The stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression largely brought the nation to an economic standstill. In an effort to stabilize the economy and provide jobs, Franklin Delano Roosevelt began in 1933 a series of federal programs that were collectively known as “the New Deal.” Among the legislation passed was the National Housing Act which, in turn, established the Federal Housing Administration. As a result, communities nationwide established local Better Housing Bureaus in order to promote new building and home ownership by ensuring mortgages to lower-income Americans and to help them acquire financing. West Allis was among those communities to do so. Unique to West Allis’s situation was that they also owned a block of city lots that could be purchased, at a lower-than-market rates, on which houses could be built.

In 1935, the West Allis Common Council passed a resolution to sell five lots in the Kopperud Park subdivision, located immediately east of State Fair Park and along the north edge of the city. Terms under which the lots were sold included that the purchaser begin construction of a model, one-family home prior to June 15th, 1935, which was designation as National Better Housing Day, nationwide. Construction was to be completed by September 15th and the home was to be open to the public for 30 days after its completion. Lots were available at different price levels and certain restrictions came with the lots, such as minimum cost and construction materials. The first two homes were open for inspection during the 1935 State Fair, with two more having been started before the year was out. An actual park was established at the north end of the block that same year, which included the construction of a pergola. Home construction on the block was complete by 1938, resulting in thirteen homes that were built with support from the West Allis Better housing Bureau. The homes, which feature either stone or brick sheathing, retain very good integrity and represent a period of development in West Allis that coincided with a nationwide building program.

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