A pamphlet with images of Detroit’s Thrift Gardens, c. 1931. Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library. 

The nature of community gardening changed with the onslaught of the Great Depression. Like vacant lot cultivation during the 1890s, the subsistence gardens in American cities during the 1930s were created in response to an economic crisis and intended to help meet residents’ immediate need for food.  They were often supported through partnerships between municipal government and community organizations.