Do You Remember the Pre-manufactured Houses?

Do you remember the pre-manufactured houses?

Just after World War I Sears Roebuck started selling houses in their catalog. The Claubes family were the first to order some. They cost $800 to $900 each. They were to be planted at Putnam Avenue and Henrahan Street here in Porterville, California. Two on Putnam Avenue and one on Henrahan Street for the three Claubes children. This was handy to the Santa Fe Depot. After the foundations were laid we all went down to the station to see them arrive. You were about 6 or 7 as I remember it.

The houses came in finished sections. Electricity and plumbing were in the walls. The windows and doorways were in place. The walls were painted or papered as ordered. Within a week the whole thing was finished, the roof ready to be installed. It went so well a lot more houses were ordered and soon Putnam, Mill and Oak were filling up with houses from Sears. They were well made and most of them still exist.

This correspondence between father and son has historical value. John Carl Gauger wrote letters to his son, Robert “Bob” Gauger until his death in 1969. The letters were passed on to this daughter-in-law, Mona Gauger, after the death of her husband, Bob.

This article was found in the Porterville Recorder November 3, 2008