E.F. Hodgson Co
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The E. F. Hodgson Company of Dover, Massachusetts, calling itself “America’s First Prefabricator,” was one of a number of companies who used specialty mail-order catalogs to advertise and sell sectional and ready-cut houses. From a small New England town, the Hodgson Company competed with such economic giants as Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward to catch the eye of a growing America in the 1890s. Using the railroad to market, the specialty house mail-order catalog companies competed all over the United States. There is still a good case for the idea that the Hodgson Company was in the market before Sears and equaled them in production. But even so, Hodgson also became better known outside of the United States in such places as Belgium, Italy, France, Newfoundland, and Jerusalem. From 1892-1944, the Hodgson Company was the most important economic force in a simple agricultural community, Dover, Massachusetts. Hodgson is one the best examples of how small businesses played, and still play, an important role in the United States economy and that of the New England region.
