Creggan was originally built specifically to provide housing for the growing population of Derry. There was a Nationalist majority in the city, but the Unionist minority of the then Londonderry Corporation wanted to ensure they kept control of the city. When the Bogside became overcrowded in the 1940s to 1960s, the Corporation agreed to put Nationalist and mainly Catholic families in housing, in the same ward as the Bogside. This ensured continued Unionist control of the Londonderry Corporation. This process is known as gerrymandering.