Fournet House

Mr. Joseph S. Voorhies constructed this house in 1919, and within 3 months
he sold it to Mr. Oswald Fournet and his wife, Eva Marie Fournet. The
house remained the Fournet family home for 68 years. It was constructed
with catalogue-purchased materials, called a “kit home” or “mail order
home”. Construction components arrived by train, typically in 2 box cars.
It came complete with instructions, plans, pre-cut materials, supplies
and hardware. The concept of manufactured housing of this kind was
considered to be modern in the early 20th century was popular across
the United States. Kit homes were produced in large quantities to keep
costs low which made new houses financially accessible to more people.
The manufacturer of the Fournet House kit home was Aladdin Homes,
a Bay City, Michigan company. In 1906, they were the first to sell kit
houses in the United States. Many consider Sears as the innovator of the
modern tract home and the stimulus for many of the early large suburban
neighborhoods throughout the United States. However, Sears did not
enter the kit house market until 1908, and later, Montgomery Ward, Harris
Homes of Chicago, Ready Built House Company and Robinson’s followed.