Sears Arrow in Kankakee

Beginning in the late 1930's, Sears Roebuck introduced several new house designs that were never included in the Modern Homes catalogs. Only if customers went into a local Sears Modern Homes sales office could they see the new "bonus" houses. One of these models is the Sears Arrow, designed by Chicago architect A.H. Bacci.

1989 W. Calista St., Kankakee. Photo from Realtor site.

Sears Arrow.

This Sears Arrow in Kankakee is authenticated. It was one of 53 houses built by Sears Roebuck for employees of the Florence Stove Company in 1937 and 1938. There were eight new models created for the Florence Stove project--the Arrow being one of them.

The Florence Stove employees lived in terrible conditions before the Sears houses were built. 

The idea for the housing development came from Robert Fowler, president of the Florence Stove Company. He brought the workers' living conditions to the attention of General Robert E. Wood, president of Sears Roebuck. (Sears partially owned Florence Stove.) Wood and his team believed that they could build affordable houses (between $3200 and $3800) for the employees in a new subdivision. Employees would receive financing through FHA or local banks, and their house payments would be the same as what they were paying to rent the crummy shacks. Sears did not make any profit on the development.

The eight new models were added to the existing lineup of 63 Sears Modern Homes and sold throughout the country.

Roland and Helen Legg bought the Arrow on Calista Street. It was one of the more expensive Sears models in the development. Roland was a mounter at the stove company.

Mary Judith Legg was four when this photo was taken. She died in 1988.

Living room. Photo from Realtor site.

Those are the original kitchen cabinets, except those found under the sink. Photo from Realtor site.

Sears Roebuck and Florence Stove had a business relationship for many decades. In 1957, the Florence Stove Company acquired Roper Corp. and changed its name to that of Roper.
By 1974, Sears owned 41.4% of Roper and the retailer accounted for 71 percent of Roper's $336 million in sales.

Roper closed all Kankakee area operations in 1982. About 2,500 workers lost their jobs. The local economy was devastated because of this and nine other plant closings. Kankakee became a national news story, with headlines like: "The New Poor".

The 35-acre Florence Stove plant was demolished in 2016 after being unused for over 30 years. However, the Sears Arrow is still standing in Kankakee in tribute to the Florence Stove Company and its president's concern for the workers.

The Florence Stove factory in the 1930's--now gone.