Techwood Homes Dedication

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“Within sight of you today stands a tribute to useful work under government supervision–the first slum clearance and low-rent housing project. Here, at the request of the citizens of Atlanta, we have cleared out nine square blocks of antiquated, squalid dwellings for years a detriment to this community. Today these hopeless dwellings are gone and in their place we see the bright, cheerful buildings of the Techwood Housing Project. Within a very short time people who never before could get a decent roof over their heads will live here in reasonable comfort and healthful, worthwhile surroundings. Others will find similar homes in Atlanta’s second slum clearance, the University [Homes for Negroes] Project.”

Editor's Note: On November 29, 1935, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave a speech at Georgia Tech football stadium dedicating the newly constructed Techwood Homes, the first public housing project built in the United States. The project would open to the public in early 1936. Techwood Homes was limited to white residents. University Homes, built for African American residents, would open shortly thereafter.