The Unknown World of the Mobile Home

by Hart, John Fraser; Rhodes, Michelle J.; Morgan, John T.

• ISBN13: 9780801868993
• ISBN10: 0801868998
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-07-08
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr

Summary

In American popular imagination, the mobile home evokes images of cramped interiors, cheap materials, and occupants too poor or unsavory to live anywhere else. Since the 1940s and '50s, however, mobile home manufacturers have improved standards of construction and now present them as an affordable alternative to conventional site-built homes. Today one of every fourteen Americans lives in a mobile home. In The Unknown World of the Mobile Home authors John Fraser Hart, Michelle J. Rhodes, and John T. Morgan illuminate the history and culture of these often misunderstood domiciles. They describe early mobile homes, which were trailers designed to be pulled behind automobiles and which were more often than not poorly constructed and unequal to the needs of those who used them. During the 1970s, however, Congress enacted federal standards for the quality and safety of mobile homes, which led to innovation in design and the production of much more attractive and durable models. These models now comply with local building codes and many are designed to look like conventional houses. As a result, one out every five new single-family housing units purchased in the United States is a mobile home, sited everywhere from the conventional trailer park to custom-designed "estates" aimed at young couples and retirees. Despite all these changes in manufacture and design, even the most immobile mobile homes are still sold, financed, regulated, and taxed as vehicles. With a wealth of detail and illustrations, The Unknown World of the Mobile Home provides readers with an in-depth look into this variation on the American dream.

Author Biography

John Fraser Hart is a professor of geography at the University of Minnesota. He is author and editor of ten books, most recently The Rural Landscape, also available from Johns Hopkins. Michelle J. Rhodes is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of geography at Simon Fraser University and an instructor of political science and geography at the University of Montana-Western. John T. Morgan is a professor of geography at Emory and Henry College.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
PART ONE BACKGROUND
Prologue	1	(5)
Trailers	6	(2)
Trailer Parks	8	(3)
The War Years	11	(6)
Mobile Homes	17	(6)
The HUD Code	23	(2)
New Models	25	(1)
Siting Mobile Homes	26	(5)
PART TWO SINGLE-SITEDS
Where Are They?	31	(6)
The Lexington Hexagon	37	(2)
Northern New Mexico	39	(1)
Mercer County, North Dakota	40	(1)
Upstate New York	41	(2)
Adams County, Wisconsin	43	(6)
Spersopolis	49	(3)
The Coal Field	52	(7)
PART THREE SIDE BY SIDE
The Mountain West	59	(2)
Filling in the Flathead	61	(4)
A Snapshot of Evergreen	65	(7)
Boom and Bust in Western Montana	72	(2)
The Changing ``Small''-Town West	74	(3)
PART FOUR PARKS
Mobile Home Parks, Utilitarian to Upscale	77	(7)
The Twin Cities Metropolitan Area	84	(12)
Southwestern Kansas	96	(7)
Long Neck	103	(7)
Florida	110	(11)
Southern California	121	(6)
PART FIVE CONCLUSION & EPILOGUE
Conclusion	127	(4)
Epilogue	131	(4)
Bibliography	135	(4)
Index	139