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Sears Homes Still Standing
(IRN)-Your kids are unlikely to make a Christmas list by flipping through the pages of a Sears, Roebuck catalog. But in our grandparents' day, people could pick their house out of one.

Between 1908 and 1940, Sears sold homes as do it yourself kits. They would arrive in perhaps 12,000 pieces and with a 75 page instruction book. The idea was that "a man of average abilities" could put it together in 90 days.

Almost 75,000 of these homes were sold, and many are still standing. Rosemary Thornton has written a new book about them, Sears Homes of Illinois.

She says she fell in love with the "kit homes" while on a writing assignment in Carlinville. She says such a house could have been simpler to build in those days, as many homes in the early 20th Century did not have indoor plumbing or electricity.

Thornton, who lives in Norfolk, Va., is making appearances as follows:

■ Nov. 27: Borders, 150 N. State St. , Chicago
■ Nov. 28: Barnes and Noble, West Dundee
■ Nov. 30: McLean County History Museum , Bloomington
■ Dec. 1: Grand Prairie of the West Library, Virden
■ Dec. 2: Virden Community Center
■ Dec. 4: The Book Shelf, Carlinville
■ Dec. 4: Barnes and Noble, Fairview Heights

(Illinois Radio Network)
11 22 10 by Newsroom
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