Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Mail-Order Homes: Sears Homes and Other Kit Houses
    Mail-Order Homes: Sears Homes and Other Kit Houses
    Mail-Order Homes: Sears Homes and Other Kit Houses
    Ebook109 pages40 minutes

    Mail-Order Homes: Sears Homes and Other Kit Houses

    By Rebecca L. Hunter

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The rapid westward expansion of the United States in the early twentieth century set the stage for a new industry: mail-order homes. Sold by such companies as Sears, Roebuck & Co., Aladdin, and Montgomery Ward, these kit homes were shipped by train to their purchasers in boxcars containing everything required for their construction, whether a vacation cottage, modest bungalow, or two-and-a-half story home. Rebecca Hunter brings to life the history of these charming homes, tens of thousands of which were sold throughout the United States in the early 1900s, and many of which still exist. Fully illustrated and including numerous images from period catalogs, this book describes the customers who bought and built mail-order houses, the various styles and designs, and the boom and bust of the industry.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateJul 20, 2012
    ISBN9781782001034
    Mail-Order Homes: Sears Homes and Other Kit Houses

    Related to Mail-Order Homes

    Titles in the series (27)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Social Science For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      On Top Of Creation

      Oct 19, 2021

      On Top Of Creation
      3 min read

    • Article

      AN ARTS & CRAFTS BUNGALOW

      Aug 4, 2020

      AN ARTS & CRAFTS BUNGALOW
      3 min read

    • Article

      Simple DIY POLE BARN

      Dec 13, 2019

      Simple DIY POLE BARN
      8 min read

    • Article

      And Now, The Kitchen

      Dec 21, 2021

      And Now, The Kitchen
      2 min read

    • Article

      Curtains To Carpets

      Aug 4, 2020

      Curtains To Carpets
      3 min read

    • Article

      Utter Restoration

      Aug 16, 2022

      Utter Restoration
      1 min read

    • Article

      Georgian Style, 1710–1800

      May 7, 2019

      Georgian Style, 1710–1800
      3 min read

    • Article

      Oh Dear, Love At First Sight

      Apr 12, 2022

      Oh Dear, Love At First Sight
      2 min read

    • Article

      Remuddling!

      Feb 14, 2023

      Remuddling!
      1 min read

    • Article

      Kit Houses From Sears, Roebuck

      Dec 22, 2020

      Kit Houses From Sears, Roebuck
      1 min read

    • Article

      Round And Round

      Mar 15, 2024

      Round And Round
      5 min read

    • Article

      WRIGHT’S Pew House

      Dec 19, 2023

      WRIGHT’S Pew House
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Stay Of Demolition

      Sep 8, 2020

      A Stay Of Demolition
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Loneliest House In The World

      Jan 25, 2020

      The Loneliest House In The World
      8 min read

    • Article

      Radical Restoration

      Oct 29, 2019

      Radical Restoration
      2 min read

    • Article

      DIY Madison

      Nov 22, 2021

      DIY Madison
      17 min read

    • Article

      HOMESTEAD Survivor

      Jun 11, 2021

      HOMESTEAD Survivor
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Brand-new History

      Jun 3, 2023

      A Brand-new History
      4 min read

    • Article

      American Heritage

      Oct 14, 2022

      American Heritage
      8 min read

    • Article

      we tell tales A REALITY CHECK FROM OHJ STAFFERS

      Aug 15, 2023

      Pictures don’t always tell the full story behind what it means to own, restore—and perpetually maintain—an old house. Like most of our readers, OHJ staff members have restored key features and remodeled kitchens and bathrooms as money and time permit

      7 min read

    • Article

      A Place For PROMISES

      Jun 15, 2021

      A Place For PROMISES
      2 min read

    • Article

      Our Old House Rescue

      Feb 12, 2019

      Our Old House Rescue
      2 min read

    • Article

      Vintage Modern

      Sep 14, 2018

      Vintage Modern
      5 min read

    • Article

      AN ARTS & CRAFTS HOME IN TEXAS

      Sep 20, 2022

      AN ARTS & CRAFTS HOME IN TEXAS
      3 min read

    • Article

      Why We Love AYR

      Aug 5, 2019

      Why We Love AYR
      8 min read

    • Article

      Bell Roof in Lanaudière

      Mar 31, 2020

      Bell Roof in Lanaudière
      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Mail-Order Homes

    4/5

    2 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Mail-Order Homes - Rebecca L. Hunter

      model.

