Sears Kit Houses

Sears has been around a long time. For folks in the country like Scipioites, everything you needed could be ordered by mail through their catalogue. If you saw the article by Cato Historian Eva Taylor Sholes in the Citizen last week, you know that one of the more unusual things you could buy from Sears in days gone by was your house.
That's right - in the early 20th century, the whole thing was delivered "some assembly required." Eva went on to provide very interesting information about some kit homes, including the location of some local ones, but she didn't list any from Scipio.
I spent some time looking through our History Corner material today, and in the scrapbook from 1999 I found an old article from the newspaper with the information I was seeking.
I discovered that 4375 State Route 34B is a Sears house. It was built in 1938 for John H. and Mary Payne. They sold it in 1957 to William and Emily Smith. Only a few years later, the house was sold again to Archie R. and Virginia Koon in 1961.
The Koons owned this Honor-Bilt Modern Home by Sears for about 34 years, selling it in 1995 to Karin Komins. It passed to Karen and David Moscov and now appears to belong to Shirley Corbett.
I will take a ride by and get a photograph to post here on the blog.