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A gentleman by the name of Clements Roark arrived in Beaver County in 1940 from Chicago and miraculously activated a low rent housing program.
The Beaver County Commissioners started
the program with a small amount of seed money and it wasn't long
before the Federal Government sent their first check in the amount
of $10,000,000.00 to the county. The check was refused by the
Fort McIntosh Bank and the Beaver Trust Company as saying they
didn't want anything to do with government red tape. The Farmer's
National Bank of Beaver Falls accepted the check and they were
the depository for further housing banking. The first low rent
housing in Beaver County was Morado and Harmony Dwellings in Beaver
Falls, in the year 1941. The first office was in a jury room in
the Court House and the board members were Ralph Bennett, County
Controller; Charles O'Laughlin, Sheriff; Bill Moore, Plumbers
Union; Jack McLaughlin, Real Estate and Insurance and James March,
The News Tribune.
The county was canvassed like a federal census to find the need for low income housing, since there was so much substandard living here after the depression of 1936. The low-income housing hadn't more than gotten their feet wet when the news rang out "Pearl Harbor Bombed"! Beaver County became a hub of defense plants working for the wa reffort and there was a great influx of families from other counties and states making a greater shortage of housing. Thus was born the (PAHRA) Pennsylvania Association of Housing and Redevelopment Authorities. Mr. A.C. Edgecombe, athletic director, left Geneva College to become administrator. He stayed with the authority until June 1968 retiring as Secretary and Treasurer of the authority. The first housing was done under the direction of Arthur Martsolf and Architects Harold Bradley and George Trent and the landscape architect was Carl Brosh.
Some of the early housing had coal furnaces and there was a shortage of copper for plumbing, so after the war a lot of restoration had to be done to update the housing as it is today. Thirteen federal projects and three county low-income projects were built. It was full steam ahead and the supervisors and staff were working and disregarding hours or overtime. Well over 2,500 families were housed for the war effort. Each project had a community building with offices, maintenance space and social areas. All of the housing that was built at this early date is still standing with the exception of Kobuta Homes. Kobuta was built as a temporary housing unit from cinder block, with the understanding as soon as the war effort was over, it was to be torn down. It disappeared just the way it appeared. It was known as the "Village that Disappeared". Three hundred units were built. Fifty of the units were equipped for light housekeeping for single girls or with two girls sharing an apartment. The other 250 units consisted of rows of one-story brick homes, each with a bathroom, kitchen, living room with one to four bedrooms. Altogether thirty-six dwelling structures were erected. They were completed in the fall of 1943.
P.M. Moore of Aliquippa built a company store on the site, a Post Office was established, school, bus station, playgrounds and community building. There were also administration offices, storage spaces, and repair shops. Gas was used for water heating, cooking, refrigeration and heating. Electric lighting was supplied by Duquesne Light Company.
Most of the units had their own newspaper and it was noted in June 1943, Volume 1, No. 4, that a "Leadership training for canning program" was being held. Anne Sutter, Director of Utility Hall, Pittsburgh, outstanding nutrition and food preservative authority of radio fame with a staff of trained assistants will conduct a training class in the Community Hall at Tamaqui Village, Vanport. The women will be trained to conduct canning classes in their communities. The program is being sponsored by the Duquesne Light Company with the assistance of their Project Service Department. The canning classes were to take care of the surplus of the "Victory Garden". A "Victory Garden" was the name given to the vegetable gardens planted during the war years to feed the families. There was a shortage of food, meat, cigarettes, tires, cars, sugar, etc. Mr. Christopher Kiefer was the chairman of the Victory Garden Committee. He met with the different housing units and set up meetings to explain all phases of home gardening. It is almost impossible to remember all the organizations that were formed to make the tenants as comfortable and aware of everything that was available to them. Sunday school classes were held on Sundays, elementary school classes were set up for the convenience of the 1st and 2nd grades to keep them close to their homes.
The Borough of Baden was one of the last areas to commit to public housing.
Tamaqui Village was the first war housing unit and model units were set up as examples for the families to use in decorating their homes. In the September issue of Woman's Home Companion, the efforts of Mrs. Smith and Miss Hamill were viewed around the country. Beaver County was one of the earliest Housing Authorities formed. The first ones were formed in 1937 and Beaver County came in three years later in 1940.
Today some of the units have been sold to Co-ops and share holders, others are still operating under the Authority of Beaver County Housing. As of December 1988, the Beaver County Housing Authority received the "Sustained Performance Award" from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Over 1,000 authorities competed for this honor and Beaver County was one of only two larger housing authorities in the United States to receive the award. The plaque received will be displayed in the authorities central office at 300 State Street, Vanport, Beaver, Pennsylania.
A list of the housing projects follow: VanBuren Homes, Vanport; Midland Heights, Midland; Anthony Wayne Terrace, Baden; Linmar Homes, Aliquippa; Mayfield Heights, West Mayfield; Morado Dwellings, Beaver Falls; Tamaqui Village, Vanport; Linmar Terrace, Aliquippa-, Stephen Phillips Homes, Monaca; Pulaski Homes, Pulaski Township; Lacock Dwellings, Rochester; Economy Village, Ambridge; Mt. Vernon Homes, Aliquippa; Griffith Heights, Aliquippa and Harmony Dwellings, Beaver Falls.