Endnotes for White Family in Park Forest

30 miles south Time, “Planned Brotherhood,” January 18, 1960, 18.

Back

27,372 U.S. Bureau of the Census, U.S. Census of Population and Housing: 1960 Census Tracts, Final Report PHC(1)-26 (Washington, D.C., 1962). Table P-1: General Characteristics of the Population, By Census Tracts: 1960, 20.

Back

5-room In 1960, the median number of rooms per housing unit in Park Forest was 5.3. County and City Data Books, Retrieved June 26, 2006, from the University of Virginia, Geospatial and Statistical Data Center, http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/collections/stats/ccdb/ (2003).

Back

twenties In 1960, the median age in Park Forest was 21.4. County and City Data Books, Retrieved June 26, 2006, from the University of Virginia, Geospatial and Statistical Data Center, http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/collections/stats/ccdb/ (2003).

Back

college In 1960, the median number of school years completed in Park Forest was 13.6. U.S. Bureau of the Census, U.S. Census of Population and Housing: 1960 Census Tracts, Final Report PHC(1)-26 (Washington, D.C., 1962). Table P-1: General Characteristics of the Population, By Census Tracts: 1960, 20.

Back

$8,943 U.S. Bureau of the Census, U.S. Census of Population and Housing: 1960 Census Tracts, Final Report PHC(1)-26 (Washington, D.C., 1962). Table P-1: General Characteristics of the Population, By Census Tracts: 1960, 20. $8,943 in 2004 dollars is $57,074.23. NASA, Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, http://www1.jsc.nasa.gov/bu2/inflateCPI.html

Back

$17,500 In 1960, the median value of owner occupied single family units was $17,500. County and City Data Books, Retrieved June 26, 2006, from the University of Virginia, Geospatial and Statistical Data Center, http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/collections/stats/ccdb/ (2003). $17,500 in 2004 dollars is $111,685. NASA, Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, http://www1.jsc.nasa.gov/bu2/inflateCPI.html

Back

two years In 1960, 48.8% of occupied units in Park Forest were moved into less than two years before. In comparison, in 1960, 33.7% of occupied units in Chicago were moved into less than two years before. Like many other suburban communities, Park Forest experienced fairly high rates of turnover as men were promoted and transferred within their companies. County and City Data Books, Retrieved June 26, 2006, from the University of Virginia, Geospatial and Statistical Data Center, http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/collections/stats/ccdb/ (2003).

Back

map of Park Forest Thomas A. Auger, "Deerfield, IL." The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society: 2005. Retrieved on June 26, 2006, from http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/369.html

Back

less expensive A less expensive home requires a lower down payment and lower monthly payments. For example, the FHA-required down payment on a house in Park Forest would be about $1,400 instead of the $2,600 to $4,000 required for a house in Deerfield. Leo Grebler, "Housing Issues in Economic Stabilization Policy," Occasional Paper 72 (Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. 1960). Table 16: Illustration of Minimum Down-Payment Requirements on New 1-and 2-Family Homes Bought with FHA-insured Loans, 1955-1958, 75.

Back

Park Forest street Image of single family homes along a street in Park Forest. Park Forest Public Library; scanned from Gregory C. Randall, America's Original GI Town: Park Forest, Illinois (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), 161.

Park Forest homes Image of homes similar to those designed by Levitt for Levittowns. Photo by Gregory C. Randall; scanned from Gregory C. Randall, America's Original GI Town: Park Forest, Illinois (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), 174.

Back

$11,000 to $11,500 in 1960 dollars is $12,199 to $12,753.50. NASA, Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, http://www1.jsc.nasa.gov/bu2/inflateCPI.html

In The Organization Man, William Whyte argued that the Eastgate area “strain[s] Park Foresters’ pretensions of classlessness” because there were enough differences in the housing for everyone to know that they were the “lower class” of housing. However, Park Foresters did not like to call the people who lived there “working class," so they called them "people who work with their hands" or "blue collar." Even though the homes were well-designed and kept, everyone—including those who lived in them—knew that they were not quite a part of Park Forest as the others were. William H. Whyte, Jr. The Organization Man (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956), 307-308.

Back

Park Forest remodel Image of remodeled home scanned from Gregory C. Randall, America's Original GI Town: Park Forest, Illinois (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), 179.

Back

customize Critics of postwar suburban developments pointed out the conformity of their outward appearance. However, remodeling was one way consumers could bring individuality to a mass produced home. In 1960, the New York Times published an article titled "Guide to Remodeling: It Can Provide the Shortest Route to Ideal Quarters." The article suggested that "for many families today, a 'new' home is an old one that they have remodeled...Whatever the remodeling project, families who undertake it seem to fall into two categories: those who need more space than they can afford in a new home, and those who are tired of the stereotyped floor plans prevalent in buildings constructed today." New York Times, "Guide to Remodeling: It Can Provide the Shortest Route to Ideal Quarters," March 30, 1960, SMA4.

