These 23 Houses In Missouri From The 1930s Will Open Your Eyes To A Simpler Time
The 1930s were a particularly difficult time, especially for rural Missourians. The Great Depression, locusts, grasshoppers, and drought made things difficult for almost everyone. Many of the homes where families lived during that time were temporary shacks, overcrowded, simple, and basic. Let’s take a visual trip back in time and visit some of these homes.
![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/1.-Ashland.jpg?w=720)
This three-room house near Ashland was part of the University of Missouri game and arboretum project.
![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2.-Ozark.jpg?w=720)
Interior of Ozarks cabin housing six people. May 1936
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![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/3.-Mississippi-County-1936.jpg?w=720)
A sharecropper's family. May 1936
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![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/4.-New-Madrid-County-1938.jpg?w=720)
Sharecropper family on front porch of cabin. May 1938
![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/5.-New-Madrid-County-1938.jpg?w=720)
Entrance to attic of sharecropper cabin. May 1938
![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/6.-Osage-1938.jpg?w=720)
House without windows, home of sharecropper cut-over farmers of Mississippi bottoms. May 1938
![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/7.-LaForge-1938.jpg?w=720)
Southeast Missouri Farms. Sharecropper family with a pet bird in their shack home. La Forge project, 1938
![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/8.-LaForge-1938.jpg?w=720)
Southeast Missouri Farms. Client and wife in the living room of their new home. La Forge project, May 1938
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![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/9.-Tin-Town-Caruthersville-1938.jpg?w=720)
Typical dwelling in "Tin Town." Caruthersville, August 1938
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Recently constructed homes in Caruthersville. They are very flimsy, consist of two rooms and are elevated to take care of a possible rise of the Mississippi River. August 1938
![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/11.-Caruthersville-1938.jpg?w=720)
Bedroom in the home of a sharecropper who will later work under the tenant purchase program. Near Caruthersville, August 1938
![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/12.-Caruthersville-1938.jpg?w=720)
Resident of Tin Town sitting at her kitchen table. Caruthersville, August 1938
![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/13.-Tin-Town-Caruthersville-1938.jpg?w=720)
Shack on the other side of the railroad tracks, looking toward the levee. Part of "Tin Town." Caruthersville, August 1938
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![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/14.-Osage-1939.jpg?w=720)
Home of member of Bois d'Arc cooperative who took care of beef cattle. Osage Farms, November 1939
![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/15.-Group-of-Homes-Osage.jpg?w=720)
A group of homes located near the dairy farms on Bois d'Arc Cooperative farm. The same well and pump that furnished water for the barns served to supply the homes. Osage Farms, November 1939
![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/16.-Tiff-Miner-Home-Washington-1939.jpg?w=720)
Tiff miners lived in poor houses. November 1939
![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/17.-Tiff-Miner-Home-Washington-1939.jpg?w=720)
Wife and children of a tiff miner. November 1939
![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/18.-Tiff-Miner-Home-Washington-1939.jpg?w=720)
One of the eight houses built by the Farm Security Administration to provide adequate shelters for tiff miners. November 1939.
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![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/19.-Tiff-Miner-Home-Washington-1939.jpg?w=720)
A tiff miner's home in paw-paw patch. November 1939.
![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/20.-Cabin-in-Butler-1939.jpg?w=720)
Evicted sharecroppers construct a cabin. November 1939.
![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/21.-Cabin-in-Butler-1939.jpg?w=720)
More cabins built by evicted sharecroppers. November 1939.
![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/22.-Cabin-in-Butler-1939.jpg?w=720)
Another home of an evicted sharecropper. November 1939.
![](https://oiys-develop.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/23.-Cabin-in-Butler-1939.jpg?w=720)
Another cabin of evicted sharecropper. November 1939.
Was your family in this area in the 1930’s? What was their experience? Do you have any family photos from that time? Share in the comments below.
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