When Upjohn moved out to Portage in the 1940s they bought 1500 acres. Most of the parcels of land they bought had a house on them. Rather than demolish good houses, the company made them available for employees to rent. The 1953 list below contains 19 houses (thank you Neil Sikora). The end of rental housing came in the late 1980's when the EPA gave the company pollution scores that were too high. Demolishing all the rental houses lowered that score significantly because then there were fewer people living close to the Portage manufacturing buildings. Some of these houses were moved to vacant property on Lovers Lane and in other plats.

Comments from Somebody who Lived in an Upjohn Rental

I lived in a rental from about 1983 to 1987. There was a waiting list for the rental homes. I was on the waiting list for a couple of years. The address of my house was 7734 Portage Road. I think my rent was about $135/month which was very cheap for that time. Upjohn would reimburse funds used to improve the property so I installed a new bathroom vanity, painted, ripped up carpet and other things.

In 1987 they told me to move immediately and then demolished the house I was renting because there were issues with the well. They had been checking the well for a few months before that, taking samples. They paid to move me to another Upjohn rental that I needed until I bought my first house a few months later.