Levittown was the quintessential postwar suburban development. In Expanding the American Dream: Building and Rebuilding Levittown (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993), Barbara M. Kelley argues that Levittowners actively reshaped the interiors of their homes, initially through do-it-yourself projects and later through the growing industry of professional remodeling.

Kelly chides critics for their static view of postwar housing and advocates a dynamic view instead. Standardization was necessary to meet the enormous demand for housing after World War II. However, once the basic structures were built, owners modified and customized their living space to suit their own personal needs. The original design of the houses reinforced a value system that was desirable and acceptable to the target market of the builders—lower middle class and upper working class families. Kelley argues that these families were included but not coerced into the middle class by well-intentioned builders.

However, families often found that the idealized upper-middle class design did not suit the reality of their lower-middle class lives. Tension existed between lower-income residents who wanted to expand the kitchen and other working areas and the developers, who sought to provide scaled-down versions of a thoroughly middle class house where leisure areas such as living rooms were larger. Producers designed the kitchen to accomodate the middle-class value of a “nonworking” wife. However, the 1956 Women’s Congress on Housing determined that the domestic workspace was too small. Homeowners responded to this problem with the concept of the squared kitchen, which provided women with more work space. Kelley argues that the status of the home may have declined, but consumers exerted agency in their inclusion into the middle class. They negotiated the extent to which they adapted middle class values in the arrangement of their physical space.

At first, remodeling projects were largely a do-it-yourself affair, but a professionalized and standardized remodeling industry quickly sprang up to meet the demand for customized housing. Families sought to make the most of their living space as they went through the various stages of the life cycle. The professional remodeling industry reclaimed some of consumers' agency in that it only offered so many options as were profitable. However, there were enough choices available that consumers could still have something relatively individualized if they were unable or unwilling to do an entire remodeling project by themselves. Like the remodeling industry, developers were driven by the profit motive to respond to consumers’ wishes. Levitt altered floor plans as well as exterior details to provide consumers with some choice, although exteriors were generally kept the same to maintain an outward appearance of conformity and aesthetic cohesion.

Kelly concludes that “although the deliverers had neglected to consult the homeowners prior to construction, the homeowners, far from being passive, were more than willing to answer their own needs” (100). A realistic representation of the suburban experience must take into account the dynamic changes that occur over time, rather than the typically static image of the suburbs as they were in the immediate postwar period.

Back

bedrooms Gregory C. Randall does not explicitly state this in America's Original GI Town: Park Forest, Illinois (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000); however, he does compare Eastgate to Levittown, and in Expanding the American Dream: Building and Rebuilding Levittown (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993), Barbara Kelley shows that finishing the second floor was one of the most popular alterations made to Levittown houses. I have inferred that it is likely that some Eastgate residents would have finished the second floor of their homes by 1960.

Back

Park Forest churches Image of the Hope Lutheran Church in Park Forest. Park Forest Public Library; scanned from Gregory C. Randall, America's Original GI Town: Park Forest, Illinois (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), 136.

Back

As of December 1955, 49.2% of homeowners in Park Forest were Protestants of some denomination, 30.7% were Roman Catholic, and 11.0% were Jewish. William H. Whyte, Jr. The Organization Man (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956), 368.

Back

Rich High School Image of Rich High School in 1953, electronically enhanced photo from the Lagoon yearbook, 1954, from http://www.brownlee.org/RichHS1956/index.html

Back

Park Forest faculty Image of Rich Township High School Faculty in 1953-1954, courtesy Diane Pettingell Staes, from http://www.brownlee.org/RichHS1956/faculty52/firstfaculty.html

Back

In 1954, Park Forest was named an All-American City by the National Municipal League for its efforts to build Rich Township High School. The high school's physical structure was a $1,600,000 "learning laboratory." Its curriculum was based on the "life adjustment" concept that stressed vocational skills as well as academic subjects. Parents occasionally complained about the curriculum, demanding that more traditional academic subjects be offered. However, when asked what they wanted students to learn from their high school experience, most parents replied that they wanted their children to learn how to get along with other people.

Some parents felt that teachers at the six elementary schools were too “permissive” because they allowed children's curiosity to determine some of what they learned. Parents also questioned the flexibility of grading. Instead of assigning traditional letter grades and percentages, teachers used a checklist of criteria to rate student performance. William H. Whyte, Jr. The Organization Man (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956), 382-390.

