Doorway façade from the Baxter Terrace Housing Project, Newark, New Jersey
With the population of urban areas swelling through the first half of the 20th century, middle and low-income families had trouble finding adequate housing. Only with the 1937 passage of the Wagner-Steagall Housing Act, did the federal government accelerate and expand subsidized public housing programs. When the Baxter Housing Terrace opened in 1941, it was the very first public housing project in Newark. This 503 unit, 21-building, low-rise project covered some 14 acres in downtown Newark. The community named the new facility in honor of James M. Baxter, a prominent Newark African American educator.
With the onset of “white flight” to the suburbs in the 1960s, Baxter Terrace residents were increasingly black and low income. Buildings and grounds deteriorated due to declining state and federal subsidies throughout the 1960s and 70s. By 1980s, Baxter Terrace was mainly surrounded by blighted neighborhoods and vacant buildings.
In 2009, the city of Newark insisted that residents move out, often to other designated subsidized housing. The city then demolished the Baxter Terrace Housing Project as part of its urban renewal program. It will be replaced with mid- and high-end residences and commercial space.
Displaced low-income residents have been scattered across the city as the result of gentrification. They are unlikely to be assigned homes in the newly realized ‘Baxter Park.' The name and the memory of the re-envisioned urban site will nevertheless resonate with Newark residents who called the original Baxter Terrace Housing Project home for over fifty years.
The doorway façade pictured above comes from the Baxter Terrace Housing Project in Newark, New Jersey. It is now in the collection of theSmithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visitors to the museum can view this object in the “A Changing America: 1968 and Beyond” exhibition.
Credits and Sources:
Photograph by: William S. Pretzer. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Façade of James M. Baxter Terrace Housing Project.
Calefati, Jessica. "Modern Baxter Park Apartments in Newark Open Where Baxter Terrace Once Stood." The Star Ledger. Accessed January 9, 2016. http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2013/02/modern_baxter_park_apartments.html.
Di Ionno, Mark. "Newark Story." Accessed January 9, 2016. http://newarkstory.com/Newark_Story/Housing/Entries/2013/1/4_James_Baxter_Terrace.html.
United States Department of the Interior. “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: State Street Public School.” Last modified August 2, 1989. http://focus.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/90001201.pdf.
