[St. Charles Cosmos-Monitor, Friday, November 15, 1940]
BIGGEST BUILDING BOOM
SEEN FOR ST. CHARLES AND COUNTY
HUNDREDS OF HOMES
NEEDED IMMEDIATELY
Real Estate and
Building Men Will Deluge This County; Several Will Open Offices
The biggest
building boom this county has ever seen is in the near future, attendants at
the housing meeting, held Thursday night at Hotel St. Charles predicted.
D. Oty
Groce presided over the meeting, attended by several local contractors,
business men, building material men and promoters, several of them from St.
Louis. After a lengthy discussion the meeting was adjourned until Monday night
when more ideas on the housing problem will be presented.
Suggestions
were made that the building of more than 100 new homes be started in St.
Charles or near the immediate city limits, Warren Franklin, St. Louis promoter,
announced he had an option on a large tract of land on Highway 61, between the
Daniel Boone Bridge and Wentzville for a townsite.
Franklin
added he was considering property between St. Charles and Weldon Spring for the
townsite but could not make a move until he knew the positive location of the
road that will be built between here and the TNT area.
Preston Van
Cheek, who announced early plans for a 72 family apartment, to cost in the
neighborhood of $40,000 on the old Dr. Shore property at Benton avenue and
Lewis, asked the group to consider zoning laws to protect property owners. It
was indicated that two members of each service club will discuss zoning for
presentation to the city council.
After local
contractors announced they were ready to go but could not start because of lack
of financial backing, Van Cheek said St. Charles would have no trouble raising
the money more than a score of realty companies, investors, promoters and
others interested in developments had focused their eye on this county. Van
Cheek added several planned to open offices here.
This
newspaper realizes St. Charles needs several hundred houses to take care of the
increased population but something must also be done to attract employees of
the TNT plant.
Workers
will not travel the 14 mile distance to St. Charles to make their home when
developments are nearer their work. A townsite about halfway between here and
Weldon Spring would not be too far away from the work and would still be enough
to this city for business purposes.
On the
other hand improvements would quickly follow between here and a townsite
several miles west on the Harvester road, also known as Highway 94.
Speed in
the developments is essential and work of some kind on residences or townsites
will get under way before the end of this month.
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[no source, not date]
MAY DEVELOP COMMUNITY
WEST OF HARVESTER
Workers at TNT Plant
Are Expected to Build Homes Where Schools Are Located
MEETS APPROVAL
Employees Not
Expected To Drive Back and Forth From St. Charles To Plant Daily
Establishment
of a community, consisting of workers from the TNT plant and residents who are
now moving out of the area, is expected to be in the vicinity between Harvester
and Weldon Springs, the Cosmos-Monitor was informed.
Many of the
residents of the plant area who have rented homes have their eye on the
proposed community site where they will build homes in the future.
Development
of the Community depends a lot on the location of the Howell High School. Plans
are under way to enlarge the consolidated district and if that is done the
school will be somewhere on Highway 94, about four or five miles this side of
the TNT plant.
People who
will work at the plant are seeking homes about five miles away and will locate
where there are adequate education facilities. One high official said if
schools are built on 94, about five miles away many of the plant people will
want to build homes there.
Naturally
there will be a Boom Town, tent and trailer cities, but the community on 94
would be something that would survive every think else and be a credit to this
county.
Workers at
the plant will not drive the distance from St. Charles to the plant and back
everyday, one authority said, but would go for a decent development within
radius of the plant.
