Sometimes people look down their noses a bit at the modest kit houses that Montgomery Wards offered in the 1910s and 1920s.
“There’s only one tiny closet in each bedroom,” people often exclaim when they see the floorplans, or “Why that little house doesn’t have 800 square feet of living area.” One of the most common comments I hear is, “My three kids could never live in a house with only one bathroom!”
But the fact is, these kit houses were quality homes and modern for their time. It helps if you look at the bigger picture.
In 1917, American Carpenter and Builder Magazine reported that “watertight roof, walls and floor are an essential feature of a modern city house.” As a point of reference, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Little House” books described life on the plains in soddies and tiny cabins in the 1870s.
It’s possible that the Midwestern men and women who built Wardway kit homes in the early 1900s could have been raised in housing that would be considered extremely primitive by today’s standards.
Below is a picture of a soddie. These were very primitive and damp and dank and fairly miserable way to spend the day, nine months out of the year. One look at this photo (below) and you can understand why a pretty little Wardway bungalow would be classified as a “Modern Home.”
To read more about Wardway Homes, click here.
To buy Dale and Rose’s new book on Wardway Homes, click here.
A Soddie in Kansas, early 1900s