      THE HOUSE THAT CAME ON THE TRAIN

      THE MOST intriguing oral history associated with a home is, perhaps, This house came on the train. A train pulls into the station and leaves two boxcars on a landing. Inside are all the materials needed to construct an entire house. The framing boards are cut to size at the mill to facilitate rapid and accurate construction. The purchaser has chosen the model, selected door and window styles, specified the desired types of wood, decided on the exterior cladding, and even selected the paint colors. These well-designed, practical homes were made of top-quality materials. This is a mail-order kit home.

      These homes were marketed on a large scale by mail-order catalog from 1906–83. Eight major U. S. companies and a host of small companies with only local distribution sold such homes primarily in the United States but also in Canada. Aladdin Company once shipped an entire village of homes to Birmingham, England, to provide housing for workers at the Austin Motor car factory.

      The catalogs were updated, usually annually, to allow for the addition of newer styles of homes and the deletion of unpopular models, and to accommodate price changes. Companies also placed advertisements in national magazines and newspapers in major cities as a way to promote their homes.

      Over time, various terms were used to describe these homes. In a circa 1907 catalog, Aladdin Company advertised the original Knocked-Down Houses, with every piece cut to right length, breadth and thickness and planed on all four sides. Sears, Roebuck used the terms cut and fitted, while Gordon-Van Tine featured the ready-cut system, and Pacific Homes dubbed their models Ready-Cut houses. Harris Brothers described their kit homes as Cut-to-Fit. Lewis and Sterling used no such descriptive terms, but referred to their product as Lewis-Built Homes or homes Built by the Sterling System.

      The homes were copies of the U. S. house styles most popular during the period 1900–80. Despite widespread sales of thousands of mail-order homes, they are rare when compared to the total number of homes built. Aladdin sales of 2,800 homes in 1918 comprised 2.3 percent of the 118,000 U. S. housing starts that year.

      The popular 1930 Montgomery Ward Cranford model is, architecturally speaking, a Dutch Colonial Revival design with a Tudoresque gable added on the front.

      Precut housing thrived until after World War II, when government regulation of the U. S. housing industry, tract housing construction methods, and increased popularity of prefabricated and mobile housing meant that precut housing companies could no longer compete financially.

      WHAT THE BUYER RECEIVED

      The mail-order house company provided blueprints and construction materials. Lumber was provided either in bulk or as precut framing boards. The latter were known as kit homes. One source provided the buyer with all the materials required to build a house: lumber, roofing, doors and windows, flooring, trim boards, hardware, nails, clapboard or cedar shingles for the exterior siding, and enough paint and varnish to put two coats on everything. Of course, an instruction book was included to ensure that the structure was built properly.

      This well-maintained Cranford is located in Charleston, West Virginia. (Photograph by Rosemary Thornton)

      This Argyle built in Lexington, Kentucky, has been authenticated by a Sears, Roebuck mortgage record. (Photograph by Dale Wolicki)

      As in homes built by standard methods, framing boards were customarily hard southern yellow pine. Flooring in living and dining rooms was typically oak, with maple and/or fir in the other rooms. Trim boards usually matched the flooring. Masonry such as brick and stucco could be chosen as an exterior finish for any design, but this was obtained locally, and the price was adjusted accordingly.

      One-story homes with two or three bedrooms predominated mail-order home catalogs. The Sears, Roebuck Argyle model with its Arts and Crafts porch columns was built in many locations such as Bridgeport, Connecticut;

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1