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University of Chicago Prefabs
Posted by:
querencia
()
Date: May 29, 2011 07:40PM
Does anyone remember the temporary post-World War II married student housing at the University of Chicago, the Army Surplus "prefabs" (little one-story houses) and the "barracks" (two-story walkup garden apartments)---this was in the early 1950's. They were laid out wherever the U of C could find an empty lot---south of the Midway from Drexel to University, north of the Midway scattered here and there. A furnished prefab rented for $44 a month including utilities. This was not luxury housing: the kitchen had a 2-burner hotplate and an actual icebox with a chunk of ice in it, and heating was from a space heater for which the University made weekly deliveries of fuel oil to a tank that sat at the front door. The floor sat about eight inches off the ground. Story was that the prefab community generated more PhD's and more babies than anywhere on earth. Explanation given for the latter was that students were poor and couldn't afford to go to the movies so found entertainment at home.
Re: University of Chicago Prefabs
Posted by:
davey7
()
Date: May 31, 2011 08:23AM
My dad lived in one with his first wife - probably mid to late 50's. It produced two PhD's and a baby, so I guess that's apt. They were VERY cold in the winter.
Re: University of Chicago Prefabs
Posted by:
WayOutWardell
()
Date: May 31, 2011 08:54AM
If you go to Historic Aerials, use 6000 S. University as the address and 1952 as the year, you can see them everywhere!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2011 08:55AM by WayOutWardell.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2011 08:55AM by WayOutWardell.
Re: University of Chicago Prefabs
Posted by:
davey7
()
Date: May 31, 2011 09:28AM
Cool maps - My dad was north of the midway. I'll have to get details. There were lots of artists and boho types in them (beatnicks perhaps?).
Re: University of Chicago Prefabs
Posted by:
jak378
()
Date: May 31, 2011 11:04AM
For a time in the late 40's we lived around 59th and Ellis. I seem to remember going for walks with my mother and seeing these things actually in the middle of the Midway. Am I crazy or did they have them there? I also seem to remember being told that they were there for returning vets.
Re: University of Chicago Prefabs
Posted by:
Elaine W
()
Date: May 31, 2011 08:26PM
jak--you're not crazy. I remember them on the Midway as well (in fact, that's the only place I remember them, not all around the neighborhood). At the time, my parents & I lived in an apartment at 55th & University (subsequently demolished to make way for Pierce Hall, a U of C dorm). I think my parents knew a couple of families living in the pre-fabs, and I remember going over there to visit, just like going to regular apartments and houses to visit friends and relatives in the neighborhood.
davey--to the best of my knowledge, the pre-fabs were strictly for U of C students, especially married students, not for a more general population of artists. Married college students were a new concept in the post-war years and there was no plan on how to house them--mostly veterans who were eligible for college or grad school on the GI Bill, who were generally older than the typical college student.
davey--to the best of my knowledge, the pre-fabs were strictly for U of C students, especially married students, not for a more general population of artists. Married college students were a new concept in the post-war years and there was no plan on how to house them--mostly veterans who were eligible for college or grad school on the GI Bill, who were generally older than the typical college student.
Re: University of Chicago Prefabs
Posted by:
davey7
()
Date: June 07, 2011 12:35PM
I need to ask my dad, the impression I've gotten from him was that it was very bohemian (of course, U of C was very much a "student life" university at that time - a lot of older students who'd had to put off college due to the war were there, more so than today, lots of bars and clubs on 55th street pre-urban renewal) and artsy.
Funny that you mentioned Pierce Tower, my parents were married there (my dad was a resident head there in the early 60's - he had the unofficially, but notoriously, gay house as I understand it).
Funny that you mentioned Pierce Tower, my parents were married there (my dad was a resident head there in the early 60's - he had the unofficially, but notoriously, gay house as I understand it).
Re: University of Chicago Prefabs
Posted by:
davey7
()
Date: June 08, 2011 02:13PM
So I talked to my dad about them; they were originally married veterans housing and were quonset huts. This was in the early/mid fifties - they didn't live there very long. The heat was from a central stove which actually got red hot which made him rather nervous. The group they lived in was across from Lying-In Hospital (maternity wards of U of C hospitals at the time) just east of Cottage between 58th and 59th streets which is now the site of the parking garage for the hospitals. I gather they were friendly as a community, but not particularly safe, as there were petty thefts in the area.
Re: University of Chicago Prefabs
Posted by:
kgbeast
()
Date: December 22, 2011 07:01AM
I do not remember this, however, I lived there as a newborn in the 50's when my father was a resident physcian at the hpspital. My mother remembers it well. it was a pretty challenging living situation with 2 kids. I believe the place was located around 61st and Woodlawn.
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