Throughout the eastern suburbs of Cleveland, many planned high-end residential projects were conceived and partially developed in the 1920s. Development came to a standstill after the 1929 stock market crash, and was stalled through the Great Depression and World War II.

In the 1950s, development resumed, but there was far less demand for high-end housing than there was in the 1920s. However, there was pent-up demand for entry-level housing, for veterans returning from World War II and from lower middle- to middle-class households living in crowded conditions elsewhere in Cleveland. Lots from pre-Depression era subdivisions were sold for a fraction of their original cost, and developed with starter homes. Often these smaller houses stood next to one of the much larger pre-Depression homes that were built 25 to 30 years earlier, during more prosperous times.