Illinois community remembers its ‘affordable housing’ pioneer

If ever there were a “mover of heaven and earth” in U.S. history, the title goes to Robert Gilmour LeTourneau, who was born in Richford, Vt., in 1888. 

In Peoria, Ill., his adopted hometown, he is heralded as the “dean of earthmoving” and “God’s businessman.”

 

As a boy, R.G. LeTourneau developed an interest in mechanical things. In 1909, he took an automobile correspondence course offered by the International Correspondence Schools (ICS) of Scranton, Pa. To demonstrate his mechanical talent, he took apart and put back together his newly acquired motorcycle in a day. 

After which, he granted himself a B.M. “Bachelor of Motorcycles” degree. 

His passion was to invent mechanisms associated with earthmoving equipment. He received 299 patents during his lifetime. His business in Stockton, Calif., formed an alliance with Caterpillar Tractor of Peoria, and LeTourneau produced attachments, scrapers and wagons for use with Cat crawler tractors.

 

LeTourneau was a pioneer in integrating faith and business. He was one of the leaders in establishing industrial chaplaincy. He and his wife were early practitioners of “reverse tithing” – giving 90% of their wealth to God and living on 10% of their earnings. 

Caterpillar persuaded LeTourneau to move his factory from Stockton to Peoria in 1935 to strengthen the business alliance between the two companies. 

LeTourneau discovered the men he hired struggled to find affordable housing in the Peoria area. He solved that problem by building a modern-day “mill village.” 

Criticizing traditional homes as being “ponderous, over-roomed houses of bulky beams and sheathings,” LeTourneau created the “Carefree Home.” 

“Compact, complete, convenient, economical and efficient. Still a shelter, still a sanctuary, still the family center, it must afford the conveniences of a first-class apartment or hotel suite,” he said. 

“It must be air conditioned, insulated not alone against cold and heat, but against storm, dust, termites, flood, flame and other foes. And it must be a trouble-proof house – a house requiring a minimum of maintenance – carefree.”

 

Here is a Carefree Home in Peoria that has been modernized and is still occupied.

These dwellings were made totally from steel and welded, not riveted. 

They were available for purchase by LeTourneau’s employees and the general public. Between 1936-38, about 150 all-steel homes were manufactured. The architect designed the houses with flat roofs and an occupiable roof deck. 

The houses came in three sizes: 576 square feet, 729 square feet and 900 square feet. The interior layout was similar – a kitchen, one bathroom, two bedrooms and a living room area. 

Today, more than 20 carefree homes still exist in the Peoria area as residential dwellings. Most have been modified with features such as front porches, pitched roofs, room additions and even second floors; however, the LeTourneau homes are readily identified by the consistent placement of their corner windows.

 One of the old carefree homes was discovered in 2015 at the former LeTourneau factory, now part of Komatsu America Corp. Never sold, the building was once used as a manufacturing office within the factory complex. 

Long abandoned, the carefree home was intended to be scrapped, but the Central Illinois Landmarks Foundation expressed interest, so Komatsu America gladly donated the house to the foundation. 

The structure was renovated through a collaborative partnership with the Peoria Historical Society and the Wheels O’ Time Museum in Peoria, which offered to relocate the carefree home to the museum grounds. The model carefree home exhibit opened to the public in 2018.

 

Could the carefree home concept be revisited here and now as a housing option? 

Typical “tiny houses” top out at about 400 square feet.