"House In A Box--Mail Order Homes," with Pam Yockey

The April 11 meeting of the Friends of the Plymouth Historical Museum features FoPHM Board President Pam Yockey speaking on "House in a Box--Mail Order Homes." The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m.

Changing trends in the late 19th and early 20th century opened up America to a new style of building: the prefab, assemble-by-number mail-order catalogue homes. Architectural styles after 1895 encouraged a return to hand-wrought skills. The cozy nature of the English cottage with its kindle nooks, undulating shaker wood roofs, polished wood interiors, large fireplaces and eyebrow windows were incorporated into the craftsman and colonial revival style homes, leaving the turreted large, decadent Queen Anne style homes far behind. The fad was to build it yourself with your own two hands.   World War I and II produced a housing shortage. Returning soldiers eager to start their families found their meager earnings did not stretch far enough to buy homes now in high demand. Sears and other catalog companies stepped up to the plate to provide a home--assembly required. The new workers coming home needed fast housing in the post war growing economy. Entire towns were built overnight featuring quick assembled mail order houses. City Point, Virginia, and Carbondale, Illinois, feature entire subdivisions of company built homes.   Several mail order companies arrived on the scene in the early part of the 20th century, producing catalogs from which buyers could order the home of their dreams: Sears, Montgomery Wards, and Harris of Chicago; Gordon-Van Tine of Davenport, Iowa; Hodgson of Dover, Massachusetts; and four Michigan companies, namely Mershon and Morley, Lewis, Sterling, and Aladdin. The longest running company, Aladdin located in Bay City, was in business from 1906 to 1982.  

The talk is free and open to the public. The Plymouth Historical Museum is located at 155 S. Main Street, one block north of Kellogg Park.