In the 1950's Mobile's premier African American subdivision provided opportunities for suburban homeownership
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The Hillsdale community of Mobile, Ala., began in the late 1950s as the city's first African American subdivision. According to Joe Green, director of Housing at the University of South Alabama, the interstate highway system was being built across America at that time, and urban renewal was squeezing some residents out of their in-town homes. "Many of these displaced people wound up moving to Hillsdale, which in many cases afforded them the chance to become first-time homebuyers," says Green.

Hillsdale was built in what was a relatively remote section of the city. Today, this area is thriving with Hillsdale positioned on the westernmost boundary of the City of Mobile, along Cody Road, one of the area's main transportation arteries.

"Hillsdale originally had approximately 1,000 houses and a school to meet the needs of the people who were going to live there," says Green. Life was good.

But in the mid-1960s, nearby Brookley Air Force Base began a phase-out. The largest employer in the Mobile area at the time, Brookley employed more than 14,000 area residents. Hillsdale was largely impacted as the base began sending personnel to other parts of the country.

"They began transferring people out by the thousands," says Green. "Many of them tried to sell their houses, but the housing market was flooded with property and you couldn't give them away. It was difficult even to get someone to take the equity and take over the note; many homes went into foreclosure."

Most of the foreclosed homes had been purchased with government-insured loans, such as FHA or VA loans, so the federal government wound up with them. In the late 1960s, the University of South Alabama (USA) began acquiring property at Hillsdale, initially purchasing 300 or so houses.

"The USA president at the time saw potential in this subdivision, which was adjacent to the campus," says Green. Over a period of years, the University continued acquiring property, eventually owning about 750 houses, which it rented out to students and faculty. In contrast, Hillsdale residents owned the remaining 250 homes, according to Green.

"I can't tell you how many people tell me they lived in Hillsdale when they were students at the University," says Green. "Our former mayor was a Hillsdale resident when he was a student there."

Basically, two groups have inhabited Hillsdale: the residents who have lived there as private homeowners since the beginning, and those who live or have lived there as students or faculty during their tenure at the University. "In the beginning, when all the houses were brand new, everything was all right at Hillsdale," says Chuck Stefan of The Mitchell Company, a Mobile developer. "It started going down in the 1970s."

The Decline of a Neighborhood

Stefan was a USA student in 1973. "Hillsdale's reputation then was okay," he recalls. "It wasn't great and it wasn't bad, but as each year progressed it got worse and worse, and over the past three decades got to where it is today. As houses got into poor repair due to lack of maintenance, they became inhabited by just about anybody—drug addicts, transients, you name it."

Crime in the Hillsdale community increased each year. In 2005, the University, citing the decline in housing conditions, chose to tear down about 450 vacant houses in hopes of improving the neighborhood. A total of 276 parcels of land were put up for sale, with DASH for the Gulf Coast purchasing 244 parcels, consisting of 61 houses and 183 vacant lots. (The university held onto 170 houses still occupied by students and university personnel with their remaining Hillsdale tracts serving as home to a university research and technology park.)

"The Hillsdale property is served by Mobile city and fire departments and all public utilities are in place—water, gas and sewer," says Green. "It's a very pretty property on nice rolling, hilly land that could be turned back into a real nice neighborhood."

DASH Begins Revitalization

That's where DASH for the Gulf Coast comes in. Their plan is to build 280 houses at Hillsdale, with prices ranging from $80,000 to $150,000.(looks like the accepted standard of decadent college living you've grown so used to might be changing. either that or a bunch of pseudo-rich fucks are in for a big surprise when the terrace bleeds over into their $150,000 back yards)

Just as Mobile residents displaced by early urban renewal and interstate highway construction in the late 1950s relocated to Hillsdale, DASH hopes to welcome families displaced by Hurricane Katrina(a little late for that, innit?) or new residents to relocate to a new, revitalized Hillsdale.

Mobile City Council member Gina Gregory, whose district includes Hillsdale, looks forward to the transformation. "Hillsdale's history makes it a very important neighborhood to revive, to make the kind of quality community the people already living there deserve, as well as those moving in," says Gregory. "The neighborhood had deteriorated over the years as the families living there watched, helpless. For a long time, they've felt like nothing would ever be done. The place they called home was falling down around them."

Many nice homes remain in Hillsdale where two neighborhood churches, Hillsdale Middle School, a baseball park and Hillsdale Community Center round out the neighborhood.

"It was a fairly tight-knit community and still is in many ways," says Green, noting that an active community organization conducts regular meetings in pursuit of positive changes for the community. Help, in the form of DASH for the Gulf Coast, is here.

"I'm optimistic and looking forward to DASH making all the difference in the world for the west side of Mobile," says Gregory. "Good days are ahead for the people of Hillsdale."

totally tl;dr, but informative if you actually did
stolen from http://www.dashgulfcoast.org