Chico Buck circa April 1933
Cash crunch? Why not simply print some money? That’s just what the Chico Chamber of Commerce did in April of 1933 (April 12th to be exact, my birthday–although a few years before my arrival).
It was during the depths of the Great Depression, and two prominent banks had denied citizens access to their accounts for well over a month. The Chamber’s newly-minted “Chico Currency” could be used to draw on up to one-fourth of citizens’ bank accounts (not to exceed $25!).
During its five-month-long circulation, local business owners gladly accepted “Chico Bucks,” even promoting their use in newspaper advertising.
By September, when the banks “thawed” their coffers, the city held a parade and mock funeral (complete with drum, bugle corps and coffin) in Children’s Park, with a young Ted Meriam (for whom Meriam Library is named, and–like Dr. Seuss’s “Lorax”–who spoke for Chico’s trees) acting as parade marshal. About $15,000 worth of the script was torched in a dramatic funeral pyre. Only a few specimens remain to this day.
(Note: A big “thank you” to Tina Aranguren for her research and for bringing the story of “Chico Bucks” to my attention!)
Ted Meriam, 1911 - 2001
Dorothea Lange's Depression-era photo "Migrant Mother"
