'They're in all the neighborhoods, all the suburbs, all the enclaves, all the townships. Catanzaro says they have identified 1,221 in and around Cincinnati. They've identified close to 14,000 nationwide so far, and Cincinnati is number one on the list.

She's one of a few researchers who hunt for the kit homes. But if you were in Cincinnati you could get it delivered for free,' Catanzaro says. Everybody else in the United States had to pay freight - train freight - to get their house kit. 'By 1916 they were even advertising that you could get your house delivered locally for free. Sears bought a large millwork plant, Norwood Sash and Door. She says from 1908 to 1942, Sears sold more than 70,000 kits nationwide, and more than 3,000 in the Cincinnati area. WVXU The Madeira Historical Society has this Sears home kit catalog from 1932. It became quite a thing and their sales took off.'

That lumber itself was manufactured ready to build your house. 'But then after 1916 it got really manufactured. 'Before 1916 it was still just raw lumber in lengths and you had to cut it on site and build it,' Catanzaro says. started selling house blueprints, followed soon after by the building materials for those specific plans, too. 'Once I found all the ones in Springfield and Clark County, I started branching out to other counties locally and eventually found out that Cincinnati has this huge pocket,' she says.

catalog online, and realized the house across the street and another around the corner were also kit homes. She bought a vintage Sears, Roebuck and Co. That's my mom's house.' 'Ĭatanzaro says that discovery inspired her to research her home's history. She's looking through the houses, and she's like 'Oh, there's a cute little house' and she's like, 'Oh wait. They had a lot of information about the Sears modern homes, and they had little illustrations. 'She was on the internet looking for small houses to build for her Sims and she ended up on the Sears and Roebuck website. Her daughter accidentally uncovered the home's history while playing the online game, The Sims. Lorinda Niemi of Fairfax wants to know about Sears kit homes and which neighborhoods have them.Ĭindy Catanzaro of Springfield, Ohio lived in a Sears kit home. This week, WVXU's Bill Rinehart looks at build-it-yourself homes and the impact they had on the region. Our OKI Wanna Know series tries to answer your questions about the Cincinnati area.