My name is Bob Fitzpatrick,

and this is my story during the Great Depression.

This is me at my job, I was a construction worker. I did the majority of my work on the Empire State building, which we started right after the Depression hit.

But it wasn't always like that, before everything went bad, I lived in a rural area, barely getting by with little money and crops

Once the stock market crashed, in 1929, I had no choice but to move to the city and look for work

However, once I moved, I quickly realized that I wasn't the only one. Poverty was spreading like wildfire.

Against all odds, I landed a job with some friends of mine beginning construction of the Empire State building, in 1930.

As far as lifestyle changes, there wasn't much difference, I was used to living with little to nothing, so when I ended up moving into a Hooverville in 1931, I knew what to expect.

Some will blame the banking panic, and some will blame the drought, but I blame buying on margin for the Great Depression. People spending money they didn't have put us in the depression.

With my rural upbringing, I was used to the struggling economy, and always looked at urban areas as opportunity, but the more I looked around, the more I realized it was all on a steady decline.