By 1941 Arkansans had joined in the European conflict, thus beginning the state's recovery from the Depression. The draft took many young men off to join the military, but it also brought war industries to the state, which created new boomtowns. Arkansas was slow to lure those industries to its borders at first, as the majority of the state's congressmen in the House had not been in office long enough to garner favors from the federal government. Substandard roads, low education levels and absence of skilled labor also stalled the establishment of Arkansas's war-related industries in comparison to other states. However, after 1942 the nation's mobilization of the war effort accelerated at such a rapid pace that Arkansas received a fair number of those industries. Jacksonville was home to a fuse and detonator factory, Pine Bluff received a military arsenal in addition to plants in El Dorado, Hope, Hot Springs, Malvern and Little Rock. Five Army Air Force training centers were installed in the state, and two army training camps opened in North Little Rock and Fort Smith.

Hope's population rose from 7,475 in 1940 to 15,475 by 1942, one year after the beginning of construction there on the Southwest Proving Grounds. Camden projected in 1944 that 6,000 workers would arrive to toil at a new naval plant, doubling its population, while Fort Smith received 6,000 new residents as well. As thousands of Arkansans moved out of state to work in shipyards and plants, they were replaced by large numbers of immigrants. The logical outcome of this influx of workers was a housing shortage. A September 1944 issue of the Camden News urged residents and landlords to list any vacancies, be it rooms, houses or apartments, with the Chamber of Commerce so engineers and architects arriving for work on the naval ordnance plant could obtain lodging. Naval personnel were to receive first choice. The suspension of building activity during the Depression had reduced the available housing stock in the state, adding to the shortages created by incoming personnel. The problem was exacerbated by the dispossession of entire families through orders of condemnation on their land for the construction of defense facilities. Creative residents made themselves at home in Cotton Belt and Missouri Pacific railroad stations, automobiles or rehabbed chicken houses. One enterprising Camden landlord rented out beds in shifts.

The Better Housing Program's 1930s campaign of restoration and renovation had come into its own at the beginning of the war. First and foremost in Arkansans' minds during that time was safeguarding the country, their families and their recent financial freedom from the Depression. Savvy developers and construction promoters played upon the fears that all that could be taken away in the blink of an eye and used the word "security" liberally in advertising and editorializing. A 1940 issue of American Builder and Building Age refers to new homes variously as "indestructible security, security on an acre of good earth" and "security expressed in brick." Noting a 1940 increase in new homes American Builder magazine asked, "Could anything more strongly represent the faith of the average American family in the permanent values of the ownership of house and land, of a true home, and a related faith in the power of this country to defend its people and their homes?"

Prior to the 1941 materials freeze by the WPB, some cities that were feeling the crunch from war industry population explosions managed to erect a small amount of new housing through private individuals with the help of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The resulting architectural style of the homes that were completed has been A typical World War II Minimal Traditional style home. A typical World War II Minimal Traditional style home. termed "minimal-traditional" because they displayed sparse decorative detail, small porches or stoops, low-pitched roofs and boxed eaves with little-to-no overhang. Priorities and shortages in equipment and labor imposed by the war effort directly dictated the sparing use of materials on residences and the later stall in private residential construction. In 1942 major forest industries were classified as essential to the defense effort, and everything local mills produced was appropriated by the military. A Forester, Arkansas, sawmill operated twenty hours a day and cut three million feet a month for army camps in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Wallace E. Johnson, a builder from Tennessee who erected WPB approved houses in Pine Bluff and Blytheville, bought his own sawmill in order to meet the lumber needs of his housing developments.

The war brought changes to America and Arkansas in other areas, which enabled residents to make post-war improvements in their means of shelter. Wages began to rise because of a nationwide labor shortage; however, rationing meant there was little in the way of material goods to be had. This enabled Arkansans to build up savings accounts and escape debt. After the war, the state began to trend toward suburbanization and industry began to compete with agriculture as the main employer. War plants adapted to peacetime uses, and the Resources and Development Commission created by the legislature in 1945 worked to pull in new industries. Arkansans were enjoying an increase in income that rose faster than the national average, permitting them to reap the benefits of prosperity.

During the war years the media launched campaigns designed to advance America's optimism in an improved post-war way of life. This seemed only just after years of sacrifice, and it was an idea that was heartily embraced by returning servicemen. Between 1946 and 1949 more than five million houses were built in America, a number that was boosted by the GI Bill of Rights, allowing the acquisition of home loans with little or no down payment. Suburban developments of small assembly line produced starter homes sprawled across the landscape. Growing families were looking for ways to expand and refine their homes and spend their disposable income, an atmosphere that was ripe for the introduction of aluminum siding.