Beckerville

Beckerville is a small section of Manchester Township in Ocean County, NJ. I don't know much about it at all...off what is now Route 70 there is a road called Beckerville Road, and if you take it all the way to the end there are some rental units. I haven't been out that way in a while, but I was recently informed that all of the old houses are being demolished to make way for new ones. The old ones, I am told (please leave a comment if you can verify this) were formerly used as army barracks. The housing was low cost, and somewhat of a joke in the county because it was in such bad shape.

According to an article in the Asbury Park Press from 30 May 1999,
"Beckerville Pines, located near the Manchester Wildlife Conservation Area in a rural area of the township, was built about 60 years ago as temporary sleeping quarters for men and women preparing for war. Erected in the last days of the Great Depression, the complex consists of straight rows of identically designed and constructed wooden barracks.
Returning servicemen starting families occupied the buildings as first homes in the 1940s and 1950s. But gradually, the complex began to deteriorate as it changed hands and a series of families moved in and out. Residents were forced to move out in the late 1980s when at least two children were found to be suffering from lead poisoning, possibly caused by ingesting chipping, peeling paint.