The Aladdin Company, Bay City Michigan

Infobox_Company
company_name = The Aladdin Company
company_
company_type = Defunct
company_slogan =
foundation = 1906
location = Bay City, Michigan
key_people = W. J. Sovereign, O. E. Sovereign
num_employees =
industry = Mail Order
products = Houses, Garages, Various Buildings
revenue = $5,400,000 (1950)
homepage =

The Aladdin Company was a pioneer in the pre-cut, mail-order home industry. Its primary competitors were Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck and Company. Aladdin began operations in 1906 and ceased operations in 1987.

History

Company Origins

Aladdin was founded by two brothers, W. J. Sovereign and O. E. Sovereign in Bay City, Michigan after W. J. observed the success of the Brooks Boat Mfg. Co. in selling knock-down boats. The company began by selling boat houses, garages and summer cottages.

Boom Years

Aladdin quickly expanded to become one of, if not the, largest mail-order house companies. By 1915 sales surpassed one million dollars. In 1918 Aladdin alone accounted for 2.37 percent of all housing starts in the United States, around 1,800 homes. The company's greatest success came from sales to industries which constructed company towns around new plants, mines and mills. The town of Hopewell, Virginia was largely developed by the DuPont Company using Aladdin homes. Aladdin also shipped 252 houses to Birmingham, England for the Austin Motor Company.

Decline

Aladdin's output fell below 1000 homes in 1928 on the eve of the Great Depression, and never recovered. The company continued to produce catalogues, and maintained sales of a few hundred homes per year through the 1960s. During the 1970s sales fell further and by 1982 the company ceased manufacturing. The company ceased all operations in 1987.

Contributions

The Aladdin company, along with other catalogue-home businesses played a key role in providing affordable housing to Americans in the period between the turn of the twentieth century and World War II. They also made key advancements in the prefabrication of housing which would enable the post-war housing boom. Finally, they helped to propagate nationwide preferences for common architectural styles such as the Craftsman, Bungalow, Four-Square and Cape Cod homes.

References

* Schweitzer, Robert and Davis, Michael W. R. "America's Faborite Homes: Mail Order Catalogues as a Guide to Popular Early 20th Century Houses" (1990).
* Roth, Ronica "Built in a Day: Capturing the Era of Catalog Architecture", Humanities, Sept/Oct 1998 pp 26-31.

External links

* Clarke Historical Library, Aladdin Homes Archive [http://clarke.cmich.edu/aladdin/Aladdin.htm]