Big Apple History . New York Living . Hoovervilles


	A Hooverville in Central Park.

The Great Depression was severe enough to make it impossible for the New York City government to take care of its people. The government had too few resources to meet the growing demands of the needy. The few resources that the government actually had didn't reach the hungry, the sick, and the homeless because many city officials were corrupt and kept those resources for themselves.

Before the twentieth century, New Yorkers did not expect the federal or state governments to take care of them in times of economic hardship. They expected the federal government to defend them from attack but not from unemployment. Virtually overnight the Depression changed the expectations of New Yorkers regarding the role of the federal government in their lives. They needed help from a higher power -- and fast.

Unfortunately, the federal government did little to help. As a result, many came to hate President Herbert Hoover, whom they blamed for the collapse of the economy and the lack of relief. By 1931 tens of thousands of New Yorkers had been evicted from their homes. Some doubled up with friends and family, but others had no place to go. When shantytowns sprung up along the East River, the Hudson, and in Central Park, they were angrily nicknamed Hoovervilles.

The largest Hooverville in New York was located in the middle of Central Park, near the abandoned Croton Reservoir. Some shantytown dwellers were lucky enough to have the skills of builders. Unemployed masons took stone blocks from the reservoir and used them to create a shanty that was twenty feet tall. Less fortunate men were forced to make their homes in empty water mains.