Thirteen modular kit homes sold through the Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalogue from 1908 to 1940 remain in good shape in Alabama. According to al.com, several are twin homes set side-by-side; in one case the homes were built by a man for his two daughters. The two ten-room Magnolia Mansions from 1921 in Decatur, AL sit side-by-side, share a driveway and have 14-foot ceilings. Indoor plumbing was not in every house, so Sears also offered an outhouse kit with some models. In all, searsarchives.com says 70,000 to 75,000 homes were sold through their Modern Homes program, offering consumers 447 different housing styles and savings up to 40 percent for assembling the house yourself (or have a contractor do it). Homes ranged from the multistory elaborate Ivanhoe with French doors and art glass windows to three-room cottages designed as vacation homes with no bath. The kits were delivered by rail cars, and the floors, walls, windows and trim were then hauled to the site. Customers could even submit their own blueprints for custom homes. As MHProNews reported Aug. 19, 2014, Montainer in Missoula, Montana converts shipping containers into homes, takes orders online and a truck shows up with your home. ##

(Photo credit: al.com/searshomes.org–Magnolia Mansion in Decatur, AL has ten rooms and shares a driveway with an identical home next door.)