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Article: Hooverville
- Article from:
- Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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HOOVERVILLE
Hooverville was a derogatory term used to describe the ramshackle towns that were built and inhabited by millions of homeless and unemployed people in communities across the United States during the Great Depression. Named after Herbert Hoover (1874
–
1964),
who was president from 1929
–
1933, when the Depression began, Hoovervilles typically consisted of makeshift homes made from cardboard, tin, crates, scrap lumber, and other discarded materials. Hoovervilles generally sprang up within the inner cities of the country's most populated metropolitan areas. For daily subsistence residents depended on the charity of nearby bakeries and produce houses that would ...