McDoel History

The neighborhood held its own and even grew a little during the Great Depression; for instance, six new homes were built in the Dixie Highway Addition during the early 1930s. According to the city directories, most workers had good jobs still, with the “big three” employers (the railroad, the stone mills, and the Showers Brothers factory) plus many other employers, including local auto shops and retail establishments downtown.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) reached our neighborhood, too, with the building of pieced limestone sidewalks on First, Wylie, Dodds, Dixie, and Allen streets. The artifacts from this era found in the Allen and Madison dump show that folks in the neighborhood could still afford some nice things, even with hard times. Delicate china and other fine decorative pottery would have graced many a cabinet before meeting their sad fates in the trash.

McDoel History