Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T05:47:26.430Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Birth of the North American Home Improvement Store, 1905–1929

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2015

Richard Harris
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The idea, and to a lesser extent the reality, of themodern home improvement store was born in the first quarter of the twentieth century. After 1905 the manufacturers of mail-order kit houses soon grew to threaten the local monopoly of retail building suppliers. Themost important of these suppliers were the lumber merchants who provided most of the materials and credit used by building contractors. At first dealers responded by mounting boycotts and by supporting trade-at-home campaigns, but these were successfully challenged in court. A survey of trade journals shows that after 1914 dealers began to act more constructively. Encouraged by the trade press, and helped by state and national associations, by the 1920s they were advertising more effectively and offering a widening range of goods and services to consumers, including house plans. Because many new customers were women, dealers had to hire more courteous staff, clean up their yards, mount better displays, build showrooms and, in time, relocate to more salubrious and heavily-trafficked parts of town. The emergence of the home improvement store is a significant chapter in the history of urban housing, and especially the marketing of housing services, in the twentieth century.

Type
Articles
Information
Enterprise & Society , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , December 2009 , pp. 687 - 728
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2009. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bibliography of Works Cited

Books

Shaw Co, A.W.. A Report on the Profitable Management of a Retai! Lumber Business. Chicago, IL: A.W. Shaw, 1918.Google Scholar
Aladdin Company. Aladdin Homes. Built in a Day. Bay City, MI.: Aladdin Company, 1919.Google Scholar
Aladdin Company. Aladdin Homes. Sold by the Golden Rule. Bay City, MI.: Aladdin Company, 1925.Google Scholar
Robert, Bartels. The Development of Marketing Thought. Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin, 1962.Google Scholar
Benson, Susan P. Counter Cultures. Saleswomen, Managers and Customers in American Department Stores, 1890-1940. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986.Google Scholar
Blaszczyk, Regina L. Imagining Consumers. Design and Innovation from Wedgwood to Corning. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Boorstin, Daniel J. The Americans. The Democratic Experience. New York: Vintage, 1974.Google Scholar
Brandywine Lumber Company. Eastern Homes. Wilmington, DE, 1932.Google Scholar
Brown, Nelson C. American Lumber Industry. New York: John Wiley, 1923.Google Scholar
Brown, Nelson C. Lumber. Manufacture, Conditioning, Grading, Distribution, and Use. New York: Wiley, 1947.Google Scholar
Bryant, Ralph C. Lumber. Its Manufacture and Distribution. New York: Wiley, 1922.Google Scholar
Lendol, Calder. Financing the American Dream. A Cultural History of Consumer Credit. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Culbertson, Margaret. American House Designs. An Index to Popular and Trade Periodicals, 1850–1915. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Boris, Emmet, and Jenck, John E.. Catalogues and Counters. A HistoryofSears, Roebuck and Company. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1950.Google Scholar
James, Fickle. The New South and the 'New Competition.' Trade Association Development in the Southern Pine Industry. Urbana: University of Illinois, 1980.Google Scholar
Ben, Fine, and Leopold, Ellen. The World of Consumption. New York: Routledge, 1993.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Carolyn M. Do It Yourself. Home Improvement in Twentieth Century America. Washington, DC: National Building Museum, 1998.Google Scholar
Gordon-Van Tine. Architectural Details 1915. Davenport, IA: Repr. American Life Foundation, 1985.Google Scholar
Gordon-Van Tine Co. 117 House Designs of the Twenties.New York: Dover, 1992.Google Scholar
Alan, Gowans. The Comfortable House. North American Suburban Architecture 1890-1930. Cambridge, MA.: M.I.T. Press, 1986.Google Scholar
Harris Brothers Co. A Plan BookofHarris Homes. Chicago, IL: Harris Brothers,1920.Google Scholar
Hellyer, Henry A.C.. Yard Planning and Shed Design. Rochester,NY: Northeastern Retail Lumbermen’s Association, 1939.Google Scholar
Henry, J.L. Catalogue Houses. Eatons’ and Others. Saskatoon: Henry Perspectives.Google Scholar
