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Mr. Hicks and his associates became deeply interested in the problem because they felt that it was a universal one, and they know that the situation in Bayonne existed to a greater or less extent in countless cities and industrial districts throughout the United States. Any experience, therefore, which would be gained in Bayonne was sure to be valuable elsewhere. The Housing Committee determined to proceed along as broad lines as possible and to reach, if they could, the heart of the problem of industrial housing. Their first practical step was to organize the Bayonne Housing Corporation for the purpose of building houses.

The war ended a few months later, and peace brought new economic disturbances. The post-war readjustments blocked the housing program of Mr. Hicks' committee but, notwithstanding every discouragement, after a long effort, financial backing of about $1,000,000 was secured and the first group of houses was completed in the winter of 1924-25.

These first garden apartments of the Bayonne Housing ​Corporation were built as a demonstration of an ideal method of producing wage-earners' housing. In essentials, the ideal is this: a home of five or six rooms and bath and "modern" conveniences, set in a beautiful environment of architecture and gardens; this home to be produced and operated on sound business principles and to be rented to yield a moderate return on the capital invested, and at a figure which the average thrifty wage-earner could reasonably afford to pay. It will be seen that there is no philanthropy in this ideal, but that it has both an economic and social basis.

The instrument created to undertake the enterprise, the Bayonne Housing Corporation, represents national interests among its stockholders who include representatives of corporations having industrial plants in Bayonne, and a few individuals. These corporations are the Standard Oil of New Jersey, Tidewater Oil Company, Vacuum Oil Company, Pacific Borax Company, Babcock & Wilcox Company, The International Nickel Company, Bayonne Supply Co.; and among the individuals are Messrs. John D. Rockefeller, Sr., John D. Rockefeller, Jr., E. S. Harkness, W. M. Cosgrove, of the American Radiator Company and J. E. Johnson, with Mr. George E. Keenen of Bayonne as President of the Housing Corporation. One of the most interested backers of this enterprise was the late J. H. Mahrken, a public-spirited citizen of Bayonne.