Just try to resist this memory-tugging photograph of northwest York, Pa.
Yorktowne Homes in northwest York are seen soon after their World War II-era construction. This aerial view by J. David Allen, who took many such bird’s-eye photographs in those days, appeared in a York (Pa.) Chamber of Commerce publication in 1950. Notice the rural nature of this section of York, often associated today with the Fireside Park neighbhorhood. Also of interest: Map aficionados will love bird’s-eye view of old York Fairgrounds. and York’s Roosevelt Avenue airport large enough to play host to air mail pick up, corporate travel and Just try to resist studying this memory-tugging photograph.
Yorktowne Homes were built to provide housing in the
World War II years for workers flocking to York’s bustling defense factories.
The post Yorkers welcomed nondescript housing tells this story.
A York Chamber of Commerce publication covering initiatives of that organization during the first 50 years of the 20th century tells more about these houses, still standing east of Roosevelt Avenue.
According to the publication:
The chamber’s housing committee became concerned about the federal government’s plans for defense housing. Three projects were proposed: Permanent housing, temporary facilities and semi-permanent units.
The chamber backed construction of permanent units, figuring the other options would bring cheap construction. Then the chamber insisted on permanent construction “as good as the average of our private builders.”
Yorktowne Homes, as the project was called, became one of the best developments in York County in the post-war era.
What happened in other cities that opted for semi-permanent housing?
“These areas have become the new slums of those cities,” the publication stated.
Some of the temporary homes did find their way into York. About 150 trailer homes were brought in at the former York County Home tract near the old county prison at the north end of Broad Street.
Other posts with aerial views:
– Just try to resist studying this memory-tugging photograph
– Just try to resist studying this memory-tugging Sears photograph, Part II
– Just try to resist this memory-tugging photo of North York’s White Oak Park
– So, can you find long-gone Springwood Park in this aerial photograph?
– Camp Security area of Springettsbury Township from the air
– Columbia-Wrightsville Susquehanna River bridges from the air.
– Just try to resist this memory-tugging photograph of northwest York, Pa.
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“The Record of the York Chamber of Commerce in the First Half of the Twentieth Century,” the source of the information for this post, courtesy of Joe Stein.
