A lack of student housing near Ohio University was considered OU’s “number one problem” after an influx of veterans taking advantage of the G.I. bill flooded campus after World War II.
Ohio University students have already begun weeding through a seemingly endless selection of Athens rental properties and leases to secure housing for the 2016-17 academic year, but living quarters near campus weren’t always so abundant.
At the conclusion of World War II, OU’s enrollment surged from 219 to 1,103 in the two semesters of 1945-46. Within two years, it reached 3,053, which was roughly 2,000 more students than the university was prepared to house, according to The History of Ohio University by Thomas N. Hoover.
“In the first weeks of the semester male students were quartered in such odd places as the gymnasium, the stadium, and the city Armory,” Hoover said in the book. “Many found living quarters in neighboring towns and commuted to the campus by university bus.”
Universities throughout the state were facing similar problems accommodating new veterans taking advantage of the G.I. Bill of 1944, which provided stipends covering their tuition and expenses. An urgent appeal came from former Ohio Gov. Frank Lausche, who asked the state’s universities to make the “greatest possible effort” to meet the emergency.
OU quickly formed a special housing committee and dispersed a flyer to neighboring communities asking Athens citizens to open their homes to students, especially veterans. The university requested that the people of Athens supply 400 rooms to accommodate the influx.
“Please don’t delay,” read the flyer. “Every room made available means that another young vet can attend Ohio University.”
A number for the housing committee was also listed on the flyer, with instructions to call immediately if one had a room or two to spare.
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During the war, some landlords found it more profitable to rent to workers contributing to the war effort than to OU students, further reducing available property.
Additional efforts to create lodging came from a grant from the state legislature to raise a 12-acre area above flood level, according to Hoover.
This area, now known as East Green, was once called “Hog Island” and was prone to massive floods that required make-shift bridges to navigate from one building to the next.
“Hog Island” was home to 23 temporary buildings, procured from the government, that were sufficient for 740 men. Near the University Airport, 15 larger buildings were erected for the use of married veterans and their families.
Quonset huts, corrugated metal structures that first appeared during WWII, were set up throughout campus to house faculty offices or classrooms.
Former OU President John Calhoun Baker described the lack of available housing as an “acute emergency” and named it “Ohio University’s number one problem,” according to an article in the 1945-46 Ohio Alumnus, an alumni publication.
Accommodations were necessary, as conveyed by a flyer addressing Athens residents.
“Ohio University does not want to turn away these young men who wish to enroll here. But they can not be accepted, if rooms are not available," the flyer said.
In response to the emergency, Baker called for some $31,000 of Ohio University maintenance money to be used on the rehabilitation and conversion of some university properties into rooms or apartments for veterans.
In addition to community calls-to-action and campus building projects, OU set restrictions on admission to curb the student overflow.
First priority was given to former Ohio servicemen. Next, priority was given to Ohio’s non-veterans, followed by out-of-state veterans and out-of-state non-veterans. Admission of out-of-state women was also limited, according to the 1945-46 Alumnus.
Eventually, civic organizations and townspeople came “enthusiastically” to the rescue and placed more than 2,000 students in private homes and apartments, according to Hoover.
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