Between 1908 and 1940, Sears, Roebuck and Co. sold mail order homes through their catalog. Approximately 75,000 were sold. Prices ranged from $191 (320 sq. ft.) to $5000 (2 story, 3000 sq. ft.). There have been 20 of these homes identified in Webster and Kirkwood. This multi/micro cache will take you on a tour of three of the homes and the train station where the material was unloaded.
This house,(WP4), a 1200 sq. ft. 2 story, was the Sunbeam model and was offered in 1921-1926 for a cost of $2425-$2702.
A few weeks after the order was placed, two boxcars containing 30,000 pieces would arrive at the nearest train station. This included 750 pounds of nails, windows, doors, shingles, downspouts, sash weights, roofing, 27 gallons of paint and a 75 page instruction book. Everything was included except for cement, brick, and plaster.
The coordinates above is the location of the first house in the tour. You don't need to do this in any order but if you do them in sequence, if will shorten the driving time. At each waypoint you will need to get the 3 digit house number and they are all visible from the street.
Due to the problems of determing which house you're looking for, I've indicated in the table if the number is odd or even and given a checksum for the digits in the number. I have also "adjusted" the coords slightly by using the satellite view in ExpertGPS and moving the waypoint about 30' closer to the house.
For more details on some of the 447 different Sears houses (pictures, prices, floorplans), see Sears Homes.
| WP No. |
Coordinates |
Address/Checksum |
| 1 |
N38° 36.184
W090° 20.131 |
Odd (19) |
| 2 |
N38° 36.200
W090° 20.292 |
Odd (16) |
| 3 |
N38° 36.140
W090° 20.886
This is the original train station (Tuxedo Park) and is now an architects office. |
Odd (13) |
| 4 |
N38° 34.854
W090° 20.410 |
Even (9) |
|
Total |
|
Now the 4 sets of numbers should be added together (checksum=21) and added to both these latitude (N38° 32.813) and longitude (W090° 17.561) MM.MMM coordinates. I.E. if the sum of the numbers was 4567, then 4.567 would be added to W090° 17.561 for the actual coordinates of W090° 22.128.
W090° 17.561 N38° 32.813 W090° 17.561
4.567 ______ ______
------------
W090° 22.128 N38° . W090° .
This will give you the coordinates of the actual micro cache. Again, this is not a "normal" micro container (different from "some Disassembly Required") and must be disassembled. It contains a writing instrument and a log.
This cache location also has history behind it, but you wouldn't know it. This is where General Grant's original log cabin was located around the turn of the century; hence the name of the street. It was then moved to Forest Park for the 1904 World's Fair. In 1907 it was purchased by Adolphus Busch and moved to it's current location at Grant's Farm.
