Sherburne History Center Blog

Young men, most likely from the NYA, taking a break  from working on the Handke Stadium, a joint NYC and WPA project in Elk River Recent blog posts regarding Depression era programs in Sherburne County suggest a number of county residents received federal assistance.   Further reading the pages of the county newspaper, the Sherburne County Star News , shows the county nearly dependent on federal programs for survival.   Several articles in the newspapers report the Sherburne County farming community received significant support from Franklin Roosevelt’s economic programs.   In 1940 and 1941 nearly 90 percent of the farms in Sherburne County received benefits from the Agriculture Adjustment Administration.   In 1941, 1630 farms in Sherburne County, out of a total of 1822 farms, received some payments from the AAA programs.   In addition to farm aid, depression era programs included the construction around Handke Stadium.   The Works Progre...

“Make Your Own Mattress:” served as a program developed by the United States Department of Agriculture in the Fall 1940 to eliminate a cotton surplus from the South.   The USDA targeted Sherburne County as a potential location to benefit from the program.   Although small in economic impact, it provided some aid to local families. According to reports from Washington. D. C., an over-abundance of cotton hit the market in the fall of 1940.   The Agriculture Adjustment Administration, a depression era program to help farmers, created the “Make Your Own Mattress” program to reduce the cotton surplus. The preliminary plans reported by the Sherburne County Star News , noted an undisclosed warehouse will store cotton and “good grade ticking” so that individuals might sew their own mattresses.   The government developed the program for low income, rural families in Minnesota.   Income could not exceed $500 for a family of four and households received one mat...

World War Adjusted Compensation, billion dollar words that generated 20 years of controversy and bloodshed in the United States.   Although Sherburne witnessed no violent protest, the law passed in 1924 impacted Elk River and the county for a generation.   In 1924, Congress pass legislation awarding veterans of the World War a bonus for their service.   Veterans received promises of bonds to be paid after 20 years maturity.   President Calvin Coolidge opposed the legislation, arguing “patriotism bought and paid for is not patriotism.”   Despite his veto, Congress passed the World War Adjusted Compensation Act, promising veterans money in twenty years.   The arrival of the economic depression in the 1930s, unemployed and homeless veterans asked for their money earlier than promised.   In 1932, Bonus Army protests in Washington, D.C. led to riots and the deaths of two veterans.   In 1936, Congress passed a new legislation promising the ve...

Depression era relief programs required unique enforcement skills in 1935.   This became apparent from newspaper reports in the Sherburne County Star News in the spring of that year. In May 1935 the local newspaper urged local farmers and other county residents to report any relief recipients turning down opportunities to work.   “All clients who refuse work when it is offered are to be taken off relief rolls,” the paper reported.   According to the news reports, county residents remaine3d on the relief rolls while supplementing their income with egg and dairy sales.   “relief is being given only as emergency relief,” the paper reminded.   “As soon as a family’s income is larger than their budget, they will be taken off relief.”   WPA construction crew in Handke Stadium circa 1935 In farming communities throughout Minnesota federal investigators found families willing to receive federal relief and farm income at the same time.   “A concer...

Front Page Headline from Sherburne County Star News , October 1933 Farm prices and foreclosures in 1932 generated a radical reaction by farmers in Sherburne and Anoka Counties that revealed a unique effort at organizing the Minnesota farm industry into a unified organization.   After nearly a decade of falling produce prices and rising foreclosures, nationally, farmers organized what became known as the National Farmers Holiday Association.   More commonly known as the Holiday Movement, the group advocated for sympathetic refinancing on farm debt and it suggested the federal government guarantee farmers a minimum income to cover production costs. The Holiday Movement, originally organized in Iowa, made itself known in Sherburne county in October 1932.   Farmers and sympathizers tried negotiating with the state legislature for relief in the midst of the Economic Depression with no results.   In the second week of October farmers set out pickets to prevent t...