Will Rogers Courts - Oklahoma City, OK
Posted by: hamquilter
N 35° 27.082 W 097° 32.498
14S E 632348 N 3924077
This 37-acre housing project was begun in early 1936 and completed in 1937. Coordinates shown are at the main photo location.
Waymark Code: WMF7FV
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 09/05/2012
Views: 2
Will Rogers Courts is located east of S. Pennsylvania, south of Exchange Avenue. It was built by the WPA as a low-income housing project with an appropriation of $2,000,000. In 1939, it was taken over by the U.S. Housing Authority. Today, it remains a low-income housing addition under management by the Oklahoma Housing Authority. Rents range from $100 to $150 a month, with 354 units of efficiency, 1, 2 and 3-bedroom apartments. There are 85 red-brick building, with composition shingle gabled roofs. They are built on concrete slab foundations and have small concrete steps and porches. Most of the buildings are one-story, with a few two-story. The buildings each contain 3, 4 or 6 apartments. Donald Gordon was the architect, and the landscaping was done under the supervision of the city's park department.
The area has playgrounds, security lighting and patrol, laundry facilities, and a community center. The buildings are directly north and west of the large Rotary Park, with playgrounds, tennis courts and ball fields.
Will Rogers Courts is documented to be a WPA project from the book, "A Guide to the Sooner State, 1941" An excerpt reads: WILL ROGERS COURTS (visitors invited), 1620 Heyman St., an extensive housing project for low-income tenants covering 37 acres in the southwestern section of the city near "Packingtown,"... Begun early in 1936 and completed in 1937 as a WPA project with an appropriation of $2,000,000, the Will Rogers Courts were taken over in 1939 by the Housing Authority..."