The first thing we do, let’s plant a lawn

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"Las Vegas, Nevada. A worker's wife watering a newly planted lawn around one of the thousand demountable houses built adjacent to the Basic Magnesium Incorporated plant in the southern Nevada desert", Fritz Henly, December 1942, Farm Security Administration, courtesy Library of Congress

“Las Vegas, Nevada. A worker’s wife watering a newly planted lawn around one of the thousand demountable houses built adjacent to the Basic Magnesium Incorporated plant in the southern Nevada desert”, Heinle Fritz, December 1942, Farm Security Administration, courtesy Library of Congress


Basic Magnesium Inc. was a water materiel plant built in the desert south of Las Vegas in the early years of World War II. Its owner built a company town to house workers. This picture (which I love) says something powerful about the motivations and practices of turning a pre-fab desert shack into a home.