Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1902)
VOL. XVIII, NO. IX LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, SATURDAY, MARCH A', 1002 ESTABLISHED IN 1SSC LINCOLN a AS a A a RESIDENCE, a CITY "&t Something About the Marvelous Expansion of the City's Home District and the Reasons That Exist for Believing It Is Not Yet E.nded Over three hundred houses were built in Lincoln last summer. These ranged in price from $G0O to $10,000. The ma jority of them cost fiom $2.:.00 to $4,000. The wise men of the town foregath ered and agreed that the city was growing too fast, that these three hun dred houses meant just that many renters moving into pioperty of their own and thus throwing upon the mar ket that number of houses for rent. Their prophecies were unfulfilled. The vacated houses were promptly rented if they were in half-way decent shape. The summer wailed and every house in the city that was fitted for tenancy was occupied. Then the wise acres predicted that with the usual fall hegira into steamheated Hats a vast array of "For Rent" signs would greet the wandering gaze. But It was not so. Tlie usual hegira. did not come off. When the cold-blooded folks turned their eyes Hat ward they found their chosen apartments occupied, in mo-st instances. A Courier representative talked dur- would be erected this summer than last. Ileal estate men, who keep even closer to the swell of the house-building impulse, say that there can be no doubt but that this season will witness greater building activity than at any previous period in the city's history. This is a pretty strong statement in view of the tremendous building boom that struck the city in the latter pan of the eighties. It is possible there are no records save those in the memory of men that in one or two of those years a greater number of houses were built, but it is very safe to say that the aggregate sum invested last year exceeded any other similar period. The high price of lumber, plumbing material and furnishings and fittings is In iKiri responsible for this, but the real reason is that the greatly in creased prosperity of the people leads to greater expenditure. To own a home is the desire and hope of eveiy sane man and woman happily wedded. To have and possess some place that rush up a row of houses that, when finished, looked as though they had been cut by a circular saw from a twenty-live cent pattern is over. In the boom days almost any kind of a house could be rented. The cottage was then in most favor because it iep resented the ambition of most persons. Perhaps, too, there was still a trace of that old-time fear that in the cyclone belt a tow-story house was an invita tion to destroy. The renter of today is just as ex acting as the house-owner. He in sists upon having gas and electric light, furnace, bath and all the other appurtenances of latter-day luxurious living. He is willing to pay for them, and pay liberally. The demand for good houses and up-to-date Hats has not yet overtaken the supply. Prac tically every new house last summer had from three to six applicants, and this fact caused a considerable stiffen ing in the price of rents. Some contend that rents are too high and that the inevitable tendency will be to drop. if this continues, as it is likely to do. the tendency will be toward higher rents. It is true that there are empty houses to be found here and there. This is inevitable In a shifting popu lation. If the number is In exi ess of the usual it is due to one of two causes, either the house is old and out of date or the rental Is higher than is justified. On one piomineut ornet in the good resMence part of lh city a large ten-room house has stood aiant for months. It is lose to business, with good surroundings and is not a bad-looking place. It is un occupied because the owner will not modernize it. put in sanitary closets, water, bath, gas or eltctric lights. Yet he wants $3.". a month for it. Othr similar instances could doubtless be pointed out by rental agencies. The trend of house building in tin' past five years has been towards the southeast and east. The salt basin and railroad tracks" on the west and north long ago barred those sections from popularity. The southwestern BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF' THE CITY OF LINCOLN. LOOKING NORTHWEST FROM CAPITOL BlILDING. I ing the past few days with six builders. Witli one exception each of the half dozen had all the houses he could pos sibly build during the summer under contract. The other had not yet se cured enough to keep him busy, but he joined with his fellow-contractors in the prediction that even more houses they may call their own is a natural and proper instinct. The easier times are. the more prosperous the individual is, the better will be the house he will build. The same thine is true about the building of fiats and houses for rental .purposes. The day when a man could This, however. Is not likely to occur until the supply of eligible apartments or houses overgrows the demand. If three or four hundred more houses are added this summer to Lincoln it is possible that rents may be forced down. There Is a constant influx of persons able to pay good rentals and section of the city presents some very sightly locations, but the bar sinister of railroad connections has made it unaailable or undesirable to those who desire simeise from the on sumptive locomotlxe and the whirring w heels. (Continued on p-ig II )
