The Great Depression changed City College for the better

Darla Weaver | Staff Writer
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The Great Depression caused a lot of hardships for many people in the 1930s, but the Depression and its New Deal held advantages for City College.

Today, students at City College are faced with similar economic hardships. Although times are rough, there are always lessons that students can learn from our school’s past and present.

City College was founded on the campus of Sacramento High School in 1916, but it wasn’t until 1926 when the college moved to its permanent location. City College’s student body continued to grow but did not have adequate accommodations.

City College Archivist Librarian Patricia Zucarro says that in 1936, City College built classrooms, the fine arts building, the auditorium, a gymnasium and a library. Although the country was in a very fragile economic state, there was help to fund the construction of the buildings through President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Through the New Deal, the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) formed the Public Works Administration (PWA), which contributed to the funding of the new buildings at City College, according to Zucarro.

“Because of the PWA money, it was a time of growth for this campus. In a way you can say it was a positive outcome of the Depression,” says Zucarro.

The PWA provided $221,000 of the $517,027 required for the construction of the buildings.
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“We had buildings built that may have not happened otherwise, because of the funding,” says Zucarro.
The Depression had a huge impact on City College’s structural history, but it also had an impact on the school’s culture.

“A lot of the campus’ traditions were born in the 1930s,” says journalism and English instructor Jan Haag.

“The big social deal was the art balls.” says Haag.

The art balls were themed events with a live orchestra and dancing.

“For Example, in 1933, they had one called ‘Lost World,’ and they built a 32-foot long dinosaur. The art balls went on for years and years. They weren’t started in the 1930s but they grew in popularity in the 1930s,” says Haag.

Just like City College students during the Depression, a lot of students today are faced with having to make ends meet, which means putting their education on the back burner.

“I think that students are affected by the tough economy, and that they have to make work their first priority over school. I think that school should be first because nobody wants to work at their part-time jobs for the rest of their lives just to pay the bills,” says nursing major Nina Reyes.

“I think the lesson of the 1930s and 1940s was that we have to persevere, we have to keep going, we have to complete our education because economic times will get better again and we need to be ready,” says Haag. “If we learned anything from the 1930s and even World War II, it was that we could buckle down, we can do this. Not only can we survive, but we’ll thrive when times are better.”