Archives On The Air 201: Building The Jersey Homesteads—Alfred Kastner Papers

By Wyoming Public Media

Published June 23, 2020 at 10:33 PM MDT

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Kastner served as the co-chairman of the architectural advisory board of the Bureau for Advanced Housing, an organization that aimed to promote modern living through cooperation between architects, manufacturers and others in the housing industry.

American Heritage Center

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American Heritage Center

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Construction of a Jersey Homesteads structure, possibly the community building. Box 45, Alfred Kastner papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. ";

American Heritage Center

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Construction of a Jersey Homesteads structure, possibly the community building. Box 45, Alfred Kastner papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. ";

American Heritage Center

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Boys tending a garden outside a home in the Jersey Homesteads, 1930s. Box 45, Alfred Kastner papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

American Heritage Center

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Boys tending a garden outside a home in the Jersey Homesteads, 1930s. Box 45, Alfred Kastner papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

American Heritage Center

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Between 1937 and 38, artist Ben Shahn and his partner (later wife) Bernarda Bryson created a mural for the school at Jersey Homesteads. They completed a 45-foot fresco depicting the history of the community. Box 45, Alfred Kastner papers, UW.

American Heritage Center

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American Heritage Center

Relocating industry from congested cities to rural areas was one of many Depression-era social experiments by the federal government.

Jersey Homesteads in New Jersey was one of those experiments.

It was a cooperative holding a farm, factory, and retail stores. Its purpose was to resettle urban Jewish garment workers.

In 1935,?German-born architect Alfred Kastner designed the structures. Though austere, his designs had elegant touches and modern conveniences.

But by 1939 farm and factory didn't meet quotas. And disputes arose between those doing the farming and factory work.

It was declared it failure in 1939. Sadly, the ideal community never materialized.

Learn more in the Alfred Kastner papers at UW's American Heritage Center.