{"id":260,"date":"2018-05-26T16:53:18","date_gmt":"2018-05-26T23:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/db745daf2d.nxcli.net\/smalltowns\/?p=260"},"modified":"2026-04-15T15:50:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T22:50:54","slug":"the-war-is-over-and-the-economy-is-improving-time-to-buy-a-new-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theimmers.com\/smalltowns\/the-war-is-over-and-the-economy-is-improving-time-to-buy-a-new-house\/","title":{"rendered":"The war is over and the economy is improving time to buy a new house"},"content":{"rendered":"

The house we lived in on 3rd street between 1947 and 1954 was only 400 square feet. My bedroom was a converted garage. The growing economy created a huge demand for housing and new tracts were sprouting up all over the country. In 1954 the conservative attitude toward borrowing money for a new house softened. It was time for moving up.<\/p>\n

\"\"

House warming guests: Grandmother Cuma,<\/strong>
daughter Barbara, neighbor Dorothy<\/strong>
Photo edit by Rodger 2010.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

My father built the house in 1947. My uncle gave the lot as a wedding present. The building material for my father’s construction cost about $2000 in 1947. There was no mortgage payment. The attitude that 3% interest for a loan to buy a house was crushing debt was changing . The pent up demand created by the housing development slow down during the depression and the returning war vets unleashed a surge to buy housing. The attitude was that now that the war is over and the economy is picking up\u00a0 we can afford to buy a house. The housing cost was not generally viewed as a bargain at the time. The attitude changed toward the relative importance and desire for better housing. The economic balance of housing in household budgets changed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Moving up to Rosewood Heights<\/h2>\n
\"\"

Rodger and Bobbie at Roxana house 1 year<\/strong>
before the move to Rosewood Heights house.<\/strong>
Photo edit by Rodger 2010.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

We moved out of the house in Roxana to a new housing development, called Rosewood Heights, in 1954. I was eleven when we were moving up to Rosewood Heights. Rosewood Heights was the name of the development. The location was in East Alton, Illinois. The Heights<\/a> part of the name came from the location on a plateau that was about 200 feet above the adjacent towns of Roxana and Wood River.\u00a0 The housing density was much lower than the adjacent towns. There were about 2000 people in an area of 2 square miles. More than 50% of the area was hardwood forest and vegetation that had not been cleared for development.<\/p>\n

This move was only about 2 miles so I was in the same school district and did not have any change in my classes. The bus route was for the whole school district, not directly to my house, and took 45 minutes. This residential development had just started and some of the tracts that had been laid out for 30 to 40 houses only had one or two houses that had been built. The house had 3 bedrooms, a full basement, and was more than twice the size of the house in Roxana. There was an elementary school across the street but on the other 3 sides there was several hundred acres of open space. Current view<\/a> of a typical neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Moving up at bargain price<\/h2>\n

The price was about $11,000. The monthly payments on the mortgage were about $50. The house had central heating which was a big change. I was no longer sleeping in a room that could be below freezing at night. My mother could wash clothes and hang them up to dry in the basement. This move was an important event in family history and highlights the contrast in economic conditions between 1954 and present (this history is being written in late 2009 and 2010).<\/p>\n

Moving up resulted in several new friends. There were several children that I played basketball with. Craig was one of them. He lived on the other side of the elementary school a couple of blocks away. Jimmy lived on the other side of Rosewood Heights. By age 11 he was already playing great steel guitar. Steve lived a half mile or so away but I often walked over to his house. Steve was in some of my classes and was on the basketball team. The first girl that I ever thought of as being a girl friend lived in Rosewood Heights. Her name was Sandra.<\/p>\n

The sense of neighborhood was very vivid but the dimensions and character had changed significantly. I walked \u00bd mile to visit friends instead of going next door and there was hundreds of acres of open space, a creek, and hardwood forests intermingled with the housing tracts. The tract development was not complete. Empty lots outnumbered the houses. I practiced with my bow and arrows without any impact on neighbors.<\/p>\n

Epilogue and perspective: family economics and housing in the 50s<\/h2>\n

This scenario of buying a new house in a good neighborhood with a monthly payment of 10% of family income has not existed since the 1970s. The neighborhood in Rosewood Heights was not low crime it was zero crime. A family with an average income today could not afford a similar house and location. Another element of American life that has changed is that there are no towns with zero crime.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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