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La Senia, a small municipality of the Montsiá region, was the victim of problematic times during the 1930s of the twentieth century. We must highlight the following factors: the II Republic (1931-1936), the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the famine of the post-war years.In 1935 the major of the village was Mr. Juan Ferré Cortiella, loved a lot by his people, because of the interest he showed for the people of the village and for the village in general. During his term of office, this man ordered the construction of excellent schools, which are now called Escoles Velles (the old schools). He did a lot for the village; when the republicans arrived and sealed the doors of the church, people took the sacristy to his cousin’s house so that she kept it until the end of the war to avoid its destruction; nevertheless, many church jewels were ruined. Finally, Juan Ferré Cortiella was exiled to France, and when he could, he came back to join the people of his village. The secretary, Mr. Ángel Cardona Bel, also stood out, together with the municipal judge, Mr. Ernesto Aliau and the priest, Mr. Manuel Claramonte.As for teaching in La Senia, it is established by the national school, the school called “Las Hermanas de la Consolación”, and the school of the teacher Ismael Carbó. The teachers of the national school have always taught, but in the beginning they were particular teachers who taught in any facility of the village that was useful to do so, such as an attic, a warehouse, ... When the national school was formed, the teachers Ángeles Palau Vilanova, Joaquín Marcoval, María Serra and Vicente Celma accepted to teach. In that school, boys and girls went to different classes, the boys with the male teachers and the girls with the female teachers. The school was in Plaza Mossèn Escoda, and it was called “Escuelas de Ave María”. The school “Las Hermanas de la Consolación” was a nuns’ school, only attended by girls of the well-off families of the village, as it was a fee-paying school. It was in calle Mayor, in Casa Madis, where the priest and the nuns lived, in the ground floor of the house. Another school that existed in that time was the school of the teacher Ismael Carbó, which was also a fee-paying school, but this was only attended by boys, and it was in calle Mossèn Jacint Verdaguer. There was no difference in the teaching of the different schools, all of them taught the same things: girls learnt to sow, to cook,... and there were other subjects that were taught both to girls and boys, such as mathematics, Castilian language, religion,... Another thing in common between them was that before beginning the classes, the national anthem was sung.  
The economic activities of those times were very varied: there were twelve people devoted to the trade of oil, such as Alfredo Almuni, Juan Ferré, Ramón Palau, Victoriano Serrà... Among them, Ramon Palau exported oil outside the country. The family of Joaquín Lucas were the first ones to export oil outside, but, due to money problems, he had to sell the business to Mr. Ramón Palau. Mr. Joaquín Lucas started another business related to oil, but in this case, he produced olive pomace oil. A short time after starting his business, he died, and his wife and daughters continued with the business.A paintbrush factory: the first people to construct the factory in the village were Mr. Calduch and Mr. Ricardo García. That factory has a very tragic story about its founder, Calduch. Mr. Calduch, a man who was respected in the village, who employed all the people that needed it, and although there was sometimes no work, if people really needed it, he always tried to help them in one way or another. This good man had a very tragic ending, he was killed by his workers, with apparently no logical reason, and the only thing left are rumours about what happened. The people of the village say that he was a very good person, and that he did not deserve what they did to him, but in the circumstances of the period, one does not know how we can react or what can happen. The Calduch family continued with the paintbrush business, and apart from this factory, many more appeared, such as the one from Ramón Villarroya and the one from Francisco García. Another very prestigious trade was that of doctors. In that time, there were four doctors in the village, Jaime Albesa, Hiraldo Cid, Daniel Llombard (Mr. Daniel) and Jaime Sabater. Each of them had the “aiguala”, which was the cost paid for the services rendered by the GP; people only had to pay once a year. The families chose the doctor they preferred.The dressmakers of the village were Delfina Lucas, Josefa Lleixà and Alfredina Rius. They were almost as important as doctors, as they dressed the people of the village because there were no clothing stores and, as in the case of doctors, each family chose its dressmaker. The slight difference was that they charged by piece of clothing and not annually.The clockmakers’ of the village were those of Arrufat and Godes, that continue existing, ran by the grandchildren of those who ran them in those times. The Arrufat clockmaker’s was in the same place where it is now, but that of Godes was in Plaza España, by what today is the Verge bookshop, and not in calle Sant Joan, where it is now.  