Hidy, R.W., Hill, F.E., and Nevins, Allan. Timber and Men. The Weyerhaeuser Story. New York: Macmillan, 1963.Google Scholar
Charles, Hill. The Merchandising of Lumber. Lumber Industry Series No.2, School of Forestry. New Haven, CT: Yale University, 1922.Google Scholar
Hood, Arthur A. Scientific Lumber Retailing. Mount Morris, IL.: National Retail Lumber Dealers’ Association, 1925.Google Scholar
Hood, Arthur A. Profitable Lumber Retailing. Mount Morris, IL.: Kable Bros., 1928.Google Scholar
Jan, Jennings. Cheap and Tasteful Dwellings. Design Competitions and the Convenient Interior, 1879-1909. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press,2002.Google Scholar
Burnham, Kelly. Design and the Production ofHouses.NewYork: McGraw-Hill, 1959.Google Scholar
Killough, H.B. Economics of Marketing. New York: Harper and Bros., 1933.Google Scholar
Laird, D.A., What Makes People Buy. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1935.Google Scholar
Laird, Pamela W. Advertising Progress. American Business and the Rise ofConsumer Marketing. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press,1998.Google Scholar
Carolyn, Loeb. Entrepreneurial Vernacular. Developers’ Subdivisions in the 1920s. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.Google Scholar
Ludwig, Fred H. The Retail Lumber Dealer and How He Functions. Lumber Industry Series VII, School of Forestry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1927.Google Scholar
MacRae, Archibald O. History of the Province of Alberta. Calgary: Western Canada History Co., 1912.Google Scholar
Roland, Marchand. Advertising the American Dream. Making Way for Modernity, 1920-1940. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.Google Scholar
Mills, G.E. Buying Wood and Building Farms. Marketing Lumber and Farm Building Designs on the Canadian Prairies 1880 to 1920. Ottawa: National Parks Service, 1981.Google Scholar
Marina, Moskowitz. The Standard of Living. The Measure of the Middle Class in America. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press,2004.Google Scholar
National Housing Committee. The Housing Market. A Report. Washington,DC: National Housing Committee, 1937.Google Scholar
National Lumber Manufacturers’ Association. Highlights of a Decade of Achievement. Washington, DC: The Association, 1929.Google Scholar
Northeastern Retail Lumbermen’s Association. Handbook for Lumber and Building Material Merchants. Rochester, NY: The Association, 1929.Google Scholar
Martha, Olney. Buy Now, Pay Later. Advertising, Credit and Consumer Durables in the 1920s. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,1991.Google Scholar
Palamountain, Joseph C. The Politics ofDistribution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1955.Google Scholar
Paxton, Edward T. What People Want When TheyBuya House. Washington, DC: USGPO, 1955.Google Scholar
Phelps, D. Maynard. Sales Management. Policies and Procedures. Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin, 1951.Google Scholar
Phelps, D. Maynard, and Westing, J.H.. Marketing Management. Homewood, IL.: Richard D. Irwin, 1960.Google Scholar
Met Lawston, Saley. Realm ofthe Retailer. Chicago, IL: American Lumberman, 1902.Google Scholar
Michael, Schudson. Advertising. The Uneasy Persuasion. New York: Basic Books, 1984.Google Scholar
Robert, Schweitzer, and Michael, W. R Davis. America’s Favorite Homes. Mail OrderCatalogues as a Guide to PopularEarly20th Century Homes. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1990.Google Scholar
Sears, Roebuck and Co. Sears, Roebuck Catalog of Houses. New York: Dover, 1991. (Reprint. Orig. pub. 1926).Google Scholar
Shoppell, R.W. et al. Turn ofthe CenturyHouses, Cottages and Villas. Floor Plans and Line Illustrations for 118 Homes from Shoppell's Catalogs. New York: Dover, 1984.Google Scholar
Susan, Strasser. Satisfaction Guaranteed. The Making ofthe American Mass Market. New York: Pantheon, 1989.Google Scholar
Susan, Strasser, McGovern, Charles, and Judt, Matthias, eds. Getting and Spending. European and American Consumer Societies in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Stevenson, Katherine C., and Jandl, H. Ward. Homes by Mail. A Guide to Houses from Sears, Roebuckand Company. Washington, D.C.: Preservation Press, 1986.Google Scholar
Tedlow, Richard S. New and Improved. The Story of Mass Marketing in America. New York: Basic Books, 1990.Google Scholar
Weiss, Marc. The Rise ofthe CommunityBuilders. The American Real Estate Industryand Urban Land Planning. New York: Columbia University Press, 1987.Google Scholar
Worley, William S.J.C., Nichols and the Shaping of Kansas City. Innovation in Planned Residential Communities. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1990.Google Scholar

