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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Then and Now: Mobilhome Corporation

Present day: The 1920 Ohio Match Company plant on East Broadway Avenue near the county fairgrounds now houses several businesses, ranging from fitness and physical therapy to specialty auto parts. The Ohio Match Company was once one of the top producers of wooden matches in the nation. The Ohio Match Company had sawmills in our region and a short railway in North Idaho to provide wood for match production. (Jesse Tinsley/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
Present day: The 1920 Ohio Match Company plant on East Broadway Avenue near the county fairgrounds now houses several businesses, ranging from fitness and physical therapy to specialty auto parts. The Ohio Match Company was once one of the top producers of wooden matches in the nation. The Ohio Match Company had sawmills in our region and a short railway in North Idaho to provide wood for match production. (Jesse Tinsley/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
By Jesse Tinsley jesset@spokesman.com(509) 459-5378

Spokane, like the rest of the United States, experienced a home-building boom after World War II.

Ralph M. Rosenberry, of Coeur d’Alene, who had served at Farragut Naval Training Station in Idaho and just received his discharge from the U.S. Navy, arranged to buy a retail lumber business in Bonners Ferry in 1945.

Rosenberry then took over the H.J. Mattes Lumber company in Reardan, Washington, later that year. It would later be called Reardan Building Supply. Rosenberry’s family late father had been involved with the Rose Lake Lumber company and the Winton Lumber company in Coeur d’Alene.

In 1946, Rosenberry partnered with Reginald E. Wert to purchase Independent Lumber and Fuel, 4129 E. Sprague Ave., in Spokane. Wert was manager and a founder of Long Lake Lumber company.

In 1950, Roseberry formed a Spokane franchise of the Mobilhome Corporation, a company based in Bakersfield, California. Arthur E. Victor, formerly of the Spokane Home Builders Association, was the new sales manager. Franchises were already active in Illinois, Arizona, Indiana, Texas, Nevada and California.

The Mobilhome plan was to build two- and three-bedroom homes on an assembly line with a goal of completing a house a day, 15 days after an order was placed. The 600-foot rolling assembly line started inside the old Ohio Match plant on East Broadway Avenue next to the county fairgrounds. Buyers could choose from a half -dozen designs with many choices for colors and decor. The use of wall board, instead of wet plaster, sped up construction time. The homes could be trucked as far as 100 miles from Spokane.

Early homes were placed on West Princeton Place in Northwest Spokane. The company acquired as many as 150 lots in the area bounded by Ray and Myrtle streets, between 12th and 16th avenues in 1952, the year the company completed 125 homes.

The company added a sawmill in Mead in 1956 and moved away from factory construction, changing its name to Mount Spokane Lumber Company. About the same time, Rosenberry became chairman of Anchor Securities, a finance, insurance and realty company.

Rosenberry entered a crowded race for Spokane mayor in 1967, but he came in second to insurance executive David Rodgers.

Rosenberry died in 1985.