Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1947-05-09

ents were unable to rent or buy
living quarters. Rev. Jerome Biele-
jeski, in charge of the home, said:
This institution is no place for
child with a mother and father who
can provide a home for him. Our
principal objective is to care for de-
pendent and neglected children and
orphans. These children have not
been neglected - except by soci-
ety."
That was two years ago. It stirred
the people of St. Cloud. They set up
an emergency housing committee
whose first action was to print
blank form to be filled out by people
who needed homes. Within a few
days, 200 families had registered
nearly 1000 people with no place to
live.
To take care of the most urgent
cases, the town population $4,000
obtained 100 trailers and set up two
camps. Then it turned to the houses
which were being built-very slowly
because of the lack of material, par
ticularly lumber. Also these houses
cost more than most returning vets
could pay.
There is a concrete block plant
in St. Cloud.
"Why," Mayor Murphy asked
himself, cant we make use of
that? Isn't there some kind of house
we can build using concrete?
Why not basement houses?"
St. Cloud had used basement
houses before-in the depression
days of the early '30s, when people
who couldn't afford to build COM
plete houses built easements with
the hope of completing the structure
later.
The mayor agreed to underwrite
the construction of the first five
basement houses in October, 1945.
Today there are ITS of them in st.
Cloud.
The Easements are approximately
block or poured concrete walls, ris-
ing approximately two feet above
the ground. Each basement is di-
vided into two bedrooms, a living
room and dinette, with a kitchen in
one corner, and bath. Some roofs
have a small rise, others are fiat,
with taxpayer laid over what will
some day be the floor of houses. The
cost is $4,000, and the buyers agree
to build the rest of the house within
three years, if possible.
One of the first G.I.s to move into
a basement home was Cliff Gan
field. Cliff was 20 months in the
infantry in the South Pacific, made
two landings on Luzon and went in
to Japan with MacArthur's troops.
When he first got job in St. Cloud
with department store, his wife,
Sarah, and daughter, Karen lived
with her folks in town in the
northern part of the state. They
have painted and decorated their
basement, to make it look quite
cheerful and comfortable. Mrs.
Garfield said that she had trouble
with the water pipes overhead drip
ping in wet weather. One of her
best bedspreads was spoiled by the
water. She has solved the problem
temporarily by wrapping news
paper around the pipes. 'There are
lots of things we don't like" she
said. 1.-THE water used to come in
through the windows whenever it
rained hard. And we couldn't find
any wood for shelves for a long
time. But at least we're together
And we don't have to look to see if
we're going to sit in somebody's lap
when we sit down."
Others in the community followed
the lead of Mayor Murphy Among
them were young Don Strack, who
returned from the army late in 1945
Before the war, Don had worked
with his father, who is contractor
Don wanted to build houses for his
pals, back from the army, and so
he started constructing easements.
He says that construction time is
about three to four weeks, not
counting delays for materials. Strack
has completed IL basement houses
and has several under construction
now.
Other people in the community
have built basement houses for sale
or rent to veterans. Among them is
Ralph Borrowman, city engineer
And some vets have started to build
their own homes. George SCHUYLER,
former sergeant, who spent %
months in the European theater, is
one who is building his own base
ment home. He and his wife, Edith,
dreamed up plan for the home
they wanted. Local contractors said
it could be built for $4,000, maybe.
That's when George made a deci-
sion. He started digging the base
ment April 8, had local boy he
went to school with lay blocks for
walls. This cost $128. Other local
tradesmen put in the plumbing and
wiring. George and his father have
done all carpentry and painting. He
borrowed a concrete mixer to put in
the sidewalk and lay the concrete
floor. He hopes to have his house
completed by September l. His wife
said: maybe it is only basement,
but it's ours"