Few images are more evocative of the Great Depression than the run on the bank. A common sight across the country following the stock market crash, account holders crowded shuttered banks in fear that their savings would be lost. In 1933, President FDR closed all banks until they were declared solvent by Federal and State Bank Examiners.

The Bowery Mission was established in 1879 as the third rescue mission founded in the United States and the second in New York City. Institutions like these became instrumental in the wellbeing of many New Yorkers after the crash of 1929. Millions suddenly found themselves having lost their jobs or forced to take dramatic pay cuts.

With little money and growing bills, New Yorkers would wait in long lines for food. The Bowery Mission became a regular source of sustenance for New Yorkers.

Like the Bowery Mission, the Salvation Army Memorial served a similar purpose in aiding the unemployed. Before the Depression, the location largely served the vagrant population that lived and passed through the Bowery. Once the Depression struck, the Army realized they needed to organize for much greater demand. The needy population was growing exponentially to include everyone from common laborers to white-collar workers. By 1931 this location began collecting extra food from local restaurants to serve in a makeshift dining hall in the basement.

Nor were the Bowery Mission and Salvation Army the only ones to do so. This photograph of the northeast corner of Columbus Circle shows a coffee and sandwich station for the unemployed. These stations were set up throughout the city to help alleviate hunger.

Food was not the only thing unemployed New Yorkers couldn't pay for. Unable to afford the cost of housing, many Americans began to settle in shantytowns. These areas were nicknamed "Hoovervilles," as a pointed criticism of president Hoover's inaction. The one seen here was called Camp Dyckman and was largely populated by World War I veterans.

New York City saw a number of these squatter communities develop, including ones in Central Park, the Lower East Side, the Upper West Side, and even on a series of houseboats near 207th Street.

Lacking connection to the city's infrastructure, these camps went without many necessities, and improvised cooking sites, bathrooms, and common areas. The inhabitants were a cross-section of the city, ranging from veterans to families.

The out of work New Yorkers sought to make money in any way they could. Note the apple vendors in front of the Cunard Building. This was a feature of the early phases of the Depression. In the fall of 1930 Joseph Sicker, chairman of the International Apple Shippers’ Association, had the idea of putting unemployed New Yorkers to work selling apples on the street. Unemployed men would buy apples in bulk and try to sell them at a profit on the streets of New York. While rising apple prices quickly ended the practice, the images of the apple sellers became iconic.

The crowd here on Sixth Avenue stands in front of a number of employment agencies, including the Claremont Agency, the Atlantic Hippodrome Employment Agency, and the Geneva Agency. The scene was typical of the massive employment lines that crowded New York streets for much of the Depression. For every job opening, there would be tens to hundreds of qualified applicants.

The Works Progress Administration would become a major source of employment for New York. Throughout the depression, the WPA put thousands of men and women across the city to work. This photo, which shows Federal employees repairing this street pavement and curbing, was typical of the WPA efforts.

Some unemployed men, such as the ones pictured here, were able to pick up odd jobs. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle captured this group "cleaning and overhauling...the large guns at Fort Hamilton, under the supervision of the officers there."

As you might imagine, many New Yorkers also wanted a drink. This image captures the "Beer for Taxation" parade, sometimes also called the "We Want Beer" Parade. It was led by New York City Mayor James J. Walker in 1932. The parade, one of the greatest demonstrations in the City's history, demanded that the Eighteenth Amendment (which prohibited the manufacture, sale, transport, import, and export or alcohol) be repealed to help balance the federal budget and decrease the unemployment rate. Over 100,000 New Yorkers marched in support of ending Prohibition to end the Depression.