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On October 12, 1933, the purchase of the Arthurdale land was announced publicly. The press release painted Arthurdale as a "demonstration project" that would help unemployed coal miners. Each family would receive a modest home and enough acreage to raise its own food and crops. Each home would cost about $2,000 and the community was to govern itself, much like small New England towns. There were to be no private employment options, aside from a factory that would provide equipment for the U.S. Post Office.{{sfn|Haid|1975|p=74}}
While Eleanor Roosevelt saw Arthurdale as an exciting new chance for the government to provide destitute citizens with the foundation for successful, self-sufficient lives, the project soon faltered on budgetary and political grounds. The cost of constructing and maintaining the Arthurdale community far exceeded what the government had anticipated and the idea of federally planned communities had never sat well with [[Conservatism in the United States|conservatives]]. Conservatives condemned it as socialist and a "communist plot
From its earliest stages, selecting Arthurdale's homesteaders was a contradictory process. Faculty members at nearby West Virginia University were given charge of picking the first round of homesteaders, and they wanted at once to help people who desperately needed it, but also wanted to select only people who would assure the success of the experiment. Arthurdale was not to be a "community of saints, but neither did the University committee feel justified in offering the opportunity to persons whose lack of moral character was likely to jeopardize their ability to contribute to the venture." Similarly, the federal government wanted the first homesteaders to be highly intelligent, capable, and persistent people. In short, not just anyone would be chosen for Arthurdale because only certain kinds of people could make the experiment successful. In the fall of the 1933, the selection of the first fifty homesteaders began. Most fundamentally, applicants had to have practical farming knowledge. By October, over 600 applications had been received. In addition to knowing how to farm, homesteaders had to be physically fit, have a certain education and intelligence level, and demonstrate the potential to succeed at Arthurdale. An eight-page questionnaire and follow-up interview were also a part of the process, and those favorable applicants were interviewed in their homes and asked questions about the health and stability of their families.{{sfn|Haid|1975|p=76}}
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