Then Levittown changed housing forever when it opened in 1946 on Long Island, New York. You can read more about it at our blog post Is this old home a Sears Catalog house? Although modestly labor-saving compared to a home built totally on-site, Sears delivered their last house kit near the end of the war in 1942 due to slack demand. The catalog-giant Sears ramped up home-building efficiency somewhat by offering pre-cut lumber kits for their “Modern Homes," which were delivered to the nearest railroad depot, then trucked to a homesite to be assembled by local carpenters. Up to 1946, homes were built one at a time by local craftsmen, using traditional construction methods. The way homes were built also changed during the ‘40s, and the best examples we can think of for comparison are the pre-war "Sears Catalog Houses” and post-war Levittown New York. Construction of new homes was slowed by the war, and then dramatically sped up when it ended by a housing shortage and surging post-war economy. The 1940s was a decade split down the middle by the end of World War 2 in 1945.
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