Housing Has Always Been on Moscow's Mind

This article first appeared in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News "Nearby History" column on June28, 2025.

By Hayley Noble, Executive Director

1448 Borah Ave. ca. 1950. LCHS Photograph: Rick Jones 1123.

As Moscow continues to show no decrease in residential development, history shows us that housing demands in Moscow have been a constant in our town’s past.

Following the conclusion of World War II, service members took advantage of the G.I. Bill, which paid college tuition and provided low-cost home loans. Universities saw increases in enrollment and suburban neighborhood development was ramping up. Nationally, this demand for affordable single-family housing meant that many developers saw opportunities to build far from urban centers thanks to car ownership. This post-war economic prosperity gave birth to the “baby boomers” and growing families that primarily occupied suburbs, and with it, the “American Dream” with the single-family house, educated patriarch, family car, and a nice, green lawn. (Just ignore the racist, sexist, heteronormative, McCarthyistic policies that fit into this version of the “American Dream” in post-war society). 

Veteran’s Village temporary housing ca. 1945. LCHS Photograph: 17-03-172.

Access to higher education and housing demands were at an all-time high and Moscow, with the University of Idaho, was no exception. During the war years, university of Idaho enrollment shrank to less than 1,000 students. But by 1947, enrollment increased to over 3,000, with peak enrollment nearing 4,000 students in residence in 1948-49. In response, the University hired dozens of faculty to meet this education demand. Students and professors alike needed housing during this time. In 1946, residence hall room shortages meant that students slept on cots in the Memorial Gym until more housing could be constructed. In 1947, the University built temporary “Veteran’s Villages” for both students and staff. These were war surplus trailers, barracks, and prefabricated houses, and were less than ideal. With many students entering higher education later in life and with young faculty, many in both instances had families. Dorm rooms were not going to work so the University built the South Hill Homes neighborhood in 1946-47. The demand for affordable single-family housing was still too great.

South Hill Homes faculty housing ca. 1950. LCHS Photograph: 17-03-161.

Around this time, the Faculty Club began thinking of ways to alleviate the housing shortage. Approximately 40 faculty members of varying fields and expertise decided to pool their money and build their own housing development. Four engineers: Bill Parish, Frank Junk, Chester Moore, and Charles Sargent, started surveying land in the fall of 1949 for neighborhood possibilities and chose farm lots south of the University and just 10 minutes from campus.  The group, then known as the Faculty Housing Group, then used law professor Thomas Walenta’s skills to form a non-profit housing cooperative. The next year, Walenta incorporated University Heights, Inc. with members of the Housing Group as the board of directors and committees to cover items like sewage and water, architecture, mechanical and electrical, construction, and purchasing – all expertise of the faculty involved in the venture. University Heights, Inc. purchased their desired land in December 1949. To some, the neighborhood was known as Hurricane Hump, Snob Hill, and Idiot’s Ridge. Now, the neighborhood encompasses Borah, Walenta, and Alpowa Avenues.

Members of the group completed much of the work, but the corporation did hire contractors for the infrastructure like street grading and the sewer system. Legal covenants were drafted to prevent combining or dividing lots and stipulated that the lots had to be used for residential housing. Buyers could become members of the corporation for $100, and lots typically sold for $1,000. Mortgages through the corporation were between $1,200 and $2,000. On November 1, 1950, Willard Wilde and his family were the first to move into their new house in the University Heights neighborhood. By 1952, all the original faculty members in the group had assigned lots, but additional lots were available for purchase. By 1960, all 69 lots in the neighborhood had sold.

This collaborative approach fostered a friendly neighborhood with members willing to help each other with construction projects, pooled skills and talents, had the advantages of buying supplies in bulk, and came with a sense of pride that the entire neighborhood was built by its residents. The neighborhood also published a newsletter and hosted annual barbecues. In August 2006 the neighborhood block party was still going strong. University Heights, Inc. was listed as inactive in 1980.

As Moscow’s affordable housing shortage continues, one wonders if more housing cooperatives will pop up with similar solutions as the University Heights neighborhood. Creative problem solving by skilled university faculty members made an idea a reality and built 69 homes in just over a decade.    

Sources

Baldwin, Kate, "University Heights neighborhood ready for return of block party," Moscow Pullman Daily News, August 5, 2006. https://www.dnews.com/local-news-northwest/university-heights-neighborhood-ready-for-return-of-block-party-5b18be15.

Monroe, Julie, "From the Ground Up: A History of the Founding of University Heights Neighborhood in Moscow," PAM 2003-05, Latah County Historical Society.