Friday, March 17, 2017

The Centralia, Illinois, Mine № 5 (in Wamac, Illinois) Disaster of March 25, 1947, killed 111 men.

“We Serve”  the official motto of the Lions Clubs International  was supremely exemplified by Centralia, Illinois' Lions Club members during the last week of March 1947.

The City of Centralia, located in south-central Illinois, about midway between St. Louis and Indianapolis, was created in 1853 and given its name by the owners of the Illinois Central Railroad as the center of its rail empire.
Despite the dozens of trains that ran through the town several times a day, life in Centralia was hardscrabble for many of its 13,000 residents, prompting the name of the mascot of Centralia High School’s award-winning basketball team – The Orphans.
In the 1940s, the school made its way to the State Tournament but had no uniforms. They were forced to choose from a pile of red discards, prompting a Chicago sportswriter to comment, “The players looked like a bunch of orphans in their ragged and torn uniforms, but they sure can play basketball.” 
Centralia was a coal-mining town. Many of the families had worked the coalmines for generations. Wives, mothers, girlfriends, sisters, nieces, daughters and granddaughters all sent a silent prayer in the early morning hours as they packed the lunch pails of their men and boys.

They remembered too well the stories about the dozens of mine explosions that had killed thousands of miners in America’s long coal-mining history.

The women knew when the sirens blew at 3:26 pm on Tuesday, March 25th. They grabbed the babies and ran through the cold March wind to the gate. Smoke was billowing out of Mine № 5, and the onlookers were ordered to stand back by the mine officials of the Centralia Coal Company.
Centralia Coal Company's Mine № 5 in Wamac, Illinois.  © St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
An injured survivor is carried to the first-aid station. © St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Reality set in as bodies, body parts, and personal effects began to be lifted out of the mass grave from 540 feet below. It began to rain.
Rescue workers prepare to enter Centralia Coal Company's Mine №.5 that evening. © St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Relatives and friends of miners waiting for word at the mine. © St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
By evening, the silent crowd had grown to 500. The rain turned to snow. The waiters clustered in groups of families and friends. Some waited at the gate; others sat on the benches in the washhouse where the men changed into their work clothes in the morning.
Wives of men unaccounted for in the Centralia mine explosion wait beneath miners' clothing in the washhouse for word from rescue workers underground.
It was the place where the tired miners who emerged each evening returned to wash up and change back out of their grimy overalls. Each bystander watched as the clean outfits that were hung on a chain that morning slowly disappeared with a tug on the pulley. There were 111 outfits remaining.
Families waited under the clothes of their loved ones. As the minutes turned into hours, they kept glancing at the corners of the washhouse where an Inspection Notice from Illinois Mine Inspector Driscoll O. Scanlan was posted.
Scanlan on several occasions had warned his superiors – Robert Medill, Director of Mines and Minerals, and Robert Weir, Assistant Director, – that the mine had an excessive build-up of coal dust that could explode unless the dust was cleared.
Driscoll Scanlan, the state mine inspector who posted the March 18-19, 1947, notice as well as others citing poor conditions at the mine. Scanlan accused his bosses of ignoring dangerous conditions in Illinois mines. He said he tried to close № 5 but was overruled by Robert Medill, director of the state Department of Mines and Minerals. A week before the disaster, the Post-Dispatch had disclosed that Medill was soliciting mine operators for donations to the state Republican Party. © St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
His warnings were ignored by them and the Centralia Coal Company and its parent company, Bell and Zoller, owned by Homer F. McDonald. On March 3, 1946, four of the miners even wrote a letter to Illinois Governor Dwight Green, begging him to “Please Save Our Lives.”
 
Their letter was also ignored, and three of those four men would soon be dead. Scanlan’s last warning was dated March 18th, exactly one week before the blast.

A group of men quietly sprang into action. Fred Wham, the Chairman of the Centralia Chapter of the American Red Cross, appeared before the Centralia Lions Club. He informed the Lions that the Red Cross had been called in to assist by the owners of the mine. They were already providing canteen and emergency services for the families.
Excerpt from Centralia Lions Club International. Two explosions, a month apart, brought into focus the ability of Lions to function in emergency situations. A mine disaster in Centralia, Illinois, March 25, killed 111 miners.  Identification was practically impossible except through articles of apparel or personal object found on or near the bodies, such as knives, pipes, cigarette cases, watches, etc. The Centralia Lions immediately volunteered to assist the Red Cross to determine the identity of the miners, and visited the homes of the deceased miners, obtained information from the family; and the morticians were able to compare the data assembled with the articles found on or near the bodies, and to establish identity. The work entailed day and night efforts on the part of the Centralia Lions until it was completed on Sunday, March 30th. Then the Lions returned to the homes to notify the families officially. The Chairman of the Red Cross was high in his praise of the Lions’ efforts in this emergency.
Wham explained that at the time of the explosion, 142 men were in the mine; 24 had escaped but one later died from the effects of breathing in the after-damp – the gases that remain after an explosion.
Red Cross workers served coffee, sandwiches, and doughnuts to waiting relatives, newsmen, police and workers as well.
Sixty-five miners were now presumed dead from the blast or burns, and 45 more from the gases if they had not sealed themselves off and could have been rescued. The total number of possible deaths was 111.

Would the Lions Club help with the identification of those who did not make it?

The Lions worked day and night for 5 days. They began by visiting each family of the males who had not returned. They offered arms of support to the grief-stricken families and quietly went about their work. They started gathering and recording delicate identifying information about the personal effects of those men who had been victims in the area of the inferno.

Did their loved one wear glasses, or a ring, or maybe carry a watch?  Did they own a special cigarette case, perhaps, or a pipe? Were any of their teeth missing?

The Lions returned to give the sad news to the next of kin that a plausible identification had been made. Emma Niepoetter, now 85, remembers how her future husband, Bill, waited at the washhouse for news of his father Henry’s fate. He then peered through the window of the local newspaper, the Centralia Sentinel, where a list of the dead was hung.
The Latest News – Crowds of people flocked to the Centralia, Illinois, Sentinel in the days following the № 5 mine explosion to read the latest bulletins posted on the business office window. The Sentinel's coverage of the disaster was timely and complete, and there were many extra editions.
The Bulletin was updated as soon as a new identification was made. His father’s name soon appeared on the list.

The eyes of the world were now on Centralia. Besides the Centralia Sentinel, dozens of news agencies flocked to the city.

Reporters were joined by state troopers, company and mining officials, doctors, nurses, rescue workers, Red Cross volunteers, the National Guard and soldiers from Scott Air Force base. The soldiers helped carry the stretchers.
Soldiers from Scott Field, then an Army Air Force base, carry the body of one of the first victims, who was recovered later that night. © St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
United Mine Workers Association President John L. Lewis also came down during that holiday week of Easter and engaged the union’s right to demand 6 memorial days.
The body of a victim was placed in an ambulance on March 27, two days after the explosion. © St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The time off would allow the bereaved families and townspeople to grieve and hold services. The days without work in the mines began on Saturday, March 29th, as the remains of the last 31 of the dead were removed from the shaft.

The rescue workers found a message scrawled on the rocks above the victims that read:  Look in everybody’s pockets. We all have notes. Give them to our wives. It was later determined that it was written by Joe Bryant, who was asphyxiated.

Sam Bryant has a copy of the notes that his father, Joe, wrote to his children and to his pregnant wife, Sam’s mother. He asked her to name their twelfth child Joe so she would always have a Joe.
"Name baby Joe so you will have a Joe."
The baby was a girl given the name Jody.
Sammie D. Bryant gave me [Patricia Lofthouse] a verbal release to allow Neil Gale to post the notes from his late father, Joe Bryant, that were found in his coat pocket.

Three months after his death, Lydian Bryant named their baby girl Joedy. Joedy treasures the original note that her brothers and sisters felt she should have when their mother died.

