Hall County Historical Society shares history of experimental government program in Nebraska

WOOD RIVER, Neb. (KSNB) – The Hall County Historical Society visited the senior center in Wood River to tell the story of an experimental government program from the 1930s.

Rural Rehabilitation was an experimental government program that spanned across the United States and started in 1934. One of the locations that met the criteria for the program was Hall County.

Michelle Setlik, Vice President of Hall County Historical Society, said 10 Hall County families were selected for the Farmstead Project.

“Hall County was chosen for the Farmstead Program because it met the criteria for the federal government,” said Setlik. “It had good quality soil, it had water, it had enough people that needed assistance that were on the relief roles and it had land available for the government to purchase for the project.”

The following conditions had to be met:

1. The area needed to have an agricultural history
2. A large number of families eligible for relief had to live in the area
3. An adequate water supply (either rainfall or irrigation) had to be present
4. The site had access to markets for the produced goods
5. There had to be suitable land available for purchase in the area

The communities for the Farmstead Program were selected by NERA (National Economic Research Associates) and supporting agencies. The families also had to meet a certain criteria to be considered for the program.

Criteria for selected families include:

1. The family must have been on the relief rolls of the county where the project was being constructed
2. The head of the household had to be between the ages of 35-50
3. There had to be 4-6 members of the family

According to the historical society, in order to be considered for the Farmstead Project, families had to submit an application that was then reviewed by three different agencies.

Each Farmstead Family received the following:

• Four room cottage
• Small barn
• Chicken House
• Poultry yard
• Land for garden and small orchard
• Seeds
• Livestock: two cows, 100 hens, 300 chickens

Once families agreed to the terms, they were given a one-year lease on the property for a nominal fee and after a one-year probation period they could be eligible to purchase the property on a 15-year payment plan, according to the historical society.

Setlik said the Hall County Historical Society is celebrating their 100th anniversary this year and have plans to make 12 new historical markers for the county.

One of those markers will be put at the site of the Farmstead homes in Grand Island off of Highway 34 on Farmstead Road.

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