Back

educated An above-average number of teachers in Park Forest had M.S. or Ph.D. degrees. Their average salary was $4,500. Whyte notes that this was much lower than the average salary of the lowest-salaried junior executive in the community, making these highly qualified professionals a bargain for tax payers. Teachers faced high turnover rates in the student body as families traded up for more prestigious communities. William H. Whyte, Jr. The Organization Man (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956), 382-390.

Back

parking garage Image of a parking garage at State and Wacker Drive, viewed west from the twentieth floor of Executive House in 1959. Photograph by Don Honick, courtesy of the Chicago Historical Society, scanned from Harold M. Mayer and Richard C. Wade, Chicago: Growth of a Metropolis (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1969), 447.

Back

Chicago traffic jam Image of traffic jam on the Congress Expressway, Chicago, June 24, 1959, 6:55 p.m. National Museum of American History, America on the Move, http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/exhibition/exhibition_15_4.html

Back

In 1957, the Chicago Transit Authority fares were 25 cents for surface, 25 cents for rapid transit, and no cost for a transfer. In 1961, the price of a transfer increased to 5 cents. David Young, Chicago Transit: An Illustrated History (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1998), 175.

Back

traffic jams National Museum of American History, America on the Move, http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/exhibition/exhibition_15_5.html and National Museum of American History, America on the Move, http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/exhibition/exhibition_15_6.html

Back

By 1960 more than half of Park Forest's downtown commuters traveled to work by car. National Museum of American History, America on the Move, http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/exhibition/exhibition_15_2.html

Back

In 1976, John D. Kasarda observed that manufacturing activity had begun to drift out of the cities and into the suburbs; between 1947 and 1967, the central cities of the 23 largest and oldest Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs) lost an average of 17,370 manufacturing positions, while suburban rings gained an average of 85,000 manufacturing positions. Jobs requiring higher levels of education were accumulating in the city, but low-income residents who lived in the city because it was less expensive were not qualified for these jobs, nor could they afford to commute to the manufacturing jobs in the suburbs or afford to purchase a home in the suburbs. On the other hand, higher-income residents who could afford to live in the suburbs did so and commuted to the city for jobs. John D. Kasarda, ““The Changing Occupational Structure of the American Metropolis: Apropos the Urban Problem,” in The Changing Face of the Suburbs, ed. Barry Schwarz (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1976), 113-115.

Back

The Plaza contained 60 stores in 700,000 square feet of space, with parking for 3,000 cars. David Young, Chicago Transit: An Illustrated History (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1998), 165.

Park Forest shopping center Image of the Plaza in 1955. Park Forest Public Library; scanned from Gregory C. Randall, America's Original GI Town: Park Forest, Illinois (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), 148.

Back

mortgage The family in this simulation would most likely be approved for a conventional mortgage, but might also be approved for a VA-guaranteed mortgage.

In 1953, houses in Eastgate sold for between $11,000 and $11,500. $11,000 to $11,500 in 1960 dollars is $12,199 to $12,753.50. Gregory C. Randall, America's Original GI Town: Park Forest, Illinois (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), 174-176; NASA, Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, http://www1.jsc.nasa.gov/bu2/inflateCPI.html

The median family income of a white family receiving an FHA loan in 1956 was $6,173. $6,173 in 1960 dollars is $6,716. The family in this simulation makes close to this if the wife's income is included. For the purpose of this simulation the wife's income is not included, making it less likely that the family would get an FHA-insured loan. Davis McEntire, Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), 220. NASA, Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, http://www1.jsc.nasa.gov/bu2/inflateCPI.html

The median family income of white families with VA mortgages in 1956 was $5,870. Davis McEntire, Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), 220. Using the NASA Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator gives a result of $6,386.56 for 1960. The VA considered counting a wife's income if the veteran could not qualify on the basis of his income alone, but only under certain circumstances, including the wife's "age, the nature and length of her employment, and the composition of the family [meaning number of children]." Emily Card, "Women, Housing Access, and Mortgage Credit," Signs, Vol. 5, No. 3, Supplement: Women and the American City (Spring, 1980), S217-S218.

This simulation argues that the VA would not count the wife's income because she was young enough to have a third child, after which they might consider to include her income. Furthermore, lenders were often hesitant to make a VA-guaranteed loan on expensive properties because the maximum guarantee of a VA loan was $7,500. To avoid such risks, some large financial institutions would not accept VA loans if the unguaranteed portion exceeded 50 per cent of the appraised value of the property. In the case of the average home in Park Forest, the unguaranteed portion was about 57 percent. The unguaranteed portion of a loan on a home in Eastgate would be only about 42 percent--a more acceptable risk to lenders. Therefore, although this family's effective income is less than the median, the possibility that they might find a lender to approve them for a VA loan existed. Saul B. Klaman, The Postwar Residential Mortgage Market: A Study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961), 93-94.

