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Orrin Thompson (August 26, 1913 - March 7, 1995) was one of the largest real-estate developers in the United States. In the 1950s, a time when the post World War II population was exploding and in need of housing, he built and sold thousands of one-family homes, primarily in Minnesota. He contributed significantly to the creation of the mode of life in the twentieth century that became known as the suburb.〔Kenney, Dave. Wackman, Hillary. Wagner, Nancy O’brien. ''Northern Lights: The Stories of Minnesota's Past''. Minnesota Historica Society Press. 2003. Page 300. ()〕 == Building plans, methods and growth == Thompson and his company, Orrin Thompson Homes, built rows and rows of modestly priced new homes that were termed subdivisions or tract housing. He then offered them to the generation known as the Baby Boomers. To keep his prices down, he saved on building costs in a number of ways: by taking ideas from the assembly line, by creating great quantities of houses, by building them in proximity to each other, and by using the same plans over and over. In the 1950s these newly built homes were priced around $12,000.〔Gerloff, Robert. Johnson, Kristi. Must, Peter J. ''Cape Cods and Ramblers; a Remodeling Planbook for PostWWII Houses''. ()〕 Also, Thompson was able to build on inexpensive land away from the city, because the automobile and the public streets and highways had come of age, which gave homeowners greater mobility and the ability to commute. Beginning with a few acres of prairie, Thompson created entirely new communities; first each basement would be excavated and constructed of cinder blocks, then each house would be erected on top of that, then the new family would move in. Lawns were then planted. The next step would be the addition of sewer systems, natural gas pipelines, then asphalt streets.〔Kenney, Dave. Wackman, Hillary. Wagner, Nancy O’brien. ''Northern Lights: The Stories of Minnesota's Past''. Minnesota Historical Society Press. 2003. Page 300. ()〕 The communities grew, accompanied by the development of businesses and schools, and in some cases communities developed into cities where there had been no cities.〔Beauregard, Robert A. ''When America Became Suburban''. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2006.〕 His large real-estate developments occurred in the Minnesota cities of Edina, Richfield, Bloomington, Cottage Grove, Apple Valley, and Coon Rapids.〔Atkins, Annette. ''Creating Minnesota; A History From the Inside Out''. Minnesota Historical Society. 2007. Page 212. ()〕〔Gillund, Lesley Randels. ''Coon Rapids - a Fine City by a Dam Site; (History of Coon Rapids, Minnesota, 1849-1984)''. Coon Rapids Historical Commission. 1984. ()〕〔(City of Apple Valley, Minnesota website )〕〔''The Transformation of a Dakota County Community Lebanon Township to Apple Valley, An Agrarian Township Becomes a Residential Success''. ''Over the Years''. A Publication of the Dakota County Historical Society. Volume 30, Number 1. December 1990. page 11. ()〕〔Vogel, Robert C. ''Suburban Development in Edina Since 1935; a Historic Context''. Edina Heritage Preservation Board. ()〕〔Shaw, Bob. ''Era ends with closing of Cottage Grove's outdoor pool'' Pioneer Press. 27 August 2011. ()〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Orrin Thompson (real estate developer)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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