Kanawha
City has always been known as both a place of Mansions and
Bungalows. The Libby Owens Ford glass plant brought many workers
to Kanawha City, especially from Belgium. Add to that mix
the many others who decided to call Kanawha City home, and you
have a very eclectic bunch of houses from the very fine to the very
modest. One of the odd things about Kanawha City is how
many of the lots were laid out: These were only 20 feet
wide. The homes that were built on these narrow lots
sometimes were only 13 feet wide themselves! Back then, industry
was booming here in WV, where salt brines, natural gas wells, coal
mines, railroads and navigable waterways offered rich resources needed
for producing glass and chemicals. Factories needed workers, and those
workers needed homes.
To
solve that problem, tiny bungalows comprising only about 450 square
feet — that’s about 15 feet by 30 feet — were sometimes mass-produced
specifically to house industry workers and their families. Many such
homes were built on property surrounding the Libbey-Owens Co. (later
Libbey-Owens-Ford) and Owens-Illinois Bottle Co. glass factories in
Kanawha City.
Over the years, many people added to the backs of these houses,
since they couldn't add to the sides. One former city official,
knowing that property codes were about to change, bought up
all the remaining 20 foot lots and built tiny houses on them in the
50s. Here are some of these interesting little houses..... |
