Lexington Leader (1945)

In 1945, after returning home following the end of World War II, Flight Officer Robert R. Pierson discovered his hometown was experiencing an acute housing shortage. While this syndicated comic strip offers a humorous spin on the crisis, it is also indicative of how the housing shortage dominated local and national news at the time.

From at least the late nineteenth century, when the county first began maintaining plat books, Lexington has been extending its boundaries outward by developing suburbs. In fact, a 1940 housing survey reported residential construction in the county had exceeded that in the city every year since 1925.

Continue reading →