Small Agriculture: A National Agricultural Library Digital Exhibit

Facts About Decatur Homesteads

National Agricultural Library

subsistence homesteads

Decatur, Indiana

Initiated by the Division of Subsistence Homesteads of the Department of the Interior, December 20, 1933, Decatur Homesteads was transferred to the Resettlement Administration, June 1935. The construction was completed May 8, 1935. On November 1, 1936, the project was turned over to the Decatur Homesteads Association, Inc., a private agency, to be administered by it. All homesteaders are members of this association. It is governed by a board of directors, consisting of three homesteaders, one representative of the city of Decatur, one Resettlement Administration representative. Decatur Homesteads was initiated as a workman's garden community for employed persons only. Its purpose is to provide better housing conditions and to raise the standard of living of part-time employees in the commercial and industrial establishment in the City of Decatur. By means of subsistence gardens, the homesteaders are given an opportunity to increase their real income by the production of home grown fruits and vegetables. Decatur is a small agricultural city, dependent on agriculture and industries allied with farming. The trend in the past has been from agriculture to industry and then reverses when industrial employment slackens.

Farm Security Administration