Browning chief., 1947-09-05
Making Homes From Shacks
Released by Western Newspaper unio

Making Homes From Shacks
IN THE little California city Of
Orange stood an old barn in which
horses and cattle had been housed
when the site of the city was but
part of desert ranch.
That old barn sat right in the CEN
ter of the best residential section.
1t was an eyesore to those having
homes near it. The owners of those
homes wished many times the two
lots, portions of both of which the
barn occupied, would be sold, and
the disreputable structure torn
down.
But l will go back a few years
and get the story in sequence:
When America entered World
War I, W. o. (BilD Hart was, and
had been for some years, editor of
the Orange paper. With the nation
at war he laid aside the editorial
pencil, and captained a machine
gun company in the United States
army. Elsie, his wife, remained at
home to care for their small chill
dren, regretting there was not
something she could do which she
could consider more heroic. When
World War II came along, the gov
ernment told Bill he had passed too
many birthdays to be eligible for
place in the armed forces; that he
could serve best by supporting the
war through the columns of his
newspaper, and let his three sons
do the fighting for the family. This
they did.
A year and more before Germany
quit, Bill Hart died in an airplane
crash. The following day his son,
Bill Jr., in the air corps of the
army, died in another plane crash.
Elsie Hart again wished for a prac-
tical and essential way to serve.
REMODELLED OLD BARN
The housing problem in Orange,
as in all other places, was acute.
Munition plant workers, and off,
GERS and men of the army and navy
were clamoring for homes in which
their families could live. There
were no vacancies and no mate
rials with which to build houses. In
that condition Mrs. Hart saw a
small opportunity. She would turn
the family garage into a home.
With such materials as several junk
yards could yield, she produceds
cozy and comfortable four-room
home for family.
She found small, untenanted
and unlivable shack, with a USE
less shed behind it. She bought
the place and, using the same
methods as she had applied to
the garage, she produced an
other attractive small home.
She bought another unlivable
wreck of house, and again
she tuned it into home-a real
prize for family and a credit
. to the city.
But Elsie Hart's real masterpiece
is the home she made from that
old barn. She bought it and the two
lots. The barn was built of Cali
fornia redwood. 1t had not rotted,
and never will. With gabled win
dows set into the steep roof, an ap-
Plot idtC llOill Sllll dilCG, Sllldll
paned windows, she gave the house
old colonial appearance. With brick
fireplaces, three of them, the one in
the kitchen fitted with all the appli-
ances of an old colonial kitchen, she
carried the same impression to the
inside. The old barn has been trans
formed into one of the most attrac-
tive homes in a city of attractive
homes.
An ingenious woman who is tai
ented in home. rather than mere
house, has helped her home town
solve one of the big problems that
has faced, and is still facing, all
American communities. Elsie Hart
has played her part, as did Bill, and
Bill Jr.