The Lions did not come to Sam’s home because his father had died of the gases so his body was intact. Joe and six others had sealed themselves off from the explosion and fire, including Sam’s uncle, Jack. They were identified underground by the rescuers who reached them one day after they expired.
Centralia Underground Mine car.
But Sam is not surprised by the Lions’ actions. “The whole area was in mourning,” he explained. “Everyone was so kind. Everyone pulled together.” 
Cars Upset by Mine Blast – Roy Capps, safety instructor for the U.S. Bureau of Mines, inspects one of four heavy coal cars upset by the blast in the № 5 Mine. The photo was taken about 1½ miles from the main shaft by Ralph Walters, a Chicago Times photographer. Walters' name was drawn by lot to represent the Sentinel, the picture syndicates and other newspapers. This was the first view of the explosion's incredible strength.
A.J. Ballantini’s family also lost two brothers  his grandfather Pete and his great uncle Joe. They were Italian immigrants who had stowed away on a ship in order to come to America. They had worked hard in the mines since they were 16 and 14 years old. Joe only stopped for a short time to fight in WWI. The work was steady, especially during WWII when there was such a high demand for coal. The mine owners never slowed the mines down to clean them.

“Pete was the type of man who washed the coal dust off his body each night and then got dressed in a 3-piece suit,” recalls his granddaughter, Nira Ballantini.” He died, we were told, after being struck by a trap door when he turned around to search for his brother.” Pete had been in the first group of identified sixteen dead miners. The family was not able to bury him for 10 days because the cemetery was so backed up. His body lay in an open coffin in the family home as they waited for space both at the cemetery and at a funeral parlor.

Hugh Moran is the current owner of the Moran-Queen Boggs Funeral Home in Centralia. He is also the Secretary of the Central City Lions Club. In October of 1965, the Centralia Club merged with Central City, taking its name. “They had 33 to 35 funerals here in the two weeks after the disaster,” Hugh explains. “We keep a photo of the memorial in the front of the parlor.”
The memorial to which Hugh refers is the one that was dedicated in the neighboring town of Wamac, immediately to the south of Centralia.
On March 25, 2009, exactly 65 years later, the town held a special ceremony where it unveiled the monument dedicated to those who died in the disaster. It lists all 111 names. There is also an outdoor shelter in Centralia with a similar plaque.

Charles Woolbright, the “Lion Tamer” of Central City Lions Club, was only 12 when the tragedy occurred. His father, Clarence “Tib” Woolbright, was the Marion County Sheriff, one of the four counties that encompass Centralia. He was at the site before any of the dead were brought up and he transported many of the victims to the morgue.

Like most of those in Centralia, the blast became a personal tragedy for Charlie’s family. His uncle, John Pick, Jr., survived in the mine, but John’s father did not. Charlie’s wife’s uncle also was not lucky.

Celso Biagi was another Italian immigrant who went to work in Mine № 5 when he arrived in the States. His nephew, John Pawlisa, who had not been out of the Navy very long, was the youngest victim.

“We attended funerals, back to back, all week, one after the other,” Charles recalls.

Common services were held at St. Mary’s Catholic Church and Centralia Township High School.

“There were also individual funerals at the churches and funeral homes all across town,” he explains.
Pallbearers carry the casket of miner Edward Bude, 54, from Trinity Lutheran Church in Centralia after a funeral service on March 31, 1947. Following in black is his widow. Bude had been a veteran of World War I. © St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Most businesses shut down as a sign of respect while the funeral cars followed each other through the streets. “All the church bells rang,” Charlie remembers.

A.J. Ballantini’s late aunt, Elaine Ballantini Ziegler, was interviewed by Journalist Robert Hartley, co-author with David Kenny of the book Death Underground:  The Centralia and West Frankfort Mine Disasters. When Hartley sat with Elaine, she told him that she remembered the work of the Lions. “Her father, Joe wore a special ring,” she explained. “Someone from the Lions Club came by as a part of the rescue effort and asked if I could identify the ring. I looked at it and said it belonged to my Dad. They had taken it off his body; that was the only way they could identify the body.”

A. J., recalls his father telling him how this catastrophe affected his family. There were now 8 kids without a father. Their mother had never worked outside of the home. They all had to pitch in to get by.

Sam Bryant also remembers the hard times. His mother received $94 a month from his father’s Social Security, a new program started by President Roosevelt in 1944, plus $90 a month from her husband’s life insurance policy. “She always wondered where our next meal was coming from,” he relates with a lump in his throat, “but I was able to supply all of the meat for our family through my hunting and trapping.”

Even if they were not direct relatives, most families working at Mine № 5 were close. They lived mainly in the same neighborhoods in Centralia and in the surrounding towns of Wamac, Carlyle, Beckemeyer and Glen Ridge. They went to the same churches and schools, most especially Centralia High, and shopped in the same stores. The kids played alley baseball together, and the young people danced in the White City Music Hall parking lot in Herrin. Each loss was shared personally by hundreds.

There were now 99 widows and 78 children who now had no fathers. The mayor of Centralia started a fund, and $20,000 was raised that was divided among the families with just enough to help bury their dead. The union’s new welfare fund that had just passed after a miners’ strike the previous year did not have enough money in it yet to provide anything.
NO BENEFITS - Families of the victims of the explosion Tuesday in the Centralia Coal Company's № 5 mine will not get immediate aid from the United Mine Workers health and welfare royalty fund, UMW headquarters said, but a state district UMW official said, they are eligible for state industrial compensation. Hugh White, president of the UMW Illinois district, said the families would be eligible for $4,800 to $6,600 under the state act, depending upon the number in each family. 
In Washington, the union said there was a delay in placing the welfare and retirement fund in operation, and that there was approximately $15,000,000 in the fund through collection on a nickel a ton on bituminous coal mined since settlement of last spring's 55-day strike.
The money for the miners' welfare and retirement benefits is to be handled by a three-man board. Secretary of Interior, J.A. Krug has not yet appointed the operators' representative. After appointment of the three trustees the board will have to set up standards and regulations governing payment of benefits.
The Lions completed their identification and notification on Sunday, March 30th. On April 4, just 5 days later, Red Cross Chairman Wham offered his thanks by writing to the Centralia Lions Club. In his letter, he praised the members’ efforts:
...“the Lion’s Club is the type of organization and made up of the kind of men who are both eager to perform any possible service to mankind and also fully capable of performing that service. Since that time I have stated to you that I am sure that the service that you have performed will be to the everlasting credit of the Club.”
Songwriter Woody Guthrie later wrote and performed his famous ballad about the disaster called “The Dying Miner."
Dear sisters and brothers goodbye. Dear mother and father, goodbye. My fingers are weak and I cannot write. Goodbye Centralia, goodbye.
In the verses, he sings the individual names of some of the victims, including Joe Ballantini and Joe Bryant. Guthrie followed this with a song based on the point-of-view of a miner’s son who waited and watched called “Waiting at the Gate.”

The Dying Miner, Woody Guthrie

In 1947 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch won the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage. 

That same year artist Georges Schreiber of the American Regionalist Movement created a lithograph to commemorate the Centralia Mine № 5 Disaster. It depicts the sad children and widows reaching towards a list of names nailed on to a tree. It's aptly titled “The List.”
"The List" by Georges Schreiber.
The official investigations into the blast revealed that the explosion was caused when a spark of unknown origin somehow ignited the built-up coal dust, just as Inspector Scanlan had predicted.
Mine rescue workers wear signs in support of state inspector Driscoll Scanlan, who objected to plans to restore electricity deep in the mine four days after the explosion. Scanlan's boss, state mines director Robert Medill, had recommended turning on "to speed the work." The power stayed off. © St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Sadly, the investigators also learned that the miners’ shift had already ended and they were headed to the elevators to take them up when the blast occurred.

