History 21 The Podcast! - 4.18 The Great Depression in Anoka County

The Great Depression affected the lives of Americans for a decade in the 1930s. In this episode, we explore how the national economic collapse impacted the lives of the local people of Anoka County. Hear about local bank collapses, county relief programs, and WPA projects.

Host Rebecca Desens, ACHS Director, and Sara Given, ACHS Volunteer Coordinator.

The Great Depression

Works Progress Administration [WPA] in Minnesota

The most known part of President Roosevelt’s “New Deal” the WPA (established in 1935) employed more than 8.5 million people nationally in its eight year history. It covered nearly $260 million in wages for Minnesota workers. For Anoka County Those projects included sidewalks and agricultural projects but also the construction of Anoka’s Greenhaven, Columbia Heights’ Murzyn Hall and Carlos Avery Game Farm (now a wildlife reserve) in Linwood.

Greenhaven in Anoka

Carlos Avery Game Farm in Linwood

Murzyn Hall in Columbia Heights