Do you ever wonder what life was like way back when in Missouri? Long before the advent of the internet, smartphones, and even television? We’re fortunate to have photographs and videos to give us a glimpse into yesteryear. These 13 candid photos, for example, give us insight to what life was like in Missouri in the 1930s, just years before the U.S. entered World War II.

  1. A mother cradles her baby as they seek refuge in a schoolhouse after a flood in Sikeston in January 1937.

Photogrammar/Russell Lee

  1. A schoolhouse awaits pupils in LaForge in May 1938.

Programmar/Russell Lee

  1. Farmers take a break during an auction to purchase soda in Sikeston in May 1938.

Photogrammar/Russell Lee

  1. Children sit inside a windowless room in a house owned by a sharecropper in Osage in 1938.

Photogrammar/Russell Lee

  1. A ferry from Tennessee arrives in New Madrid County in 1938.

Photogrammar/Russell Lee

  1. A candy counter – brimming with such favorites as Baby Ruth and Butterfinger – is pictured in a La Forge shop in August 1938.

Photogrammar/Russell Lee

  1. Children check out the movie posters outside of a theater on a Saturday afternoon in Steele (August 1938).

Photogrammer/Russell Lee

  1. Cars arrive at the settlement at the Lake of the Ozarks, captured in May 1936.

Photogrammar/Carl Mydans

  1. Vehicles park in front of the post office and a general store in Hughesville in November 1939.

Photogrammar/Arthur Rothstein

  1. A grain elevator in Kansas City, Missouri, is pictured in November 1939.

Photogrammar/Arthur Rothstein

  1. A mother and her children, wife and children of a local tiff miner, relax in their home in Washington County in November 1939.

Photogrammar/Arthur Rothstein

  1. Farmers spread lime on the grass of their farm in Greene County in November 1938.

Photogrammar/Yale

  1. A woman looks out of her shack home, right near the railroad tracks, in Caruthersville in August 1938.

Photogrammar/Russell Lee

Which of these pictures are your favorite of life in Missouri in the 1930s? Join the conversation in the comments! Then, click here to fast forward a few decades for a glimpse into life in Missouri in the 1950s.

Photogrammar/Russell Lee

Programmar/Russell Lee

Photogrammer/Russell Lee

Photogrammar/Carl Mydans

Photogrammar/Arthur Rothstein

Photogrammar/Yale

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