A $1,000 fine was levied against the parent company, Bell & Zoller. After paying the fine it sold the Centralia Coal Company to the Peabody Coal Company and Mine № 5 was given a new name  Peabody Mine № 21. 60 men went back to work there on July 21st and mined for a year during the time that the investigations of the tragedy were ongoing in Congress.

Illinois Assistant Director Robert resigned shortly after the blast. Director Robert Medill resigned from his post one week after the disaster. Scanlan later resigned due to harassment within the department.
Robert Medill, who resigned from his post as director of the Illinois Department of Mines and Minerals one week after the disaster, sits at far left as he is questioned by U.S. senators during the special hearing on April 4,1947 in Centralia. Medill was asked about his solicitation of political contributions from mine operators. © St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The survivors and the families of the victims had always backed Scanlan’s actions and regretted his departure. Peabody closed the mine a year later, blaming “the high cost of mining coal in an old mine.” Governor Green lost his bid for reelection.

No charges against the company ever stood and no new federal laws about mine safety were enacted. An explosion in West Frankfort, Illinois, occurring 4½ years later on December 21, 1951, killed 119 miners. That tragedy finally prompted the passing of the Federal Mine Safety Act on July 6, 1952. The Act mandated yearly inspections, ventilation systems and thorough cleaning of the coal dust. Union President Lewis, who had spoken eloquently to Congress about the failure of Secretary of the Interior Julius Krug to inspect the mines, stood by as President Harry Truman officially signed the bill into law.
President Truman signed the bill with John L. Lewis watching.
Charlie Woolbright reminds us that the Centralia Mine Disaster is still fresh in the minds and hearts of everyone in the area. “We will re-dedicate the memorial in 2017, 70 years after the blast. It seems like it happened yesterday, though.” He adds philosophically, “It was a bad tragedy but it brought out the good in people.” He is proud of the history of the Lions and that they always try to serve where there is a need.
Centralia Coal Mine № 5 Disaster
March 25, 1947 ~ Woody Guthrie
Video created by Dakota Wheeler, 
Pietro (Pete) Ballantini's great-great-grandson.


THE VICTIMS OF THE CENTRALIA MINE DISASTER:
  • Joe Altadonna, of Sandoval, timberman, aged 60 years, married, He leaves a widow. 
  • Roy Alvarez, of Beckemeyer, timberman, aged 50 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Joe Ballatini, of Centralia, driller, aged 58 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Pietro Ballantini, of Centralia, driller, aged 69 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Alvin M. Barnes, of Centralia, foreman, aged 50 years, married, He leaves a widow and one child.
  • Nick Basola, of Sandoval, clean-up man, aged 43 years, married, He leaves a widow and five children.
  • Harry A. Berger, of Centralia, foreman, aged 54 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Celso Biagi, of Centralia, tracklayer, aged 62 years, single.
  • Dominick Beneventi, of Centralia, machine helper, aged 64 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Joe Bryant, of Sandoval, motorman, aged 65 years, married, He leaves a widow and six children.
  • Edward Bude, of Centralia, repairman, aged 54 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Otto Buehne, of Centralia, clean-up man, aged 62 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Raymond C. Buehne, of Centrtalia, machine helper, aged 30 years, married. He leaves a widow and three children.
  • Thomas M. Bush, of Centralia, clean-up man, aged 56 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • John Busse, of Centralia, machine operator, aged 59 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Charlie Cagle, of Centralia, timberman, aged 54 years, married, He leaves a widow and four children.
  • Theo. V. Carriaux, of Centralia, foreman, aged 50 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Arthur H. Carter, of Centralia, tracklayer, aged 54 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Anton Chirrottino, of Sandoval, tracklayer, aged 65 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Paul Comper, of Centralia, machine man, aged 53 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Clifford Copple, of Centralia, motorman, aged 42 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Frank Copple, of Centralia, brattice man, aged 38 years, single.
  • Leo R. Dehn, of Centralia, clean-up man, aged 53 years, married, He leaves a widow and one child.
  • Eugene Erwin, of Centralia, clean-up man, aged 45 years, married, He leaves a widow and two children.
  • George Evans, of Sandoval, clean-up man, aged 43 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Frank Famera, of Centralia, machine man, aged 50 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Andrew Farley, of Beckemeyer, clean-up man, aged 58 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Walter Fetgatter, of Centralia, machine man, aged 55 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • John Figielek, of Centralia, machine man, aged 48 years, single with one child dependent.
  • Wm. F. Fortmeyer, of Irvington, buggy operator, aged 25 years, married, He leaves a widow and two children.
  • Ray W. Fouts, of Centralia, triprider, aged 47 years, married, He leaves a widow and two children.
  • Odia Lee Francis, of Centralia, brattice man, aged 70 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Luther J. Frazier, of Beckemeyer, driller, aged 41 years, married, He leaves a widow and two children.
  • Martin Freeman, Jr., of Sandoval, tracklayer, aged 20 years, married, He leaves a widow and one child.
  • Martin Freeman, Sr., of Centralia, machine man, aged 39 years, married, He leaves a widow and one child.
  • Albert J. Friend, of Richview, triprider, aged 36 years, married, He leaves a widow and one child.
  • Brund Gaertner, of Centralia, machine operator, aged 47 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Angelo Galassini, of Centralia, driller, aged 61 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Dominick Gervi, of Sandoval, timberman, aged 65 years, married, He leaves a widow and two children.
  • Tony Giovanini, of Sandoval, timberman, aged 65 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Joseph Gerotti, of Centralia, trip-rider, aged 36 years, single.
  • John O. Grotti, of Mt. Vernon, tracklayer, aged 32 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Louis Grotti, of Centralia, driller, aged 45 years, single.
  • Adolph Gutzler, of Centralia, machine helper, aged 48 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Fred W. Gutzler, of Centralia, driller, aged 50 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • John H. Gutzler, of Centralia, machine man, aged 63 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • John W. Gutzler, of Centralia, foreman, aged 54 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Henry Hoeinghaus, of Woodlawn, motorman, aged 56 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Ed. Hofstetter, of Centralia, tracklayer, aged 68 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Gustave Hohman, of Centralia, motorman, aged 54 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Ned L. Jackson, of Odin, a buggy operator, aged 34 years, married, He leaves a widow and one child.
  • Warrie L. Jackson, of Centralia, motorman, aged 55 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Henry Knicker, of Centralia, trackman, aged 59 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Philip Knight, of Centralia, machine helper, aged 46 years, married, He leaves a widow and one child.
  • Joseph Koch, Sr., of Beckemeyer, clean-up man, aged 65 years, married, He leaves a widow and thirteen children.
  • Charles Kraus, of Centralia, recovery man, aged 52 years, single.
  • Fred Laughaunn, of Centralia, machine man, aged 49 years, married, He leaves a widow and three children.
  • Domenico Lenzini, of Centralia, timberman, aged 59 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Pete Lenzini, of Centralia, driller, aged 62 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • John Mazeka, of Beckemeyer, driller, aged 46 years, single.
  • Miles McCullum, of Centralia, driller, aged 65 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Chas. McGreavey, of Centralia, machine man, aged 57 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Clarence McHenry, of Centralia, clean-up man, aged 50 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • William Mentler, of Centralia, tracklayer, aged 61 years, single.
  • Fred Moore, of Centralia, timberman, aged 49 years, married, He leaves a widow and three children.
  • Elmer G. Moss, of Sandoval, machine helper, aged 33 years, married, He leaves a widow and four children.
  • H. W. Niepoetter, of Centralia, machine man, aged 42 years, married, He leaves a widow and one child.
  • Chas. Oestreich, of Centralia, driller, aged 61 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • George Panceroff, of Centralia, trip-rider, aged 24 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Martin Pasola, of Sandoval, foreman, aged 50 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Frank Paulauskis, of Centralia, clean-up man, aged 62 years, single.
  • John T. Pawlisa, of Centralia, tracklayer, aged 22 years, single
  • Charles L. Peart, of Sandoval, tracklayer, aged 60 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Jos. H. Peiler, of Beckemeyer, machine helper, aged 50 years, married, He leaves a widow and one other dependent.
  • Walter Pelker, of Dubois, timberman, aged 31 years, married, He leaves a widow and two children.
  • Alva Petrea, of Centralia, generator operator, aged 56 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Peter Piasse, of Sandoval, machine operator, aged 46 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Julius Piazzi, of Centralia, rock man, aged 27 years, single.
  • Louis Piazzi, of Centralia, machine man, aged 63 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • John Pick, of Centralia, machine operator, aged 56 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • John Placek, of Beckemeyer, machine operator, aged 45 years, married, He leaves a widow and three children.
  • Alfred O. Pollacci, of Centralia, clean-up man, aged 69 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • George Powell, of Odin, trackman, aged 40 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Richard Privette, of DuBois, timberman, aged 65 years, married, He leaves a widow and two children.
  • Glen Purcell, of Centralia, motorman, aged 34 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Nick Reggo, of Centralia, timberman, aged 57 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Jacob Rethard, of Centralia, machine operator, aged 60 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Forest Rhodes, of Sandoval, repairman, aged 45 years, married, He leaves a widow and five children.
  • Carl Rohde, of Centralia, machine man, aged 46 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Daniel C. Sanders, of Irvington, driller, aged 66 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • H. W. Saundermeyer, of Centralia, timberman, aged 47 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Jacob Schmidt, of Centralia, driller, aged 56 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Archie Schofield, of Centralia, machine man, aged 50 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • L. G. Shaw, of Centralia, buggy operator, aged 44 years, married, He leaves a widow and one child.
  • Anton Skrobul, of Beckemeyer, machine man, aged 63 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Clarence Smith, of Centralia, foreman, aged 56 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Ray O. Smith, of Centralia, foreman, aged 56 years, married, He leaves a widow and one child.
  • Andrew Spinner, of Sandoval, trackman, aged 51 years, single.
  • Joseph Spinner, of Centralia, clean-up man, aged 57 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Alfred Stevens, of Beckemeyer, machine operator, aged 53 years, married. He leaves a widow.
  • James Tabor, of Centralia, driller, aged 42 years, married, He leaves a widow and one child.
  • Stanley Teckus, of Centralia, timberman, aged 54 years, married, He leaves a widow and one child.
  • Anthony Tickus, of Centralia, recovery man, aged 24 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Anton Tillmkan, of Centralia, clean-up man, aged 67 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Emmett Uhls, of Sandoval, machine helper, aged 49 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Dude Vancil, of Centralia, motorman, aged 46 years, married, He leaves a widow and one child.
  • Joe Vancil, of Centralia, foreman, aged 50 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Mark L. Watson, of Centralia, pumper, aged 71 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Joe Zinkus, of Centralia, timberman, aged 54 years, married, He leaves a widow.
  • Max Zonarinis, of Centralia, timberman, aged 65 years, married, He leaves a widow., of Centralia, trackman, aged 59 years, married, He leaves a widow.
Compiled and Edited by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.
Written by Patricia Lofthouse, M.L.S., Freelance documentary film producer, researcher, and writer, who emailed text and some pictures to Neil Gale for an online presentation.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

