Newdale grew rapidly and by 1919, after being only four years old, it had a national bank, a mercantile and drug store, a barber shop, a blacksmith, a carpenter shop, a printing shop, a real estate office, a livery stable, several general stores, lumber yards, hardware stores, implement yards, warehouses, grain elevators, commission houses, hotels, restaurants, and an opera house. It is estimated that Newdale doubled in size in 1919. The value of city lots had raised several times. The people of Newdale were very progressive and hard workers and had a desire to make the area a truly good place to live. In December 1919, an 8-room, brick school house was completed on a piece of land donated by Sam Schwendiman, where the Newdale City Park is today. Leigh Chantrill was a young boy at the time, and later said: "It was really exciting when the new school house was completed enough so we could use it for school and church meetings". Its classrooms were heated by wood stove, and had no indoor plumbing. A playground was also built including swings and a baseball diamond. Students would attend school in Newdale from 1st to 8th grade, and then go to school in Teton for freshman and sophomore years, and Sugar City for high school. The Newdale school house was also used for LDS church meetings until a church house was built in 1952. An agriculture depression in the early 1920s hurt the town, and many families lost their homes and farms to creditors, and were forced to leave Newdale. In 1924, when John Schwendiman was asked to be bishop of the Newdale LDS ward, he said this about the state of the town: “Newdale was half deserted. Some houses had burned down. Others were moved away and several were empty. The town was bonded for over $100,000 for the school house and water works.” The Great Depression of the 1930s had similar negative effects. The beat dump closed down but the potato industry would continue to expand. By 1944, only $1000 had been paid off in principal on the cities debts. The 1940s brought a new generation of farmers, with a lot of thought and effort being put towards irrigation. They used wells and dams. Sprinkler irrigation would double or triple the amount of usable farm land in the area. An LDS church house was completed and dedicated in