Development Efforts in the 1950s

In 1951, George Nixon's Company attempted to develop 106 acres on the northeast corner of 31^st and Wolf.  The following are clippings from the Westchester Tribune.

From the Westchester Tribune, June 20, 1951

Members of the village board or Westchester this week instructed Lewis Ancel, village attorney, to file an appeal against a Cook County court filing on Thursday of last week which allows the secession if 106 acres of property from the corporate limits of the village in order to carry out plans for the erection of a pre-fabricated housing project at 31^st and Wolf Rd.

The suit for secession was brought by the George Nixon Construction company after it was found that the proposed project did no comply with Westchester building regulations.

The court ruling upheld legislation which allows the withdrawal of tracts of unsubdivided land of more than 20 acres from the corporate limits of a village if the tract does not border upon another municipality. The ruling will enable the construction company to operate under Cook country building code which allows the erection of pre-fabricated buildings.

The tract lies east of Wolf Road. And north of 31^st St. but does not include the five-acre farm on the northeast corner of the intersection. Plans by the Nixon company call for the construction of 450 pre-fabricated homes on 60-foot lots. The homes are to be frame construction and will sell in the $10,000 price range.

From the Westchester Tribune, June 27, 1951

School problems which would arise from the construction of 450 homes at 31^st and Wolf Rd. are being studied by the board of education of Dist. 102, which encompasses about two-thirds of the property in the proposed development.

Plans were revealed last week for the subdivision of 106 acres of property east of Wolf and north of the five-acre farm at the corner of 31^st.

Homer Fields, president of the Village of Westchester, which currently is engaged in a court fight to retain the land within the village limits, discussed the development with board members at last week’s meeting.

About 310 homes in the area would come with the boundaries of the school district, which extends to 29^th St. on the north.

The north boundary of the subdivision will be 26^th St. An elementary school with at least 12 rooms would be needed to serve the development.

Edward B. Simon, county superintendent of schools, will attend a meeting of the school board tonight to discuss the legal processes involved in a school district boundary change.

The North LaGrange Park association has announce that it will petition for redistricting to join the neighborhood to Dists. 102 and 204. It is now in Dists. 95 and 209.

The board has authorized Joseph C. Llewellyn and Co., architects, to proceed with plans for additions to Goodman and Forest Road schools.

Tentative plans call for a two-story addition to Forest Road, to include 16 or 17 classrooms and a gymnasium. The Goodman addition will be a one-story structure to the west of the present building with four classrooms, a library, and an all-purpose room.

Work on the playground developments for the six schools in the district will begin as soon as time and money are available, the board said.

From the Westchester Tribune, July 4, 1951

A meeting of the Cook country board of appeals has been called for Thursday, July 12, at 7:30 p.m. in the LaGrange Park village hall to consider a petition for reclassification of property at 31^st St. and Wolf Rd. for the purpose of erecting 450 homes on land recently separated from the village of Westchester.

The petition seeks to rezone approximately 106 acres from residential to business classification to pave the way for a pre-fabricated housing development to be erected by the George Nixon Construction Co.

The property under petition was recently disconnected from the village of Westchester after it was found that the pre-fabricated homes proposed for the site did not comply with the Westchester building code which requires homes to be constructed of brick.

Homer Fields, Westchester village president, reported on Monday that Raymond Smerge, village attorney, has filed an appeal to the County court ruling in favor of the separation and stated that "public opinion against the housing development may cause the village to fight the matter all the way to the Supreme Court."

Plans for the housing development reportedly call for the erection of 450 homes on the 106 acres with a 60 foot frontage for each home. The houses are expected to range in price from $7,500 to $10,000.

Also from Westchester Tribune, July 4, 1951

While a legal battle is going on over the 106-acre tract near 31^st and Wolf Rd. in Westchester, site of a proposed large scale, pre-fab housing development, the schooling problems that would be created by this project are being studied by both Dist. 102 and LaGrange - LaGrange Park and Dist. 92 ½ of Westchester.

Plans call for 450 new homes and this total an estimated north of 31^st and east of Wolf, 310 homes would be in the far northwest corner of Dist. 102. The rest would be in Dist. 92 ½.

Westchester, which has building code prohibiting pre-fab housing, is opposing a move fore withdrawing this property from the village in order to put up the pre-fab homes.

Supt. J. E. Pease of Dist. 102 and Supt. J. E. Beamish of Dist. 92 ½ are making a joint study of the problems posed by this development and will report to their respective boards.

From Westchester Tribune, July 11, 1951

A meeting of the Cook County zoning board of appeals originally in the LaGrange Park village hall, has been canceled due to the withdrawal of a petition to rezone the 106 acres of property at the 31^st St. and Wolf Rd. for the purpose of erecting 450 pre-fabricated homes, according to a spokesman for the zoning board.

Notice of the withdrawal of the petition was received Monday by the zoning board and followed the granting of a write or supersedeas to the village of Westchester in County court on Tuesday of last week.

The writ forbids any attempt to continue with construction plans pending the outcome of an appeal by the village of Westchester to a recent court ruling which allowed owners of the property to separate 106 acres from the village.

The separation proceedings took place after it was found that the pre-fabricated housing project did not comply with the Westchester building code which requires that homes be constructed of brick.

The petition had asked that the county board of appeals grant rezoning of the property from R-3 (residential) classification to B-1 (business) classification for the purpose of erecting 450 pre-fabricated homes on 60 feet lots.

The proposed pre-fabs were to be erected by the George Nixon Construction Co. and sell at prices ranging from $7,500 to $10,000.

Raymond Smerge, attorney for the village of Westchester, reported that the appeal would undoubtedly be heard in the October term of court.

Westchester has based an objection to the propose housing project on the grounds that the low-cost housing will devalue the property of adjacent homeowners.

Last Modified:  04/08/2003