On September 1st, 1948, the federal government, which had subsidized Pammel Court's housing and furniture since 1946, turned over the housing project to Iowa State College. From that date forward, Iowa State would keep the revenue generated from married student housing. The initial housing subsidy by the federal government left the college with a large-scale revenue generating device in Pammel Court. Without having to incur the construction costs of providing married housing, the school could invest its resources elsewhere on campus.
The estimated life-span of Pammel Court when it opened in 1946 was five years. By the time of this 1967 document calling for the demolition of many of the original barracks and pre-fabricated units, Pammel Court was already twenty-one years old. This document illustrates the resilience of Pammel Court on the Iowa State landscape. The final demolition of Pammel Court would not begin until the 1997/98 academic school year.
This cartoon from 1962 illustrates the challenges Pammel Court's residents faced in their daily lives. Life in Pammel Court often meant juggling being a spouse, a parent, and a student.
A young child helps prepare a Thanksgiving Day meal in 1948. Note the curvature of the Quonset Hut and the maximization of storage space in the kitchen.
These handbooks provided new residents of Pammel Court with important information concerning trash pickup and removal, pet policies, and other community policies.
One of 50 Quonset Huts erected in Pammel Court in the late 1940s, the construction of this hut illustrates the impermanent quality of the units, as corrugated metal is being applied to a steel frame. After Iowa State College exhausted its search for trailers and demonstrable houses, the school turned to Navy surplus for the Quonset Huts. Each hut housed two families and contained two bedrooms.
The Pammel Court Cooperative Grocery opened in 1946. Known as the co-op, the grocery was operated by veterans and their families and was originally open only to Pammel Court residents. The co-op received national attention nearly as soon as it opened, as colleges and veteran-student organizations sought to open their own cooperative groceries. According to an article in the Iowa State Student, the Pammel co-op received inquiries from the University of Tennessee, the University of Arizona, and the University of Iowa, among others (Iowa State Student, 20 August 1946).
When Pammel Court first opened in 1946 the housing project consisted of a mixture of trailers, prefabricated houses, Quonset Huts, and barracks buildings. By the 1970s, only the corrugated metal barracks buildings were left. Residents in Pammel Court were often free to personalize their rental units. This included painting the exterior and interior of the units, and planting gardens in the small yard space each residence afforded.
"Mrs. James McDonald and 11 month old Kirk sun themselves on an army poncho in front of their house. Betsey, a science student, met her husband while she was a WAVE. Her husband is a graduate student. Neighbors care for Kirk while his mother attends class." Children played a major role in daily life at Pammel Court, as birth rates rose significantly in the years after World War Two. Reflective of a national trend in rising births, the photograph of a woman with her young child outside of their Pammel Court residence illustrates the significance of the "Baby Boom" to Iowa State and the city of Ames.
By 1947, schools throughout the Midwest looked to Iowa State College as a model for how to provide housing for returning veterans and their families. In this letter, Dean Helser is providing Northwestern's Dean of Students with information on how Iowa State College received federal help to build Pammel Court, and how the housing units operate in a campus setting.
By the mid-1950s, Iowa State began plans to erect Hawthorn Village Apartments for married students to the east of Pammel Court. The new apartments would replace many of Pammel Court's original demountable and barracks units that would be demolished in the mid 1960s.
For the 1978-1979 academic year, Pammel Court was opened to non-married students for the first time in its history. From Pammel Court's creation in 1946 to its being open for single students in 1978, low rental prices had always been popular among residents. Those living in Pammel Court sacrificed amenities to save money on monthly rent. Pammel Court units were cold in the winter and hot in the summer, but many former residents remember leaving Iowa State debt-free.
An image depicting a Pammel Court unit in winter. A car is parked in the driveway. In the late 1940s, Pammel Court's trailer units did not have sewer access. Annotation: "356-A. Pammel Court, Iowa State, Ames, Iowa. Home of Leo and Margaret Diterding. 1945-1949. We had access to water and utility trailer 1/2 city block away".
The Pammel Court Constitution was the principal document concerning community life for the married student housing units. The Constitution was periodically updated, or even re-written, to reflect the changing needs of Pammel residents. This version from 1957 is of special note because it refers to Pammel Court as the city in Section 1. Although Pammel Court was not an actual incorporated city, the wording illustrates how residents viewed themselves as a community with its own government.
An article from the "Iowa Engineer Reports" highlights the creation of Pammel Court for returning veterans from World War Two. The article focuses on the need for married housing and also examines construction details of the units.
