29

In October of 1929 the American Stock market crashed and the US financial system was in ruins. The wealth and financial growth of the Roaring Twenties were lost over the next decade and clubs were not unaffected. CMAA statistics show there were 5,500 clubs with 2.7 million members in 1927, but those numbers fell to 4,700 clubs with only 593,000 members by the start of WWII in 1929—a 78 percent loss in club membership during the Depression years. Association membership saw similar losses with only 408 members by the time the Association met for the eighth annual conference in 1934. This prompted CMAA leadership to look inward and move toward tighter internal organization, service, and structure to meet members' needs.