At the end of the war, a severe housing shortage plagued the United States. Businessman Carl Strandlund sought to solve this problem by mass-producing prefabricated, porcelain-enameled, steel houses. With the support of veterans groups, he received millions of dollars in federal loans to establish his factory, which he modeled after General Motors and Ford. The new Lustron Corporation leased the abandoned Curtiss-Wright factory adjacent to the Port Columbus airport. The government also allocated the new firm a generous supply of rationed steel for its enterprise.

The new factory had 22 miles of conveyor belts and 3,000 employees. The first house came off the assembly line in March 1948. At peak production, 26 units were produced each day, far short of the 50 needed to break even and the 100 per day envisioned by Strandlund.

Lustron encountered serious production and financial problems almost immediately. The cost of establishing the factory exceeded estimates, and the production cost of houses soared. Lustron dealers across the country faced code restrictions, slow FHA financing procedures, and the high cost of purchasing lots, pouring foundations, and supplying utilities. In addition, although Lustron houses were advertised as competitive with other tract houses, they were not, and were beyond the reach of many first-time buyers.

Unable to repay its loans, company officials closed the factory by June 1950. A total of 2,498 Lustron houses had been sold and built in 36 states. While Lustron established its factory and tinkered with production problems between 1945 and 1948, conventional builders erected some two million houses and apartments nationwide. Lustron had missed the peak demand of the housing boom following the end of the war.

This is an advertising photograph used by Lustron to promote the sale of its prefabricated houses. Lustron had a relationship with the Lazarus department store and encouraged Columbus buyers to purchase furniture from this local merchant.

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