Navy Park Historic District

Housing had to be expanded. This time the housing agencies immediately set to work erecting 6,244 housing units, and dormitories for 438 men and 188 women. The allocation of this housing to the several contractors called for diplomatic handling by the Supervisor, as the shipyards could increase their workers in direct proportion with their ability to house them.

Orange’s population grew from approximately 7,500 in 1940, to approximately 45,000 by 1943. Necessary transportation for those workers living outside of Orange had to be arranged. First a commuter train between Orange and Beaumont was established and second, a network of Navy-owned buses, handled by private operators, were used.

People commuted daily to Orange to work in the shipyards. Other people came with tents and trailers, and put them anywhere they could find room. They paid the town’s people for sewage hookups and lights. A tent city was established off Highway 90, due to the housing shortage. Beds rented for eight-hour shifts in people’s homes and in rooming houses. Workers were sleeping in vehicles, railroad boxcars, the city jail (when room was available), and some even built and slept in tree-houses. Hutmens (small one-room huts) and barracks were put up for military men.

The U. S. Federal Public Housing Authority built several housing additions such as West Park, Farnsworth, Pine Grove, and Riverside (the largest Federal Public Housing project in the U. S. and consisted of pre-fab structures with a 10-20 year life expectancy, built on re-claimed marshland. This addition is no longer in existence).

There were a number of colored workers at the shipyard and they lived in a section of Riverside, on Second and Third Streets, and some in town. The colored children went to school at Moton School – whose name later changed to Wallace School.

The white children attended the other public schools in town and in 1942, Orange High School was replaced by Lutcher Stark Senior High School (the only white high school in Orange). In December, 1942, three new elementary schools were approved in Riverside and the Navy Addition children attended one of these (Colburn). From 1942 to 1944, the number of public schools increased from five to twelve.

Nursery schools, for ages two to five, were opened to help families involved in the war effort. A nursery school for working fathers was opened in Pine Grove from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Three nursery schools were opened for working mothers from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. One of these was for colored children and was located at the Mount Zion Negro-Baptist Church. The other two were at the Gilmer Homes (near the shipyard) and the High School campus. The school age children were able to stay at school from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., to help the working parents. The school had well-developed programs for all. The colored school received the same funding as the others and was part of the school system – exactly as the others were.

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