Aberdeen Gardens was established by Pres. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal in 1934 as a model for housing following the Great Depression. Of the 55 similar areas in the United States, Aberdeen Gardens is especially significant because it is the only intact community built by blacks for blacks, many of whom were Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock defense workers. The original architectural plans, designed by Hilyard Robinson, included a school, multi-purpose building unit, community center, and tracts for 158 homes. The community center was never built, but several small stores occupied the shopping center across from Aberdeen School. Every prefurnished home was brick with an attached garage, indoor plumbing, a furnace, a porch, a very large yard, and a chicken coop.