6 Sears homes were a foundation of some company towns
In 1918 the Standard Oil Company turned to the Sears Catalog, ordering eight different models of homes to be built to house mineworkers. The houses were built in a new section of the town of Carlinville, Illinois, which became known as the Standard Addition. The exact number of homes purchased is uncertain due to the destruction of Sears’ records decades later, but 149 of the houses were still standing in 2016, most of them contiguous with each other. Standard Oil spent approximately $1 million on the houses and their construction, which was completed in 1919. Other communities with large concentrations of Sears homes include Washington DC (300), Cincinnati, Ohio (more than 450 in Cincinnati and nearby Covington, Kentucky) and Elgin, Illinois (213).
A large number of kit house companies arose from the market created by Sears as competitors saw the demand for such houses increase. Regional companies were often able to offer lower prices than Sears because of the savings on shipping costs. Walt Disney and his brother built kit houses, sold to them by Pacific Ready Cut Homes, in the neighborhood of Silver Lake in Los Angeles. To defray costs and to pass the savings on to their customers, Sears offered home plans, with some of the materials supplied by Sears (such as plumbing, electrical, heating, etc.) and items available locally such as lumber purchased separately by the homebuyer. This allowed Sears the ability to save on shipping from its own lumber mills, which were frequently distant from the building site.