It is believed the Rail House is one of these. Originally built in Rocklin, or Marysville (depending on which records reviewed and family history), it was transported here to Roseville on wagons and carts pulled by oxen and horses in 1910 just as the city was incorporated. Beyond being classically noted as a more traditional “railroad home” with certain square like features and appearance, the home is also unique in that it appears to have been a kit home. Popularized by Sears and their mail-order home catalogs, many of these kit homes were constructed by a variety of builders and shipped by rail car to quickly meet the housing requirements of growing rail and factory communities.
The home today still has markings and bares an actual wood plaque nailed into the basement rafters referencing framing wood numbers used from a series of crates. The Rail House though, predates Sears and historical Aladdin home brands – this makes it one of the earliest examples of a prefabricated/kit home in American History.
The Rail House was located on the primary city street that served as the main boulevard for old town Roseville. It was a prominent location for residences in the old neighborhood that was just over the bridge to the original downtown area (today, still the busiest residential street in the city, with over 200,000 cars passing the home monthly). It was a booming time with infrastructure developed to accommodate rail lines and growth.