COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A Columbus subdivision built andmarketed exclusively to returning black
veterans of World War II isunder consideration for placement on the National Register of HistoricPlaces.The
1½-story mostly brick homes tucked between a railroad,Interstate 70 and busy city streets are small by
today’s standards. Butthey represented opportunity for vets at a time when neighborhoodspermitting blacks
were limited even in the northern city.Newly built houses blacks could buy were virtually
nonexistent."HanfordVillage illustrates the limits and struggle that African Americansengaged in
related to their rights as citizens in a segregatedenvironment," according to the application pending
with the NationalRegister, a division of the National Park Service.The OhioHistoric Sites Preservation
Advisory Board approved the nomination tothe register last month. The Ohio Historical Society will send in
thenomination once the government shutdown ends. A decision is required in45 days.Most nominations that
reach this level are approved, saidSusan Tietz, the historical society’s National Register and
SurveyManager.Inclusion on the register doesn’t affect property rightsor require anything of homeowners, but
it is an important source ofpride and recognition, Tietz said.Hanford Village was apredominantly black
community when the subdivision was built. It’s knownformally as the George Washington Carver Addition but
universallyreferred to as "the new village." Among the development’s earlyresidents were some
Tuskegee Airmen stationed at a nearby Army Air Forcebase."Hanford Village was a family," said
Henry Bowden, 88, whostill lives in the house he moved into in the 1940s and where he and hiswife raised
four sons and a daughter. "All of us cared about oneanother.""Everybody knew everybody,"
recalled Oneita Streets, 92,who grew up in the old village and was forced to move in the 1960s
whenconstruction of I-70 destroyed large swaths of Hanford.In itsday, the subdivision was seen as a way to
ease housing shortages forreturning black veterans. But it had a troubled start: Prejudiceprevented its
construction as war-time housing. After the war, whiteresidents opposed to expanding black housing in
Columbus remainedagainst it.Some civil rights groups also opposed it, fearing it would lead to further
segregation in the city.Otherhistorically black developments from the same era already on theNational
Register include Mayfair Mansions in Washington, D.C., and theCarverdale Addition in Oklahoma City.A
historical marker sits onthe edge of the veterans’ subdivision with a brief description of thevillage’s
history. Former residents say the National Registerdesignation will help further preserve the
community."It’s a way of life that, if not told, will go forgotten," said Henry Bowden’s son,
Hank.___Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/awhcolumbusCopyright 2013
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