What is Sampsonville?
In the mid 1940s, Bates College approached the Federal Public Housing Authority on the matter of temporary housing for veterans returning from War. An agreement was made that made Bates responsible for preparing a housing site and providing heating-plant facilities. Bates provided more than $20,000 for the foundations and the heating plant. The Federal Government supplied the buildings, shipped them to the building site on Bates' campus, and commissioned the construction: “in view of the college’s expansion to a student body of eight hundred, the Federal Housing Authority has granted Bates facilities for forty families” (Sampsonville Revisited). The construction began in the summer of 1946 when the surplus Naval Air barracks at the Auburn airport were cut into movable pieces and transported by truck to the campus. Families were moving in after Thanksgiving in 1946: “the three barracks, referred to as 'houses' were therefore moved six miles from the Auburn airport and two were situated at the north end of Bardwell Street beyond Smith Hall. The third is on Russell Street at the corner of Bardwell. They are known fondly as 'Garcelon.' 'Bardwell,' and 'Russell' Houses (Sampsonville Revisited)."