The Federal Emergency Relief Administration was enacted in 1933 as part of U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal program to aid families during the Great Depression, and its Rural Rehabilitation Division began in 1934 to address the problems of the nation's farm families. The Ropesville Resettlement Program was one of 78 approved projects to help farmers re-establish themselves. Initiated by a committee from Lubbock, 20 miles northeast, the project was located on land near the established town of Ropesville, where federal money funded homes, wells, and farm buildings. The first 33 families, selected for their initiative and willingness to work, moved into new homes in 1936, and by the end of 1939 a total of 77 families were living and working there. A community manager, assisted by a home economist, guided participants in the program. The project officially ended in 1943, when the Ropesville Farms came under individual ownership. A community building constructed for the farm families in 1939 was moved to this site in 1959.