Plainville experienced a boom in the 1950's with the increased oil production in the area.  The population of the city soared to nearly 4,000 people.  With the rapid increase in population, the need for housing also increased rapidly.   The result was 322 homes being built in that decade alone.

 

The homes were built quickly, and were generally small two bedroom, 1 bath homes with no basements.   And to be quite honest, the quality of the homes was a reflection of the speed with which they were erected.

 

An Explorer can generally see the ring of homes around the old city center where the majority of the homes were built.  Traveling in a circle around the city, navigate west on south 8th Street, to Section Line, then north to Kansas Highway 18, east to Freeman, and then south on both Freeman and Commercial Streets.

 

Some of the homes have been renovated and are nice starter homes, while others have deteriorated and are in need of a lot of help.  It is a challenge facing the city and residents to maintain the homes that were built quickly to fill an immediate need.

 

While traveling on Commercial, be sure and take note of the old Plainville gymasium, adjacent to the large new gym.   The old junior high gym is made of native limestone and was a WPA project.