Atchison Village HSR
Project Contact
Lina Velasco, Senior Planner
(510) 620-6841
Project Description
The City of Richmond, Atchison Village Mutual Homes Corporation (AtchisonVillage), the National Park Service, and the California Office of Historic Preservation have initiated a Mini-Historic Structures Report (Mini-HSR) and Preservation Plan in order to inform future rehabilitation planning for the Atchison Village neighborhood. A draft of the Atchison Village Mini-HSR is available for public review.
The Atchison Village Defense Housing Project was constructed in 1941 as permanent housing for workers in World War II defense industries. Six decades after construction, the development, now called the Atchison Village Mutual Homes Corporation, is a district within the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park, established through an act of the United States Congress and signed into being by President Clinton on October 24, 2000. Because Richmond presents a critical mass of extant structures that were built solely for the World War II home front effort, the National Park Service found the city to be the best location in the nation for a home front national park. Atchison Village not only plays an integral role in the Rosie the Riveter National Historic Park, but also stands as a prime example of one of the only public defense housing projects remaining in the United States.
Atchison Village was one of three permanent housing developments constructed in Richmond, California during World War II; many other Richmond defense housing projects were constructed as temporary housing. Today, Atchison Village is one of only two remaining defense housing projects in Richmond, and is the best example to convey the importance of these building typologies in the history of the World War II home front effort.
Atchison Village was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The development was determined to be a historic district of national significance for its association with federal and local governmental efforts to “provide low-cost family housing for workers involved in the defense shipbuilding industry during World War II.”
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