The Lustron Corporation was founded in the mid-1940s by Carl G. Strandlund, an engineer and vice-president of the Chicago Vitreous Enamel Products Company. In 1946, He went before a federal control board in Washington D.C. to request an allotment of steel to build prefabricated gas stations. He was denied by the board for fears they would be criticized for building gas stations when there was a housing shortage. Strandlund pivoted and moved forward with building houses out of enamel baked steel. He secured a $12.5-million-dollar loan from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) and used it to found the Lustron Corporation.
His plan was to produce sell thousands of homes a year with the company manufacturing all the components, including the nuts and bolts, and shipping them to their sites. Contracted construction crews would build the house on site before the homeowner moved in. Everything in the houses was made of the enameled steel and houses went for $10,000, which made them cheaper that traditionally constructed houses of the era. Unfortunately, the Lustron Corporation was unable to sell enough houses to profit. When the RFC recalled their loans in 1950, the Lustron Corporation went bankrupt.
Lustron homes research collection, MSS 1288 AV: Compiled newspaper clippings, company records, correspondence, and photographs pertaining to the Lustron Corporation. The photographs were by Ray Featherstone. View the catalog record and finding aid for MSS 1288 AV here.
Lustron preservation collection, MSS 1577 AV: A research collection compiled by Todd Zeiger documenting the restoration and preservation projects of Lustron homes in various states. View the catalog record and finding aid for MSS 1577 here.
Lustron Corporation scrapbook collection, MSS 6658 AV: Photographs and newsletters concerning the Lustron Corporation's financial problems with the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. View the catalog record and finding aid for MSS 6658 AV here.
Learn More
If you would like to view any of the Lustron Corporation collections mentioned here, visit our Archives & Library.
You can also browse scanned documents and photographs of Lustron houses and more on Ohio Memory
To find more books and research materials about the Lustron Corporation, or other aspects of Ohio’s rich history, search our library's online catalog.
