Ambridge by Larry R. Slater

Author:Larry R. Slater
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2011-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Six

THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Virtually all industries, professions, farms, towns, and cities felt the sting and humiliation of that international financial debacle known as the Great Depression. Triggered by the “black Friday” stock market plunge in October 1929, the Depression looked for a brief time as though it might not happen. Banks, some stocks, and some industries seemed poised to bounce back at times in 1930 and 1931. By 1932, however, the proverbial bottom had dropped out of the American economy.

With commercial construction of all sorts at a fraction of previous levels, metal fabricating operations like the American Bridge Company and metals producers such as its massive United States Steel Corporation parent quickly hit the brakes. True, a precious few dams, bridges, and urban commercial office buildings continued to go up. While American Bridge had a piece of that action (Chrysler Building, 1931; Empire State Building, 1932; San Francisco Bay Bridge, 1936), that piece was a crumb compared to pre-Depression projects.

And what of the residents of Ambridge during these years of one- and two-day workweeks? Less work in the massive production sheds and fabrication yards meant less money spent in the stores of area merchants and fewer cars purchased from dealerships like the one Miss America had promoted only a few years before. No doubt the amount of municipal tax dollars fell, which strained the budgets of the Ambridge police force, fire brigade, mayor’s office, and council chambers. On the whole, it was not the best of times.

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