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Summer 1936. "Dalworthington Gardens, Texas." Half-pints in ten-gallon hats in a "subsistence homestead project" established under the authority of the National Industrial Recovery Act. Photo by Arthur Rothstein. View full size.
Growing up in south Texas, these kids are doing what we always did. Walk everywhere, even over summer hot gravel barefoot.
While surrounded by the city of Arlington, Dalworthington Gardens itself it still somewhat semi-rural, but now many of the homes are larger custom homes, along with some older homes, on lots an acre or larger.
My parents were both out of the nineteen-teens and did that thing called "The Great Depression" as young adults. Finally, we get to see some rural kids who appear clean, well-fed and happy, albeit with government help.
Do I miss those clouds and the prairie sky, it took me 5 years to learn to paint them in watercolor, then I moved to the coast, memories.
Had this been described as an establishing shot for the movie, "Paper Moon," I would have believed it.
It doesn't look like that now. As a "suburb" of Arlington, Texas, it's surrounded by a metropolitan area of millions of people.
The style of first full house visible on the left anticipates the Lustron house, which would not debut for another decade.
The two in the middle look like Jem & Scout from "To Kill A Mockingbird"
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