North Hampton Neighborhood Overview

Location

Located in Southwest City, Northampton is bounded by Scanlan and Connecticut to the North, South Kingshighway to the East, Chippewa to the South, and Hampton to the West.

History

Much of Northampton was the City's last open land. Development had occurred to the west in Lindenwood Park due to interurban rail and to the north and east with immigrant workers of the Oak Hill railroad and its coal and clay mines. This land, however, was the area of actual deposits, and thus residential development did not occur until well after the depletion and settling of the mines. Though deposits were discovered in the 1830s and depleted by the turn of the century, the settling of the land would take nearly another half century.

The earliest subdivision was Kingshighway Hills in 1929 between South Kingshighway and Macklind. South Kingshighway became the place to buy a car after the "automobile row" of Locust Street west of Downtown moved to Southtown south of Fyler. The area west of Macklind did not develop until after World War II because of the old mines and lack of demand and labor during the war.

Hampton Gardens, a 510-unit apartment complex, was built in 1952 on a former cemetery for indigents. A neighborhood centerpiece, Tilles Park is land that sets over sinkholes and was commemorated after Rosalie Tilles in 1957. Much of the commercial development along Hampton took place after the postwar construction of neighboring homes.