What is a Sears Modern Home and Sears Honor Bilt Home?

SEARS MODERN HOMES & SEARS HONOR BILT HOMES
From 1908–1940, Sears, Roebuck, and Co. sold about 100,000 homes, not including cabins, cottages, garages, outhouses, and farm buildings, through their mail-order Modern Homes program. Over that time, Sears designed 447 different housing styles, from the elaborate multistory Ivanhoe, with its elegant French doors and art glass windows, to the simpler Goldenrod, which served as a quaint, three-room and no-bath cottage for summer vacationers. (An outhouse could be purchased separately for Goldenrod and similar cottage dwellers.) Customers could choose a house to suit their individual tastes and budgets.
Sears was not an innovative home designer. Sears was instead a very able follower of popular home designs but with the added advantage of modifying houses and hardware according to buyer tastes. Individuals could even design their own homes and submit the blueprints to Sears, which would then ship off the appropriate precut and fitted materials, putting the homeowner in full creative control. Modern Home customers had the freedom to build their own dream houses, and Sears helped realize these dreams through quality custom design and favorable financing.

Designing a Sears Home
The process of designing your Sears house began as soon as the Modern Homes catalog arrived at your doorstep. Over time, Modern Homes catalogs came to advertise three lines of homes aimed at customers’ differing financial means: Honor Bilt, Standard Built, and Simplex Sectional.
 
Honor Bilt homes were the most expensive and finest quality sold by Sears. Joists, studs, and rafters were to be spaced 14 3/8 inches apart. Attractive cypress siding and cedar shingles adorned most Honor Bilt exteriors. And depending on the room, interiors featured clear-grade (i.e., knot-free) flooring and inside trim made from yellow pine, oak, or maple wood. Sears’s catalogs also reported that Standard Built homes were best for warmer climates, meaning they did not retain heat very well. The Simplex Sectional line, as the name implies, contained simple designs. Simplex houses were frequently only a couple of rooms and were ideal for summer cottages.
You may see many houses that partially or even closely resemble a house that you own or have seen. Look closely because the floor plan may be reversed, a dormer may have been added, or the original buyer may have chosen brick instead of wood siding. Plumbing may look like it was added after construction, or storm windows may appear on the house but not in the catalog’s illustration.

All of this and more are possible because the Modern Homes program encouraged custom-designed houses down to the color of the cabinetry hardware. The difficulty in identifying a Sears home is just a reflection of the unique design and tastes of the original buyer (see FAQs).

Construction
As mentioned above, Sears was not an innovator in home design or construction techniques; however, Modern Home designs did offer distinct advantages over other construction methods. The ability to mass-produce the materials used in Sears homes lessened manufacturing costs, which lowered purchase costs for customers. Not only did precut and fitted materials shrink construction time up to 40%, but Sears’s use of "balloon style" framing, drywall, and asphalt shingles greatly eased construction for homebuyers.

"Balloon style" framing. These framing systems did not require a team of skilled carpenters, as previous methods did. Balloon frames were built faster and generally only required one carpenter. This system uses precut timber of mostly standard 2x4s and 2x8s for framing. Precut timber, fitted pieces, and the convenience of having everything, including the nails, shipped by railroad directly to the customer added greatly to the popularity of this framing style.

Drywall. Before drywall, plaster and lathe wall-building techniques were used, which again required skilled carpenters. Sears Homes took advantage of the new home-building material of drywall by shipping large quantities of this inexpensively manufactured product with the rest of the housing materials. Drywall offers the advantages of low price, ease of installation, and added fire-safety protection. It was also a good fit for the square design of Sears Homes.

Asphalt shingles. It was during the Modern Homes program that large quantities of asphalt shingles became available. The alternative roofing materials available included, among others, tin and wood. Tin was noisy during storms, looked unattractive, and required a skilled roofer, while wood was highly flammable. Asphalt shingles, however, were cheap to manufacture and ship, as well as easy and inexpensive to install. Asphalt had the added incentive of being fireproof.

Modern Conveniences
Sears helped popularize the latest technology available to modern home buyers in the early part of the twentieth century. Central heating, indoor plumbing, and electricity were all new developments in home design that Modern Homes incorporated, although not all of the homes were designed with these conveniences. Central heating not only improved the livability of homes with little insulation but also improved fire safety, always a worry in an era where open flames threatened houses and whole cities, in the case of the Chicago Fire.

Sears Modern Homes program stayed abreast of any technology that could ease the lives of its home-buyers and gave them the option to design their homes with modern convenience in mind. Indoor plumbing and homes wired for electricity were the first steps to modern kitchens and bathrooms.

