Sears Roebuck Company sold house kits in the early 1900’s.  Sold through their Modern Homes Department, the kits initially came with doors, windows, millworks, trim and hardware.  Framing lumber was not included, although home buyers did receive a “lumber mill” list instructing the buyer what to purchase at the local lumber yard.

In 1910, Sears began including uncut lumber with the kits.  Then in 1914, you had to option to purchase kits which included precut lumber.

In addition to traditional lumber framed homes, Sears also offered kits for concrete block houses which they advertised as “almost identical in appearance with hand finished stoned…(and)…more sanitary than the average house.”

Frank Blair Home in Belton, CassCounty, Missouri.
A Sears Home, it was Built In 1904

The concrete blocks were produced with their Wizard block making machine.  Using this machine, you could make 50-70 blocks a day. The blocks necessary for the average basement would take nearly four weeks to make.

Source: The Houses that Sears Built,
Everything you ever wanted to know about Sears catalog homes,
by Rosemary Thornton, Gentle Beam Publications, Alton, Il, 2002.

Other Concrete Block Uses

At the same time that Sears introduced the Concrete Block Home, a modified stone/lumber style became extremely popular in the Midwest.   Know as the Midwest Shirtwaist or more locally as the Kansas City Shirtwaist, the house featured a foursquare room plan, two stories and a stone pillared front porch.  The stone was primarily field grade limestone, formerly used for foundations and available everywhere at low cost.

   “LyleHome” c.1905  N. Havana St. Butler, Mo
   An expanded shirtwaist with limestone porch

The style was so popular that entire neighborhoods in Kansas City feature nearly identical homes with stone front porches.

Capitalizing on this architectural style, later homes utilized concrete blocks made with the Sears Wizard block making machine, to duplicate this style at even less cost.  When the blocks are painted, it can be extremely difficult to distinguish the difference between a dressed stone block and a concrete block.

Source: The Kansas City Star