Saturday, March 10,1934

Skated up to the Dime Store with Nadine, Ruth Ray and Bobby. Got rose fingernail polish. Went with Gweyn to Sears Roebuck's.

Advertisement for Modern Home No. 115

Sears Catalog Homes (sold as Sears Modern Homes) were ready-to-assemble
kit houses sold through mail order by American retailer Sears, Roebuck and
Company. More than 70,000 of these were sold in North America between 1908 and
 1940. Shipped via railroad boxcars, these kits included all the materials needed to build 
a house. Many were assembled by the new homeowner and friends, relatives, and
 neighbors, in a fashion similar to the traditional barn-raisings of farming families.

As demand decreased, Sears expanded the product line to feature houses that varied
in expense to meet the budgets of various buyers. Sears began offering financing plans
 in 1916. However, the company experienced steadily rising payment defaults throughout
 the Great Depression, resulting in increasing strain for the catalog house program. More
 than 370 designs of Sears Homes were offered during the program's 32-year history. The
 mortgage portion of the program was discontinued in 1934 after Sears was forced
to liquidate $11 million in defaulted debt.