Courtesy of Jennifer L.
A Hooverville, or shantytown, in the 1930s. Hoovervilles were named after President Herbert Hoover, who was president at the start of the Great Depression and widely blamed for it.
1932 Great Depression Hooverville Home Central Park New York USA/Charles Phelps Cushing/ClassicStock/via Getty Images
The Great Depression is considered one of the defining periods of American history. During this time, the American economy came reeling out of the furious pace of industrial innovation and buzzing consumption of the 1920s, and then jolted to a screeching halt with the stock market crash in October 1929.
Men line up outside a building for free soup. Soup kitchens were commonplace following the onset of the Depression.
Unemployed men queuing/Photo12/UIG/via Getty Images
Within a year of the market collapse, four million families were left without savings or support. Unemployment reached 24 percent by 1932. For the first time in America’s history, more people were leaving the country than entering it. Men selling apples for a nickel apiece began appearing on street corners outside of empty department stores. Families across the country were forced to pack all of their belongings into the family car and leave their homes. Many of them settled into makeshift “Hooverville” shantytowns.
Life was hard for kids during the Depression. Children’s rocking horses, train sets, Erector Sets, and other popular toys were among the first items to be left behind or sold to buy food and other necessary living supplies. Kids had to learn to do without, just as their parents did. Many could not attend school because they had to work. The power of children’s imaginations became their most important link to a world where childhood was still a time of innocence and play. Kids resorted to creating their playthings out of recycled tin cans, egg crates, odd pieces of wood, rope and twine, and whatever other materials the diligent seeker could find. In this environment, it’s not surprising few toy companies survived.
But Radio Flyer was an exception. In fact, Radio Flyer’s production levels of coaster wagons remained at a steady incline throughout the Depression, and by the end of it, sales were soaring—Radio Flyer was among the most trusted children’s products in the nation.