Photo © New York Daily News, Business Insider

Hoovervilles

Description

Established, ca 1930

Hoovervilles were shantytowns built by homeless people during the Great Depression, named after President Herbert Hoover, who was blamed for the economic crisis. Made from scrap materials, they appeared across the U.S. near soup kitchens. Residents lived in makeshift homes, relying on public charity.

Removed, ca 1940

Despite New Deal efforts, Hoovervilles persisted until the economy recovered in the 1940s, when they were eradicated.

Factoids

2005-King Kong, directed by Peter Jackson, depicts the Hooverville in New York's Central Park at the beginning of the film.

2005-The movie Cinderella Man also referenced the Central Park encampment.

1977-The musical Annie has a song called "We'd Like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover", which takes place in a Hooverville beneath the 59th Street Bridge. In the song, the chorus sings of the hardships they now suffer because of the Great Depression and their contempt for the former president.

Related People & Organizations

Herbert Hoover

Map View

Central Park

The Great Lawn, 79th Street & 85th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA

Riverside Park at 72nd Street

R25M+R3 Riverside Park, New York, NY 10025, USA

Between Chrystie and Forsyth Streets

Hester St, New York, NY, USA

Nearby

Canticle of the Creatures

711.15 miles

University of Chicago / Department of Economics and Becker Friedman Institute for Research in Economics

711.22 miles

The Great Chicago Fire

712.97 miles

Chicago Public School

current

3 Results,Show less

current Images

2 Images,Show less

The Broadway production of the musical "Annie."

1931 - Squatters Colony [Hooverville] on Hester Street

current Drawings and documents

1 Document,Show less

1993 - Life Along 'Depression Street'

1930 - Established

13 Results,Show less

1930 - Established - Images

13 Images,Show less

In strange contrast to the turreted towers of Central Park West in the background is this simple row of shacks

Depression shacks "Hoover Village" in the old Central Park reservoir.

1931 - Aerial of Central Park reservoir, which was drained

1932 - Men work on finally filling in the site of the old Central Park Lower Reservoir

1933 - Overlooking Central Park, and the pond can be seen in the foreground. Buildings of the Upper West Side are on the left, and the Upper East Side is on the right.

1933 - Central Park Hooverville with Central Park West in the Background

1931 - A closeup of one of the shacks and its occupant built at the entrance of a water conduit

1931 - One of the squatters is shown beside his shack; the midtown skyline is in the distance.

1932 - Inhabitants of Hooverville gather outside the Mansion, the town's chief edifice, which snuggles in lee of a rocky cliff to protect it from wintry winds.

1931 - There were other Hoovervilles in New York City, but the one in Central Park was the most well-known.

1933 - Some of the inhabitants of the colony sat around their fire in an attempt to keep warm

1933 - A man in Central Park is evicted to make way for the reservoir.

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