The Appearance of the City Over the Years
Lod is a new old city; a city with a rich past and a present marked by construction, development, progress, and creativity. Lod's history is engraved in surviving monuments and in written and oral traditions.
In the 19th Century, Lod underwent a period of development that led to an increase in the size of the settlement. At the beginning of the century, it was a small village, but by the end of the century, it was a thriving town. The main reason for this change was the influx of “Fellahin” (rural farmers) who settled in Lod and contributed to its growth.
Lod's location and proximity to the main road leading to Jerusalem meant that Turkish and German army units were concentrated there during World War I. On their way to Jerusalem, the British captured Lod and Ramla. Until the establishment of British civil rule in 1920, the Military Governors carried out reconstruction work on the roads leading to Jerusalem. The road to Jerusalem was repaired and widened, the railway line from Jerusalem to Lod was also widened, and work began on the construction of the main railway line from Egypt to Haifa via Lod.
With the establishment of civil rule, Lod was granted the status of a district town, and over time, the central airport was built nearby, turning Lod into a transportation hub.
The first immigrants who arrived in the 1950s settled in the intact houses west of the old city center, but with the end of military rule, thousands of settlers invaded the old quarter without considering the poor condition of most of the houses there. The stream of immigrants, who arrived in Lod either through the Jewish Agency’s Absorption Department or on their own initiative, created a high demand for housing, and as a result, those who came to the city did not check the conditions of their housing. The first half of the decade was characterized mainly by severe economic hardship due to lack of livelihood.
The difficulties encountered by the immigrants in integrating into society gradually disappeared as the city improved and its economy stabilized. Since private initiative was virtually non-existent in the city, most of the achievements of those years can be credited to the Municipal and Government institutions operating in the city.
Initially, the Municipality demolished many of the buildings in the “dangerous” neighborhood. The evicted residents were moved to safer homes. The demolition of the neighborhood led to a reduction in crime in the city. Many of the neighborhood's residents with criminal records left the city.
In the third decade, there was a noticeable improvement in the city's appearance. A new residential neighborhood was built on the site of the Old City, which was notorious to every resident in the early 1950s. The dirty, winding alleys were replaced by clean, wide streets bordered by modern residential buildings. Buildings from the British Mandate period were also demolished and replaced by multi-story residential buildings suited to modern needs.
From: Vakar, Ora, 1977, Lod - Historical Geography, published by Goma and the Lod Municipality - Cherikover.
