A 1940's Hanford Kid's Memories

The author of this small book was born in Vinita, Oklahoma and at the age of three was put in a car with a brother, being six, and the car was driven to Richland, WA. When there with only what could be brought in the car, the father known by his friends as Shorty, was told that the promised home in Richland was not completed yet. For whatever reason, the family ended up living in a good size tent with a wood floor on the bank of the Columbia River between Richland and Kennewick.

The new house was one of the hundreds of newly completed prefabs that were all occupied at about the same time. The new occupants of these prefabs were parents in their twenties, thirties and forties and they all had children, and some of them, a lot of children. It is obvious that children had a significant role in Richland, because they outnumbered the adults. Remembering the kids I knew in two city blocks, and I remember their names, there were 39 kids less than 15 years of age. I am sure it was the same in all of the prefab areas.

My description and characterization of the kids of Richland is from my experience as being one of them. My description for the most part appears to depict them as brats and running crazy and it may appear that way to people that never experienced the situation. The kids in Richland in the forties had absolutely nothing to do to occupy our time. They had no money and very few toys or sports equipment. No television, very few bicycles and other possessions to occupy our time. A lot of the fathers worked shift work and slept most of the day and a lot of the mothers worked in the new schools, stores and for Hanford. That meant that half the population of Richland were kids and were home by themselves and normally looked after by the oldest brother or sister. Taking all of this into consideration, what might be considered mischievous behavior by the kids was just them keeping busy with what they had to work with, which was very little. All of the mischievous things they did at the time were not really mischievous, but things they just shouldn't have done for their own safety.