Indianapolis, IN
General Description (1919 report):
"The Stenotype Co.'s factory, which was engaged during the war in the manufacture and loading of small bombs for aeroplane and trench use, is located at Mars Hill, which is a suburb 5 miles from the center of Indianapolis, owned by the Greater Indianapolis Industrial Association as a private venture and an adjunct to the activities of the association. Three thousand lots have been plotted, but only about 100 small houses have been constructed.
"The Stenotype Co. employed around 1,200 women, who came mostly from the surrounding country from homes of some refinement, and who had gone into the work as a war duty."
1919 excerpt describing the design of the Indianapolis Site:
Area Planned: 3.85 acres. Housing planned: 193 persons in convertible dormitories.
"The housing facilities of the neighborhood of the factort being poor and the transportation to Indianapolis being inadequate, it was difficult to keep sufficient help. The Housing Corporation, having been apppealed to and having investigated the situation chose a site... on this site there was a large barn, exceptionally well built as a fancy stock barn. This site had been rserved by the Industrial Association for factory purposes, but there was no serious objection to it for war-time residential uses. The barn was to be remodeled as a cafeteria and clubhouse. The housing provided was to be in dormitories, each convertible into two semidetached houses.
"For better appearance and greater compactness, these buildings were to be arranged around a court, the open space serving as a general recreation ground. The general contract had been let and work was proceeding when, on the signing of the armistice, the project was abandoned."
The Indianapolis Site Today
Rendering, 1919
