The Great Depression in Rome, Ga

In Rome, Ga. the affect of The Great Depression was not as bad as the larger cities across America. Since Rome was a agricultural town people did not have to worry as much about food, but jobs were becoming very few around 1932, just three years after the stock market crash of 1929.

An important segway into the Great Depression was the "Cotton Bust" which had hit Rome in mid 1920's, and caused many farmers to move away, sell their land or convert to other agricultural resources, such as corn. The "Cotton Bust" was the effect of the Boll Weevil, a tiny bug which was introduced to Georgia in 1915. [ ] Before the Boll Weevil came to Georgia cotton was an abundant and cheap resource, but when the boil weevil came to Rome and North Georgia it destroyed many fields of cotton and put a damper on Rome's economy.

When the Great Depression took its affect on Rome the area was not as devastated as many of the big cities, but it did put a lot of families through hard financial times. Jobs were scarce and and prices of food and basic commodities went up. Even the "postal employees took a fifteen per cent cut in pay, and volunteered a further ten per cent reduction in work time in order to save the jobs of substitute employees who otherwise would have been thrown out of work." []

Referring to the book "History of Rome and Floyd County" the Relief Follies and cotton style show was created to help the struggling families during this time. Romans bought tickets to a show put on by local performers and the fares went directly to grocers who made boxes of food to sell at a discount price to the needy families. [ ] To lower the amount of unemployed during this time S.H. Smith,Sr. tore down the Armstrong hotel. Afterwards he employed many people to help build the towering Greystone Hotel at the corner of Broad St. and East Second St. in 1927. "The Rome News-Tribune on November 30, 1933, reported a heartening increase in local building permits for a total of $95,800; of this amount, $85,000 was invested by S.H. Smith, Sr., in the construction of the Greystone Hotel. The Greystone Apartments were added in 1936." [ ]

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