ATCHISON VILLAGE DEFENSE HOUSING PROJECT, CAL. 4171-X
The property consists of 162 separate buildings comprising 450 dwelling units, a community building, and 4-acre park. Five different plans are used for the residential buildings, based on United States Housing Authority guidelines. It was listed under Criterion A in the area of politics/government at the national level of significance for the association with the World War II defense housing. World War II turned Richmond, California from a small town of twenty-three thousand in 1941, into the quintessential boomtown. By the end of the war, Kaiser had brought nearly thirty-eight thousand workers to Richmond via paid train trips while another sixty thousand, referred by recruiters, came on their own. The result was congestion and utter confusion. Richmond was literally bursting at the seams. By the end of 1943, Richmond had the largest public housing program in the nation. Atchison Village Defense Housing Project was one of three federally funded housing projects completed by the Richmond Housing Authority in 1941. It is the only project funded by the Lanham Act remaining in Richmond.