Lewis Homes
Subtitle: Homes Of Character
Publisher: Lewis Manufacturing Company
Published: 1922
Language: eng
Number of pages: 132
Subjects: Lewis Homes; Lewis Manufacturing Company; floor plans; house plans; advertising; dwellings; homes; residences; prefabrication; trade catalog; domestic architecture
Description: <div>Paperback catalog with brownish-red covers. The back cover is blank. The front cover says "Lewis Homes" in black capital letters at the top, a color illustration of a home in a square in the center, and the words "Homes of Character" at the bottom. The covers extend about 1 cm over the inside pages, (top, bottom, and page edge) and therefore those edges are ripped and torn as the catalog has been opened over the years. The spine of the catalog is also very ripped and torn, and the entire booklet is showing wear and tear. The pages inside show house plans in brownish ink on cream-colored paper. Size: 8.25" x 11.25" <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>From antiquehomestyle.com: "Lewis
      Manufacturing Company,  located in Bay City, Michigan, was one of the prominent
      Michigan companies that engaged early in the kit home manufacturing business.
      Like Aladdin,  with which Lewis had very close ties in its earliest years
      (it manufactured Aladdin's kit homes until 1914), Lewis produced high-quality
      homes in its facility on the shores of Lake Huron. 
    </div><p>Shipping by rail to train depots throughout the Midwest and beyond, Lewis 
      was able to achieve the distribution reach, if not the volume, of its competitors. 
      Home builders, swayed by the compelling marketing of the manufacturers, 
      were able to pick up crates of materials at the local train station and, 
      with a little help from their friends and kin, assemble their new homes 
      over the course of a summer.</p>
    <p>Such kit homes were often small, but we've included a range of styles and 
      sizes to show the variety available.</p>
    <p>The history of Lewis Manufacturing was somewhat convoluted, but closely 
      followed the life of its namesake, Adna G. Lewis. According to the <em>History 
      of Bay County, Michigan</em> (1905), Lewis spent most of his career in Bay 
      City in the lumber and milling industry for which that region was famous.</p>
    <p>In 1879, George Lewis (Adna's father) formed a partnership with Albert 
      Miller, under the name Miller & Lewis, until 1891. It was then reorganized 
      as George Lewis & Company, a large shingle manufacturer. At the same 
      time, Mr. Lewis became associated with G.H. Merrill & Company, which 
      developed into Lewis Manufacturing. With the death of Merrill in 1895, the 
      company was incorporated with George Lewis as president, and sons G. H. 
      Lewis as vice president and Adna G. Lewis as secretary and treasurer. Adna 
      Lewis continued as manager of Lewis Manufacturing, which by 1905 "dealt 
      in all kinds of lumber, sash, doors, and interior finishings." </p>
    <p>An early association with North American Construction (the Aladdin homes
       people) evaporated during the early 'teens. Lewis Manufacturing began
      distributing  its homes catalog in about 1914, though advertisements for
      its pre-cut cottages  may have appeared earlier. In the 1910 census, Adna
      Lewis lists his occupation  as a manufacturer of doors and sash. He played
      an active role in growing the company throughout the 'teens, but sold
      out his interest in the company before 1920.    </p>
    <p>Included in our collection here is one small catalog called "Liberty
      Homes."
      It appears without a copyright or any reference to Lewis Manufacturing,
      so its date can't be certain. According to other researchers (Schweitzer),
      Lewis began publishing its own catalog in 1913–14 with a "Lewis-Built
      Homes catalogue, with 105 different homes, classified as "Bungalows," "Semi-Bungalows," "Cottages,"
      ..." The records are thin, but the Liberty Homes catalog shows
      one plan that was included in the 1922 Homes of Character catalog. </p>
    <p>Whatever
      the connection, it's clear that the Liberty Ready-Cut Homes were the
      surviving kits when the Depression hit. The last large home catalog may
      have been published in 1926; later catalogs apparently offered only the
      small Liberty
      plans. </p>
Lewis Manufacturing
      was in business until 1973 when it went bankrupt."