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OrchardPark toCiose upBv DON KIGGENBACHRecord Staff WriterOrchard Park, a former prisoner of war camp which wasconverted after World War II fiinto a low-cost housing community for military families, willbe closed Oct. 31The home of as many as 160families in the early 1950's, Orchard Park is the victim ofsimple economics: costs have exceeded income by $800 to $900a month recently.Operated by the non-profitChaves County Housing Corp.,—the communitv south of Roswellis now occupied by 23 families who are surrounded by manyempty apartments, some of them* scarred bv broken win-dows and rotting walls.Harry James, president of thecorporation, released a statement saying its directors are“phasing out Orchard Park asV./V. V • Mi* 4 1V 10^cation of the barracks commun-Vity’s fate, but the directors re portedly will attempt to lease or sell the 93-acre site for industrial use.Still served by its own waterand sewer systems and volunteer fire department, the community once had an officers'club, gymnasium, theater and grocerv store. It is located one milp west of U.S. 285. about 12miles south of Roswell.arlt;Courthouse records show thatB —__—■ ■ ■ IB lt;* B V V K W ■ V 1 ” 1 ■ 1 1Orchard Park was first platted ^and dedicated as a county subdivision on Nov. 29. 1905. byMiss Rebecca Hortenstein.AEarly in World War II the ^federal government acquired the property, then 280 acres, and c( erected* the barracks buildings ^ for a prisoner of war camp. An pstimated 5.000 German prison-cers were housed there but latertransferred to another campnsThey w^ere followed by about ^000After the war a group of area• .bresidents formed the non-profitcorporation, acquired the land at a small cost and convertedthe units into apartments. Theyrented them to non-commission-tkfied officers stationed at Walker .Air Force Base, charging aslilittle as $15 monthly rent.am $30 per number offamilies makes continued oper-impossiblenrn1Fsaid.James’ statement added that I. “all future efforts of the corporation will be devoted toPlains Park Apartments,” thegroup’s housing project for old- Qer persons. Located in the 1400block of South Union Avenuein Roswell, the apartments(lt;1963now available to persons 50years old and over.Directors of the housing cor-(poration, in additionGinsbergClover, Bill Merritt, Reed Mul-key and W. C. Taylor, all ofRoswell, and Carl Caruthers,Dexter. H. G. Zike serves assecretary-manager and present-a* jtt ^K* —. Jm.ly occupies an apartment at Drchard Park.
Newspaper Details
Roswell Daily Record
Roswell, New Mexico, US
Thu, Sep 16, 1965
Page 1
Full Page
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Anonymous
USA 13 Apr 2020
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