Articles and Essays

Charles, Abrams. “The Residential Construction Industry.” In The Structure of American Industry, edited by Adams, Walter, 108–44. New York: Macmillan, 1950.Google Scholar
Arnould, Eric J., and Thompson, Craig J.. “Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): Twenty Years of Research.” Journal of Consumer Research 31, no. 4 (2005):868–82.Google Scholar
Roy, Church. “New Perspectives on the History ofProducts, Firms, Marketing, and Consumers in Britain and the United States since the Mid-nineteenth Century.” Economic History Review 52, no. 3 (1999): 405–35.Google Scholar
Sally, Clarke. “Consumer Negotiations.” Business and Economic History 26 (1997): 75–92.Google Scholar
Phil, Creden. “America Rediscovers its Hands.” American Magazine 156 (1953): 112–4.Google Scholar
Davies, K. “Applying Evolutionary Models to the Retail Sector.” International Review ofRetail, Distribution and ConsumerResearch 8, no. 2 (1998): 165–81.Google Scholar
Victoria, de Grazia. “Changing Consumption Regimes in Europe, 1930–1970. Comparative Perspectives on the Distribution Problem.” In Getting and Spending. European and American Consumer Societies in the Twentieth Century, edited by Strasser, Susan, McGovern, Charles, and Judt, Matthias, 59–83. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Dix Lumber Company. “The Dix Lumber Company.” In The Boston Post Book ofHomes, edited by Drummond, F.E. and Robertson, C.B., 97. Boston, MA: Home Building Department of the Boston Post, 1925 (advertisement).Google Scholar
Ben, Fine. “From Political Economy to Consumption.” In Acknowledging Consumption, edited by Miller, Daniel, 127–64. London: Routledge,1995.Google Scholar
Carolyn, Flynn. “Pacific Ready-Cut Homes. Mass-Produced Bungalows in Los Angeles, 1908–1942.” M.A. Thesis, UCLA, 1986.Google Scholar
James, Ford. “Better Homes in America.” In The Better Homes Manual, edited by Halbert, Blanche, 741–8. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press,1931.Google Scholar
Gelber, Stephen M. “Do-It-Yourself. Constructing, Repairing and Maintaining Domestic Masculinity.” American Quarterly 49, no. 1 (1997): 366–112.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Carolyn M. “From Service to Sales. Home Economics in Light and Power, 1920–1940.” Technologyand Culture 38 (1997): 121–52.Google Scholar
Richard, Harris. “The Talk of the Town: Kit Manufacturers Negotiated the Building Industry, 1905–1929.” Unpublished manuscript, McMaster University, 2008.Google Scholar
Richard, Harris. “The Doctor of Construction. Arthur A. Hood’s Prescription for the Building Industry, 1910–1960.” Unpublished manuscript, McMMaster University, 2008.Google Scholar
Ketridge, C.H. “Retail Lumber Associations Are Giving Valuable Service to Their Members,” MVL 45, no. 22 (May 29, 1914), 34–35.Google Scholar
Theodore, Levitt. “Marketing Myopia.” Harvard Business Review 38 (1960):45–56.Google Scholar
Charles, McGovern. “Consumption.” In A Companion to 20th-Century America, edited by Whitfield, Stephen J., 358–76. Oxford: Blackwell,2004.Google Scholar
Mead, Richard R. “Merchandising Residential Properties.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 190 (1937): 60–74.Google Scholar
Mills, G.E. and Holdsworth, D.W.. “The B.C. Mills Prefabricated System: The Emergence of Ready-Made Buildings in Western Canada.” Canadian Historic Sites 14: 128–170.Google Scholar
Schumpeter, Joseph A. “The Creative Response in Economic History.” Journal ofEconomic History 7, no. 2 (1947): 149–59.Google Scholar
David, Schwartz. “When Home Sweet Home Was Just a Mailbox Away.” The Smithsonian 16, no. 8 (1985): 90–100.Google Scholar
Susan, Strasser. “Making Consumption Conspicuous. Transgressive Topics Go Mainstream.” Technologyand Culture 43 (2002): 755–70.Google Scholar
Vargo, S.L., and Lusch, R.F.. “Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing.” Journal of Marketing 68, no. 1 (2004): 1–17.Google Scholar
Paul, Voisey. “Boosting the Small Prairie Town, 1904–1931. An Example from Southern Alberta.” In Town and City. Aspects ofWestern Canadian Urban Development, edited by Artibise, A.F.J., 147–76. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, 1981.Google Scholar

Government Publications

Butler, Ovid M. The Distribution of Softwood Lumber in the Middle West. Wholesale Distribution. Studies of the Lumber Industry, Part VIII, U.S.D.A. Report No.115, Washington, DC, 1917.Google Scholar
Butler, Ovid M. The Distribution of Softwood Lumber in the Middle West. Retail Distribution. Studies of the Lumber Industry, Part IX. U.S.D.A. Report No. 166, Washington, DC, 1918.Google Scholar
Ely, Richard T. “Foreword.” In Mortgages on Homes. Census Monograph II, U.S. Department of Commerce. Washington, DC: USGPO,1923.Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930. Construction Industry. Washington, DC: USGPO, 1933.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Corporation. The Lumber Industry. Part IV. Conditions in Production and Wholesale Distribution Including Wholesale Prices, April 21, 1914. Washington, DC: USGPO,1914.Google Scholar
U.S. Federal Housing Administration. United States HousingMarket, Housing Statistics, and Market Quotas, Analysis for States, Metropolitan Districts, Cities, Counties. Washington, DC: FHA, 1935.Google Scholar
U.S. Federal Housing Administration. The FHA Story in Summary, 1934–1959. Washington, DC: FHA, 1959.Google Scholar
U.S. Temporary National Economic Committee, Investigation of Concentration of Economic Power. Towards More Housing. Monograph 8. Washington, DC: USGPO, 1940.Google Scholar

