It is definitely a Wardway Kenwood, which was manufactured by Gordon-VanTine for Montgomery-Ward. To understand their relationship see the website www.gordonvantine.com.
Thanks so much for the info. This is very exciting to me. My cousin had a Sears home in Raleigh, which I always found fascinating. My neighbors actually approached us about the possibility of my husband and I (and soon to be baby son) living in a kit home. How much fun! I am excited about preserving the unique history of this home. I will keep everyone posted.
You might want to look around and see if you can find one of the shipping crate boards that will have the label "From Montgomery-Ward Davenport, Iowa" followed by the customer name and order number. The wooden shipping crates were frequently broken down and the wood reused for building basement doors, shelves, staircases. Sometimes they are found in the attic.
The home is in Bristol, TN. I think that there are several older neighborhoods with kit homes here in Bristol TN/VA. It is an old railroad town, so it makes sense that there would be several homes in the area. I know that there are 3 Lustron homes in Bristol and 2 in the next town. Thus far, much has not been done to research the history of kit homes in the area. I would like to work on this project. I will check the basement and attic for any crate boards. Part of the attic has been covered in sheet rock and the other part has been painted with exterior paint!
There are mail-order homes scattered throughout Kentucky and Tennessee. I have yet to hit a city and not find at a least a Sears Homes, or a George Barber victorian plan book home.
In Bristol Tennesse your Kenwood would have been shipped from the Gordon-VanTine mill in Wilmington, North Carolina that operated 1920 to 1947.
