College Park Neighborhood Association 12th Annual Historic Homes Tour, College Park Country Club, 2002

Today’s tour takes you through 1925 and 1926 subdivisions called College Park Country Club Section and College Park Country Club 2nd and 5th additions. The name “College Park” was the idea of S. Howard Atha, partner in the real estate firm of Cooper-Atha-Barr, or CABCO. The College Park named subdivisions – the first was in the Ivanhoe area – weren’t the earliest in our community; they came at the height of the real estate boom of the 1920’s. According to Wayne Cooper, son and employer of founder David Cooper, CABCO would buy a 10 to 20 acre piece of property and divide it into lots for sale. Speculators bought many of the lots and quickly sold for a profit. On other lots, CABCO worked with “good builders” – providing bridge loans, getting commissions on house sales, selling insurance, arranging and guaranteeing mortgages for the buyers. Partner Harry W. Barr managed the finance arm.

In 1926 the boom began a downward turn that hit bottom with the Great Depression. Many lots remained empty. Houses were never tenanted or were deserted; some were vacant for years. Mortgages “came back” to CABCO; banks failed. In the mid-1930’s CABCO “went bust”. Our tour highlights houses of the 1920’s. Builders then, as now, repeated house models. Watch for duplicates, and note alterations that obscure the lines of the original houses.

The tour also includes late 1930’s and early 1940’s houses. When the Federal Housing Administration was established in 1934, much of the risk was taken out of the housing market. Wellborn C. and Edith Rand Phillips grasped the possibilities…

Introductory excerpt from:

The 12th Annual Historic Homes Tour, College Park Country Club, November 24, 2002. (View document.)

House tour addresses:

1. 728 West Princeton Street  (See photo.)

2. 736 West Princeton Street

3. 815 West Princeton Street – This house is most famous as the home of Astronaut and NASA Administrator John Young from 1940 until he graduated…  (See photos of The John Young House.)

4. 910 West Princeton Street

5. 919 West Princeton Street

6. 1030 West Princeton Street

7. 1101 West Princeton Street

8. 1101 A West Princeton Street

9. 901 West Smith Street

10. 821 West Smith Street

Notable names mentioned include: Etta Galey Atha, S.H. Atha, Harlow and Viola C. Bacon, George W. Bayliss, Lorenzo and Effie Biggers, Alana and Matt Brenner, Tom and Olive Brownlee, J. Ray and Frances Campbell, Robert E. and Louise Carrigan, John and Beatrice Coleman, David Cooper, Wayne Cooper, Lloyd Gahr, L.A. Crawford, Leo and Anna Grant, Marion Hamilton, Lee Hazen, J.R. Helms, E.P. Howard, A.N. Huggins, Paul and Angie Keating, Howard C. and Dorothy Kiehl, V. Earl Marks, Egbert C. and Bertha Moore, William B. and Zena May Morell, Wilbur D. and Frances Roberts, Janine Russ, William E. and Elizabeth Seaman, A.E. Slauson, Lorne and Inez Smart, Glenn and Rutha Thompson, Lt. Col. A.P. Trapnell, John B. and Maude E. Warde

Document courtesy of the College Park Neighborhood Association Historical Committee.

Photo provided by College Park Historical Society Board Member Julie Northlake.