Atlanta’s SPACE AGE Aluminum home trend! It only lasted four years! Where and when?

You may have heard of Lustron homes, but have you heard of Knox homes? In 1959 Atlanta was in need of thousands of starter homes for young families, mostly veterans and their families moving to the Atlanta suburbs. These veterans could use their G I Bill to purchase a home with no money down! Knox Homes built several neighborhoods of mostly aluminum homes-marketed as sturdy and low maintenance. They were prefabricated in a plant located in Thomsen, GA. They were able to build these homes so economically by locating all of their resources in Thomsen. From locally sourced lumber and gypsum to buying aluminum from the local Alcoa aluminum plant, it was in Thomsen. They would then prefabricate the walls and ship them to the Atlanta area by truck. The homes would then be constructed in a week or so on the lot the customer purchased in the Knox homes subdivisions. Tom Cousins and his father, I.W. Cousins were some of the builder/dealers in the Atlanta area marketing these homes. Tom Cousins went on to be very instrumental in building Atlanta’s most iconic structures, including the Omni, World Congress Center, and Peachtree Center. He also brought the Atlanta Hawks to Atlanta! My husband and I purchased one of these homes in 1982 as our young married starter home. It was already over twenty years old when we bought it. It has an aluminum roof, siding, shutters,windows, and trim. It also had hardwood floors and birch cabinetry and doors. We brought home our first baby in that cute little house. We sold it three years later to buy a larger home one town over, but we would drive by our old house periodically, just to check it out. It looks a little different now, but the aluminum siding and aluminum roof are still there! Can you imagine a roof lasting over 64 years? These homes were only built between 1959 and 1962. Knox Homes then began building mobile homes. The company was soon sold to National homes. The trend was over. Do you have a Knox home community near you? There were three neighborhoods south of Atlanta, and two that I can find in Cobb County. Maybe there are more! Knox build a few aluminum homes in Peachtree City in 1960. There are a couple of these by Lake Peachtree that haven’t been torn down to build larger homes. These homes are a part of history. They lived up to their marketing hype. They were economical and sturdy. Is there one near you?