Navy Park Historic District

Related Links:

Capt. H.G. Chalkley, - Shipbuilding Report of 1945

USS Orleck (DD-886)

Historic Naval Ships Association

Naval Historical Center
 
State and National Historic District
 
Significant WWII Housing for Shipyard Workers
 

Orange, Texas

  Special Thanks to all who gave of their expertise, time, information, and resources

The below paper was written by Stephanie Ball Rowland for Donald Ball, with the help of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Ball, Greg Ball, Jimmie Lewis, Gay Ferguson, Dr. and Mrs. Howard Williams, The City of Orange, The Orange Historical Commission, and The Heritage House Museum of Orange. December 29, 1997
 

 

Note: The Texas Historical Commission's (THC) listing and final Narrative for this
State and National Historic Site can be found by clicking here.
Enter "Orange" county and search for "Navy Park"

OR
Click Here for copy of THC Listing and
Here for copy of THC Narrative

   


Description of Navy Park
(also known as Navy Addition)

Navy Addition is a housing addition located in east Orange, Texas, within a few miles of both the Sabine River and Highway 90. It covers 100 acres in east Orange with Farragut Avenue on the north and south, Simmons Avenue on the east, and Sixth Street on the west.

Orange, Texas, also known as the “Gateway City”, is the county seat of Orange County. It is located on U.S. Highway 90, Adams Bayou, and the Southern Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads and stands at the junction of the Sabine River, and the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway in eastern Orange County near the Louisiana border.

Navy Addition consisted of 254 single and multi-family units built to meet the increased need of housing caused by the $100 million Navy shipbuilding contracts awarded to Orange shipbuilding companies in the 1940’s. Today the complex is intact, except for 18 of the units that have been either torn down or moved away, and retains its original architectural and (open space) planning integrity.

The construction of Navy Addition started February 17, 1941, and by April, some of the families started moving into the homes that had been completed early. The addition was completed by May 23, 1941, and cost the Navy $1.5 million. Navy Addition was completed in just four short months.

Within Navy Addition, a building was erected to maintain permanent headquarters for the purpose of supervising and renting housing to military and civilian families employed in the war effort (primarily shipbuilding). This Navy Addition headquarters is a military style “Butler” building with a concrete foundation and steel walls. It contained a carpenter workshop and supplies for the maintenance of the Navy Addition units. This building is located at the corner of Decatur and First Streets, on the east side of Navy Addition.

The contractors that the Navy awarded the contract to for the construction of Navy Addition were: the Brown-Lane Company of Beaumont, Texas; and the Central Contracting Company of Dallas, Texas. H. L. McKay had served the two contracting firms and handled the job jointly as the general superintendent. Hugh Field supervised the road work and engineers for Navy Addition.

The east and west streets in Navy Addition were named mostly for Naval figures, with the north and south street names corresponding with the city streets, including First, Second, and Sixth streets. The east and west streets are named as follows: Morrell Street, for Ben Morrell, a naval officer who founded the “Seabees”; Schley Street, for Winfield Scott Schley, a late 19th century naval officer; Knox Street, for Frank Knox, secretary of the Navy under President Franklin D. Roosevelt; Decatur Street, for Stephen Decatur, one of the most daring officers in the U.S. Navy during its early years; Dewey


Description
: Pages 1-3          Significance: Pages 3-7             References: Pages 8- 12
 
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
 

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