The Beginning of Lawton Housing

Lawton began August of 1901. There was a lottery where land was given for homesteads and a space was set up for the town. A lady named Mattie Beal was the second to be drawn and was awarded the area we know as Beal addition. She married a lumber yard owner. She saved the town by selling off parts of her lots at a loss in order to keep in town many of the people who were not lucky enough to win land. Beal addition is near downtown and the railroad.  Mattie also donated the land for Lincoln Elementary School and Union Park as a gift to the city. Over the years some of the houses that were in this addition were shipped off to towns that suffered from Tornadoes and needed ready shelter. Around town center you will find homes made on the crawl space, and streets named with numbers and letters, creating a basic grid with Railroad street being the origin of the 100 blocks starting at 1st streets. Gore BLVD is the origin of  the 100 blocks starting at Southwest and Southeast A and Northwest and Northeast Arlington. Most of the oldest homes had clapboard fascia and had separate garages often accessed with alleyways. During World War II many of the houses and garages were turned into multifamily units for the soldiers and their families. Within the last year, homes in Beal Addition have sold from $8,000 to $100,000 based on condition. 

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