Hooverville and Weedpatch Camp
Hooverville was the popular name for shanty towns that were built by homeless people during the Great Depression. They were named after President Herbert Hoover who through the eyes of history was responsible for allowing the nation to slide into depression and the lack of government help. The small amount of resources that the federal government actually made available often did not go to the sick, hungry and homeless. That was simply because many city officials were corrupt, and kept those valuable resources to themselves. The term Hooverville was coined by Charles Michelson, publicity chief of the Democratic National Committee. The name Hooverville has stuck to this day.
While writing the book, John Steinbeck visited Bakersfield, California and based his book on the Arvin Federal Government Camp which he portrayed as “Weedpatch Camp”
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February 13, 2010, 7:07 pm
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Hooverville was the popular name for shanty towns that were built by homeless people during the Great Depression. They were named after President Herbert Hoover who through the eyes of history was responsible for allowing the nation to slide into depression and the lack of government help. The small amount of resources that the federal government actually made available often did not go to the sick, hungry and homeless. That was simply because many city officials were corrupt, and kept those valuable resources to themselves. The term Hooverville was coined by Charles Michelson, publicity chief of the Democratic National Committee. The name Hooverville has stuck to this day.
While writing the book, John Steinbeck visited Bakersfield, California and based his book on the Arvin Federal Government Camp which he portrayed as “Weedpatch Camp” Weedpatch Camp was built by the Farm Security Administration (FSA) in 1936 to house migrant workers during the Great Depression. On January 22, 1996 several historic buildings at the camp were placed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
Many Oklahoma farmers was especially hard hit by the drought. They migrated to California where they moved from farm to farm looking for work as farm laborers that included migrant workers from Texas, Arkansas and Missouri. Housing for the migrants consisted of either squatter camps (tents pitched by the side of a road) or camps established by the farmers and growers. Because of the lack of hygiene and security that these types of camps offered, the FSA built labor camps consisting of permanent buildings with running water, schools, libraries…
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WVU Division of Theatre & Dance - The Grapes of Wrath 