In 1933, the town of Norvelt became the fourth of 99 planned subsistence homestead communities subsidized by the federal government as part of the National Industrial Recovery Act for dislocated miners and industrial workers. The American Field Service Committee was recruited to implement and build the subsistence project and established a work camp in the summer of 1934. More than 1,850 people applied for 250 lots, and the first 1,200 homesteaders helped build their own homes on a lease-t...