Photo: WPA project - Men dig a water line on Oakes Avenue as part of a WPA project in 1940.
Learn abut life during the Great Depression in Anacortes in a new exhibit opening Saturday at the Anacortes Museum. An opening reception for the exhibit is set for 2-4 p.m. Saturday.
The new exhibit is called All in the Same Boat: Anacortes in the Great Depression.
Fueled by easy credit, the good times seemed like they’d never end. People bought homes, cars and new appliances. Businesses expanded and stocks soared to new highs. Then, abruptly, the market crashed, savings were wiped out, people stopped buying, and businesses couldn’t get capital to operate. A quarter of the workforce could not find jobs. Foreclosures soared, and families depended on welfare. At the worst point in the crisis, the federal government stepped in to stop a total meltdown of the national banking system. Does any of this sound eerily familiar?
While much of this could describe the recent Great Recession, it is the story of the Great Depression, which hit worldwide in 1929 and dragged on nearly 12 years. The similarity to recent events is a primary reason that the Anacortes Museum decided to create an exhibit on the Great Depression. We also wanted to dispel some stereotypes. It’s easy for those of us from subsequent generations to picture the era in black and white, like the iconic photos of dust bowl refugees.
But the 1930s were not unrelentingly, well, depressing. Belts were tightened and lives were changed, yet life went on, especially in Anacortes. Children played and couples courted. There were festivals and parades, dances and football games, motion pictures — with sound! — and all sorts of clubs and gatherings as part of the everyday pattern of life. No one had any money, but with everyone in the same boat, people worked together. With ingenuity, hard work, and determination, Anacortes came out of the Depression stronger than ever before.
The Anacortes Museum is located at 305 Eighth St. and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am - 4 pm.
Photo credity: Ferd Brady / Anacortes museum Wallie Funk Collection