Chicago in the Great Depression

By: James R. Schonauer and Kathleen G. Schonauer

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Synopsis: Carl Sandburg called Chicago the "City of the Big Shoulders," and those shoulders withstood the stock market crash of 1929. Chicagoans rallied to collect funds to celebrate the centennial of the city's incorporation in 1833. A Century of Progress International Exposition, held in 1933 and 1934, brought jobs and businesses to Chicago and cheered people with the prospect of new technology and the promising face of the future. Neighborhood churches and community organizations helped each other, and the Great Migration brought new arrivals from the American South. Together, these factors helped to hasten the end of Prohibition and the fall of notorious gangsters like Al Capone and John Dillinger. Jazz rolled in, with Chicagoans dancing along to the tunes of the big bands. Even if pocketbooks were bare, souls were full of hope.