In 1938, a powerful hurricane hit the northeastern United States, killing over 700 people, devastating towns, and destroying thousands of buildings throughout southern New York and New England. Under the headline, “Chicopee, On Emergency Basis, Hopes Worst Past”, this newspaper article reported on the situation in Chicopee, Massachusetts, in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane. Some 200 residents had fled rising floodwaters and were being housed in makeshift shelters. Most of the town lacked water service and phone lines remained down. The Chicopee Falls bridge over the Chicopee River had collapsed; most other bridges and roadways connecting Chicopee to other towns were still flooded or impassable and the Connecticut River had flooded low-lying residential areas and businesses. Still, town officials “confidently hoped the worst has been seen.”
Natural disasters, such as the flood of 1936, the 1938 hurricane, and the severe drought which devastated the Great Plains through much of the 1930s added another layer of hardship to the experiences of Americans living through the Great Depression (1929-1941).
