Class, 1933

The year 1933 saw the continuation of the Great Depression. A number of the fathers of some of these children, many of whom worked for the Coal Company, were unemployed or worked only a few days a week. Various private and public relief agencies in the county tried to lessen the suffering and deprivation by donating food and clothing to needy families. The Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal Company requested that currently employed workers contribute to a fund for unemployed miners. The Coal Company matched the donations. Free coal for heating homes worth $5,120 and the remittance of rents valued at $19,376 was given to those miners whose wages fell below a certain level. To further ease the burden, the company store sold staples to certain impoverished families at cost.

Photo: courtesy Ed Swan collection.

Clarence D. Stephenson, Indiana County, 175th Anniversary History,  vol. 2  
(Indiana, Pennsylvania: Halldin Publishing, Company, 1983), 475-477.