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Sioux Falls Lustron Home.... A Little Piece Of History

By
Real Estate Agent with Meritus Group Real Estate SD 14808

The year was 1948 and the United States was reeling from a housing shortage from GIs coming back home from WW2. Enter Chicago entrepreneur, Carl Strandlund who come up with the ingenious idea of using surplus steel from WW2 to solve the problem. Thus was born the Lustron Steel home.

Built from 1949-1950 the Lustron was built of steel prefabricated panels. The Lustron was said to be three times more sturdy then a frame home and was said to be rodent-proof. Lustrons were built on a stab foundation and varied from 800-1200 sq ft. Inside and outside walls were made of the porcelain-enameled steel and there were different color schemes for the inside and outside areas. Lustrons also used many built-ins to make the best use of space. The Lustron also used radiant panel heat in order to keep the house cleaner. The cost of the Lustron home at this time was from between $7000-$12,000 depending on the model. The Lustron Corporation filed for bankruptcy in 1950 after just 2,500 Lustrons were constructed.

    I was delighted to find a mint model the other day in my fair city and the owner was kind enough to let me snap some pictures. Hope you all enjoyed your history lesson! Just for fun I have added one of 1950's number one songs! :)

Posted by

 

Rosalie A. Evans                                                                      

HJN Team Real Estate

101 W. 69th St.

Sioux Falls, SD 57108

Cell 605-366-7242

rosaliesellssiouxfalls@gmail.com

 

                                       

 

   

 

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              Selling real estate in the greater Sioux Falls, SD area, including the communities of 

 -Harrisburg-Tea-Worthing-Dell Rapids-Flandreau- Colton-Baltic- Brandon-Canton-Lennox-Trent-Hartford-

                                   -Crooks-Colman-Garretson-Valley Springs- 

 

                    

Comments (2)

Rose King
David Tracy Real Estate - Friendswood, TX
Friendswood / Pearland / Houston Bay Area

Hi Rosalie! This is an interesting bit of history about these steel houses. It's amazing how Americans learned to use different resources during and after the war. I enjoyed reading this!

Nov 20, 2011 01:52 PM
Rosalie Evans
Meritus Group Real Estate - Sioux Falls, SD
The Evans Group, Sioux Falls, SD Homes For Sale

Rose- I just knew my bookworm friend would like this! Hope you had a great weekend! :)

Nov 20, 2011 01:59 PM