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Sunday, January 26, 2020

What is Swayze Acres?

Author's note:  This blog entry, like all, will be modified as more information is gathered.  If you have anything to add, please enter it in the comments.

What is special about Swayze Acres is that, in the 1950s, there was nothing special about Swayze Acres.  World War II had ended, and hordes of discharged servicemen were invading suburbia.  They wanted to make up for lost time and were eager to claim their American Dreams of homes and family.

Swayze Acres was named after the developer who began it, Mr. John Swayze.  He built his development a mile north of the village of Waterford, New York in the early 1950s.  Note- Need more background here.  He had little problem in selling his modest homes.  Most were two or three bedroom, with one bathroom and an eat-in kitchen.  Extras, like garages, were rare and usually added later.  Prices were advertised from $10,300 to $13,500.  With $575 down, a veteran could buy a house with a $68 a month (including interest and taxes) mortgage with CERTIFIED ADEQUATE WIRING for full HOUSEPOWER as certified by the Eastern Adequate Wiring Bureau!  Electric wiring that will bring comfort and convenience... modern lighting... plenty of conveniently placed outlets... and the use of as many electric appliances as you wish!  Call ARsenal 3-4832.

My dad, like most all Gibson relatives of mine and tens of thousands of others, worked for General Electric. After graduating from high school in 1947, he couldn't get admission to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, his school of choice, even though he was a straight A student and president of his class.  Veterans were going to college on the GI bill and had preference over non-veterans. So he joined GE's draftsman apprentice program. Like all of GE's apprenticeships, the pay was horrible. But he met my mom there, so there was some benefit to being poor.  Marry a poor farmgirl.  She was a keypunch operator in building 273. They married on January 1st, 1950 and moved into a one bedroom low income apartment in Steinmetz Homes, in Schenectady. I was born on September 19, 1950. Whew. Cutting it close there.

My mom stopped working when I came along. Most mothers didn't work. Some did, but most were "stay-at-home" moms. They didn't work at all. Just house cleaning, vacuuming, dusting, making beds, washing clothes, ironing clothes (no permanent press), washing windows, ordering groceries on the telephone, cooking every meal, cleaning up after every meal, gardening, raise the kids... just your usual laze around the house stuff.

My parents bought their first house in 1955. I was five years old and about to enter kindergarten in September and my dad wanted a good school district for me. He also wanted to be close to his family in Lansingburgh.  He chose Waterford.

Their house was a Cape Cod, the other style available being a ranch. The attic upstairs was unfinished, as was the basement. Like most all homes in Swayze Acres, it had village water, a septic tank, hot air oil heat, two bedrooms, and one bathroom. A garage would have to come later, as did a paved driveway to replace the gravel one.

I don't know the terms of my parents' mortgage, but with 20% down a $8,240 mortgage for thirty years at 5% interest, he would have had a payment of $44 a month. Knowing my dad, he probably pushed it at twenty years and a $54 a month payment. Or maybe even fifteen years at $65. Who needed vacations?  My dad was very conservative financially.




By comparison, here are some cost of living figures from 1955:

Typical house: $9,100
Average income: $4,137 yr / $80 wk
Rent:  $87 mo
Ford car: $1,606-$2,944
Cadillac Model 62: $3,977
Tuition to Harvard:  $800
Milk: $.92
Gas: $.23
Bread:  $.18
Postage stamp: $.03
Sirloin chops: $ .69 lb.
Pot Roast: $.43 lb.
Eggs, doz.: $.61
Coffee: $.93 lb.
Milk, ½ gal. $.43
Potatoes, 10 lb. bag: $.53
Starkist Tuna, 6 ½ oz. can: $.25 lb.
Oreo cookies, 11¾ .oz pkg: $.39
Potato Salad, pint: $.29
Cracker Jack, 24 pac: $1.49
Apple cider,½ gal.: $.49
Gum Drops, 1½ lb. pkg: $.29
Ivory Soap, 2 bars: $.29
Mickey Mouse lunchbox: $.88
Slinky: $.88
Nylons, pair: $1.00
Home permanent: $1.50
Baseball Glove: $9.95
Bicycle:  $30
Movie ticket:  $.75
  • source- Google

And to complete our dads' and moms' families came the rest of us baby-boomers.  Our parents had a lot of children in a relatively short period of time.  Swayse Acres had close to 100 homes, and with few exceptions, each had two to four offspring.  That is a lot of kids packed into a small area.  What could go wrong?

Reflecting back on those days, it was indeed a special time.  For our parents, and for us.  We had something special, although we didn't realize it at the time.  We had unique experiences growing up that not too many had before us or after us.  And we had the title.  Baby boomers, a term coined by old folks who wondered where all these children came from?



1 comment:

  1. I seem to recall the land was originally owned by Calhoun -- who now runs the farm in Brunswick. I know Humphrey Horn was the real estate agent who sold the houses. Our house was built by a contractor by the name of Ketcham. Perhaps Swayze was the first contractor. Our house cost $13,500 in 1959. The current realtor.com estimate for it is $223,800. Our house, unlike yours, was fueled by natural gas.

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