[no source, June 19, 1941]
HOUSING PROBLEM
CAUSING WORRY IN ST. CHARLES
Chamber of Commerce
Officials Visited Major Dutton and Got His Views On the Question
TRAILERS SUGGESTED
If Houses Cannot be
Built In Time For the 4500 Men Needed At the Plant In September
Construction
of barracks to house the single men and trailer camps for the married people
was predicted by Major C. R. Dutton, commander of the Weldon Spring Ordnance
plant, unless something is done to relieve the housing shortage for defense
workers in this area. Dutton made his statement to Chamber of Commerce officials
who visited him recently to determine the needs in this area.
The
commanding officer said by September there will be 4500 men working in
construction at the plant and about 3000 in the production end. He predicted
that at least 3000 men would be employed at the plant for the next five years
and during peace time a force of from 700 to 1000 men would be needed.
The figures
are for employees only, indicating at least 9,000 persons including the workers
and their families, will have to find living quarters in this area.
Within two
weeks work on 140 homes in St. Charles and sixty in the county will be started
but the 200 homes is only half the number Major Dutton recommended to the
Government and that was before the capacity of the local plant was doubled. At
present, the Major said, 800 homes would be necessary to house the employees
who will be [?] permanently.
[one or
more lines missing] we may [?] temporary barracks for the single men and
provide trailers to care for the others, the Major was quoted as saying.
About
seventy per cent of the production workers at the plant will be in the
$1800-$2500 a year salary bracket another twenty-five per cent receiving up to
$3000 and the balance more than $3000.
As was told
in this newspaper Wednesday, the Chamber of Commerce will appoint a committee
of six to investigate housing conditions here and may send a delegate to
Washington to confer with Government officials.
When the
committee gets to Washington they will find that city worrying about the
shortage just like we are here.
==========
[no source, May 12, 1941]
HOUSES FOR T N T
WORKERS TO BE BUILT IN ST. CHARLES
60 of 200
Government-Financed Homes to Be In O’Fallon and Cottleville.
The 200
houses to be constructed by the Government for workers at the TNT plant at
Weldon Springs will be built in St. Charles, O’Fallon and Cottleville, instead
of along the roads between the towns and the plant site, Congressman Clarence
Cannon announced today in a letter to the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce.
Cannon said
140 of the houses will be built within the city limits of St. Charles or in an
area to be annexed by the city. The remaining 60 will be divided between
O’Fallon and Cottleville. The Government will pay the towns a fee, not yet
determined, on the income of the property in lieu of taxes, Cannon added.
The Farm
Security Administration has taken options on several acres of land at the
junction of State Highway 94 and U. S. Highway 40 west of the city limits of
St. Charles. The city will vote May 28 to determine whether the tract will be
annexed. It is estimated the construction of the 200 houses will cost about
$750,000.
