As late as 1927, only two houses had received permission from the city to be built in Marshall Heights. Illegally built homes were far more numerous, and many residents were so poor that they grew the food they ate. Drinking water was obtained from a spring near Central Avenue. In the early 1930s, developers began actively marketing lots in Marshall Heights to African Americans. African Americans fleeing the Deep South, which had been particularly hard-hit by the Great Depression, were able to buy lots in Marshall Heights and erect shacks there. Many of these families were so poor, they were forced to camp on the land they purchased until they could scrape together a combination of money and building materials to build a home.