History of Sears Modern Homes
The hour has arrived. Dad gathers Mom and Sis into the carriage. He hops in the wagon with his brothers to ride off to the railroad station. The day and hour have come to greet the first shipment of your family’s brand-new house. All the lumber will be precut and arrive with instructions for your dad and uncles to assemble and build. Mom and Dad picked out Number 140 from Sears, Roebuck, and Company’s catalog. It will have two bedrooms and a cobblestone foundation, plus a front porch—but no bath. They really wanted Number 155, with a screened-in front porch, built-in buffet, and an inside bath, but $1,100 was twice as much as Dad said he could afford. In just a few days, the whole family will sleep under the roof of your custom-made Sears Modern Home.
Entire homes would arrive by railroad, from precut lumber to carved staircases, down to the nails and varnish. Families picked out their houses according to their needs, tastes, and pocketbooks. Sears provided all the materials and instructions and, for many years, the financing for homeowners to build their own houses. Sears’s Modern Homes stand today as living monuments to the fine, enduring, and solid quality of Sears craftsmanship.

No official tally exists of the number of Sears mail-order houses that still survive today. It is reported that more than 100,000 houses were sold between 1908 and 1940 through Sears’s Modern Homes program. The keen interest evoked in current homebuyers, architectural historians, and enthusiasts of American culture indicates that thousands of these houses survive in varying degrees of condition and original appearance.
It is difficult to appreciate just how important the Modern Homes program and others like it were to homebuyers in the first half of the twentieth century. Imagine for a moment buying a house in 1908. Cities were getting more crowded and had always been dirty breeding grounds for disease in an age before vaccines. The United States was experiencing a great economic boom, and millions of immigrants who wanted to share in this wealth and escape hardship were pouring into America’s big cities. City housing was scarce, and the strong economy raised labor costs, which sent new home prices soaring.

The growing middle class was leaving the city for the—literally—greener pastures of suburbia as trolley lines and the railroad extended lifelines for families who needed to travel to the city. Likewise, companies were building factories on distant, empty parcels of land and needed to house their workers. Stately, expensive Victorian-style homes were not options for any but the upper class of homeowners. Affordable, mail-order homes proved to be just the answer to such dilemmas.

Sears was neither the first nor the only company to sell mail-order houses, but they were the largest, selling as many as 324 units in one month (May of 1926). The origin of the Modern Homes program is actually to be found a decade before houses were sold. Sears began selling building materials out of its catalogs in 1895, but by 1906, the department was almost shut down until someone had a better idea. Frank W. Kushel, who was reassigned to the unprofitable program from managing the China department, believed the home-building materials could be shipped straight from the factories, thus eliminating storage costs for Sears. This began a successful 25-year relationship between Kushel and the Sears Modern Homes program.

To advertise the company’s new and improved line of building supplies, a Modern Homes specialty catalog, the Book of Modern Homes and Building Plans, appeared in 1908. For the first time, Sears sold complete houses, including the plans and instructions for the construction of 22 different styles, announcing that the featured homes were "complete, ready for occupancy." By 1911, Modern Homes catalogs included illustrations of house interiors, which provided homeowners with blueprints for furnishing the houses with Sears appliances and fixtures.

It should be noted that suburban families were not the only Modern Home dwellers. Sears expanded its line to reflect the growing demand from rural customers for ready-made buildings. In 1923, Sears introduced two new specialty catalogs, Modern Farm Buildings and Barn.
The barn catalog boasted "a big variety of scientifically planned" farm buildings, from corncribs to tool sheds. The simple, durable, and easy-to-construct nature of the Sears farm buildings made them particularly attractive to farmers.

Modern Homes must have seemed like pennies from heaven, especially to budget-conscious first-time homeowners. For example, Sears estimated that, for a precut house with fitted pieces, it would take only 352 carpenter hours as opposed to 583 hours for a conventional house—a 40% reduction! Also, Sears offered loans beginning in 1911, and by 1918 it offered customers credit for almost all building materials as well as offering advanced capital for labor costs. Typical loans ran at 5 years, with 6% interest, but loans could be extended over as many as 15 years.

Sears’s liberal loan policies eventually backfired, however, when the Depression hit. 1929 saw the high point of sales with more than $12 million, but $5.6 million of that was in mortgage loans. Finally, in 1934, $11 million in mortgages were liquidated, and despite a brief recovery in the housing market in 1935, the Modern Homes program was doomed. By 1935, Sears was selling only houses, not lots or financing, and despite the ever-brimming optimism of corporate officials, Modern Homes sold its last house in 1940.

Between 1908 and 1940, Modern Homes made an indelible mark on the history of American housing. A remarkable degree of variety marks the three-plus decades of house design by Sears. A skilled but mostly anonymous group of architects designed 447 different houses. Each of the designs, though, could be modified in numerous ways, including reversing floor plans, building with brick instead of wood siding, and many other options.

Sears had the customer in mind when it expanded its line of houses to three different expense levels to appeal to customers of differing means. While Honor Bilt was the highest-quality line of houses, with its clear-grade (no knots) flooring and cypress or cedar shingles, the Standard Built and Simplex Sectional lines were no less sturdy, yet were simpler designs and did not feature precut and fitted pieces.

Simplex Sectional houses actually included farm buildings, outhouses, garages, and summer cottages.

The American landscape is dotted by Sears Modern Homes. Few of the original buyers and builders remain to tell the excitement they felt when traveling to greet their new house at the train station. The remaining homes, however, stand as testaments today to that bygone era and to the pride of homes built by more than 100,000 Sears customers and fostered by the Modern Homes program.
This photo was taken soon after the construction of the Sears Homes was complete, and the sidewalks were paved.
The Standard Addition - 8 models for Standard Oil of Indiana built in Carlinville, Illinois, for a coal mine community.
Carlinville, Illinois, has the largest single collection of Sears kit homes in the United States. Beginning in 1917, Carlinville saw its population grow by one-third when Standard Oil of Indiana opened two new coal mines. An influx of young European immigrants coming to work the mines caused the town’s population to swell from 4,000 to 6,000, creating a severe housing shortage.

Standard Oil officials found a solution to this crisis in an unlikely place: Sears and Roebuck. For the first time, people could order home kits in a variety of models through the Sears mail-order catalog. Eight different models were selected for Standard Addition, ranging in price from $3,000 to $4,000, with the company placing an order for $1 million for homes, the largest in Sears history. By the end of 1918, 156 of the mail-order homes had been placed within a nine-block neighborhood on the northeast side of town.

In 1926, Standard Oil executives determined they could buy coal cheaper than mining it themselves, and they made the decision to close the mines. The closure devastated the town and required years before it fully recovered. The workers moved away, mostly to other mines, and abandoned the housing to the ravages of time and the occasional party-goers from nearby Blackburn University. Standard Addition remained largely vacant until the mid-1930s when the houses were offered for sale to the public. Families could purchase one of the run-down five-room homes for $250 and a six-room model for $500. Even in the midst of the Great Depression, comparable homes were selling for $4,000, so it was an incredible bargain for lucky buyers.

Today, 152 of the original 156 homes still stand. Four no longer exist on their original sites; three were destroyed by fire, and one was moved to the country. As the largest single repository of Sears Homes in the United States, Standard Addition has been the subject of several documentaries and has attracted the attention of architects and nostalgia buffs from around the globe.

Step inside - The story of my private tour of a Sears Modern Home in Carlinville, Illinois.

Chronology of the Sears Modern Home Program

1895–1900
Building supplies are sold through Sears, Roebuck, and Company general catalog 1906. Sears considered closing its unprofitable building supplies department.
Frank W. Kushel (formerly manager of the China department) took over the building supplies department and realized supplies could be shipped directly from the factory, thus saving storage costs.

1908
The first specialty catalog issued for houses, Book of Modern Homes and Building Plans, featuring 22 styles ranging in price from $650–2,500.

