Hooverville

Hoovervilles littering Central Park in New York City

During the Great Depression, many Americans became unemployed, lost their homes, and were forced to live in Hoovervilles. The federal government did little to help these citizens as this type of mass unemployment had never occurred in this relatively new country. These shantytowns appeared in many United States cities during the 1930s and were named after President Herbert Hoover who they blamed for the depression.

Some of the men who were forced to live in these conditions, possessed building skills and were able to build their houses out of stone. Most people, however, resorted to building their abodes out of box wood, cardboard, and any scraps of metal they could find. Some individuals even lived in watermains.

Most of these unemployed vagabonds begged city inhabitants for food. A "Hoover blanket" was yesterday's newspaper, and a "Hoover flag" was an empty pocket turned inside out. Hoover believed that this was a local problem, and not a federal concern. He believed that the cities, with help from private charities, were responsible for fixing the problem.