I Grew Up in War Housing: The History of the Defense Housing Projects in East Alton, Illinois 1941-1954

At the start of WWII, two government defense housing projects were built in East Alton, Illinois. These projects became known as the defense area, where author Phillip Walkington lived from birth through high school. Although intimately familiar with his surroundings, he never perceived their unique place in history as the unintended results of a plan to offset issues created by World War II. In I Grew Up in War Housing, a never-before-documented piece of history comes to light. War workers came to these defense areas in a steady stream seeking employment, and though jobs were to be had, there was nowhere for the influx of workers to call home. Multiple tiers of government worked together to build the defense housing projects under the Lanham Act, which provided federal funds to defense-impacted communities where the population had soared and local facilities were overwhelmed. Written to praise the war workers who in-migrated throughout America to support the war effort–and for his father, who was one of those workers–Walkington’s I Grew Up in War Housing is a firsthand account of an exceptional place created during an unparalleled time in history.