The Great Depression in North Carolina:
A family in NC working their cotton crops during the Great Depression.
The 1920’s had been a good growing period for the country but on October 29, 1929, the United States’ stock market crashed and the country was headed toward misfortune. However, for many North Carolinians were working as farmers and laborers, the 1920’s had not been very productive. Many of the jobs had become compromised by industrialization and the crops had not been growing as well as they should. North Carolina was not experiencing the economic boom many states around the country were but they were cutting back and surviving. So with the crash of the stock market in 1929 and the Great Depression beginning, many families were out of luck for self-preservation because most of the crops were tobacco and cotton, which cannot feed anyone. North Carolinians living conditions did not approve and were finally given help when Governor O. Max Gardner took office and introduced the “Live at Home” program. This program taught farmers how to effectively grow food crops and taught women how to can and preserve food (Bishop, 2010).
Workers in a relief program fix a road in Watuga, NC.
To combat the depression, many programs to get citizens working were created. One of these programs was the “Civilian Conservation Corps” that had young men working on conservation and reforestation work, as well as, construction on the famous Blue Ridge Parkway. Laborers were also hired to build necessities like schools, courthouses, streets, sidewalks, and airports. Another program that helped benefit the state was The North Carolina Symphony that was created to help musicians and artists gain a living. North Carolina and its inhabitants were slowly but surely going to recover from the devastating depression (Steelman, 2010).
A modern day picture of downtown Asheville, NC.
Asheville, being a more urban city, did not suffer as severely during the 1920’s as the more rural areas of North Carolina did. Asheville’s downtown area was growing as more and more shops and businesses moved in and the historical Grove Park Inn was bringing in celebrities. However, when the city’s primary bank Central Bank and Trust Company closed, everything started to spiral downward. The city of Asheville struggled to regain footing because of major debt, but in 1977, all debts were cleared and the generations who were paying the debt began with a clean slate (“Asheville’s History”).