---

City quickly rebounded from Depression throes

Renewed confidence in the nation's banks prompted Americans to take money from hiding places and put it back into banks. In the meantime, several local industries experienced an upsurge that would put thousands back on a payroll.

Sunbeam Electric Manufacturing Co., which had struggled during the lean years, increased its production of mechanical units for Coldspot refrigerators. By the mid-1930s, the company employed about 1,000 people. Servel upgraded its operations as well, and by 1934 employed 6,000 workers to supply refrigerators to a world market. In 1935 Chrysler and Briggs started operations in the old Dodge and Graham Brothers plants with 2,000 employees. Soon its work force increased as well.

Completion of the Evansville-Henderson Bridge in 1931 also boosted the local economy, connecting Evansville to Southern markets and finally removing dependence on the ferry. And an oil boom later in the decade in Kentucky, Illinois and Southwestern Indiana brought rich oil producers - and millions of dollars - to Evansville and surrounding communities.

The city recovered from the depths of the Depression more successfully than many other American communities. By 1937, local industry employed more than 24,000 people - 10,000 more than pre-Depression figures. Established companies like Mead Johnson, George Koch Sons and International Steel launched expansions and the construction industry found new footing.

Life in Evansville was pretty good again. But good fortune took a turn early in 1937 with the rise of the Ohio River.