SOFIJA KALJEVIC

Three years into the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt was elected president, promising to alleviate economic hardship and fix the unemployment crisis. Even before FDR took office, his wife, Eleanor, had become interested in a Quaker organization called the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), which, in addition to feeding children in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, was interested in creating subsistence homestead communities. The idea behind the community was to create a place where out-of-work coal miners and their families could find a place to live, get a new vocation, and be able to farm the land for their own food. What would become Arthurdale, West Virginia, was first known as "The Reedsville Project" and was located in Preston County, just south of Reedsville. The new town was named Arthurdale after Richard Arthur, and in 1934, the government started building houses, shops, and a community center. Arthurdale was the first of these communities built in the country, with another 98 planned across 17 states. The town had 165 homes that families could rent, and Eleanor Roosevelt made sure that each home had indoor plumbing, a refrigerator, and electricity, features not always found in rural homes. However, only white families were allowed to rent houses, even though the mining community in West Virginia was diverse. The town also featured a series of cooperative industries, including a furniture factory, a spinning and weaving studio, farm and dairy, barber shop, service station, and grocery store. Even at the time, critics of Arthurdale saw the potential for collective living turning into socialism. Other critics complained that the project was going over budget. Arthurdale struggled as a self-sustaining community, and the government eventually sold the property in 1941, leaving the community on its own.

During 2012, a team of researchers and architects from West Virginia University spent over 6 months on the site to document the existing state of one of the remaining houses still owned by Arthurdale Heritage, Inc. The purpose of this documentation was to aid in the reconstruction of the house and return it to its original state as part of an outgoing museum heritage display. Through their investigation, it was discovered that the house was built in the "Hodgson House" style, specifically type L, with multiple room additions and alterations that had ultimately changed the original appearance of the house. The construction of the first 50 houses took place between 1933-1934, and all of them were built in this style. Each style was designated by a letter, such as I, T, L, or H, which indicated the general floor plan of the house. These homes were constructed using Oregon cedar over pine frames and featured cedar siding and standing seam metal roofs. However, they were poorly insulated and of light construction, which made them ill-suited for the harsh winters of Preston County, West Virginia. Despite this, all Hodgson homes were one story in height, painted white, and featured complete basements.