Editing Willow Run (section)

===Employee housing crisis===
Even with people driving 100 miles or renting every spare room between Ann Arbor and Grosse Pointe, the sheer size of Willow Run led inevitably to a housing shortage. Because of the urgent need for shelter, the [[United States Housing Authority|Federal Public Housing Administration]] took action and built temporary housing.

====Willow Run Lodge and Village====

The resulting housing complexes were built in several different groups. Willow Run Lodge<ref>[https://4253ecb7-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/willowrunvillage/history/villagebbbbuilding2.png?attachauth=ANoY7cpaW3bj4T3ZicfI1oifR09-7W-uKoOgPh8GWMRr33vF-Hru1elonz8BVyHo5NRuY7yGvP9Njn_zl6GnkXg_XntTYv3z-izroc-TBqSSR2I2QKXkAPaqafPK47NikJsxTELipR0viOGNj6mSk4kxpQkKNzvo-I5OxmIWDd8xXRYZcObCAfOqOuD_ZzbRO46KeYwpO_Csj3n7woaPVXHa3xe9br3MvkX7m7_Z9jUvNn2-Pz1AaNp_PiHB--hNfygo-1kDDsT5&attredirects=0 Willow Run Lodge]</ref> was a series of dormitories for single people and was built on the land north of Michigan Avenue and south of Geddes Road. This covered 90 parcels of land<ref>[https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/371834 90 parcels of land]</ref> totaling {{convert|2641|acre|ha}}.<ref name=Wilson-StoryWR>{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Marion F.|title=The Story of Willow Run|year=1956|publisher=University of Michigan Press|location=Ann Arbor|page=138 |isbn=978-1-135-52950-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Wilson|first=Marion F. |title=History of the original Willow Run Village |website=Willow Run Village |url=https://sites.google.com/site/willowrunvillage/history |date=1956 |via=[[Google Sites]]}}</ref>

In February 1943, the first dormitory (Willow Run Lodge) opened, consisted of fifteen buildings containing 1,900 rooms, some single- and others double-occupancy, with room for 3,000 people. Between June and December 1943, construction was completed on temporary "flat-top" buildings providing homes for 2,500 families. This section was known as Willow Run Village.<ref>[https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/371837#slide=gs-291177 Willow Run Village]</ref> The flat-tops contained four, six, or eight apartments with one, two, or three bedrooms.<ref name=Wilson-StoryWR />

Also in the Willow Run Village were the West Court<ref>[https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/371833#slide=gs-242335 West Court]</ref> buildings, with peaked rooftops and space for couples or three adults. Of the 1,000 apartments in West Court, some had no bedrooms and were called "zero bedroom" apartments, and the rest had one bedroom. The first of these apartments were ready for occupancy in August 1943. Another large dormitory project, containing 1,960 rooms and known as West Lodge, was also ready for tenants at that time.<ref name=Wilson-StoryWR />

By the end of 1943 there were six different temporary projects in the vicinity of Willow Run: two dormitory projects, two trailer projects (one renting trailers, and another for privately owned trailers; each with community laundry, shower, and toilet facilities), and two projects with apartments for couples or families, West Court and the Village. Between them, there was a shelter for more than 15,000 people, roughly the number of people living in [[Ypsilanti]] at the time.<ref name=Wilson-StoryWR />

==== Parkridge Homes ====
[[File:Negro worker at Willow Run installs screws 8e11160v.jpg|thumb|African American worker at Willow Run, July 1942]]
In addition to the Willow Run Lodge and Village housing projects, another community named Parkridge Homes was also built in 1943 to house African-American Willow Run employees. Efforts to desegregate Willow Run Lodge and Village and build additional integrated housing were rebuffed by the Detroit Housing Commission and the [[National Housing Agency]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Michigan Humanities |url=https://www.michiganhumanities.org/heritage-grants-digital-portal/project/historic-parkridge-project/ |website=MIHumanities |access-date=26 March 2020}}</ref> so noted African-American architect [[Hilyard Robinson]] was contracted to design an 80-unit community.<ref>[https://www.michiganhumanities.org/wp-content/uploads/image009-382x300.jpg 80-unit community]</ref> The housing complex remained in use until 2016 as public housing when it was demolished and rebuilt with new modern units.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ypsilanti Housing Commission |url=https://www.ypsilantihc.org/communities |website=Ypsilanti Housing Commission |access-date=26 March 2020}}</ref> In May 2017, the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office recognized Parkridge Homes with the unveiling three historic markers signifying the importance to Ypsilanti history.<ref>{{cite web |title=Michigan Humanities |url=https://www.michiganhumanities.org/world-war-ii-parkridge-homes-receives-historical-marker-designation-may-5/ |website=MIHumanities |access-date=26 March 2020}}</ref>

Also constructed at this time was the Parkridge Community Center.

==== Sociological study on Willow Run housing crisis ====
Sociologist and professor [[Lowell Juilliard Carr]] and James Edson Stermer of the University of Michigan studied the sociological conditions at Willow Run arising from the wartime surge in the worker population in their book of 1952.<ref>* Carr, Lowell J., and Stermer, James Edison, ''Willow Run (Work, Its Rewards and Discontents): a Study of industrialization and Cultural Inadequacy'', New York: Harper & Brothers, 1952. ({{ISBN|978-0405101588}})</ref> They discuss "cultural inadequacy theory", stating that "industrial culture provides no criterion by which either a manufacturer or a government official can determine in advance when a manufacturer should divert his own capital to housing and other community services and when he shall rely on the capital of others for such facilities and services".