Sears Kit Homes 306 & 312 LaFayette Street

In the middle of the block on the right are two single-story houses. If you look closely, you can see that they were identical. They are Sears Kit houses and were purchased in 1910. The kits, delivered by rail car, included everything: floors, walls, windows, even trim work. The first complete Sears Kit homes were marketed by Sears & Roebuck in 1908, and eventually Sears offered 370 different models of residential homes that ranged from small bungalows at $500 per kit to larger homes costing $5,000. Buyers of a Sears Kit home saved about one third of the typical construction costs of their era. An instruction catalogue was included, but to help make construction even easier, every piece of lumber was lettered or numbered.