Area
History
The original Oaklawn plat was submitted to the planning department
in 1951. The project was a joint venture of the Henry C. Beck
Company of Dallas and the Utah Construction Company of San
Francisco. Ownership was held by four subsidiary companies
and the purchase price of the land totaled $271,000.
The whole of the project, a 260 acre tract southeast of Wichita,
called for 1, 034 two and three bedroom homes at Oaklawn,
and 190 unites in Sunview Heights, immediately to the north.
All were to be rental properties. It was projected that the
area would house 4,000 to 45000 defense workers and their
families. During the Korean War, when the employee total at
Boeing reached a peak and there was allegedly a housing shortage
in Wichita, the houses were built when the Defense Production
Administration declared Wichita a critical area and emergency
defense housing was authorized.
To be eligible for residence, persons had to gave moved to
the Wichita area since 1950 and be employed the the US Air
Force, the four major aircraft manufacturers or any of their
subcontractors. The first units were completed and ready for
occupancy in June of 1952.
At the time of construction, the project was cited as "one
of the largest housing construction projects in the history
of Kansas". The rate of construction was also touted
as somewhat of a record. At one point, the rate of construction
was 20 units a day.
When Boeing cut back production in 1959, the area had become
the subject of abandonment as owners and tenants moved in
and out. As payments on the Oaklawn houses defaulted, many
of the properties were repossessed by FHA. A survey conducted
by the Wichita Association of Homebuilders prior to 1964 showed
1, 405 total houses in the area with 688 vacant.
The early 60's saw Oaklawn as a decaying area, a conglomeration
of pint-chipped, deteriorating dwellings with trash littered
exteriors. In 1964, S & J Properties, Co of California,
purchased 721 houses in the Oaklawn Addition. They paid $1,238,575
for the property which included 523 two bedroom, 190 three
bedroom and 8 four bedroom houses. They promised to spend
1 million dollars to renovate these homes.
By 1966, S & J's investment in the area appeared to have
paid off. The population had increased to 3,500 with an ethnic
diversity and the area had been changed from empty houses
with deteriorated exteriors to rows of houses with new coats
of brightly colored paint and well-kept lawns adorned with
neat, metal trash containers.
In 1969, Marion and Mary Pinaire platted the Pinaire Mobile
Home Park Addition which is located on the south side of Oaklawn.
In March of 1988, Kansas Log Homes, Inc., platted Wood River
Addition immediately north of Oaklawn and west of Sunview
Heights. This development contains 16 lots, all of which have
been developed.
In July of 1989, Wood River 2nd Addition was platted and
contained 84 lots, however very little of the project has
ever been developed.
In March of 1980, George and Opel Williams platted Deer Lake
Estates Addition. This plat contained 177 lots, virtually
all of which have been developed.
Demographics
According to the 2000 Census, the total population in the
census tract for the area showed 4,495 people residing in
the area.
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