1909
Mansfield, LA, lumber mill purchased. The first bill of materials sold for complete Modern Home.

1910
Home designers added gas and electric light fixtures.

1911
Cairo, IL, lumber mill opens. First mortgage loan issued (typically 5–15 years at 6% interest).

1912
Norwood, OH, millwork plant purchased.

1913
Mortgages were transferred to the credit committee. Mortgages were later discontinued.

1916
Mortgages revived. Ready-made production began. The popular “Winona” was introduced and featured in catalogs through 1940. The first applied roofing office opened in Dayton, OH.

1917
Standard Oil Company purchased 156 houses for its mineworkers in Carlinville, Illinois (approximately $1 million), completed in 1918.

1917–21
No money-down financing was offered.

1919
The First Modern Homes sales office opened in Akron, OH. Modern Homes catalog featured the Standard Oil housing community.

1920
Philadelphia plant became the East Coast base. Sears averaged nearly 125 units shipped per month.

1921
Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Dayton sales offices opened.

1922
Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington sales offices opened. Honor Bilt homes feature deluxe kitchens with white-tile sink and drainboards and white, enameled cupboards.

1924
Columbus, OH, a sales office opened.

1925
Detroit sales office opened; Philadelphia became the East branch of Modern Homes. Newark, NJ, lumber mill began.

1926
Cairo, IL, plant ships 324 units in one month (May). Honor Bilt homes feature “Air-Sealed-Wall construction,” which encloses every room with a “sealed air space” to increase insulation.

1929
Sears began supervising the construction of homes. Sears shiped an average of 250 units per month from Cairo, IL. Nearly 49,000 units sold to this point. The program’s high point of sales reached ($12,050,000); nearly half, however, is tied up in mortgage loans as the stock market crashes.

1930
Sears had 350 different salespeople working in 48 sales offices. Home specialty catalog proclaims Sears the “World’s Largest Home Builders.”

1933
Mortgage financing discontinued. Construction supervision was abandoned, except in greater New York City. Modern Homes catalog featured models of Mount Vernon and New York City’s Federal Hall.

1934
Annual Report announced the Modern Homes department was discontinued. All mortgage accounts were liquidated ($11 million). Steel-framed, air-conditioned Modern Home exhibit featured at the Century of Progress World’s Fair.

1935
Sears reopened the housing department. Offered only houses, no financing or construction.
Houses were prefabricated by General Houses, Incorporated (Chicago).

1936
Sales reached $2 million.

1937
Sales reached $3.5 million. The last appearance of the department in the general catalog.

1938
Sales reached $2.75 million.

1940
Cairo, IL, millwork plant sold to the employees who used their profit-sharing money to make the purchase. Last catalog issued (Book of Modern Homes). Sears ends the Modern Homes program, having sold more than 100,000 units, not including cabins, cottages, garages, outhouses, and farm buildings.

Homes Index
Below is an alphabetical list of houses and prices as they were advertised in the Sears Modern Homes catalogs. Some models were available in different years. Not all models are represented. The description and floor plan, as featured in the catalogs are shown below.

BY MODEL NUMBER
1908-1939
Model Number 024; ($704 to $1,400)
Model Number 034; ($930 to $1,750) 
Model Number 036; ($601 to $1,200) 
Model Number 052; ($782 to $1,995)
Model Number 059; ($163 to $765)
Model Number 064; ($556, $1, 525) 
Model Number 070; ($492 to $1,275)
Model Number 101; ($738 to $1,740)
Model Number 101; ($738 to $1,740) 
Model Number 104; ($580 to $1,425) 
Model Number 104; ($580 to $1,425) 
Model Number 105; ($545 to $1,175) 
Model Number 105; ($545 to $1,175)
Model Number 106; ($498 to $1,190) 
Model Number 107; ($107 to $650) 
Model Number 107; ($107 to $650) 
Model Number 112; ($891 to $2,000) 
Model Number 113; ($1,062 to $1,270) 
Model Number 116; ($790 to $1,700)
Model Number 116; ($790 to $1,700)
Model Number 117; ($807 to $921) 
Model Number 119; ($1,518 to $1,731) 
Model Number 120; ($1,278 to $1,660) 
Model Number 122; ($915 to $1,043) 
Model Number 123; ($1,163 to $1,404) 
Model Number 125; ($587 to $844) 
Model Number 126; ($675 to $814) 
Model Number 130; ($1,783 to $2,152) 
Model Number 131; ($1,491 to $1,870)
Model Number 134; ($459 to $578) 
Model Number 135; ($733 to $853) 
Model Number 136; ($628 to $767)
Model Number 137; ($1,140 to $1,342)
Model Number 139; ($449 to $567)
Model Number 139; ($449 to $567) 
Model Number 141; ($419 to $531) 
Model Number 142; ($153 to $298)
Model Number 143; ($712 to $896)
Model Number 144; ($829 to $926)
Model Number 147; ($680 to $872) 
Model Number 153; ($1,142)
Model Number 154; ($2,287 to $2,702)
Model Number 155; ($1,080 to $1,118) 
Model Number 157; ($1,521 to $1,866) 
Model Number 158; ($1,548 to $1,845) 
Model Number 159; ($548 to $762) 
Model Number 163; ($1,110 to $1,282) 
Model Number 164; ($1,259 to $1,623) 
Model Number 165; ($1,374 to $1,518)
Model Number 166; ($1,001 to $1, 095) 
Model Number 174; ($795 to $940)
Model Number 175; (1232); ($815 to $1,732)
Model Number 176; ($1,455 to $2,141) 
Model Number 177; ($1,050 to 1,461) 
Model Number 178; ($1,250 to $1,611)
Model Number 182; ($902)
Model Number 183; ($745 to$908)
Model Number 186; ($746 to $790)
Model Number 188; ($926 to $984) 
Model Number 190; ($828 to $894)
Model Number 191; ($892 to $966)
Model Number 193; ($599 to $656) 
Model Number 194; ($599 to $656) 
Model Number 195; ($619 to $670)
Model Number 196; ($599 to $656) 
Model Number 198; ($834) 
Model Number 200; ($1,528 to $1,663) 
Model Number 202; ($1,389)
Model Number 204; ($1,318)
Model Number 205; ($707 to $744)
Model Number 207; ($1,148 to $1,174)
Model Number 208; ($814)
Model Number 216; ($402)
Model Number 225; ($1,281 to $1,465) 
Model Number 226; ($822 to $1,555) 
Model Number 228; ($1,182 to $1,280)
Model Number 229, ($670-$714) 
Model Number 241; ($412 to $429)
Model Number 243; ($1,006 to $1,037)
Model Number 264; ($819) 
Model Number 264; ($897 to $919)  
Model Number 301; ($1,261)
Model Number 306; ($1,363 to $1,561)

