Western Terrace

= Western Terrace, Evansville, IN, USA =

Western Terrace is a housing subdivision on the West Side of Evansville, Indiana. It was constructed in the 1950s in a suburban style similar to Levittown, New York, where every house is very similar which allowed for more efficient, and thus more economical homebuilding practices. It is the epitome of a late 1950s Midwestern middle class subdivision. The neighborhood has evolved with Midwestern family demographics and technologies of the last 50 years and is still a vibrant community today.

Geography / Housing

Western Terrace is not a town, just a neighborhood of about 80 acres. There are approximately 222 houses on 13 streets (including the bordering thoroughfare Upper Mount Vernon Road). The streets in Western Terrace are: Upper Mount Vernon Road (bordering thouroughfare), Craig Avenue (eastern entrance), Columbia Street, Maryland Street, Oregon Street, Helfrich Avenue (western entrance), Western Avenue, Beale Street, Werner Avenue, Bosse Avenue, Clement Street, Genesta Drive, and Terrace Avenue.

The development was built by CA (Clem) Frank in the latter part of 1950s and was completed in the 1960s. The houses are stick-built with brick veneer and a low roof pitch. The basic model has gables but many have the upgraded hip roof. A gravel driveway was standard, but most have a concrete drive by now.

The standard house was a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house with a living room and dine-in kitchen. Hardwood floors were standard in the living and bedroom areas, but they were often covered with carpet during the '70s. Common options included basements and carports. Garages and room additions have been common improvements in the ensuing 50 years. A couple of the houses had a bomb shelter built during the height of the Cold War, and a few had the big satellite dishes (big ugly dish) installed during the advent of satellite television. Television aerials and CB radio antennas also had their day jutting up above the rooflines.

Base model houses sold in the $10,000 range at the outset of development. Current values in 2008 are in the $120,000 range giving the area an average compounded appreciation rate of approximately 5.25% over 50 years. During that time, inflation has averaged 4.1%.

Demographics / Family Life

In the beginning, Western Terrace was populated mostly by young couples filling their houses with Baby Boom kids. These children attended primarily Perry Heights Elementary School [http://www.evscschools.com/AdminDefault.aspx?PortalId=bf18a035-3a9e-4375-a06e-d07957306703] and Corpus Christi Catholic School [http://www.corpuschristievansville.org/] . From there, they went on to F.J. Reitz High School or Mater Dei High School (Evansville, Indiana). Homeowners held a combination of blue and white collar jobs with Mead Johnson, Whirlpool, and local plastic companies being popular employers.

For many years in the '60s and '70s there was a city-staffed playground park in the neighborhood. The "Ballpark", as it was known, was the kids' social hub and was located down a short little lane at the intersection of Clement and Werner streets. It had a chain-link backstop for slow pitch softball and a basketball hoop with a grass and dirt court area as its only permanent fixtures. However, many other games were played there including volleyball, badminton, various running races and field events, washers, and the ever popular box hockey [http://www.box-hockey.com/] . The park hosted Western Terrace teams that competed against other city parks, mainly in softball. The Ballpark was also a site for qualifying for the Little Olympics which was also hosted by the Evansville City Parks Department [http://www.evansvillegov.org/index.aspx?page=48] . The Little Olympics was a city wide track and field style competition. Ribbons and medals were presented to placewinners at qualifying and finals sites.

As the bulk of the baby-boom aged kids outgrew the Ballpark (as evidenced by softball home runs that bounced off nearby houses), it began to be staffed less often by the city until it was finally stopped altogether. The backstop fell into disrepair and was eventually dismantled by some of the neighborhood men because it was a hazard. The area was used as a makeshift [motocross] and bicycle [bmx] riding area for awhile in the latter '70s.

For a couple years in the '70s the construction site of the nearby Western Hills Apartments was an attraction for the neighborhood kids. The woods that divided Western Terrace from the Western Hills neighborhood was also a popular playground. Vine covered hideouts and treehouses dotted the landscape. The woods and entire neighborhood was the milieu for day and nighttime chase games of [Kick the Can] and Fox and Hounds. Vines hanging over the valleys in the woods were used as swings until they broke, sometimes breaking an arm at the same time.

Local Landmarks

Up until the middle 1970s the Barning family owned a 40-acre horse farm adjacent to the neighborhood at the corner of Craig Avenue and Maryland Street. A popular pastime was feeding the horses through the fence along Craig Avenue. The Barnings would sometimes give the neighborhood kids horseback and pony rides. Later the Barning house and yard was sold and the rest of the property was purchased by George Marx whose family had owned land in the area for a couple of generations. Marx expanded one of the lakes on the property, cleared it all, and built a nice ranch house as a personal residence. While prohibited, the expanded lake was a semi-popular clandestine swimming hole in the late '70s and early '80s.

Between the old Barning property and Upper Mount Vernon road laid the Brickyard. In the early years of the neighborhood, the Brickyard was a functioning brickyard complete with a clay pit where clay was excavated and baked into bricks in ovens on the site. Most of the houses in Western Terrace were built from bricks fired in these ovens. By the middle 1960s the brickyard manufacturing operations ceased and the site became a distribution facility for the brick company. Today it is a General Shale Brick sales and distribution office.

As the first generation of Western Terrace children graduated high school and moved on to college or their work careers, the neighborhood went through a quieter period where the original residents had emptying nests and older kids. Slowly but surely, as happens with all new neighborhoods, Western Terrace began to "turn over". The older original residents sold their houses and moved on to other homes and new young families moved in.

Western Terrace Today

In the 1990s the neighborhood started to experience a renaissance when the Western Terrace Neighborhood Association (WTNA) [http://www.unoevansville.org/Neighborhoods/WesternTerrace.htm] was formed to do necessary repairs and beautification projects. Signs were installed at the entrances of the neighborhood and the old ballpark began to be used for neighborhood picnics. The WTNA has also been a supporter of the National Night Out program, even garnering a mention in the local paper for their efforts in 2003. [http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=790650] [http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=790649]

Some of the original owners still reside in the neighborhood but most of the houses have sold more than once.

External links

Google Map of Western Terrace [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Western+Avenue,+47720&sll=39.914733,-85.960766&sspn=0.007669,0.018711&ie=UTF8&ll=37.989534,-87.623305&spn=0.015761,0.037422&z=15]

Neighborhood Guide [http://www.helloevansville.com/neighborhoods/Western-Terrace_Evansville_IN.cfm]

News Article about Water Main break in 1972 [http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=938189]

News Article about Drainage Project funding in 1977 [http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=917503]