In the early 1900’s the railway companies began the final steps in expanding their branch lines throughout the southwest corner. To local businessmen the much-improved access to rail lines, and the increased service on those lines turned out to be a mixed blessing. The revolution in the transporting of goods allowed for the explosion of retail opportunities in small towns, while at the same time the seeds were sown for the eventual decline in rural retail.
The same service that brought goods to the stores in Boissevain and Napinka could take customers to the big city to shop. The trains could also be used to deliver goods right to the customer and the T. Eaton Company took full advantage.
Not content with just selling us “everything for the home”, they moved on to selling the home itself. Delivered right to your door so to speak, with quite a bit of assembly required.
The house portion of Eaton's merchandise was a Western Canadian phenomenon only. Houses were advertised only in the Winnipeg catalogue and in special plan books. The service started in the early 1900's, in response to the population boom on the prairies.
The lumber came by boxcar from British Columbia and the millwork came from Winnipeg. Freight was paid to the nearest railway station. Step by step instructions were included.
From an ad in the 1913 Eaton’s catalogue.
An assembled house, still attractive in 2018
A common misconception about the Eaton's houses is that they were prefabricated. Although they were shipped as a single item, the lumber was not even precut. Other companies, such as the Canadian Aladdin Co. Ltd., did have precut houses and one company shipped prefab materials.
More than Houses
For a time after WW1, Eaton’s Catalogue offered a complete farm – everything but the horses – to returning veterans taking up land offered in the prairie provinces. Other companies offered other options. More than one bank in western Manitoba was delivered as a package, and a few schools as well.
Competition
Although Eaton’s was the most widely known provider of the mail-order buildings, the largest company in the business in Canada was the Canadian Aladdin Co. Ltd. with its head office in the CPR building in Toronto.
Canadian Aladdin houses were precut at the factory. The lumber and materials were accompanied by a detailed set of blueprints and construction manual. Aladdin boasted that anyone who could swing a hammer could build an Aladdin Home and they offered to pay $1 per knot for every knot you could find in a carload of Aladdin lumber.
In general, the mail-order house business worked like this: A few houses were listed in the catalogue as a teaser. The catalogue advertised free plan books that gave complete details about the houses: an artist's sketch, floor plan, and information on lumber, doors, windows, flooring, and hardware.
Once the customer selected a house, the blueprints were purchased from the plan book for $2.50, although when competition appeared, the cost dropped to $1.00. When a house was ordered, the cost of the blueprints was subtracted from the invoice.
Many of homes can still be found, on farms and in towns across the prairies. It was an attractive idea to some, but it never did become a threat to the local lumberyard. In fact, in this instance the improved train service probably helped the local lumberyard compete. They also competed by offering more than just boards and nails. Unlike some of the items in the Eaton’s Catalogue, most of the materials for house building became readily available closer to home.
Invoice for materials from Eaton's for McGrath home, Fielding, Saskatchewan
Sources:
Records of the mail-order department, held at the Archives of Ontario, reveal the rise and fall of the mail-order industry in Canada.
http://thiswaswinnipeg.blogspot.ca/2009/03/eatons-catalogue-houses.html
http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/cpm/catalog/cat2104e.shtml
