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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 241/340

Chapter IX

DEPRESSION AND WAR: 1930 - 1945

The decade of the 1930’s was ushered in while the United
States was in the grip of the greatest depression in its history. For
Columbia County the situation was serious, particularly since the
county was heavily dependent upon agriculture. Southern agri­
culture had been in a state of depression since the early 1920’s.
Area banks, for example, strongly involved in agriculture, were
sorely distressed by the decline in prices and the drop in value of
agricultural land during this period. The Watertown Bank closed
in 1929 prior to the “Great Crash” of the New York stock market.
In general, Columbia County’s banks weathered the storm better
than banks in the state as a whole. During the 1920’s and 1930’s
roughly half of the state and national banks in the state failed,
while in Columbia County only the Watertown Bank failed to
reopen. The Bank of Fort White under J. M. Sikes was sold to the
High Springs Bank but the depositors did not lose their money.
The State Exchange Bank organized in 1904 and the Columbia
County Bank organized in 1912 closed temporarily but the busi­
nesses survived. The First National Bank organized in 1904
remained open throughout the depression.1

Shortage of money was a problem shared by bankers, farmers,
workers, and other residents of the county alike. If one had money,
however, 1932 prices were good, with coffee selling at the A&P for
19$ a pound. Large franks brought 10$ a pound. The Piggly
Wiggly announced that prices were the lowest in twenty years. For
those who wanted relaxation or were trying to escape the bleak­
ness of the depression, the DeSoto, for a dime, offered such movie
fare as Laurel and Hardy in “Beali Hunks,” and Marion Davies
and Clark Gable in “Polly of the Circus.” A double-dip ice cream

'Paul Lindsey, “Area Banks,” Lake City Reporter, December 13, 1974.

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