A History of Mobile and Manufactured Housing

The mobile home evolved from a trailer. Trailers were originally designed to be hauled behind the family car for vacations.  The first trailer was nothing more than a homemade, simple wooden tent on wheels.

 
In the 1930s Arthur G. Sherman, president of a pharmaceutical manufacturing company wanted to go on a camping vacation without the burden of setting up and putting away a tent, which could take up to an hour. He made his own simple six by nine foot trailer with folding upper and lower bunks and a coal burning stove.

 
In the 1930s he realized a demand and started his own trailer business. He rented a garage and hired a couple of cabinet makers and started building trailers for $300 per unit. Eventually, the method of production turned into an assembly line, similar to automobile manufacturers. In 1936 he sold 6,000 units and grossed 3 million.
 

At the time, the image of the trailer was glamorized as a return to nature, physical mobility, roaming freely and individuality. Also, there was a fascination with the new technology the trailers offered.

 
Soon, there was a demand for places to park overnight while on vacation. Parks were created, some with drinking water, toilets, showers, laundry facilities and street lights.

 
Although the manufacturers created the trailers as vacation vehicles, an increasing number of people were using trailer parks as a permanent residence.

 
Many parks were less than optimal. Many workers moved from city to city seeking employment and crowding into congested trailer parks.

 
In the late 1930s, there was a housing shortage due to the depression.  In 1938, the first mobile home was described in an issue of Travel Trailer as “not intended to be towed across the country generally . . . constructed as regular homes . . . the person who will buy the house will contemplate remaining at one site for a considerable period of time, but that circumstance at some future date may require removal.”
 

During World War II the perception of mobile homes changed from vehicles to permanent residences. There were acute housing shortages where defense-related activities occurred. This caused the increase use and advance design of mobile homes.

In the 1940s various governments used mobile homes for temporary housing until conventional housing could be built.

In the 1950s and 1960s the designs of mobile homes improved. The interior was designed to look more like a traditional home than a trailer.
 
In the 1970s sales of mobile homes escalated due to an inadequate supply of low income housing. Mobile homes were the main form of affordable housing available to buy.

However, the safety and quality of many homes was inadequate. In response, in 1974 the congress passed the Mobile Home Construction and Safety Standards Act. This authorized the Department of Housing and Urban Development to establish and enforce a national building code that would ensure that mobile homes satisfied minimal standards of safety and durability.

Today the mobile homes have come a long way in quality and design. According to Consumer Reports, “manufactured housing can last as long as site-built housing”.  Many look like regular conventional homes. Some are much larger, double or triple wide, two story, some have regular garages.
 
Many people choose to live in a mobile home as a more affordable alternative. Others enjoy the sense of community.

 

 From humble beginnings to elegant dwellings.

The manufactured home of today is an evolution of style and amenities that has its roots in a history of answering the American public's demand for quality housing at an exceptional value.

In the 1920s, "trailer coaches" were built to serve the American traveler who wanted the ability, when vacationing, of having a ready-made place to sleep at a campsite. During Word War II, these temporary dwellings were used to house factory workers who came from miles around to aid in the war effort.

When the war ended, veterans came home to find affordable housing in short supply. The industry answered this call by building homes that were large enough to house a veteran and his family. However, these homes could still be moved from one location to another to provide the mobility that the family desired.

n the 1960s, American consumers wanted even more out of the industry. The demand was for bigger trailers with more amenities and the new appliances that were rapidly coming on the market. And still, it had to be mobile. History buffs may remember Lucille Ball in the movie, "The Long, Long Trailer."

From this demand was born the mobile home. Mobile homes were bigger in size, nicer in appearance and met the needs of prospective young American homeowners.

In 1974, Congress passed the National Mobile Home Construction and Safety Standards Act, also known as the HUD Code. This watershed legislation made mobile homes the only form of private and single-family building subject to federal regulation. Even site-built homes did not enjoy such strict regulation. These regulations, which became effective in June of 1976, preempted any existing state or local construction and safety codes applying to the product.

The effect of federal regulation was to more clearly define mobile homes as buildings, rather than vehicles. The Housing Act of 1980 adopted this change officially, mandating the use of "manufactured housing" (factory-built homes) to replace "mobile homes" in all federal law and literature for homes built since 1976.

The manufactured home you see today is truly a home and it bears little resemblance to its 'tin-box' predecessor, the trailer. Often, you may not even recognize a manufactured home - so close is it in design and structure to its "site-built" counterpart. Thanks to sophisticated production processes and the demands of the consumer, manufactured homes have become a model of efficiency, affordability, and innovative design options.

 

 

 

 

 

Starting in 1976, the HUD Code established a stringent series of construction and safety standards that ensure that today’s manufactured homes are superior to "mobile homes,"