Savannah Reams: Greene Publishing, Inc.
The decade of the 1930s brought about momentous changes for the United States. The Wall Street Crash of 1929, referred to as "Black Tuesday," marked the end of prosperity produced by the booming twenties, and welcomed an era of serious circumstances.
The greatest stock market crash in American history catapulted the country into The Great Depression. Many across the nation were unemployed and desolate. In addition, President Herbert Hoover exacerbated America's instability with failed tax increases. However, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's election in 1932 brought about hope among citizens, especially with the introduction of The New Deal in 1933; a series of reforms and public projects which aimed to provide relief, recovery, and reform—the three R's.
Sarah Monteen Shore, of Madison County, models the feminine style of the 1930s. The hemline of her dress is much longer than that of the flapper girls of the 1920s. Her hair is styled in soft waves.
Madison County was affected by The Great Depression just as it affected the entire country. In fact, Cherry Lake was a site utilized by the United States government in order to provide relief to families in urban areas. According to The State Archives of Florida, Cherry Lake Farm (also known as Cherry Lake Rural Rehabilitation Project) was a New Deal rural relief program initiated by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and the Resettlement Administration (RA) and implemented by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The project involved moving 500 needy families from Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville onto a 15,000 acre communal tract. The workers formed the cooperatively-owned Cherry Lake Farms (headquartered in the 1839 former plantation home, the Hinton House) and constructed a school, an auditorium, a coop store, barracks, a lumber yard and a mill. Families lived in 170 cottages with phones, electricity and running water.
Despite the economic turmoil which surrounded the 1930s, the era produced some of the best movies, music and fashion of all time. "Swing" music began to gain popularity, George Gershwin's world-renowned opera Porgy and Bess premiered, the "Blues" genre made leaps and bounds and, with the introduction of "talkies," the Golden Age of Hollywood was just beginning, producing some of the best-known movies of all time, such as “Gone with the Wind,” “The Wizard of Oz” and Walt Disney's “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.”
The fashions of the 1920s lingered throughout the 30s, however, as the Great Depression marched onward, practicality began to outweigh popular trends. Women's clothing became more feminine, with skirts gaining length, and waistlines returning to their original place. Hair was worn in soft waves or curls and women embraced a more maidenlike style, as opposed to the boyish bobs of the 1920s.
Pictured is one of the barracks at the Cherry Lake Rural Rehabilitation Community. These barracks were built as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal.
Evidence of the times is difficult to miss in portraits of Madison County in the 1930s. Take a look at some of the treasures we have shared with you today.