Riverside Addition: World War II Housing in Orange

Riverside was built for people who often arrived with little. The Orange Leader says the government put about 2,000 units on swampy land by the Sabine, and a Riverside Addition added about 2,500 more, mostly duplexes with indoor plumbing, within walking distance of the yards. Some newcomers from rural areas had never had running water, and since many shipyard workers could not read, the yards and the school district ran night classes on reading blueprints. It had a grocery, barber shops, a fire station and three elementary schools. Meant to last about ten years, it lasted over 30.

What the plaque says

Riverside Addition: World War II Housing in Orange The second World War catapulted Orange into a period of unparalleled industrial growth. In 1940, as the nation prepared for possible entry into the war, the U.S. Navy Office of Shipbuilding placed orders with three shipyards: Levingston Shipbuilding Company, Consolidated Western Steel Corporation and Weaver Shipyards. Production continued to grow after the U.S. entered the war in 1941. Countless jobs had been lost during the Great Depression, and the potential for steady work brought thousands to Orange. The influx of workers increased the city's population from 7,400 in 1940 to more than 60,000 by the end of the war. To meet the resulting critical housing shortage, the federal government started the Riverside Addition Housing Project in 1942. Located along the Sabine River, Riverside Addition was within walking distance of the shipyards, thereby complying with fuel and tire rationing demands and maximizing wartime production. The fan-shaped site soon included thousands of "demountable" (prefabricated) duplexes, considered to be temporary. Expanded with an addition in 1943, the vast Riverside housing area had three elementary schools and also spawned local businesses. At the time, Riverside Addition was the largest federal housing project ever undertaken. After the war, the government sold, moved or demolished many of the units. The city of Orange never took control of the development due to concerns over inadequate infrastructure. Removal of the last houses took place in the 1980s, and today there are few physical reminders of the project that proved vital to the home front mission during World War II. 2007

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Stark Museum of Art — 0.6 mi
  A white-marble museum in Orange built by the Stark Foundation and opened in 1978, holding Western art, American Indian art, Audubon's Birds of America and Steuben glass, free to enter.
• Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center — 1.5 mi
  More than 250 acres on Adams Bayou, begun by H. J. Lutcher Stark in 1937, with garden rooms, a cypress-tupelo swamp, a heronry blind and free pontoon tours in season.
• Museum of the Gulf Coast — 20 mi
  Port Arthur's regional museum in a former bank building: fossils, Native Americans, the petroleum story, a 125-foot history mural and Halls of Fame for musicians, athletes and artists.
• Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum — 22 mi
  A re-created oil boomtown on the Lamar University campus, with a derrick, period shops, a 1941 granite monument and an optional re-enactment of the January 1901 Lucas gusher.

More markers nearby

• U. S. S. Aulick — steps away
• Weaver Shipbuilding — steps away
• Levingston Shipbuilding Company and Edward T. Malloy — steps away
• United States Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility — steps away