After WWII, Natick saw a dramatic increase in population as people moved out of Boston and into the suburbs.

Postwar Housing Boom in Natick

“Plan and Build It” advertisement in the Metrowest Daily News that inspired a Cottage Street home. | NHS Collections

After the Second World War ended, the rapid expansion of suburban neighborhoods reshaped American life. During the 1950s, almost a quarter of all Americans moved to homes in suburbia. By 1960, that number had risen to more than 30%, and 1970 more than 37%. The suburban housing boom was made possible not just by the postwar economic prosperity the US enjoyed but also by the significant increase in car ownership, the expansion of the highway system, and the spread of low-interest loans, especially among veterans. Nearly 11 million men and women left the armed services between 1945 and 1960, and a fifth of all single-family residences built in the United States were financed by G.I. bills administered by the Veterans Administration (VA).

Natick blossomed during this period with the expansion of Rt. 128 and new industries, such as the Ford Motor Co., Carling Brewery, and the Quartermaster Research Facility (Natick Army Labs). Between 1940 and 1960, the town more than doubled its population, from 13,851 to 28,831. Real estate developers Sumner D. Hersey, the Campanelli Brothers, and Martin Cerel responded by creating tract neighborhoods like Oakdale Acres, Pelham-at-Natick, and Wethersfield. Advertisements for homes in these neighborhoods promised “a new way of life” and special prices for World War II veterans. Many Americans have fond memories of growing up in suburban neighborhoods, including Natick’s Roberta Humez, who raised her family in a new home on Eisenhower Avenue: “We found a house that we liked and could afford. We came on the GI Bill. It was a neighborhood. You got to know pretty much every family, and who their children were, and pets. Pets roamed free. You did know pretty much everybody’s name.” 

As suburban neighborhoods across the United States grew in size, number, and population, however, they became less egalitarian. More and more homeowners, concerned about property values, “traded up” for larger houses in “better” neighborhoods. With size came social distinctions. By 1958, a study revealed that American homeowners associated distinct “types” of people with different house sizes, styles, floor plans, and construction materials. The democratic idealism of the late 1940s had begun to unravel and was replaced with increased pressure on appearances. In the new “one-class communities,” author Vance Packard wrote, “there is no need to rub elbows with Americans of a different class.”

Whose dream?

Black families and other families of color were largely denied access to the postwar suburbs. Since the New Deal in the 1930s, the federal government has offered home loans and mortgage assistance through the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation. However, federal assistance favored new, single-family homes in middle-class communities. Houses were deemed high-risk investments if they were in neighborhoods considered to have “lower-class occupancy” or to consist of “inharmonious racial and nationality groups.” Neighborhoods with predominantly Black residents were regularly designated high risk by the federal government. Mortgage assistance was routinely denied to these residents regardless of their financial status. This discriminatory practice is known as redlining. After WWII, most federal financial assistance was distributed through the Federal Housing Authority and the VA, and very little of it went to Black Americans—veterans or otherwise. 

After the federal government developed maps of high-risk zones, private mortgage lenders adopted them. As a result, residents in redlined neighborhoods had a very slim chance of receiving assistance on home loans or mortgages from federal or private lenders. Across the country, redlining made it exceedingly difficult for Black Americans to participate in the postwar move to the suburbs. The “American Dream” of home ownership became a reality in Massachusetts, mostly for white families. Not until 1959 did Massachusetts outlaw housing discrimination based on race, religion, or national origin. Even then, the law was widely flouted by landlords and realtors in Natick and throughout suburban Boston.

Did you know that Natick established Massachusetts's first Fair Housing Practices Committee? Read more about the committee and the people involved in the links below:

By: Rachel Speyer Besancon