Fascinating vintage photographs from the 19th and early 20th centuries reveal that entire houses were commonly moved by teams of horses across the United States. The timber frame structures were loaded onto wheeled wooden platforms and dragged to new locations.
Houses were sold for as little as $40 for a one-storey home, while two-storey houses fetched $72 to $85, equivalent to around $2,500 in today's money. Photographs show families and workers guiding the horses as they transported the heavy loads.
American historian Jane Sweetland notes that people moved frequently in pursuit of fertile land, resources, or after disasters. The practice involved moving entire homes, complete with chimneys and plaster walls, to new sites.
Over time, horses were replaced by trucks, but some Amish communities still use horses for house moving. In 2016, the oldest known Amish house in Illinois, dating to 1865, was moved several hundred feet by horses before trucks took over.
