by Pete Zizka
8-27-2020
click on photo for larger version
|
Cates Terrace by Pete Zizka 8-27-2020 |
|
Sixty-five years ago, most of the north side of
Main Street from Mansfield Avenue to West Avenue was not heavily built
up and consisted of rocky ledges. But up in back of the Coca-Cola
bottling plant, from 1943 until 1954 stood a housing project that few
people were aware of.
“The John Cates
Terrace”, named after John Cates, an
Englishman who is believed to be the first non-Native American settler
in Windham in 1688, was built in
1943 as part of the Federal Public Housing Authority's attempts to
provide housing for workers in military establishments and businesses
that did production work for the military. Work on the project was begun
in April, 1943 with a grant to Windham from the FPHA. Associated
Construction Co. of Groton completed the work in July, 1943. The total
cost of the project was $382,250. The buildings were located on the
three streets serving the project; Barrows Avenue (named after the
General Manager of the Willimantic Linen Company William Barrows),
Chappell Avenue (named after Willimantic Mayor Herbert Chappell) and
Tanner Avenue (named after Willimantic Mayor Oscar O. Tanner).
Each of the sixteen “barracks type buildings” was divided into
apartments. The apartments were
called housing units and were of three styles. The smallest was a one
bedroom with a partitioned kitchen/living room combination and a shower
and toilet. The next size was an upgrade to a separate kitchen/living
room combination. The largest was a two bedroom unit . Each unit came
witha stove, refrigerator, city utilities and garbage pickup. Tenants
were expected to provide their own furniture and fuel. The rent for the
units was from $27 to $30 per month. There was a total of 184 units in
the project. After the war's end, the complex became home to returning
soldiers . The Federal Government intended to turn the project over to
the City "when the housing shortage was eased" and so on December 1,
1945, the Willimantic Housing Authority took over control of the
project. Willimantic’s First Selectman, Eugene Lewis had said that the
housing would be for Willimantic veterans only but then said that any
veteran who was a student could reside there. Many UConn students who
were veterans took advantage of this opportunity. Eventually, 120 of the
units were leased to the University. The town of Windham provided bus
transportation for public and parochial school children. The complex
maintained a large community play area for children as well as a nursery
and a playroom located in the project’s Community House. The Federal
Government had originally planned Cates Terrace to be a temporary
project of five years duration but it was continued due to an ongoing
housing shortage. In 1952, rents were increased by 30% and tenants were
complaining of neglected repairs of things such as ill fitting doors,
poor plumbing, stagnant water near the buildings and roach infestation.
Windham’s Housing Authority attempted to make repairs but also called it
a slum and said, “it has become practically an eyesore in the City of
Willimantic and should be demolished as quickly as possible.” The
Authority began moving people to the newly built Terry Court and Nathan
Hale Terrace (West Avenue) projects. By September, 1954, when all
tenants had vacated the property, Willimantic decided it did not want to
keep it as a "project" and the Board of Alderman passed a resolution
that it be torn down. A scan of City Directories for those years will
show that many of Windham’s residents, started out at Cates Terrace.
click on photo for larger version |
| <<HOME>> <<back to Historical Articles index>> |