Norwayne Historic District

About this property

The Norwayne Historic District, or Norwayne Subdivision, is an historic residential subdivision, originally built for World War II defense workers. It is located in Westland, Michigan and roughly bounded by Palmer Road on the north, Wildwood Road on the west, Merriman Road on the east, and Glenwood Road and the Wayne County Lower Rouge Parkway on the south. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. The Norwayne Subdivision was begun in 1942 by the National Housing Agency in order to house workers employed at nearby defense industry plants, including the Willow Run Bomber Plant. The Detroit architectural firm of Lyndon and Smith was originally chosen to design the subdivision. However, Maynard Lyndon, one of the firm's principals, moved to California in 1942, and subsequent design work was done by Augustus O’Dell, Hewlett & Luckenbach. Substantial construction was completed in 1943, but additional work was carried out through 1947, when the community church was constructed. Due to wartime scarcity of materials, construction was done with materials at hand, and items like gutters were left off. The original occupancy of the Norwayne subdivision was restricted to war workers and military personnel whose income was under a specific level. In 1944, the income cap was $2000 yearly for a family of two persons, with an additional $200 for each child up to $2800 maximum. The project originally had 1189 residential buildings, which contained a total of 1900 individual dwelling units. The 1189 units were 192 one-bedroom row houses, 200 two-bedroom row houses, 362 two-bedroom twin houses, 674 two-bedroom single homes, and 472 three-bedroom twin homes. The subdivision also included a management office (now the Dorsey Community Center), a fire station (now demolished and replaced), a church, two elementary schools (Lincoln Elementary School and Jefferson-Barns Elementary School), and several commercial properties. After the end of World War II, the federal government decided to sell houses to individual residents, with preference given to veterans. In 1948, the local township took over operation of water and sewer services for the subdivision, and in 1953, sales of individual homes began. However, by as early as 1962, some units had deteriorated to the point that demolition was required. Over the years, home ownership declined and some units deteriorated further, earning the neighborhood the pejorative name, "Shacktown." Both elementary schools in the neighborhood were closed in 2010. The Lincoln Elementary School building was torn down. Jefferson-Barns school building now houses the Jefferson-Barns Community Vitality Center. Despite efforts to revitalize the area, low-income residents, apathy, and disrepair have remained.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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