The Great Depression came early to St.
The economy slowly improved toward the end of the 1930s, but it was World War II that brought economi.
The city\'s main employer, the Florida East Coast Railway, went into receivership in 1931, and public works projects sought to bring relief to the unemployed.
Hotels closed, a major bank failed, subdivisions folded, and tourism was reduced to a trickle.
Augustine with the end of the Florida land boom in 1926, followed by the stock market collapse in 1929.
The Great Depression came early to St