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In 1895, Sears, Roebuck and Company began selling building materials in addition to the tens of thousands of items already offered in their mail-order catalog. By 1908, customers were invited to write in and ask for a copy the "Book of Modern Homes," which featured house plans and building materials. The same year the general merchandise catalog carried an ad on page 594 reading: "$100 set of building plans free. Let us be your architect without cost to you." That first Modern Homes catalog issued in 1908 was 68-pages long and offered 44 house designs, ranging in price from $695 - $4,115. (Throughout the 1980s and 90s, countless magazine and newspaper articles have perpetuated errors about this first catalog, stating that it had 44 pages and 22 designs, with prices ranging from $650 - $2500. -- RT) In addition to the 44 houses, Sears offered plans and building materials for a "modern" schoolhouse, which the company claimed could be built for $11,500. This was the only Sears Modern Homes catalog to offer a schoolhouse, or any commercial structure, for that matter. The timing for these catalog homes was ideal. In 1900 only 8,000 cars were on America's roads. Just a decade later, 460,000 automobiles were registered and licensed.