Although the low interest rates associated with VA and FHA loans benefited borrowers, the higher interest rates on conventional mortgages benefited lenders, making them more attractive to them. Saul B. Klaman explains, “in the face of generally rising interest rates and yields, federally underwritten mortgages with less flexible rates became unattractive to investors with alternative uses of funds.” Federally underwritten mortgages suffered a competitive interest rate disadvantage compared to conventional mortgages. The FHA was legally able to increase the permitted maximum interest rate on FHA loans to make them more competitive with conventional loans (as it did for example in December of 1956 when it increased the interest rate from 4 ½ to 5 per cent. However, the VA had no authority to increase the interest rate on VA loans, which was at 4 ½ percent as 1956 ended. Federally-underwritten mortgages, although advantageous to borrowers, could be difficult to obtain depending on the status of the market at any given time. See Saul B. Klaman, The Postwar Residential Mortgage Market: A Study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961), 63 and 73.

The median family income of white families with conventional mortgages in 1956 was $5,750. $5,750 in 1960 dollars is $6,256. The white family in this simulation makes this amount if the wife's income is included, but it is not. However, $4,400 is still a reasonable income for a $13,000 house, and the arbitrary nature of mortgage lending practices meant that the family could have happened to find an institution willing to count all or some of the wife's income. Davis McEntire, Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), 220; NASA, Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, http://www1.jsc.nasa.gov/bu2/inflateCPI.html; U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Mortgage Money: Who Gets It? A Case Study in Mortgage Lending Discrimination in Hartford, Connecticut (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1974), 18-29.

The median family income of white families with no mortgage in 1956 was $3,568. $3,568 in 1960 dollars is $3,881.98. This family makes more than the median for no mortgage and slightly less than the median for a conventional mortgage, but on a less expensive home such as one in Eastgate might be approved for a loan. Davis McEntire, Residence and Race: Final and Comprehensive Report to the Commission on Race and Housing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), 220; NASA, Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, http://www1.jsc.nasa.gov/bu2/inflateCPI.html

The down payment required by the FHA on a house appraised at $13,000 in 1958 was $400. In 1956 Congress reduced the minimum down payment requirements on existing homes bought with FHA loans to match those for new homes in order to stimulate building by facilitating the sale of old houses by owners seeking new ones, so presumably the down payment on an existing home would be the same as a new home for the 1958 data in this table. The effective income of the family in this situation (family income minus wife's income) is $4,400--$400 amounts to less than 10 percent, a reasonable proportion. The down payment for a conventional mortgage would be higher than that expected by the FHA, but would still be more manageable than the $2,600 to $4,000 required in Deerfield or the $1,400 required on the average ($17,500) house in Park Forest. Leo Grebler, "Housing Issues in Economic Stabilization Policy," Occasional Paper 72 (Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. 1960). Table 16: Illustration of Minimum Down-Payment Requirements on New 1-and 2-Family Homes Bought with FHA-insured Loans, 1955-1958, 75; 72.

Back

$11,000 to $11,500 in 1960 dollars is $12,199 to $12,753.50. NASA, Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, http://www1.jsc.nasa.gov/bu2/inflateCPI.html

In The Organization Man, William Whyte argued that the Eastgate area “strain[s] Park Foresters’ pretensions of classlessness” because there were enough differences in the housing for everyone to know that they were the “lower class” of housing. However, Park Foresters did not like to call the people who lived there “working class," so they called them "people who work with their hands" or "blue collar." Even though the homes were well-designed and kept, everyone—including those who lived in them—knew that they were not quite a part of Park Forest as the others were. William H. Whyte, Jr. The Organization Man (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956), 307-308.

Back

Comparable communities listed in Time suggest that $13,000 is a reasonable estimate of the price of a house in Markham in 1960. "Blooming on the outskirts of dozens of cities are hundreds of new communities such as Park Terrace: Crestwood Forest (150 homes, $12,000-$60,000) near Atlanta; Lakeview Gardens (614 homes, $9,000-$19,000) near Memphis; Pontchartrain Park (725 homes, $14,300-$25,000) near New Orleans; Dunbar Estates' Westbury Houses (200 homes, $14,000-$20,000) in Long Island; University Park (400 homes, $11,000-$15,000) near Charlotte, N.C.; integrated (53% white, 47% Negro) Concord Park (139 homes, $12,700-$14,350) near Philadelphia." Time, "A Lift in Living," September 21, 1959, 28.

Back