The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-03-21
building of Homes Near the
Santa Fe Shops.
Many Additions Opened and Lots
Find Ready Sale.
EXTENSIONS ARE MADE
Gas and Telephone Companies
Reach This Section.
Increase in Santa Fe Shops
Creates the Demand.

A short trip through the district ad-
jacent to the new addition to the Santa
Fe shops is sufficient to convince the
most skeptical that a building boom of
no mean proportions is now and has
been in progress for someN time. Less
than one year ago the houses in this
section of the city were few and far
between and much of the land was i'll
farms which have since been plated
and is now being sold for residence lots.
A conservative estimate of the new
buildings erected in this section of the
city during the past II months places
the number at 200 and those who are
familiar with the district estimate that
at least half that number will be erect
ed during the coming summer and fall.
Everywhere as though in a western
boom town the noise of the carpenters
saws and hammers Is to be heard and
buildings spring up within day or SO
as though by magic.
The buildings in course of construc-
tion are substantial, though not large.
They are the homes of the great army
of employees of the Santa Fe shops, but
tent in the knowledge that they are liv-
ing III their own properties and not
paying rentals to landlords.
Most of the houses have from fouS
TO eight looms, according to the needs
of the families occupying them They
are as modem as they can be made un-
der the existing circumstances nd most
Of them are piped for gas as the mains
of the gas company have been recently
laid to that portion of the city. The
Independent Telephone company has
recently extended its lines to this sec
ton of the city and another modern
feature will soon be at the doors of the
owner of these homes.
1t has been less than II months since
the Santa Fe purchased nine acres of
land from the w. w. Webb tact and
- h., ton, Of odG
TO their present extensive shop one OF
the buildings being $50 feet IN length
by 2Z5 in width.
Hundreds of men are now housed in
this new addition and as soon as a full
complement of employees have been |
secured hundreds of more will be add |
ed and it is from this small army of |
men and their families that this por- |
ton of the city has been settled. The |
demand for lots upon which they could |
build their homes was so great that |
three new additions were almost i'm |
placed on the market and it |
Is in these that the building has been |
done.
w. W. Webb placed tract of eight
acres on the market divided into los |
city lots and in this addition 25 houses
have been erected In this as in the
other additions the owners of the land |
stand ready to erect homes for the pur-
chasers of lots on a small payment
down, when they are not in financial
condition to finance the project.
The homes are built in accordance
with the plans of the prospective own
ers who pay from to per cent in
terest and from ten to fifteen dollars
per month in payment on the proper
~ in lieu of rent. South of the shops
is a vacant piece of land owned by S
=. Nichols which is soon to be plated
and placed on the market.
Directly east of the new shops is
what is known as the Pleasant Valley
addition OF IS lots which is handled by
than half of this property has been
disposed of and buildings erected or in
course of erection.
One Of the large additions in that
section of the city is known as the
Neiswanger tract comprising about 20
acres handled by Neiswanger & Will
son of 116 West Sixth avenue. Lots
IN this tract are sold at from $500 to
$500 and such residences erected as
the prospective purchasers desire.
These are raid for outright or on the
installment plant just as the future
owner may desire. The Fensky tract
comprises 100 lots and is filling up
rapidly with new dwellings which are
TO be the shopmen's homes.
The DorOn tract is the largest, orig
naily composing 16O acres. In it the
sale has been almost phenomenal, Mr..
Boron having disposed of the bulk of
he property in a single sale. Homes
are springing up all over the property,
which is beautifully situated.
The location of the two hundred and
upwards of new homes for the shop
men is but the nucleus of what bids
fair to be one of the big additions to
the city. The shops are not as busy
now as they will be later on when the
men are working full time and all the
departments are being operated to
heir capacity. When this time arrives
II will mean the advent of several hun
1red mere families, who must be pro-
vided with homes; and the new addi-
tons adjacent to the shops offer to
hem inducements equaled nowhere
else in the city
Where they have not the money