Cradock was one of the nation’s first government planned communities, along with the neighboring Truxton community. Cradock was established in 1918 to house the influx of wartime workers at the Naval Shipyard. The Cradock community is laid out in the shape of an anchor with Afton Square in the center. Afton Square is similar to a ‘town square’ found in most New England communities. Afton Square was designed to provide this self-contained, pedestrian community with retail shops, a theater, and a social gathering place. Of the original 1,235 houses planned for Cradock, 735 were built before the Armistice that ended the First World War and ended shipbuilding activity in 1918. Much of the historic charm can still be seen today through the repetition of simple Colonial Revival details, gable roof lines, and uniformly light colored houses with dark shutters.
