It is well known that Chelsea, Oklahoma is home to a Sears Saratoga. It appears in every Route 66 suggested stop you can find! But, what people don’t know about in Chelsea is this beautiful bungalow from Montgomery Ward. (click on images to enlarge)
A rare Wardway #166/Suburban in Chelsea Oklahoma
Montgomery Ward was a mail order catalog company like Sears Roebuck. They both sold everything you could ever need and in 1909 Montgomery Ward began selling homes.
I don’t know of any other Wardway #166 aka Suburban anywhere. This is the Wardway Homes catalog image from 1916. In 1917 Wardway Homes replaced the numbers with names and the 166 became the Suburban.
Wardway Homes 1916 #166
Is this a Wardway 166 in Chelsea, Okla? It sure appears so!
The last time I was in Chelsea this house was being cleaned up and getting a make-over and it was hidden behind trees and brush so I didn’t get photos. On my visit last month I was able to see the house on the inside as well. What a treasure! The wood work is all original and not painted. It is just beautiful! The floor plan hasn’t been altered and is an exact match to the catalog scan. A bathroom was added in the closet off of the sewing room on the second floor. Understandably 😉 And, many years ago the back porch was enclosed and added on to and extended to the second floor so there is a nice screened room off the rear of the house.
A back view of the Wardway #166 in Chelsea, Oklahoma
The 1916 Wardway #166
What a beautiful bungalow in Chelsea Oklahoma!
If you pass through Chelsea on Route 66 and stop to see the Sears house stop and see this rare house too.
Do you have a kit home to report or need help identifying one? You may email me at searshomes@yahoo.com or contact me on facebook here.
Tulsa Oklahoma Houses by Mail, Sears Homes, Wardway, Aladdin and more
Oklahoma Houses By Mail by Rachel Shoemaker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Oklahoma Houses By Mail 
I love you information and have looked at all 83 pages. When we travel we always tour the older homes and you information help. I am looking for the house plans in the house I grew up in. I though the Kenmore was it at first. Porch all across the frount. Double windows on each side of the door. There was four large rooms. On the right side first room was the living room and behind that the kitchen-eating area, No built- in cabinets. We used housers. The rooms on the left were bedrooms (no closets) one leading off the each room on the right. No bathrooms. A built on across the entire back. It was a very long but narrow room with lots of small windows. (Maybe a sleeping porch.) Would appreciate any direction you could give me. Thanks again. Jo Ann Sent from my iPad
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Hi Jo Ann!
Thanks for reading all of my posts. If you are on facebook you will find a whole lot more there! My facebook page is 5 years old, you can find links to it on my blog at the right side bar and at the bottom of the blog.
If you send me photos to searshomes@yahoo.com I will take a look. If you don’t have photos email the address and I’ll look via google maps.
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Wow, this is the only #166 I have ever seen or know about!
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When you come to Oklahoma we’ll go see it 🙂
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