There were four bakeries in the village: that of Ramón Cid, that of Bautista Cortiella, that of Juan Cortiella and that of José Ferré. Those that continue existing are that of Ramón Cid, which is now the “Saixes” bakery, and was in calle Sant Joan, where we can find Nivell today, and that of José Ferré, which was where it is now, opposite the bakery of Ramón Cid.  The shoemakers and espadrille makers of the village were: Jaime Balagué, Carlos Ferré, Enrique Molins, José Prades and Àlvaro Solé. Jaime Balagué’s shoe store, which continues existing with the name of Sabateria Monlai was in plazoleta de Sant Josep. That of Carlos Ferré, father of Juan Ferré Cortiella, the village major in those times, was in calle Jaume I. That of Álvaro Solé was in Plaza España. That of Enrique Molins was in calle Mayor and, finally, that of José Prades was not really a shoe store, it only mended shoes. In those times, there were already cabinetmakers’ workshops, which would be the beginning of the Country of Furniture in La Senia. The initiators were José Bellaubí Sans, who was in number 18 of the street that was then called Joaquín Costa, and today is calle Jaume I; Gerardo Verdera, in calle Ramon y Cajal number 26. Both were the only people in the village who manufactured furniture. Other cabinetmakers’ workshops such as those of Juan Querol, Emilio Subirats, Joaquín Tomás, Constantino Sans, Ramón Subirats y Aledina Ferré - in calle Alcalà Zamora number 34 – manufactured tools and repaired furniture.The people of the village, apart from working, also had their entertainments, such as cafés and taverns. There were seven cafés and three taverns in the village. The cafés were Centro Obrero, Club Modern, the café of José Celma, that of Juan Labernia, that of Vicente Perolada, that of José Romeu and that of Francisco Sans. The most outstanding ones were Centro Obrero and Club Modern because they were places where shows were performed; the difference between them was that right-wing partisans went to the second one, and left-wing partisans went to the first one. Other less important cafés were: that of José Celma in calle del Carmen, the Casino that continues existing, ran by Vicente Perolada, in those times the owner was Ramon Ortí; that of Juan Labernia that continues existing, and is called L’Avenida. In calle Sant Joan, we could find the café José Romeo, which today is a greengrocer’s, and the café Francisco Sans, in calle Barcelona, from which many people comment that it was full of prostitutes, although nobody is one hundred per cent sure.    
In taverns, unlike cafés, only wine was served. Three of them have been located in the following way: one in calle del Carmen, another one in the back part of the Centro Obrero, and the one of Argiset del Tort in calle Sant Miquel. There is one anecdote about these establishments, although nobody knows if it is true or not; when people started to be too drunk, instead of pouring wine in the jugs, they poured water. There were also stores that sold oil, legumes, etc, called “Albaceria”; there were eleven of them. There were five “alpargaterías”, whose difference with shoe stores was that they only sold linen shoes called espardenyes (espadrilles). There were about six barbers, six butchers’ shops, about nineteen stores selling cereals, the patisserie of José Estrada, in plaza Mayor, ropeworks where ropes are made, ran by Vicente Camba, the Marcoval café serving hot chocolate, two pharmacies, Joaquín Vicente, the soda man, five ironmongers’, two scrapyards, five dairies... Apart from stores, there were also trades such as that of building labourers (Agustín Jornet and Tomás Monfort), bankers, Ramón Palau, the manufacturers of cardboards or paper (Martí Martorell), the newspaper correspondents (Jaime Ferré Bonet), the owners of the electricity factories, one was Daniel Martorell and the other Martí Martorell, the soap factories of Juan Tolós, the notary Diego García, the medical assistant David Albera, the people working in the fields.... To end this section, we mention the richest people of the village in the 1930s, Andrés Abella, Franc Fonollosa, Martí García, José Marcoval, Juan Muñoz, Ramón Palau, Federico Pla, Joaquín Royo, Alfonso Vidal and Carmen Vidal.
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