The new steel mill attracted lots of laborers from steel towns in Pennsylvania as well as immigrants from Europe. Employment at the steel mill great from several hundred to more than a thousand very quickly. The village of Lorain had a population of 4,900 in 1894. By 1900, there were 16,000 residents. This caused a housing shortage. The Sheffield Land Company, part of the Johnson Company, purchased 2,300 acres of land in what is now South Lorain. (70 acres of this land became Oakwood Park). This is a picture of one of the new streets with new houses built to accomodate all the new workers.