Since the 1930s, mobile homes have served an essential role in America’s housing stock
Since the 1930s, mobile homes have served an essential role in America’s housing stock
According to the Manufactured Housing Institute, over 20 million people live in manufactured housing, or mobile homes, today. Over the years, mobile homes have served an important role in the American housing stock. Eduard Krakhmalnikov is a public engagement specialist and place-maker at the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission in Washington D.C. He joined “Marketplace” to discuss the history of mobile homes.
“Mobile homes developed out of the trailer that you could attach to your car and take with you wherever you wanted,” said Krakhmalnikov. “They were used for many reasons; one was for travel to see sites that were otherwise quite far away.”
During World War II, mobile homes “really grew into their own,” he said. On the home front, factories sprung up across the nation to produce ammunition and other wartime materials. Often, mobile homes were used to provide immediate housing for factory workers. “You can have housing pop up overnight, which means that the factory goes online much quicker,” he said.
Many in the Baby Boomer generation grew up in mobile housing, said Krakhmalnikov. Mobile homes even became a part of pop culture in the 1950s and ’60s. The stars of the popular show, “I Love Lucy,” Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, made a movie about newlyweds traveling the country in a mobile home called “The Long, Long Trailer.” Though it was a comedy, Krakhmalnikov said the movie “showcased that trailers were part of people’s lives.”
Today, mobile homes continue to be special, said Krakmalnikov, not only for their history but also because they serve as affordable housing when so few affordable housing options exist.
One day, Krakmalnikov hopes to see the first mobile home or mobile home park make it on the National Registry of Historic Places. “I think that will begin to change people’s minds about them, and open the door to seeing them, and for many people, that might be for the very first time.”
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