America's First Prefab Homes Were Not From Sears Roebuck

E. F. (Ernest) Hodgson began building chicken coops, called Peep-o’-Day coops, for small wannabe chicken farmers in 1892.  This led to portable chicken coops called WigWams.  He developed a system that allowed him to build the coops in prefabricated parts and shipped anywhere.

Hodgson prefab for 200 Chickens

He designed a unique bolt together system and he quickly started utilizing it to build kit sheds, dog houses, poultry houses and the Hodgson Camp Cottage, a single room home.  Summer cottages soon followed.

After outgrowing a small factory on the family farm, he moved his operation to a new factory in Dover, Massachusetts.  After his factory burned down in 1911 he built a new factory next to the railroad yard and began shipping kit homes all over the United States.  His homes found their way to the entire world.

Here is a 1954 Hodgson Homes catalog.

Gary Fleisher, the Modcoach, writes Modcoach News and Modular Home Coach blogs as well as the best site for off-site consultants, Modcoach Connects. 

Contact Gary at modcoach@gmail.com