In Search of Sears Homes

Here’s a recent photo of a Sears “craftsman cottage” erected in 1924 in Apalachin, Tioga County. The home’s original owners later added two bedrooms seen on the far side of the house.

In 1908, Sears Roebuck & Co. began selling kits for houses through its “Modern Homes” catalog. Over the next 32 years, according to the company, Sears sold more than 70,000 “catalog homes” in the form of kits with precut lumber and most of the other parts necessary to build a house. The kits were delivered in railroad box cars.

If you live in one of these Sears homes, we’d like you to get in touch with us for an article on Sears catalog houses around the Finger Lakes. Contact searshouse@lifeinthefingerlakes.com”