmer from Estherville rolls himself a cigarette.
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- Mr. & Mrs. Austin Fretty on their farm near Armstrong. The land was rented from a loan company, and they started farming with the help of a resettlement loan.
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- Mrs. Theodore Eickholt and her three children sit on the front porch of their home in Miller Township.
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- The dormitory at the homeless men’s bureau in Sioux City.
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- Mrs. Earl Pauley, a tenant farmer, and some of her children in the doorway of their farm home near Smithland.
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- The skeleton of a horse on a farm near Anthon that died of compaction due to poor feed.
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- A couple farmhands take a break to eat some watermelon at a farm in Jasper County.
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- Main Street in Iowa Falls on a Saturday night in September of 1939.
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- A brother and sister have a corn fight in Jasper County.
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- The old general store in Lamoille.
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- A group of homesteaders in Granger in May of 1936.
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- Farmers baling straw in Clay County.
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- A young girl sits on her bed at a farm house near Milford. There are no sheets, pillowcases, or pillows, and bedding usually consisted of castoff rags and a few old blankets.
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- A farmer’s wife churns butter in Emmet County.
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- Christmas dinner for this farm family near Smithfield consisted of potatoes, cabbage and pie.
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These powerful images are reminders of the times that many of our parents and grandparents lived through. And they certainly drive home the fact that we have much to be grateful for as we head into the holiday season, especially as we realize that there are many who are still in need, even in Iowa.
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