The Great Depression changed the everyday fabric of New Yorkers' lives and the composition of the city. These images, from the collections of our partners, bring the depression and its trials to life.

St. John's Park, 1953. The name of the park references the asylum that used to sit nearby, St. John's Asylum for Boys. The refuge was opened almost a century earlier by the Catholic church to provide aid for disadvantaged children, all of Irish descent. The asylum was relocated to Long Island in 1948. The city gained possession of the land the buildings occupied to construct the Albany Houses, a NYCHA project. As part of Robert Moses' plan as Parks' commissioner, the housing development was not complete without a park and recreational center. The rec center was completed in 1956 with a swimming pool, exercise rooms, gymnasium, and boxing facilities. The park boasted three softball fields, a comfort station, basketball and handball courts. At the opening ceremony, Moses claimed: "The opening of this building will enable the Department of Parks to establish a well-rounded recreation program in the heavily populated Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn where such a program is urgently needed.” The Recreation Center was renovated in 1987 and is still open today.

Public School, 1929. P.S. 167 was built circa 1900. It was called the Parkside School for much of its history. Following the Crown Heights Riots of 1991, P.S. 167 was the location of an important meeting between the Mayor, police, and the African American and Jewish communities affected by the violence.

Park Place east from Utica Avenue, 1944.

"Eastern Parkway, at the N. W. corner of Utica Avenue, showing the East New York Savings Bank, 1940."

Public School 210, 1931.

In October 1929, the prosperous Roaring Twenties crashed to an end. In the 1920s the Stock Market boomed. Shares in companies soared and millions of ordinary Americans invested their life savings, in the hopes of turning a profit. Some people even began taking out loans in order to invest in the Stock Market. While things looked good on the surface, the 1920s were plagued by deeper economic issues. Industrial production declined, unemployment crept upwards, and the agricultural sector struggled. The Stock Market bubble popped on what became known as "Black Tuesday." The sudden drop in value of stocks led to billions of dollars in lost revenue. Many banks shuttered as a result. This fueled panic among Americans who rushed to the banks to withdraw their lifesavings. Before the Great Depression, people's money in the bank was not insured. If the bank closed, people lost all of their savings! So many people went to the banks looking for their money and many banks simply did not have enough cash on hand to meet the demand. In a chain reaction of events, people lost their jobs, life's savings, and homes. From 1929 throughout the 1930s, the Great Depression wrecked havoc on the lives of Americans, and New Yorkers in particular. It would take the immense industrial demand of WWII and a dramatic increase in government regulation and spending to really get the United States out of this economic rut. During this decade of depression, Americans' lives transformed dramatically. New York Social Studies Scope and Sequence Standards 8.5b,c, & 11.7c. For Teachers: Great Depression Lesson Plan

Interior of the Eastern Parkway Branch, BPL, 1915. Constructed in 1914 and designed by Raymond Almirall, the Eastern Parkway Branch was funded by the Carnegie Foundation. This branch became one of the borough's most heavily used facilities, surrounded by densely populated residential communities. This photograph depicts the children's department, and today the library continues to provide rich children's programming.

"Eastern Parkway at the N.W. corner of Utica Avenue, showing the East New York Savings Bank, 1933. The crowd in front of the bank is worried about their savings. The reason the bank is closed is because of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's order closing all banks in the early part of 1933. The bank could not be reopened until declared solvent by the Federal and State Bank Examiners." (text from the original photograph)

Brooklyn Carnegie Libraries: Eastern Parkway Branch CLIENT: BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY ARCHITECT: Raymond F. Almiral DATE: 1914 STYLE: Classical Revival The building has several characteristics of the suburban Carnegie library type. Located mostly in the less densely populated areas of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens, these branches are most often freestanding structures within a larger lot (most often they are surrounded by a lawn). Frequently, the libraries have a symmetrical layout, large windows to allow an abundance of light into the reading rooms, and a prominent, decorative entrance. This one-story, five-bay stone Classical Revival is topped with a stone balustrade on its flat roof. Large arched windows line the façade, including one over the central doorway. The entrance door has been replaced, and the building underwent rehabilitation work in 1950-51, 1969 and 1975. The interior originally one-story interior has been divided into two floors. It retains details such as the original reading nook with fireplace and mantel of decorative tile, wood paneling and decorative plaster ceilings.

President Street, north side, west of Rochester Avenue, 1926.