Cherryton

Creator

WKU Archives

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Creation Date

1-1-1920

Description

Cherryton opens with 24 cottages for "purchase" for between $200-$500 depending upon the size. Many faculty members lived in the small houses as did students. Students relinquished rights to their "purchase" upon graduation and the cottage was "resold." At one point there were as many as 71 cottages.

The following description from an unidentified, undated source:

Cherryton is located among the cedars and vines which embellish the natural beauty of Normal Heights. At this writing [no date] fifty-three cottages have been constructed and are occupied. Electric lights have been provided. A central bath house, one wing of which is for women and the other for men has been equipped with the most modern plumbing fixtures. Water has been piped into the each kitchen. The village was laid out by Mr. Henry Wright of Kansas City, the landscape artist of the school. Its streets are of crushed stone and wander in and out among the trees in the most graceful of curves. The streets are lighted by electricity by night and are protected by sylvan bowers from the heat of the noonday sun. Countless birds have their homes in the overhanging branches of the trees and the fragrant clumps of honeysuckle, and wild flowers bloom from April to November. It is indeed a pleasant place in which to case one's ways.

The plan adopted for the financing of the cost of Cherryton is, briefly as follows:

The student or students pay to the Western Normal the exact amount of the cost of the building. The house then becomes his home. No subsequent assessments are made, and he may retain possession for four years, the only further expense being the cost of maintenance of the home.

There are three types of houses: one room; one room and kitchenette; and two rooms and kitchenette. The cost is around $250 for the one room, 12 x 16 feet; $385 for the one room and kitchenette, about 12 x 20; and $500 for the two rooms and kitchenette, 14 x 30. A little larger house, two rooms and kitchenette, 16 x 36, costs $385.

If the occupant decides to relinquish the home at the end of the first year, one half of the purchase price is refunded, at the end of the second year one-fourth, and at the end of the third one-eighth. After the fourth year it becomes the property of the institution. Four person can occupy the larger type of house and two or three persons the smaller types. An analysis of the cost per person per month reveals the fact that the rate is surprisingly low. under the terms, no one can occupy these houses except students of the Western Normal and members of their immediate families.