For instance, there are two sitting right next to each other at 4465 Oberlin Avenue (shown above). The Lorain County Auditor website says they were built in 1948. One seems to function as a home, the other as a garage – it's kind of hard to tell. They seem to have been chopped down a little.
I first found the 4465 Oberlin Avenue address in the 1957 city directory – a year after Kew Gardens was dissolved and its quonset huts dispersed far and wide.
Here's an aerial view of how they are situated.
I don’t know, but in this age of “tiny houses,” I wonder if quonset huts will make a comeback?
5 comments:
I love Quonset Huts. I drive past these in Lorain all the time. They seem to be in good shape outside.
Great story Dan, thanks for posting! I never knew about Kew Gardens on the East Side, it was before my time. But I have driven by the Oberlin Ave quonset huts and never knew the history.
Chuck
Jackson, MI
My father was an Army Air Corp veteran in WWII, John Bellville. My mother was Irish, (Mabel) June Bellville. They moved into one of the trailers in 1947 when my dad found work at U.S. Steel. I am not sure of the month they moved in, but my sister Bonnie was born when they lived in the trailer on Dec 31, 1947. They were still living in the trailer when I was born December 15, 1948. As I understand it, those living in the trailers were first in line to move into the glorious Quonset Huts when someone moved out. I don't know the month or year we got in but I was starting kindergarten. We had just moved to another public housing in West Lorain across the street from Washington Elementary school. Evidently, Washington wasn't completed because my Kindergarten was in Charleston Elementary.
Mom worked at the Lorain Telephone company and dad and mom both retired from those first jobs after thirty plus years. Dad also worked for Crystal Block and Ice (full time) as he worked for U.S. Steel full time for about two years in the early 50's.
Evan Bellville, Rising Fawn, GA wrote about his time in Kew Gardens above.
Small world, I also went to school at Washington Elementary School. Your sister Bonnie and I where in the same classes. Jr. High we went to Hawthorne and I remember when th circus would come to town the school would take the 7th & 8th graders on a field trip to the circus which was on Colorado Ave. We’d walk with out friends down 21st St. to Colorado Ave. Teachers were the chaperones. It was a blast from the past! I remember the huts as my dad was WWII Navy and he take me there to visit a few friends who lived in those huts! The good ole’ days!
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