The coming of the Interstate

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VThillman

VThillman

Geezer
Neighbor
Joined
Nov 27, 2017
Messages
3,926
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Southeastern Vermont
What a story! You can imagine that all over America there are stories of people who lost their homes, farms, homesteads to eminent domain. Maybe some others made decisions like he did, but certainly not all. Having lived there his whole life and being a bachelor had to contribute to his mental state.

I had an uncle who worked in a city I used to live in. I asked him where his office was. He told me their office was in a place where the interstate is now. I had a neighbor who had bought a house for under $100 K. A few years later, she either had to sell it because of a hospital expansion, or lose it to condemnation. She eventually sold her small house that she had done lots of improvements on for $400 K, because she had resisted until she couldn't any longer.

When the dams were being built on the Missouri River in South Dakota in the early 1960's, there were many people who lost their farms and ranches. I knew some of them. I went to school with kids who had had to move and ended up in our area because of it. I was too young to understand the impact or to know the stories. That piece has come up in obituaries over the years, that they moved after their land was taken for the dams.
 
Weedygarden said:
What a story! You can imagine that all over America there are stories of people who lost their homes, farms, homesteads to eminent domain. Maybe some others made decisions like he did, but certainly not all. Having lived there his whole life and being a bachelor had to contribute to his mental state.

I had an uncle who worked in a city I used to live in. I asked him where his office was. He told me their office was in a place where the interstate is now. I had a neighbor who had bought a house for under $100 K. A few years later, she either had to sell it because of a hospital expansion, or lose it to condemnation. She eventually sold her small house that she had done lots of improvements on for $400 K, because she had resisted until she couldn't any longer.

When the dams were being built on the Missouri River in South Dakota in the early 1960's, there were many people who lost their farms and ranches. I knew some of them. I went to school with kids who had had to move and ended up in our area because of it. I was too young to understand the impact or to know the stories. That piece has come up in obituaries over the years, that they moved after their land was taken for the dams.
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Around here a lot of dams were built on the rivers. Many people and farms were taken. Lots of jobs were created as well. One grand pa helped build Cherokee and Ft. Loudon dams. Step grandpa helped build Norris. His family and my wife's family grew up across the river from each other. Both families were ran off as the lake came up. Step grand pa moved to another county and lived there just a few years before the goverenment moved in and took the entire area, 1000's of acres to build K-25, X10, & Y12 nuclear plants that paved the way for the Manhatten project.
 
Bacpacker said:
Around here a lot of dams were built on the rivers. Many people and farms were taken. Lots of jobs were created as well. One grand pa helped build Cherokee and Ft. Loudon dams. Step grandpa helped build Norris. His family and my wife's family grew up across the river from each other. Both families were ran off as the lake came up. Step grand pa moved to another county and lived there just a few years before the goverenment moved in and took the entire area, 1000's of acres to build K-25, X10, & Y12 nuclear plants that paved the way for the Manhatten project.
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Were they given notice of the rising water and were they compensated for their land?
 
Yes the whole area was notified. And yes they were given some money, but a small pitance for the acreage taken. Same with the 2nd place.
On a side note TVA took a lot more land than was flooded by the lakes. In the last couple decades they have started selling off lake front property for huge money, mostly to out of state retirees for so much more than locals can ever afford. Still a sore point to people around here.
 
Bacpacker said:
Yes the whole area was notified. And yes they were given some money, but a small pitance for the acreage taken. Same with the 2nd place.
On a side note TVA took a lot more land than was flooded by the lakes. In the last couple decades they have started selling off lake front property for huge money, mostly to out of state retirees for so much more than locals can ever afford. Still a sore point to people around here.
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In South Dakota, one man had a business of moving buildings from the land that was going to be underwater. He was a busy guy.
 
Eminent domain does not allow the government to take possession of land to resell to individuals. That is an unlawful act. Land taken under eminent domain can only be used by the government for use by the public.
 
I think I would be contacting an attorney and a constitutional lawyer and go after the total price collected for the sale if it was my property. The sale price would or should have been the fair market value that was paid me for my land.
 
SheepDog said:
Eminent domain does not allow the government to take possession of land to resell to individuals. That is an unlawful act. Land taken under eminent domain can only be used by the government for use by the public.
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But they do. There have been several stories (up in the NE I think) where homes have been taken and the land given to someone who would bring in more tax revenue.
 
SheepDog said:
I think I would be contacting an attorney and a constitutional lawyer and go after the total price collected for the sale if it was my property. The sale price would or should have been the fair market value that was paid me for my land.
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I suspect that this is the only procedure that has a chance of working. Your claim will be resisted by local/state entities using tax money for financing, so good luck with it.
 
Terri9630 said:
But they do. There have been several stories (up in the NE I think) where homes have been taken and the land given to someone who would bring in more tax revenue.
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This makes me think of the times feudalism. Noblemen allowed peasants to live on a portion of land in exchange for labor and a portion of their produce. If particular peasants didn't produce enough, the portion of land they were allowed to use was taken from them.
 
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