|
The year was 1918. Fueled by the opening of a new coal mine and post-World War I industrialism, Carlinville, Illinois experienced a population explosion. The solution to the resulting housing shortage was uniquely American - pre-cut kit homes ordered from Sears Roebuck & Co. catalogue sales. Standard Oil, owners of the coal mine, wrote out a check for $1 million. That money bought 192 houses: 156 for a twelve-block section of Carlinville and 36 more homes in nearby Wood River, Illinois, which also had a Standard Oil coal mine. Coal miners occupied the houses, and the Carlinville neighborhood became known as the "Standard Addition."
|
