Collection #

P 0203

 

 

 

 

indiana Lustron homes
Color Photographs, ca. 2000

 

Collection Information

Historical Sketch

Scope and Content Note

Contents

Cataloging Information

 

 

 

Processed by

Jared Hilligoss
28 July 2008

Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269

www.indianahistory.org

 

COLLECTION INFORMATION

VOLUME OF
COLLECTION:

1 Box of color photographs

COLLECTION
DATES:

Ca. 2000

PROVENANCE:

Raymond M. Featherstone, Jr., Indianapolis, IN 46220

RESTRICTIONS:

None

COPYRIGHT:

 

REPRODUCTION
RIGHTS:

Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Indiana Historical Society.

ALTERNATE
FORMATS:

 

RELATED
HOLDINGS:

 

ACCESSION
NUMBER:

2001.0182

NOTES:

 

historiCAL SKETCH

Lustron homes were designed to be affordable, maintenance-free housing.  They were developed by Carl Strandlund in 1946.  Strandlund had originally been seeking large quantities of steel to build gas stations for Standard Oil of Indiana.  Due to the World War, there were still restrictions on the use of steel, but one of the available uses for steel at the time was housing.  Strandlund decided to use the steel panels originally designed for gas stations as a way to build homes.  He traveled to Washington, D.C. to secure loans and materials for the company, promising to build a hundred houses a day.  Congress jumped at the opportunity to meet the housing needs associated with the end of the war, and they loaned over $15 million to Strandlund and his business.  That same month, June 1947, Strandlund became the controlling stockholder of Lustron Corporation.  However, costs quickly soared and the initial retail price for a Lustron home, $7,000, soon rose to over $11,000.  It also took longer than the anticipated 150 man hours to erect, taking almost 350 hours.  Over time, with the experience gained, workers were able to put up the homes in about 200 hours.  Unfortunately by 1949, Lustron was losing $1.5 million a month, and the government ordered foreclosure in February 1950.

Although the Lustron Corporation is a thing of the past, Lustron homes have lived up to their promise of being nearly maintenance-free.  The paint was baked into the enamel tiles on the exterior walls and therefore never need to be repainted.  The shingles were also made of steel and almost all Lustron homes that are still standing have their original roof.  Although comparatively small at 1,000 square feet, the architects took extreme measures in saving space.  Book shelves were built into the walls, interior doors would roll into the walls, and the dish washer doubled as a washing machine.  The common complaint about the Lustron home was the design of the furnace.  It was built into the ceiling so that the heat would radiate down into the room.  But, since heat rises, the heat never reached the rest of the room and the floors were unbearably cold.  Many of the heating systems had to be modified.

In two years there were 2,498 homes produced by Lustron, and 159 of those were built in Indiana.

 

Sources:

Nabors, Jean. ""A New Standard for Living" The Lustron Home." Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History Fall 1997: 30-37.

Thornton, Rosemary. "Lustron Homes: Part 1 and 3." Old House Web. 28 July 2008 <http://http://www.oldhouseweb.com/stories/detailed/12270.shtml>.

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection includes 300 color snapshots of 123 Lustron houses located in Indiana.  The photographs were taken by the donor around the year 2000 and document the location and the condition of the houses at that time.  He recorded identifying information on the verso of each photograph.

The photographs are stored in one shoebox size box. They are organized in the collection guide alphabetically by city. They are then stored by the county name.  This gives researchers the option of searching the collection guide for houses in a particular county or city.

Extra information in the collection guide includes: some homeowner’s names that were provided at the time the pictures were taken, these are included in parenthesis; some interior photographs and those are identified; the two Lustron houses in Indiana that are on the National Register of Historic Places. 

 

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

CONTAINER

Albany, Indiana:

925 E. State St.

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Delaware County

Anderson, Indiana:

1729 W. 11th St.
913 W. Vineyard

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Madison County

Angola, Indiana:
 
314 Gilmore

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Steuben County

Auburn, Indiana:

700 block of Ohio Street
909 N. Van Buren

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Dekalb County

Beech Grove, Indiana: 

210 S. 10th Ave.  

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Marion County

Bloomington, Indiana:

1901 Maxwell Lane
330 Smith Rd.
1040 Maxwell Lane
309 S. Mitchell
402 S. Highland
400 S. Highland

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Monroe County

Brazil, Indiana:

SR 340 West Side of Brazil
US 40 on East Side of Brazil
US 40 on East Side of Brazil (Mershon)

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Clay County

Brownstown, Indiana:

US 50 and SR 39

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Jackson County

Burney, Indiana:

748 County Rd. 850 W

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Decatur County

Cambridge City, Indiana:

US 40 and SR 1

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Wayne County

Chesterton, Indiana:

411 Bowser (National Register of Historic Places)

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Porter County

Columbus, Indiana:
 