Trade Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers

Architects Aiding the Small Builder.” New York Times Nov. 2, 1924, p.RE2Google Scholar
Brightbill, J. Earl. “Modern Merchandizing.” American Lumberman (July 28, 1928): 42–43.Google Scholar
Douglas, J.B., “Building and Loan.” American Lumberman 2544 (Feb. 16,1924): 62.Google Scholar
Douglas, J.B., “Federal Victory in the Lumber Suit.” New York Times Jan. 10, 1913, 7.Google Scholar
Douglas, J.B., “Fourth Suit against the Lumber Trust.” New York Times Sept. 28, 1911, 1.Google Scholar
Fish, Charles W. “Meeting Mail-Order Homes Competition.” National Lumberman 86, no. 9 (Sept. 1931): 28–29.Google Scholar
Gries, John M. “Line Yards.” American Lumberman 2287 (March 15, 1919): 50–51; 2288 (March 22, 1919): 40; 2289 (March 29, 1919): 38G.Google Scholar
Hemlock, Adeline S. “Our Women’s Department.” Western RetailLumberman 3, no. 1 (March 19, 1914): 18.Google Scholar
Hines, Ralph J. “On Our Retail Way.” American Lumberman 3071 (April 11, 1936): 36–37, 55.Google Scholar
Ketridge, C.H., “Evolution is Bringing Many Changes.” Mississippi Valley Lumberman 45, no. 20 (March 15, 1914): 34–35.Google Scholar
Ketridge, C.H., “Lumber Cooperative, A.” New York Times Oct. 15, 1925, 39.Google Scholar
Ketridge, C.H., “Lumber Men Indicted.” New York Times June 24, 1911, 3.Google Scholar
Ketridge, C.H., “Mail Order Points Way to the Lumber Dealer.” Printer's Ink (Oct. 15, 1931), 130, 132.Google Scholar
Ketridge, C.H., “Millrose Lumber Company. Ten Reasons Why We Should Buy in Springfield” (advertisement). Reproduced in A.W. Shaw Co, Report on Profitable Management, 61.Google Scholar
Moorehead, J.R., “A Paint Stock Brings Women.” Lumber Manufacturer and Dealer 77, no. 11 (May 28, 1926), 37.Google Scholar
Mueller, Ben C. “The Mail Order Lumber Business.” American Lumberman 2172 (Dec. 30, 1916), 43.Google Scholar
Mueller, Ben C. “New Do-It-Yourself Market, The.” Business Week June 14, 1952, 60–62, 64,66, 69–70, 72, 74, 76.Google Scholar
Mueller, Ben C. “New Lumber Trust Suit.” Washington Post, Sept. 1, 1911, 2.Google Scholar
Olson, Agnes M. “Building Homes.” American Lumberman 2327 (Dec. 20, 1919), 1, 42.Google Scholar
O’Neel, Estelle. “Selling the Woman.” American Building Association News (April), 155, 186–187.Google Scholar
Reber, B.C., “In 3½ Years Their Annual Sales Reach $500,000.” Building Supply News 24, no. 14 (April 6, 1926), 17, 19–21.Google Scholar
Seidel, Julius. “Lumber Merchandising.” American Lumberman 2543 (Feb. 9, 1927): 52–53.Google Scholar
Seidel, Julius. “Shoulder Trade, The.” Time Aug. 2, 1954, 62–66.Google Scholar
Southern Pine Sales Association. “You Can Sell Complete Homes.” American Lumberman 2308 (Aug. 9, 1919), 9 (advertisement).Google Scholar
Vickrey, Roy. “Mail-Order Competition.” Building Supply News 24, no. 8 (May 25, 1926), 405.Google Scholar
Walker, Platt B. “How Can I Get a Raise?” Western Retail Lumberman 3, no. 11 (Jan. 21, 1915), 4.Google Scholar
Whitehead, Charles E. “Organizing Credits.” Building Supply News 1, no. 5 (Sept. 4, 1917), 237–39.Google Scholar
Wood, W. Wadsworth. “Grade Marking.” Lumber Manufacturer and Dealer 78, no. 4 (Aug. 20, 1926), 30.Google Scholar
Wadsworth, Wood W.. “Grade Marking.” Lumber Manufacturer and Dealer 77, no. 3 (Feb. 5, 1926), 49.Google Scholar