In the years before the Great Depression, which is said to have started in earnest the fall of 1929, there seemed to be no signs of an economic downturn in the Gainesville area. In the summer of 1928, Hall Countians were boasting about the $1 million spent to get Johnson & Johnson’s Chicopee Manufacturing Corp. up and running, as well as upgrades to Pacolet’s Gainesville Mill. Local leaders were predicting pretty much a boom for Northeast Georgia business and industry.