As with other cities largely reliant on heavy industry, Chicago suffered disproportionately from the fallout of the October 1929 stock market crash and the global depression that followed. It experienced the worst drop in property values of any major city in the U.S.: a 50% decline from the high point of 1926. The ambitious program of public works undertaken to execute the Plan in the previous two decades soon ground to a halt as declining taxes and inadequate bonding power left the city with no means to fund further construction. Recovery began by the mid 1930s in part due to New Deal-funded infrastructure improvements such as road, bridge, viaduct, park, sidewalk, and public transit construction.

1. A Century of Progress International Exposition, site plan, c.1933.
2. A Century of Progress International Exposition, brochure, c.1933.
3. Edward H. Bennett notes, "Lake Front Recreation and Exposition Plan," c.1933-1934.
4. Diversey Housing Project (later, Julia Lathrop Homes), Elston, Damen, and Diversey Avenues, Chicago, IL, c.1938.
5. Building New Neighborhoods: Subdivision Design and Standards brochure, June 1943.
6. Marshall Field Garden Apartment Homes, 1450 N. Sedgwick St., Chicago, IL, brochure, c.1929.
7. Alfred Caldwell to Ludwig Hilberseimer, January 20, 1942.