ALPHABETICAL
The Adams; (3059, 3059A); ($4,721)
The Adeline; (2099, 7099); ($696 to $971)
The Albany; (P13199); ($2,232)
The Alberta; (C107); ($330 to $596) 
The Albion; (3227); ($2,496 to $2,515)
The Alden; (3366); ($2,418 to $2,571)
The Alhambra; (2090, 7080, 17090A); ($1,969 to $3,134) 
The Almo; (2033, 2033B); ($463 to $1,052)
The Alpha; (7031, 7031); ($871 to $1,356)
The Alton; (2019); ($814 to $1,150)
The Altona; (121); ($697 to $1,458)
The Americus; (3063); ($1,924 to $2,173) 
The Amherst; (3388); ($1,608 to $1,917)
The Amhurst; (P3244); ($2,825)
The Amsterdam; (3196A); ($3,641 to $4,699) 
The Arcadia; (2032); ($267 to $946)
The Ardara; (3039); ($1,773 to $3,485)
The Argyle; (2018, 17018); ($827 to $2150) 
The Arlington; (145); ($1,294 to $2,906)
The Ashland; (C5253); ($2,847 to $2,998) 
The Ashmore; (3034); ($1,608 to $3,632) 
The Atlanta; (247); ($2,240 to $4,492)
The Attleboro; (3384); ($1,810 to $2,197)
The Auburn; (2046, 3199, 3382); ($1,638 to $3,624) 
The Aurora; (3352A, 3352B, 3000); ($989, $2,740)
The Avalon; (3048); ($1,967 to $2,539) 
The Avoca; (109); ($590 to $1,754)
The Avondale; (151); ($1,198 to $2,657) 
The Bandon; (3058); ($2,499 to $4,317) 
The Barrington; (C3260, P3241, P3260); ($2,329 to $2,606)
The Bayside; (3410); (No price given) 
The Beaumont; (3037); ($2,136 to $2,374) 
The Bedford; (3249A, 3249B); ($2,242 to $2,673)
The Belfast; (3367A); ($1,604 to $1,698)
The Bellewood; (3304); (No price given)
The Belmont; (237); ($1,204 to $2,558) 
The Berkley; (3401A, 3401B); ($1,110 to $1,435)
The Berkshire; (3374); ($1,564)
The Berwyn; (3274); ($1,249)
The Betsy Ross; (3089); ($1,412 to $1,654) 
The Birmingham; (3332); (No price given)
The Bonita; (197); ($619 to $1,207)
The Branford; (3712); $2,010 
The Bristol; (3370); ($2,958)
The Brookside; (2091); ($1,050 to $1,404) 
The Brookwood; (3033); ($1,328)
The Bryant; (3411); (No price given)
The Calumet; (3001); ($3,073) 
The Cambria; (251); ($998 to $1,771) 
The Cambridge; (3289); (No price given)
The Canton; (152); ($251 to $750) 
The Cape Cod; (13354A, 13354B)
The Carlin; (3031); ($1,172)
The Carlton; (3002); ($5,118)
The Carrington; (3353); (No price given)
The Carroll; (3344); (No price given)
The Carver; (3408); ($1,291)
The Castleton; (227); ($934 to $2,193) 
The Cedars; (3278); ($2,334)
The Chateau; (3378); ($1,365)
The Chatham; (3396); ($1,667)
The Chelsea; (111); ($943 to $2,740)
The Chester; (3380); ($1,433 to $1,535)
The Chesterfield; (P3235); ($2,934)
The Chicora; (2031, 031) ($257 to $798) 
The Claremont; (3273); ($1,437)
The Clarissa; (127); ($1,357 to $2,670) 
The Cleveland; (C3233); (2,463 to $2,739) 
The Clifton; (3305); ($1,660)
The Clyde; (118); ($1,397 to $2,924) 
The Colchester; (3292, 3292A); ($1,988 to $2,256)
The Colebrook; (3707, 3707A); ($1,608 to $1,728) 
The Collingwood; (3280); ($1,329 to $1,960)
The Columbine; (8013); ($1,971 to $2,135)
The Concord; (2021, 114, 3379); ($815 to $2,546) 
The Conway; (3052A, 3052B); ($1,310 to $2,099)
The Cornell; (3226A, 3226B); ($1,360 to $1,785)
The Corning; (3357); (No price given)
The Corona; (240); ($1,537 to $3,364) 
The Crafton; (3318A, 3318C, 3318D); ($916 TO $1,399)
The Cranmore; (185); ($637 to $1,283) 
The Crescent; (3084, 3086); ($925 to $2,410)
The Croydon; (3718); ($1,407)
The Culver; (3322); ($873)
The Dartmouth; (3372); ($2,648 to $2,864)
The Davenport; (3346); (No price given)
The Dayton; (3407); ($1,247)
The Del Rey; (3065); ($1,978 to $2,557)
The Delevan; (2028, 028); ($285 to $949) 
The Delmar; (3210); ($2,220) 
The Detroit; (3336); ($1,431)
The Dexter; (3331); (No price given)
The Dover; (3262); ($1,613 to $2,311)
The Dundee; (3051); ($733 to $1,405)
The Durham; (8040); ($2,498 to $2,775) 
The Edgemere; (199); ($647 to $1,124) 
The Ellison; (3359); ($2,185 to $2,845)
The Ellsworth; (3341); ($1,178 to $1,236)
The Elmhurst; (3300); (No price given)
The Elmwood; (162); ($716 to $2,492) 
The Elsmore; (2013); ($858 to $2,391)
The Estes; (6014); ($617 to $672)
The Fair Oaks; (3282); ($972)
The Fairfield; (No number given); (No price given) 
The Fairy; (3216, 3217); ($965 to $993)
The Farnum; (6017); ($917 to $942)
The Ferndale; (3284); ($1,340 to $1,790)
The Flossmoor; (180); ($838 to $2,124)
The Fosgate; (6016); ($616 to $722) 
The Franklin; (3405); ($1,118)
The Fullerton; (3205); ($1,633 to $2,294)
The Fulton; (3702); ($1,667)
The Gainsboro; (3387); ($1,475 to $1,548)
The Galewood; (3294); ($1,252)
The Garfield; (P3232); ($2,599 to $2,758) 
The Gateshead; (3386); ($1,345 to $1,392)
The Gladstone; (3222); ($1,409 to $2,153)
The Glen Falls; (P3265); ($4,560 to $4,909)
The Glen View; (3381); ($3,375 to $3,718)
The Glendale; (148); ($916 to $2,188) 
The Glyndon; (156); ($595 to $1,990) 
The Gordon; (3356); (No price given)
The Grant; (6018); ($947 to $999)
The Greenview; (115); ($443 to $1,462) 
The Hamilton; (102, 150); ($1,023 to $2,385) 
The Hammond; (3347); ($1,253 to $1,408)
The Hampshire; (3364); (No price given)
The Hampton; (3208); ($1,551 to $1,681) 
The Harmony; (3056, 13056); ($1,599 to $2,220) 
The Hartford; (3352A, 3352B); (No price given)
The Hathaway; (3082); ($1,196 to $1,970) 
The Haven; (3088); ($1,584)
The Haverhill; (3368); ($2,276 to $2,585)
The Hawthorne; (201); ($1,488 to $2,792) 
The Hazelton; (172); ($780 to $2,248) 
The Hillrose; (3015); ($1,553 to $3,242) 
The Hillsboro; (3308); ($2,215 to $2,803)
The Hollywood; (1259, 12069); ($1,376 to $2,986) 
The Homecrest; (3398); ($2,010 to $2,017)
The Homestead; (3376); ($1,319 to $1,566)
The Homeville; (3072); ($1,741 to ($1,896)
The Homewood; (P3238); ($2,610 to $2,809)
The Honor; (3071); ($2,747 to $3,278) 
The Hopeland; (3036); ($2,622 to $2,914) 
The Hudson; (6013, 6013A); ($495 to $659) 
The Ionia; (7034, 17034); ($695 to $1,038)
The Ivanhoe; (230); ($1,663 to $2,618) 
The Jeanette; (3283, 3283A); ($1.661)
The Jefferson; (3349); ($3,350)
The Jewel; (3310); (No price given)
The Josephine; (7044); ($998 to $1,464) 
The Katonah; (2029, 029); ($265 to $827) 
The Kendale; (3298); ($1,358)
The Kilbourne; (7013); ($2,500 to 2,780) 
The Kimball; (6015); ($635 to $638)
