Script money appeared here during depression

(Reprinted from the Ochiltree County Herald, Jan. 26, 1933). Perryton script money made its first appearance on Main Street Thursday afternoon when five dollars in notes were issued by the Perryton Chamber of Commerce out of an appropriation of $350 authorized by the committee in charge. Notes No.

CYCLONE DAMAGE

CYCLONE DAMAGE — The Maxedon Lumber Co. was one of the business buildings damaged in Perryton by the cyclone which hit the town on July 14, 1933. These pictures show some of the damage done by that storm.

Tornado hits city in big storm of 1933

(Reprinted from the Herald, July 20, 1933).

Bank holiday in 1933 caused apprehension

President Franklin D. Roosevelt took an unprecedented action in March of 1933 when he declared a national bank holiday, meaning that every bank in the nation was closed down until further notice.

Worst duster came on April Sunday

The worst dust storm of all those in the “Dirty Thirties” came on a Sunday afternoon, April 1, 1935, rolling into the country about 5 p.m. from the north, turning day into night.

Perryton pool was built as WPA project

Ever since Perryton started in 1919, civic minded citizens dreamed of a modern swimming pool and in 1936, thanks to the “New Deal” one was forthcoming. Construction started in the early spring that year on a new swimming pool located at the city park, at what is now Whigham Park, 9th and Main.

CITY SWIMMING POOL

CITY SWIMMING POOL — Perryton’s first swimming pool was opened in 1937 as a WPA project in the city park. This pool provided summer fun for thousands of young and old swimmers until it was replaced in the 1960s by the present swimming pool.

Wind erosion methods sought as dust storms stripped land

Soil Conservation Service personnel have long been a part of the scene in Perryton, but it wasn’t always that way. Drought had been endured before on the plains, but dust storms were something new.

Perryton not in Dust Bowl of ‘37 report

By early 1937, due to strenuous soil conservation methods, much of the battle against dust had been won.

Wolf Creek Dam was built in 1938

The Wolf Creek Dam at Lake Fryer got under construction in November, 1938, with over 100 men employed on the project. The Public Works Administration appropriated $165,000 to build this dam, with the work being supervised by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the Department of Agriculture.