1811 Laurel Dr.
3121 National Rd.

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Bartholomew County

Danville, Indiana:

49 Maple St.

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Hendricks County

Elkhart, Indiana:
 
222 West Blvd.

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Elkhart County

Evansville, Indiana:

703 Sonntag
723 Sonntag
3918 West Upper Van Ness
418 South Kelsey
2650 Maryland Street
3918 N. Upper Mt. Vernon Rd.
3617 West New Harmony Road
6118 W. Hogue
1419 Brookside Dr.
1423 West Brookside Dr.
1619 West Brookside Dr.
5821 West Madison (John Werner)
3011 Lincoln 

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Vanderburgh County

Fort Wayne, Indiana:

2510 North Oakridge Rd.
4127 South Rosewood
1133 Somerset Lane
415 West Maple Grove
4105 South Webster
1928 Glenwood
2857 E. Muncie Rd. on Little Cedar Lake
3214 North Parnell
316 W. Fleming (Huffman’s)

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Allen County

Greendale, Indiana:

226 Parkside
863 Sunset Ln.
82 Cook Ave.
86 Cook Ave.
230 Cook Ave.

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Allen County

Greenfield, Indiana:

737 South State
720 N. East St.

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Hancock County

Greenwood, Indiana:

1159 North Bluff Rd.

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Johnson County

Hammond, Indiana:

1511 Caroline
7423 Woodman

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Lake County

Hanover, Indiana:

104 Crowe St.

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Jefferson County

Indianapolis, Indiana:

8081 West Crawfordsville Rd.
1029 Hawthorne 
6212 South Action
5402 S. Shelby
3623 Gladstone
1728 N. Leland – includes interior
(National Register of Historic Places) 
2079 E. Broad Ripple Ave. 
3821 E. 42nd St.
3819 E. 42nd St. 
3880 W. 92nd St.
5636 Indianola
3101 Campbell
1908 E. Kessler Blvd.
5340 E. St. Joseph St. – includes interior
3646 N. Denny 
3920 Denwood 
3825 N. Sherman 
6452 Broadway
6212 Central – includes interior
6312 Central
6466 N. Central
6435 N. Riverview Dr. (Central) – includes interior 
Oaklandon, Indiana: 
6546 N. Olvey

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Marion County

Kentland, Indiana:

315 Ray St.

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Newton County

LaPorte, Indiana:
 
2408 South Monroe

Color Photographs:
Box 1
LaPorte County

Lebanon, Indiana:

1111 N. Lebanon St.
1005 N. East St.

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Boone County

Madison, Indiana: 

1441 Michigan Rd.

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Jefferson County

Marion, Indiana:

318 E. 7th St. 
1320 N. Wabash
909 West Sixth
4601 South Washington St. (B.W. Shultz)
3501 South Galletin 

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Grant County

Milan, Indiana: 

813 South Warn St.

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Ripley County

Miller, Indiana: 

9317 Lakeshore Dr.

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Lake County

Muncie, Indiana:

3108 N. Amhurst
3004 West Devon Road
3109 W. Devon Road 
5100 N. Everett at Grace Lane
1621 S. Mulberry

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Delaware County

Oldenburg, Indiana:

2020 S. SR 229

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Franklin County

Ossian, Indiana:

8557 N. SR 1 and 300 E. (C.N. Ditmar)

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Wells County

Peru, Indiana:

500 N. Broadway

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Miami County

Redkey, Indiana:

203 N. Spencer

Color Photographs:
Box 1 
Jay County

Richmond, Indiana:

3228 E. Avon Lane
168 SW 13th St.

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Wayne County

Rising Sun:

504 Willow St.

Color Photographs:
Box 1 
Ohio County

Schererville:
 
1319 US 30 near US 41

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Lake County

Shirkieville, Indiana:

US 150

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Vigo County

South Bend, Indiana:

1211 Black Oak
1920 E. Kesser
2131 N. Olive
303 Ironwood
3420 Mishawaka
2417 Sampson

Color Photographs:
Box 1
St. Joseph County

Straughn, Indiana:

5151 East Walnut St.

Color Photographs:
Box 1 
Henry County

Terre Haute, Indiana:

3318 Oak Ave. 
650 Oak Dr.
827 S. Center
204 S. McKinney Blvd.
3105 S. Wabash

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Vigo County

Tipton, Indiana:

308 N. Independence

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Tipton County

Wabash, Indiana:

550 N. Wabash Ave.

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Wabash County

Westfield, Indiana:

327 N. Union – includes interior

Color Photographs:
Box 1
Hamilton County

CATALOGING INFORMATION

For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:

1.      Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog:  http://opac.indianahistory.org/

2.      Click on the "Basic Search" icon.

3.      Select "Call Number" from the "Search In:" box.

4.      Search for the collection by its basic call number (in this case, P 0203).

5.      When you find the collection, go to the "Full Record" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.