- Clearview Village was home to 6,000 people at its peak during World War II
- The settlement is now a dilapidated ghost town with a population of just 500 people.
- A $4 billion Panasonic factory is scheduled to open next to the village in 2025.
A once-bustling Kansas community designed as a temporary home for hundreds of World War II military workers has fallen into disrepair in recent years.
Now, a new threat looms in the company's backyard: a $4 billion 21st century plant.
The small community of 500 people in Clearview Village is located across the street from Panasonic's electric vehicle battery facility, scheduled to open in 2025. A massive factory outside De Soto, Kansas is further threatening the once thriving community.
Residents said they feared their homes would be flattened by construction for a parking lot and future power plant development, despite assurances from the village's current owners.
“This is a gold mine,” resident Ron Berman, 28, told the Kansas City Star. “Basically, I think what they're going to do is either turn this into a Panasonic parking lot or turn it into apartments.”
He points to the village's ongoing state of deterioration as evidence that owner David Rose plans to sell or redevelop the land himself.
“That means it's empty. There's a hole in that one. It's empty,” he said, pointing to the houses.
“People now are like, 'Oh, this is it.' They're like, stay here as long as possible, squat here. People say, 'If I'm not going to live here anymore, why pay rent? Do I have to pay?'
The Panasonic factory is currently being built on the site of the weapons factory that first drew people to the area during World War II.
Established in 1943 as “Sunflower Village,” the settlement provided lodging for workers at the nearby Sunflower Ordnance Factory. This plant became the largest smokeless powder and propellant factory following the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Initial construction consisted of 175 concrete buildings housing 852 apartments and was coordinated by the federal government.
Due to wartime regulations, the house was sparse and had basic finishes, such as cabinets without doors and iceboxes without metal.
The grounds included two ponds and a victory garden, allowing residents to grow their own fruits and vegetables despite strict rationing. This offering proved attractive, and at its peak Sunflower Village was home to more than 6,000 people.
As more and more residents arrived, bars, restaurants, grocery stores, hair salons, barber shops, and more appeared in the village.
Demand soared that the government was forced to transport 680 more prefabricated wooden buildings from Niagara Falls, New York, where they quickly became dilapidated.
After World War II, the village was home to returning veterans and University of Kansas students.
Although weapons factories made a comeback during the Korean War, employment rates slumped with the end of the conflict. As the factories ceased operations, more and more local residents left and the settlements were sold to the first private buyers.
At the time, all but nine houses in the once-bustling village were boarded up.
Oklahoma developer Louis H. Ensley vowed to make the town habitable again, hoping to lure prospective tenants with cheap rents.
However, the village was soon marred by skyrocketing crime rates, and many of its 1,800 residents soon left again.
Over the years, the village has changed hands many times and was the subject of a major cleanup after the weapons factory closed in 1992.
Today, Clearview is home to longtime tenants and families who enjoy cheap rents.
Monthly rent for a one-bedroom property is about $760, while for two beds it's about $1,050.
Omar Bonilla, 42, told the KC Star that his two-bedroom home, where he lives with his wife and three children, was recently shaken by construction at a Panasonic facility and cracks appeared on the property.
“When they did that, he said, the whole house started shaking.” His wife Marbella added that there were now “a lot of bugs in the house.”
Mr Rose acknowledged that many properties on his estate were in a deplorable condition, but insisted he had plans to “rebuild” his tenants' homes.
“We put it on the National Register of Historic Places,” he said. “And the goal is to preserve it and restore it. Our hope is, if we can get help from the state of Kansas and the city of DeSoto, to do a major rehabilitation.”
He plans to gradually move tenants from older apartments to newly renovated units.
De Soto leaders, who annexed Clearview into their district in 1998, also want to improve the village.
Rose has said he hopes to begin a development project at the site in 2025, with an emphasis on affordable housing, rather than more industrial buildings to support a Panasonic factory.
“We've tried to be conscientious landlords,” he says. “It doesn't have any restraining appeal. But once you're inside, it's very affordable considering the square footage and the rent.
“The desire is to make the outside as good as the inside.”
