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Friday, January 8, 2021

Snapshot: Fort Lauderdale during the Great Depression

Federal aid to community development 1933
Fort Lauderdale
Florida State Archives











Fort Lauderdale experienced a devastating hurricane and land bust that sent it spiraling into the throes of the Great Depression two to three years before the rest of the nation. Tourists visited but spent little money. Land sales plummeted to a halt.

Some facts about those depression years:

        •  An estimated 25 percent of homes were foreclosed for taxes and other liens; about 80 percent of  lots and non-farm lands were likewise lost. 

        •   Fort Lauderdale’s population reached nearly 8,700 (it doubled by 1940).

        •  The average assessed value of homes in 1934 was about $4,500.

        •   Illegal gambling, and bootlegging (until 1933) flourished.

           Grits and Grunts topped menus at homes and restaurants. An inexpensive meal,  it included small fish or grunts caught off nearby reefs fried in oil and served with grits.

For more about Fort Lauderdale in the 1930s, see index.


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Sources:
Weidling, Philip J. , Burghard, August. Checkered Sunshine. Gainesville: University of Florida Press (1966).
http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/03815512v1ch03.pdf
Miami News, March 9, 1934




Tags: Fort Lauderdale in the 1930s, Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale during the Great Depression, film researcher