The 1930s were a hard time for the entire country, but Nebraska was hit especially hard. As if the Great Depression weren’t enough, the Dust Bowl was also making life difficult for our state. As an agricultural state, many Nebraska residents depended on ample amounts of water to keep their crops growing. Ranchers were luckier in that they leaned less heavily on a water supply, but everyone suffered in that time of economic instability.

Still, many Nebraska families were able to maintain some sense of normalcy. They went to work every day and came home to their families at night. These Nebraska houses, photographed by the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s as an effort to document the Depression, were home to all types of people from farmers to ranchers to city business people.

(Click the link below each image for more information on the photographer and location.)

1. A huge, regal home located in Beatrice. Many of these homes were constructed decades earlier and stood out in stark contrast to the poverty of the Depression era - 1938.
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2. An equally impressive home in Lincoln - 1938.
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3. In Custer County, this rehabilitation client and his wife stand proudly in front of their house - 1936.
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4. The photographer referred to this Omaha house - which was for sale at the time - as "old." I wonder if it's still standing today. - 1938.
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5. This residential district in Omaha contains nice-looking homes all lined up in neat rows - 1938.
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6. A row of small homes for workers lines a street in Omaha's Italian district - 1938.
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7. This family home in Scottsbluff was part of the FSA's housing project - 1941.
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8. These homes in Omaha were considered "slum" homes - 1938.
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9. The home of a wheat farmer-speculator was built on the cheap while he invested most of his money in machinery - 1936.
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10. This trailer park in Lexington looks a lot like modern trailer parks - 1938.
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11. This home in York looks so cozy and inviting - 1938.
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12. One of the farmsteads in Douglas County - 1936.
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13. Many of the farmsteads in Douglas County were provided or purchased thanks to government aid - 1936.
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14. This homestead in Dawes County was improperly developed. The occupants cut down forested land in Pine Ridge to build their home and outbuildings - 1936.
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15. In some parts of the state, people were still living in sod houses like this one in Box Butte County in the 1930s. The building material was cheap enough to make it affordable to just about anyone - 1936.
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16. Old freight cars also made for cheap, solid homes. This one was located in Box Butte County - 1936.
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17. This modest farmstead in Loup City housed a family of farmers - 1936.
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18. A large, ornate house in Kearney - 1940.
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19. This Sheridan County farmhouse looks so lonely in its dry, dusty surroundings - 1940.
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20. A shack, likely built from scrounged materials, sits dangerously close to the bank of the Missouri River in Omaha.
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21. These ramshackle homes occupied a very undesirable location in Omaha: right next to railroad tracks - 1938.
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As you can see, there was a huge difference between the fancier homes of the cities in eastern Nebraska and the farm and ranch houses further west. What do you think of these homes from the ’30s (and a couple from the ’40s)? Did your parents or grandparents have houses that looked like these? Tell us your stories in the comments.

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