Castellano Addition
“The following article written in 1953 describes post-depression housing starts occurring in Marion, Illinois.”
Bainbridge Start Building
Lawrence Bainbridge, operator of Bainbridge Jewelry Company was one of the first to visualize the need for additional, post-depression era, housing in Marion, Illinois, and then do something about it.
Joining Bainbridge were Adolph Freres and Gordon Franklin. Their first addition was known as Elmwood Place, and comprised 20 acres of land. It was located in the west section of the city near the proposed Veterans Hospital. They laid out the streets, built curbs, side-walks and rocked the streets. After the sewer and water mains were laid, they offered 72 lots for sale in the addition. To date, 70 of these lots have been sold and houses have been constructed. (This is the area of First, Second and Third Streets, most homes were built and occupied from 1943 to 1950)
Federal Housing Started
The second largest development following the Elmwood Addition was the Federal Housing Project, in which the government constructed 200 low rent homes near Elmwood. This construction started in 1942. The federal housing area was opened in 1944, under the name of Marion Heights. (The Marion Heights name had been previously used by the Marion Development Company prior to WWI.)
In February of this year the name was changed to Shannon Heights in honor of Mayor William Shannon. On Feb. 9, 1953, the federal project was dedicated to the city, at the request of James J. Polodna of Chicago, representative of the Public Housing Administration. These houses will be sold to individuals. (The Shannon Heights Addition referred to here is the Midway Courts housing area.)
Bainbridge Continued Building
After the success of the Elmwood Addition, Bainbridge continued his building program. He secured 14 lots in the old Marion Heights addition, north of the present Bainbridge Square area, and built homes on them. Troy Norman worked as his building superintendent and working foreman, Norman also built homes in the same area and sold them.
Bainbridge envisioned an addition of modern homes, restricted to commercial enterprises. He purchased 40 acres of land from the estate of Rev. Barnett, located west of the Elmwood Addition, and adjoining the Veterans Hospital. Years ago, this land had been owned by the Federal Land Bank of St. Louis, who had cut off the timber and sold it, leaving large stumps, and second growth lumber. Before this land could be con- verted into an addition suitable for building homes, it was necessary to dynamite and removed over 200 large stumps. Some of these stumps were so large it took three weeks to burn them.
After the addition was surveyed, sewer and water mains were laid and the streets constructed. The first house in the Bainbridge Addition was a cottage, located adjacent to the hospital grounds. (I believe this section to be Fourth Street and were predominately built and occupied in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s.)
A Site of Beautiful Homes
Today Bainbridge Square is a site of beautiful homes. Out of the 131 lots surveyed in the Bainbridge Addition, all but two have been sold. One hundred homes have been constructed in this addition to date, and a large number are in the planning stage.
Bainbridge named the principal streets of his addition after his two granddaughters: Sherry Road, after Dr. and Mrs. Bob Hudgens’ daughter Sherry, and Charlotte Road after Mr. and Mrs. Bill Bainbridge’s’ daughter Charlotte. Bainbridge Road is the principal street in this addition of beautiful homes and extends in a semi-circle over three quarters of a mile long.
Brick Homes by Castellano
Marion Castellano now has a project of constructing 20 brick and brick veneer homes in the western section of the city this year. Castellano built his first home on a lot in the Bainbridge Addition and has now started his large development, with 70 lots located southwest of the Bainbridge Addition.
He built seven houses on Concord Street and 20 new homes are now under construction in the Castellano Addition. Streets have been laid out and the curb and gutters installed. Water and sewer mains have also been laid. (Castellano Addition is the section of town south of the Bainbridge Addition and Hendrickson Street including Roberta Drive, Castellano Ave., Laura Lane, Julianne Drive, Warren St., Turnage Lane, Jeffrey Drive, Carol Drive and more.)
Harry Norman a Builder
In the past 25 years Harry Norman estimates that he built approximately 1,000 homes in Marion alone. In discussing the present-day house with the houses he first built Norman reports many radical changes. Today’s home is built more for practicability than beauty. Years ago, two- story homes were built, with circle porches, beaded plate glass and leaded glass windows, and fancy staircases. He stated that some stairways cost over $1,000 to build.
Today the homes are mostly one-story structures, with built-in cabinets, plenty of closet space and modern conveniences not thought of a century ago. Houses today are closer to the ground, and many have built in garages. There is little difference in the floor space however between the houses of today and those 25 years ago.
Norman discussed the difference in office buildings today and years ago. Building trades have advanced as much in 25 years as automobiles have, according to Norman. He compared the Hotel State Building, with the present day hotel and office construction.
In 1936, Norman, Matt Lawrence, Delos Duty and Howard Moake acquired the old Marion State and Savings Bank building from the receivers and started converting it into a hotel. In 1947, Norman acquired ownership of the building. When it was constructed it cost approximately $100,000. The same building today, according to Norman, could not be constructed for half a million dollars. He pointed out that the elaborate ceiling moldings, marble casings on the first floor and mosaic tiles, were no longer to be found in the modern office building.
Norman retired from the building game about seven years ago due to ill health and devotes his full time to operating the hotel.
The $7,000 home built by Norman years ago would now cost about $25,000, he said. “Building denotes confidence in the community, and I know of no community in Southern Illinois that has equaled Marion in its building program the last 15 years,” said Norman.
He cited the Marion Junior High School as an example of the trend in modern building. The two-story building of the past has been replaced by the one-story building, which is more economical and far more practical for school purposes.
Over 1,000 New Homes
Various builders when asked to estimate the new homes that had been constructed in Marion in the past 15 years gave figures from 1,300 to 1,500. A good comparative figure was secured from the records of CIPS.
In 1941, 3,427 residences in Marion used electricity. Today there are 4,428 residences, difference of 1,001, and that does not include the 200 homes located in the Federal Housing Project, as all of these operate through one meter. The city water department indicates that approximately 1,500 water users have been added since 1947.
(Article written for the Marion Daily Republican by Paul Frick and published 10/29/1953, reprinted in 1995 Progress Edition of MDR; Notes added in parenthesis by Sam Lattuca 03/11/2013)