Choosing a Sears Dover: A 1935 House Hunt

In the summer of 1935, Albert and Lila Schmidt were in their 20s, renting a small apartment in DeKalb, and dreaming bigger. Their son, Duane, had just turned one, and the Schmidts wanted a house of their own in which to raise their boy. Albert had a stable job as a driver of an oil truck and they felt the time was right to make the leap into home ownership.

The Schmidts were visited by Ellwood H. May, the district manager of the Sears Modern Homes Division in Rockford. DeKalb was in May's sales territory, and he was there often meeting with prospective customers. He knocked on the Schmidt's door, chatted, and left them with a catalog full of possibilities.

The 1935 Modern Homes catalog that the Schmidts read through. Scan courtesy of Antique Home.

Lila dove in.

There were two models that she and Albert picked out: the Dover and the Wilmore — both “Americanized English,” both charming, both affordable. But which one was their house?

Lila wrote to May around August of 1935.

 

Lila wrote:

"We are considering building, possibly not until spring. We have picked out the Dover house page 33, and the Wilmore page 21 in [the] Sears book of homes. However, we would like to see these actual houses. Would you please mail to me the addresses of people who have built these two houses, within a radius of 100 miles, who would be willing to show us their homes?"

Wilmore or Dover? Dover or Wilmore? Both were affordable homes that Sears categorized as "Americanized English". How to decide?

May didn’t just send a list of addresses. In September, May himself took the Schmidts to see a Dover and a Wilmore, as he noted in an internal memo.

May wrote:

"I have been figuring with Albert Schmidt.... I showed them one of our Wilmores in Rockford and a Dover in Byron, Ill. They like the Dover and have sent 25.00 for a set of plans to Chicago."

After the tour, the Schmidts knew: Dover it is. They mailed Sears a $25 deposit — the 1935 equivalent of clicking “Place Order.” May was still "figuring" with Albert and negotiating the final price.

The Sears Dover the Schmidts purchased, located at 630 S. 1st St. in DeKalb. The Dover has a clipped gable roof. There is a bellcast roof over the front door that goes just under the front window. 

Sears Dover.

The Dover has three bedrooms (two on the second floor) and two bathrooms.

The front fireplace.

One of the upstairs bedrooms.

The Schmidts stayed in their Dover for decades, at least until 1979. They built not just a home, but a life that people remembered.

I found a 2011 reference to the Albert and Lila Schmidt in a column written by Barry Schrader for the DeKalb Daily Chronicle. He wrote:

"...I have been a popcorn lover since my uncle and aunt, Albert and Lila Schmidt, raised popcorn from the 1940s to the ‘60s in a plot south of DeKalb. They bagged it and sold it at their home and at their D-X service station at the corner of Fourth Street and Lincoln Highway. They have both passed away, but at the end of December their son, Duane, and his wife, Carol, gave me a surprise birthday gift – a two-pound bag of unpopped corn with the label 'Grandpa Albert’s White Popcorn.' "

"The label includes a photo of Albert in his captain’s cap, which I remember him wearing each time he gave us a ride on his pontoon boat at Lake Kegonsa near Stoughton, Wis. What wonderful memories, and I will cherish every kernel of that corn."

Photo from "Kernels of Popcorn Mystery Uncovered", Barry Schrader, DeKalb Daily Chronicle, January 11, 2011. Albert is pictured on the front of the bag.  

The man who delivered the popcorn to his cousin was Duane — the same one‑year‑old baby from the beginning of the story, now grown, still carrying the warmth of his parents’ generosity forward.

Copyright Disclaimer: All photographs in this post (unless otherwise noted) are from real estate aggregate Redfin.com and are used in this post for the purposes of education, consistent with 17 USC §107.