Historically Speaking: Trailer homes arrive in Exeter

In the years following World War II, Exeter, like most towns in the United States, found housing to be one of the challenges facing the community.

The war stopped nearly all construction of new homes, making it difficult for returning veterans to find places to live. By the 1950s, with no zoning regulations in place, Exeter realized that a new form of housing had begun to expand in town – the mobile home.

There wasn’t even a way to describe these new units. At first, they were called "trailers," and many of the early ones probably were closer to modern campers. They had beds and possibly heat but might not have plumbing or cooking capabilities. These evolved into "trailer homes," which could still be moved, but had all the conveniences of fixed housing. Trailer homes were originally quite small – 8 feet wide and 30 feet long. Pace that out and try to figure out where to put a couch. With the baby boom exploding in the 1950s, these homes often had three bedrooms crammed into that small space.

In 1957, the Exeter News-Letter reported, “A survey undertaken by Town Manager Allen marks indicates the number of house trailers in town at the present time to be about 34. Of these, there were 23 at the Trailer Park at Dow’s Hill; five on McKinley Street, two on Bell Avenue, one on Drinkwater Road and three on Hampton Road.” Only two of these locations can be considered a trailer park by modern standards. Trailer parks allowed the owners of the homes to rent a site on which to place their homes. Park owners were not unlike apartment landlords – owning and maintaining the park, collecting rent, and paying any town taxes. The issue of taxation became a point of contention early on.

The park at Dow’s Hill – later called the Exeter-Hampton Mobile Home Park – began selling lots in 1955. The granddaddy of Exeter’s many trailer parks, many of the residents were returning veterans. To quell some of the criticism that trailer parks brought expenses, particularly higher school rates, taxpayers were reminded that children of veterans, military personnel and federal workers, were eligible for $140 in federal funding to defray the costs of children’s education. Superintendent Hoyt, in 1958, “estimated there were now between 15 and 20 trailer home children of servicemen in the public schools. Some also attended St. Michael (parochial school).”

By 1958, the Exeter-Hampton Mobile Home Park expanded to 50 homes. There was a new park being developed on Jady Hill called the Hayes Trailer Park that was expanding to 25 sites. McKinley Street had room for seven. Within the next two decades, trailer park sizes would explode in Exeter.

The tax warrant of 1972 listed a scattering of mobile homes on private land, but most were in parks. Exeter-Hampton Mobile Home Park Village had 44 homes, Hayes Park had expanded to 95. There were new parks: Pinecrest Park on Ashbrook Road had 47 homes and Beech Hill Road had a small park with 23 homes. But Linden Street, by far, had the most homes after the development of Exeter Villa (later called ‘Lindenshire’) with 201 homes, Sherwood Forest (an adult-only park) had 89 and two smaller parks, Lee’s Mobile Home Park and Strout’s Trailer Court, with 13 and 8 respectively.

Locally, the parks concerned residents. Some felt that the style of the homes didn’t match the community, although most mobile homes had long ago shed the ‘trailer’ appearance that once made them look like they could take to the open road at any moment. Another issue that was often carefully parsed, was that mobile homes brought lower-income residents to town. Exeter had no zoning until 1966, and it was feared that greedy developers would overtake the town causing higher taxes. A 1961 editorial addressed these issues. “To our way of thinking a home is a home whether or not it is movable. As such it should always have tangible value for tax purposes. Moreover, this value should always be in excess of any exemptions accorded to the war veteran or others. In short, one way to assure the trailer home dweller he is not a second-class citizen is to establish laws, which will keep him off a ‘dole’ and at the same time prevent him from depleting the market value of conventional structures in a community.” Many pointed to other towns that had outlawed mobile homes of any kind. The New Hampshire legislature passed a law in 1981 making it illegal to outlaw mobile homes outright, however, they could be restricted with zoning laws.

In all of the commentary, it was assumed that the parks would be ‘well run’ by the owner. Most were well-run, but there were cases where the private road or water system were lacking. For the people living in the parks, there was always the threat that the owner might sell to someone who increased lot rent or decided to liquidate the park entirely, leaving them with a home they could not sell and could not afford to move.

In 1980, a state law was passed giving residents the right to have 60 days to match an offer if the owner has decided to sell to another buyer. Assisted by a Community Loan Fund, many park residents have created cooperatives giving them more say in the governance of their parks. Exeter-Hampton created its cooperative in 1999, Lindenshire became a cooperative in 2007, changing its name to Exeter River Cooperative. Deep Meadow became Powder House Cooperative in 2008, Lee’s is now the Icy Hill Cooperative, Inc. since 2006. Beech Hill residents became a cooperative in 2021.

Barbara Rimkunas is the curator of the Exeter Historical Society. Support the Exeter Historical Society by becoming a member. Join online at www.exeterhistory.org.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Historically Speaking: Trailer homes arrive in Exeter