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| Title | Date | Description | Subjects |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pammel Court Grocery | Early residents of Pammel Court organized a cooperative grocery in 1946. The first location was in a Quonset Hut as seen in this photograph. | Student housing;College students | |
| Pammel Court interior scene | The small spaces of Pammel Court's units made for crowded get-togethers and parties. | Student housing;College students | |
| Woman and child | "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. | Student housing;College students | |
| One bedroom barracks floor plan | Even by immediate post-World War Two housing standards, living spaces in Pammel Court were considered small. The Quonset Huts, due to the curvature of the exterior wall, felt even smaller than the floor plan conveys in its two-dimensional format. Almost concurrent to their placement in Pammel Court, residents began modifying the units to add additional living space. The most common addition was a small enclosed porch that served to shelter the interior space from a rush of cold air in the winter. | Student housing;College students | |
| Dean Maurice Helser letter to Dean F.G. Sculberger | 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. | Student housing;College students | |
| Demountable house floor plan | A demountable house floor plan. | Student housing;College students | |
| Two bedroom quonset hut floor plan | A floorplan modeling a two bedroom quonset hut. | Student housing;College students | |
| Pammel Court West handbook | These handbooks provided new residents of Pammel Court with important information concerning trash pickup and removal, pet policies, and other community policies. | Student housing;College students | |
| Pammel Court for married student | Married students looking for campus housing received brochures such as this, outlining floor plans and rental prices for Pammel Court. During Pammel Court's existence from 1946 to the late 1990s, housing units would often be replaced, but the low rental rates were a constant. From 1946 to the early 1960s, military service veterans were given priority to Pammel Court's housing. With veterans utilizing funds through the G.I. Bill, saving on costs was a concern. Not surprisingly, Pammel Court proved a popular housing choice, despite the small living quarters it offered. | Student housing;Married students | |
| Trailer Court Collage | An image depicting trailer court, located in Pammel Court, located on Iowa State University campus. | ||
| Two women outside trailer | Two women stand outside a trailer, located in Pammel Court, on Iowa State University's campus. | ||
| Children on play equipment | Play equipment built for Pammel Court Children." Children at play was a common sight within Pammel Court. Although the Pammel units were in close proximity to one another, there was a small yard space for each unit. At some units, the yards were enclosed with chicken wire fencing to provide children with a safe play area. Note the young child standing atop the storage shed. | ||
| Snow scene with cross country skier | In addition to school work and family life, the weather was a major concern of Pammel Court residents. As surplus military housing, many of the units on Pammel did not have proper insulation for the winter months. Throughout the late 1940s and 1950s, Pammel residents would lobby Iowa State officials to provide better insulation for the units. | ||
| Pammel Court unit in winter | An image depicting a Pammel court unit in winter. In addition to poor insulation, another problem in keeping the units warm was that the houses either sat directly on a concrete slab or were on a foundation several inches from ground level. | ||
| News of Iowa State | 1946 | 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. | Student housing;College students |
| Iowa Engineer article entitled, "Housing Venture" | 1946 | 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. | Student housing;College students |
| Pammel Court Mayor Robert Geppert | 1946 | Robert Geppert, shown here in uniform washing clothes, was the mayor of Pammel Court in 1946. | Student housing;College students |
| Pammel Court Housing Project | 1946 | The first page of this letter provides monthly rental figures for Pammel Court in 1946. Pammel Court's early housing units and furniture were subsidized through the Federal Public Housing Authority. Additional housing funds became available through the Veterans' Emergency Housing Act of 1946. Federal involvement helped alleviate Iowa State's housing shortage and kept rental rates low. | Student housing;College students |
| Quonset hut under construction | 1946 | 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. | Student housing;College students |
| Early street view of Pammel Court | 1946 | Demountable houses were prefabricated units designed as temporary living quarters for defense workers in World War Two. Iowa State College, with help from the Federal Public Housing Authority, relocated 79 demountable units from former defense plants in the Midwest to the Ames Campus. Note the close proximity of the units and the unpaved streets. | Student housing;College students |
| Articles of incorporation for Pammel Grocery | 1946 | 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). | Student housing;College students |
| Trailer in the snow | 1946 | 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." | Student housing;College students |
| Pammel Nursery newsletter | 1947 | The Pammel Court Nursery School opened with approximately 30 children in 1947 with plans to eventually expand enrollment to 200. A child's enrollment in the school was dependent upon how much work parents performed in building the nursery. | Student housing;College students |
| May Daze pony ride | 1947 | Pammel Court May Daze." In 1947, Pammel Court families organized a May celebration that featured activities such as the pony ride illustrated in the photograph. | |
| Two women and child on Thanksgiving Day | 1948 | 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. | Student housing;College students |