There is an awesome series of photos in the Library of Congress archives taken by Marion Post Wolcott, as I recall, during the early part of 1941, covering the area around Alexandria, Louisiana, at the time several large Army camps were being built in the vicinity. Many of the photos were of construction workers living in similar accommodations as the one shown here.

Despite the Spartan lodgings, I imagine the workers were more than happy to have a steady job after 10-plus years of the Depression.

As evidenced by the destination sign area and light areas on either side. I would not be surprised if this went back to the horse drawn era.

[This is a metal van or bus body that originally would have been mounted on a truck chassis, similar to the vehicles seen here and here. - Dave]