Most of us can’t really “get” the Great Depression – and that’s good! Unless we’ve been in a poverty-stricken foreign country, we can only dimly imagine what it’s like to have much of the economy crashing down with no social safety net. No Social Security. No unemployment compensation. Very few unions. No pension plans. A low level of home ownership (only 40% of homes were owner-occupied).
Even if you had put money away for a rainy day, your bank(s) might pull the rug out from under you. J. B. Sturdevant Bank of Avoca failed in 1929, and the following year Mr. Sturdevant paid depositors 10 cents on every dollar they’d entrusted him with. Savona National Bank closed in late April, 1931, and Painted Post National Bank in December.
Hornell had three banks as 1932 dawned, but First National went down on Valentine’s Day. Just over two months later, perhaps unnerved by First National’s fate, depositors started a run on the remaining banks. Steuben Trust survived, and indeed just merged with Community in 2020. But Citizens National, which went back over 80 years, was broken on April 30.
Atlanta National Bank failed in April, 1933, but reorganized and reopened a few weeks later; depositors got 85 cents on the dollar, though shareholders lost everything.
And as we think about all that annihilated money, remember that it wasn’t just families and individuals – businesses, churches, and municipalities lost their money too. So did insurance companies and pension plans, so if you were counting on THEM, you might well be out of luck.
The Great Depression devastated much of the world, at levels high and low, and had ongoing effects that were often hard to spot. In World War II, with the military voraciously frantic for personnel, almost a fourth of recruits or inductees washed out medically — they had grown up with proper food, medical care, or dental care. Poverty is bad for national security.
What was going on locally in 1929-1941?
*By 1932, Corning Glass Works revenue had fallen 50% from 1929, and employment by a third (about 900 people). Those who still had jobs got 10% pay cuts.
*Corning City employees got a 10% pay cut, plus layoffs. The city exhausted its entire 1931 “relief” budget before August. Annual revenue for St. Mary’s church fell from $25,000 in 1929 to $17,000 in 1935.
*Mercury Aircraft in Hammondsport was down to one employee.
*Bath teachers were “asked” to kick back part of their salaries. “Suggested” percentages were “recommended” with a sliding scale based on salary.
*In 1934, transient bureaus (essentially for homeless) served 1280 people in Bath and 1548 in Hornell, besides 268 residing at a transient camp in Stony Brook Park. (We don’t have numbers for the Corning office.)
*Local government starved as real estate values collapsed. Cohocton town workers got a 10% pay cut. Avoca town roads put men on three-day work weeks. One Avoca man, an immigrant who by hard work had done very well in his new home, hanged himself when it all came crashing down.
*Potatoes got 15 cents a bushel in early 1933, half the cost of producing them. Almost a hundred parcels of land were sold for taxes in Cohocton, and Cohocton teachers got a 10% pay cut. Near Kanona and Harrisburg Hollow, many owners walked away and abandoned their farms.
*An old man once told me of driving with his father from Elmira to Rochester during the Great Depression. In Watkins Glen, Geneva, and every other town along the way, a line of men stretched way down the sidewalk, slowly shuffling forward to get a doughnut and a cup of coffee.
There ARE those who downplay the Depression, and insist that it wasn’t actually all that bad. They are wrong. And they insult those who suffered through it.