The Kimberly; (P3261); ($1,442 to $1,815) 
The Kismet; (216A, 2002); ($428 to $1,148)
The La Salle; (3243); ($2,530 to $2,746)
The Lakecrest; (3333); (No price given)
The Lakeland; (129); ($1,533 to $3,972) 
The Langston; (181A, 2000); ($796 to $1,898)
The Laurel; (P3275); ($1,912)
The Lebanon; (3029); ($1,092 to $1,465) 
The Lenox; (3395); ($1,164)
The Letona; (192); ($619 to $1,215) 
The Lewiston; (3287, 3287A); ($1,527 to $2,037)
The Lexington; (3045); ($2,958 to $4,365) 
The Lorain; (214); ($1,030 to $2,558) 
The Lorne; (3053, 13053); ($1,286 to $2,002)
The Lucerne; (103); ($582 to $1,390)
The Lynn; (3716); ($1,342)
The Lynnhaven; (3309); ($2,227 to $2,393)
The Madelia; (3028); ($1,393 to $1,953) 
The Magnolia; (2089); ($5,140 to $5,972)
The Malden; (3721); ($2,641)
The Manchester; (C3250); ($2,655 to $2,934) 
The Mansfield; (3296); ($2,292)
The Maplewood; (3302); (No price given)
The Marina; (2024); ($1,289 to $1632) 
The Marquette; (3046); ($1,862 to $2,038)
The Martha Washington; (3080); ($2,688 to $3,727) 
The Matoka; (168); ($950 to $1,920) 
The Mayfield; (3326); ($1,082 to $1,189)
The Maytown; (167); ($645 to $2,038) 
The Maywood; (C3232); ($2,658 to $2,914)
The Medford; (3720A, 3720B); ($1,715 to $2,068)
The Melrose; (P3286); ($1,698)
The Milford; (3385); ($1,359 to $1,671)
The Millerton; (3358); (No price given)
The Milton; (210); ($1,520 to $2,491) 
The Mitchell; (3263); ($1,493 to $2,143)
The Monterey; (3312); ($2,998)
The Montrose; (C3239); ($2,923 to $3,324) 
The Morley; (2097); ($837)
The Mt. Vernon; (55C1910); ($851 to $1,221) 
The Nantucket; (3719A, 3719B); ($1,360 to $1,536) 
The Natoma; (2034, 034); ($191 to $598) 
The New Haven; (3338); (No price given)
The Newark; (3285); ($2,048 to $2,678)
The Newbury; (3397); ($1,791 to $2,042)
The Newcastle; (3402); ($1,576 to $1,813)
The Niota; (161); ($788 to $1,585)
The Nipigon; (No number given); (No price given) 
The Normandy; (3390); ($1,598 to $1,867)
The Norwich; (3342); ($2,952)
The Norwood; (2095); ($948 to $1,667) 
The Oak Park; (3288); ($2,227 to $3,265)
The Oakdale; (149); ($1,549 to $3,067) 
The Oldtown; (3383); ($1,322)
The Olivia; (7028); ($1,123 to $1,283) 
The Oxford; (3393A, 3393B); ($808 to $999)
The Palmyra; (132); ($1,993 to $3,459) 
The Paloma; (2035); ($688 to $1,418) 
The Parkside; (3325); ($1,259)
The Pennsgrove; (3348); (No price given)
The Phoenix; (160); ($1,043 to $2,077) 
The Pineola; (2098); ($489 to $659) 
The Pittsburgh; (C3252); ($1,827 to $1,838)
The Plymouth; (3323); ($1,132 to $1,206)
The Portsmouth; (3413); (No price given) 
The Prescott; (P3240); ($1,715 to $1,873)
The Princeton; (3204); ($3,073)
The Princeville; (173); ($810 to $1,794) 
The Priscilla; (3229); ($2,998 to $3,198)
The Puritan; (3190); ($1,947 to $2,475) 
The Ramsay; (6012); ($654 to $685)
The Randolph; (3297); (No price given)
The Rembrandt; (P3215A, P3215B); ($2,383 to $2,770) 
The Rest; (7004); ($923 to $1,083)
The Richmond; (3360); ($1,692)
The Ridgeland; (3302); ($1,293 to $1,496)
The Riverside; (3324); ($1,200 to $1,257)
The Roanoke; (1226); ($1,784 to $1,982)
The Rochelle; (3282); ($1,170)
The Rockford; (C3251); ($2,086 to $2,278)
The Rockhurst; (3074); ($1,979 to $2,468) 
The Rodessa; (7041, 3203); ($998 to $1,189) 
The Roseberry; (2037); ($744 to $4,479) 
The Rosita; (2036, 2043, 2044); ($314 to $875)
The Rossville; (171); ($452 to $1,096)
The Roxbury; (3340); ($1,459)
The Salem; (3211); ($2,496 to $2,634)
The San Jose; (P6268); ($2,026 to $2,138) 
The Saranac; (2030, 030); ($248 to $927) 
The Saratoga; (2087); ($1,468 to $3,506) 
The Savoy; (2023); ($1,230 to $2,333)
The Schuyler; (3371); ($2,974)
The Seagrove; (2048); ($1,854)
The Selby; (6011); ($590 to $629)
The Sheffield; (P3266); ($2,033 to $2,098) 
The Sherburne; (187); ($1,231 to $2,581) 
The Sheridan; (3224); ($2,095 to $2,256) 
The Sherwood; (P3279); ($2,445)
The Silverdale; (110); ($1,623)
The Solace; (3218); ($1,476 to $1,581) 
The Somers; (P17008); ($1,696 to $1,778)
The Somerset; (2008); ($732 TO $1,576)
The Spaulding; (P3257); ($2,281)
The Springfield; (133); ($660 to $1,516) 
The Springwood; (3078); ($1,797 to $2,089) 
The Stanford; (3354A, 3354B); (No Price Given)
The Starlight; (2009); ($543 to $1,645) 
The Stone Ridge; (3044); ($1,995 to $2,229) 
The Stratford; (3290); ($2,122)
The Strathmore; (3306); ($1,627 to $1,757)
The Sumner; (2027, 027); ($237 to $853) 
The Sunbury; (3350A, 3350B); ($1,141 to $1,237)
The Sunlight; (3221); ($1,499 to $1,620) 
The Sunnydell; (3079, 3979); ($1,571 to $1,746) 
The Tarryton; (C3247); ($2,967 to $2,998)
The Torrington; (3355); ($3,189)
The Trenton; (3351); (No price given)
The Uriel; (3052); ($1,374 to $1,527)
The Valley; (6000); ($904 to $989) 
The Vallonia; (3049); ($1,465 to $2,479) 
The Van Dorn; (P3234); ($1,576 to $2,249)
The Van Jean; (C3267A, C3267B); ($2,499 to $2,899)
The Van Page; (P3242); ($2,650)
The Verndale; (6003); ($900 to $1,130)
The Verona; (3201); ($2,461 to $4,347) 
The Vinemont; (6002); ($747 to $830)
The Vinita; (6001); ($1,154 to $1,240) 
The Wabash; (2003); ($507 to $1,217) 
The Walton; (3050); ($2,225 to $2,489)
The Wareham; (203); ($1,089 to $2,425) 
The Warren; (13703); ($1,506)
The Warrenton; (3030); ($1,288)
The Waverly; (3321); ($1,234)
The Wayne; (3210); ($1,994 to $2,121) 
The Wayside; (107B, 2004); ($372 to $945)
The Webster; (3369); ($3,204)
The Wellington; (3223); ($1,760 to $1,998) 
The Westly; (2026, 3085); ($926 to $2,543)
The Wexford; (3337A, 3337B); (No Price Given)
The Wheaton; (3312); ($1,235)
The Whitehall; (181); ($687 to $1,863) 
The Willard; (3265); ($1,477 to $1,997)
The Wilmore; (3327); ($1,191 to $1,414)
The Windermere; (1208); ($3,410 to $3,534) 
The Windsor; (3193); ($1,216 to $1,605) 
The Winona; (2010A, 2010B); ($744 to $1,998)
The Winona; (C2010, C2010B); ($744 to $1,998)
The Winthrop; (P3264); ($1,921)
The Woodland; (2007); ($938 to $2,480) 
The Worchester; (3291); ($2,315)
The Yates; (3711, 3711A); ($1,812 to $2,058)

105 Sears Modern Home Fact Sheets with Floor Plans.
CLICK THE FACT SHEET FOR A FULL-SIZE IMAGE.











Copyright © 2013. Sears Brands, LLC. All rights reserved.