The Calumet is a rare Sears kit house that was offered for a brief time in the late 1910s and early 1920s. Sears did offer a few apartment buildings (yes, as kits), and the Calumet was one of them. My favorite feature of the Sears Calumet is the wall-bed, and the Calumet had two wall beds per unit.
The bed frame was included in the kit (but not the mattress).
It’s also interesting to note that the word Calumet comes from the Latin word calamellus, meaning “little reed.” According to my online dictionary, a calumet is a “ceremonial smoking pipe, traditionally smoked to seal a covenant or treaty, or to offer prayers in a religious ceremony.”
Next time you’re watching TV with your friends and an Indian starts smoking a peace pipe, you can exclaim, “Why, he’s smoking a calumet!”
They’ll be so impressed with your esoteric knowledge!
Want to learn more about Murphy Beds (Wall Beds)? Click here!
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I just love the math: 20 rooms in 12! How do they do it? 🙂
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The Calumet, as seen on Wikipedia.
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The Calumets had four porches, each with their own coal bin, whichwas nothing more than a small bin. Not nearly as luxurious as it sounds. Plus, it has "handy closets." I wonder which model had the "unhandy closets"?
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That would have been a heck of a kit house!
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Notice that the wall beds have their own windows - in a closet!
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The Calumet - as seen in the 1918 catalog.
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The only Calumet I've ever seen - and it's in Bloomington, IL. You can see those two "closet-bed windows" on the right side. Sadly, the second-story porches are long gone. That first step outside of those 2nd floor doors is a doozy!
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Do you think that the wallbed in the Calumet *ever* looked as good as it did in this accompanying image? I kinda doubt it!
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In another catalog promotion, Sears promises that folding up that wall bed is so easy even a child can do it.
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In the silent short film (title, "1:00 a.m."), Charlie Chaplin does battle with a recalcitrant wall bed (also known as a murphy bed). The full video (about 10 minutes) is at youtube. See link below.
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To see the Charlie Chaplin short, click here.
To read another fascinating blog, click here.
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