On October 14, 1940, U.S. Congress enacted the original Lanham Act, Public Law 849, 76th Congress, to expedite the provision of housing in connection with national defense. This Act was also known as the Mutual Home Ownership Program (MHOP). The Federal Works Administrator (FWA) was responsible for the War Housing Program provided for in the Act. On February 24, 1942, Executive Order 9070 transferred the responsibilities from the FWA to the National Housing Agency (NHA) that detailed requirements for the construction, maintenance, and disposition of the projects and dwelling units according to certain conditions, which are documented in the permanent records of the Public Housing Administration. The program ultimately produced 191,000 permanent dwelling units and 437,000 temporary dwelling units at an overall expenditure of $1,704,700,000.
Meet Clarence Stein, an American architect and urban planner born in 1882 and died in 1975. He became a world renowned architect focusing on affordable housing for the middle income workers and social housing in general. He was known for his integration of green spaces into his development plans. A schedule of Stein's projects from 1935 to 1941 listed in his book indicates that in 1941 the Shaler Township Defense Housing Project in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania was completed with the assistance of associates Charles & Edward Stotz, architects from Pittsburgh.
The Shalercrest Housing Project was planned and built between 1941-1944 on approximately 38 acres of land previously owned by Norman Ward, owner and president of the Etna Heights Land Company. Mr. Ward was presented with either using the land for a cemetery, which was not permitted by a Shaler Township ordinance, or selling it to the Federal Government to build the Shalercrest Housing Project, which was officially referred to as the Federal Housing Authority Project Number 36161-66. This project was established in 1941 by the Federal Government under the Defense Housing Program.
The Allegheny Housing Authority announced on January 31, 1947, they were going to takeover the 14 Federally constructed home projects and operate them at their present low rental prices. This was in response to the Federal Public Housing Authority (FPHA) offer to turn the units over to Allegheny County. Under the Lanham Act, the project could be sold to the tenants for private ownership. The FPHA had previously announced they were disposing all these type of properties after World War II ended as specified by the Act. The original FPHA cost to build the Allegheny County projects was $21,000,000 during 1941-1945.
A memorial tablet in honor of Private Matthew Fodi of the United States Marine Corps, the first resident of the Shalercrest Defense Housing Project to make the supreme sacrifice in World War II. A dedication was held on July 28, 1945, at 3:00PM. A parade and a memorial program preceded the unveiling of the bronze tablet. The athletic field at Shalercrest was named in honor of Private Fodi, who was killed in action on Okinawa May 20, 1945. This very same bronze tablet is still on display at the entrance of the office parking lot.
In April 1953, the Federal Government initiated steps to sell the first two Allegheny County Defense Housing Projects, Sheldon Park (near Tarentum) and Shalercrest, to recently organize tenant cooperatives. Shalercrest became the first project to be sold within the County. It was reported that the Shalercrest cooperative had 200/250 tenants signed up as members of the cooperative.
The Federal Government announced that August 31, 1954, was set as the deadline for the tenants, organized into the Shalercrest Housing Association, to purchase the real estate from the government. They indicated that a down payment of $50,000 was required by August 31 along with the origination of a $1,034,000 mortgage.
One prominent catalyst for organizing the cooperative is Minnie A. Brame. She resided at 266 Mt. Vernon Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15223. She was way ahead of her time, along with the other women involved in the cooperative, by participating as one of the original incorporators AND directors on the Board of Directors. (Community Building is in the backdrop of the photo.)
This book addresses the evolution of the Shalercrest Defense Housing Project, as a major neighborhood in Shaler Township, a suburb outside of downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This history should be maintained for future generations to see how life in these government sponsored Defense Housing Projects was during the 1940s and 1950s post-World War II era. In addition, the author hopes to fill in some of the missing local history of this significant Shaler Township neighborhood, since no information was available in its public library.
The research for this book comes from a wide variety of sources – Minute Books from Shaler Township, Etna Borough, Allegheny County Housing Authority, and Shalercrest Housing Association, along with Allegheny County Real Estate Office (Deed Records), Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Hillman Library, Frick Memorial Library, Smithsonian Pittsburgh, Heinz History Center, The National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, Maryland, and Cornell University, and Clarence Stein Archives. In addition, a number of newspaper articles and published papers during the early 1940s and 1950s were helpful in gathering the information for this book.
“Our family moved to Shalercrest in 1944. My father worked in the defense industry as a welder and fitter at the Dravo Corporation (Shipyard) on Neville Island in Pittsburgh, building Landing Ship Tanks (LST) for World War II. The early residents of Shalercrest made very valuable and important contributions to the war effort through their work in the local defense industries. These residents, as well as the veterans, were employed in the defense related industries in the immediate northern Pittsburgh area. This fact would be long lost without some reflection on the purpose of these Defense Housing Projects.
Shalercrest was my home from the early 1940s through the early 1960s in the upper part, the final units completed during construction, which started in late 1941. Shalercrest was a very close neighborhood of families with many children involved in self-made daily activities. This included creating fun times through imagination, teamwork, and independence. I am deeply gratified that the friends that I grew up with in Shalercrest developed into productive citizens who gained much success in their chosen field of endeavor.”
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