In 1947, GNP made 51 lots in the New Development available to anyone who wanted to buy, without regard to employment in the mill, and released seven others around town. The company built 57 cellars, to get people started on their homes.
In most cases, local contractors were employed only to do the more difficult parts of the construction, such as plumbing, heating, and electrical installations.
At times, the company lent its larger purchasing power to local merchants. The company cleared the ground, excavated, and filled. The GNP drafting department helped with blueprints. Those who went into the forest and cut their own logs could use the company’s horses and trucks at a special rate.
The Faith Baptist Church and the Church of the Nazarene were built to serve those in the New Development.
Another new residential area was opened up west of the Medway Road, extending from Central Street to East Avenue, High, and South Streets. Granite Street now connected the Medway Road with the Cherry Street Bridge, and Eastland Avenue and Maple Street were built on the high ground.
The Great Northern built the first three houses on Eastland Avenue, identical in design but spaced so as to avoid repetition, and continued its policy of pouring concrete foundations for new homebuilders.
On the Flat, new houses were built along State Street north as far as the Athletic Field Bridge. A new street, called Water Street, was built along a footpath that followed the stream east of State Street. No longer isolated, the old Pest House became an attractive residence.
Bowdoin Street was extended further west in 1948, as far as the railroad siding, and side streets were built eastward of the Medway Road, forming Garden and Wassau Streets.