Distinctly Montana Magazine

M Y M O N T A N A H O M E 8 4 I MAGINE THAT THE YEAR IS 1910 AND YOU HAVE JUST MOVED WITH YOUR FAMILY TO MONTANA. The last spike of the Milwaukee Road was driven in last year just west of Garri- son, and the small town where you live is now accessible by rail from both the West Coast and the distant metropolis of Chicago. With the advent of rail transportation comes an unexpected opportunity: the chance to buy and build a relatively affordable home for your growing family. A mail-order company will ship on a sealed boxcar everything you need— pre-cut lumber, doors, windows, flooring, trim, even the nails and paint. All you need to do is put down a modest down payment, go down to the train station to pick it up, and slap it together on the land you've just bought with your hard-earned savings. For many Americans, mail-order houses or "kit homes" provided an unprecedented opportunity to become homeowners. For just as many people, though, the popularity of mail-order homes signified an existen- tial threat whose closest comparison today would be the competition Amazon poses to local businesses. The nostalgia for kit homes that has cropped up in the past few decades overshadows the reality of how these homes, and mail-order companies in general, were perceived by communities across the country, especially in rural places like Montana. SEARS, A BEHEMOTH AMONG GIANTS Sears Roebuck and Company is the name that comes most easily to mind when kit homes are mentioned. Its eponymous cata- log offered everything a person could want or need (or not need) for their domestic and entrepreneurial endeavors. Sears used the popularity of its general merchandise catalog to market its new home department to con- sumers. by LINDSAY DICK ROBERT RATH The American Dream By Mail: Kit Homes Out West

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