Part 1 - Early days
There's nothing remotely new about the idea of portable, prefab buildings. The concept is at least as ancient as the pyramids.
The pharaohs who built tombs to last for ever also had walls to last the night, knock-down prefab pavilions that accompanied the rulers when they were roughing it with the troops.
Fast-forward several thousand years, and we find the record of America's first modular building, a panelized wooden structure, shipped from England to Cape Ann in 1624 to house personnel
from the fishing fleet.
A couple of centuries later, with hopeful prospectors arriving by the thousands at the height of the California Gold Rush, prefab buildings were being shipped west by rail to provide accommodation.
Later in the 19th century, as industrialization drove explosive urban growth and Church congregations were squeezed for new space, builders merchants introduced prefab buildings formed from zinc galvanized or corrugated iron sheets, and the relocatable "Tin Tabernacles" were born.
But the evolution of modern modular buildings truly began in 1904, when Sears, Roebuck & Co, and Aladdin Readi-Cut Homes of Michigan, began selling and delivering build-it-yourself kits nationwide. From 1904 to 1940, the mail order industry as a whole would sell roughly half a million of these forerunners of today's sophisticated prefabricated buildings.
Modular buildings' first commercial application was probably in Wichita in 1928, a "movable steel" burger stand, 12 x 20 x 12'. This humble eatery was the direct ancestor of the classic Valentine diners, familiar landmarks along the highways of America from the 1930s on. 1930s Valentine Diner However, as World War II drew to an end, the modular building market was still primarily focused on residential, and poised for a remarkable period of growth. Returning servicemen were impatient to start a new life with home and family, and demand far outstripped the capacity of traditional building. The market was more than ready for lower prices and speedier occupancy, and modular buildings were, literally, a ready-made solution.
These early modular buildings were simple in design, and lacked today's high standards for materials and construction; but they served the country's needs, and some are still in use after 50 years or more.
The 40s and 50s housing boom was the impetus the modular building industry needed for the slow but steady evolution of new techniques and materials, and the gradual development of new commercial, industrial and institutional applications, that took place over the next thirty years.
Part 2 of this brief history will look at that period, and at the remarkable advances that have made today's modular buildings a better business solution in fields as diverse as the military, churches, modular schools, offices, modular hospitals, press boxes... and, yes, fast-food outlets. (That good idea back in '28 had legs!)
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