Ernest F. Hodgson began with the manufacture of "PEEP-O-DAY" brooder houses for hatching and growing baby chicks. The early factory behind the depot at the railroadtracks looked like this in 1897.
The Hodgson Portable House Factory eventually grew to be the largest commercial operation Dover ever had. The buildings extended about six hundred feet behind the railroad tracks where the Department of Public Works is now. Lumber, siding, shingles, hardware and other building materials arrived by rail at the New York New Haven and Hartford RR siding.
The entrance to the factory was through a latticed woodenarch
beside the railroad station. In this photograph takenby Louise Emmons sometime
about 1926, the sign lettersat the top of the arch announce the "PORTABLE
HOUSE EXHIBIT".
Louise Emmons Photo
Courtesy of Jay Hughes
water tower pipe and support legs are visible
at the left. The Model House Exhibit
is beyond the end of the buildings.
The Portable Houses Exhibit area behind the factory buildings
covered more than an acre and featured full scale models of the houses. This
photograph from the Hodgson House Catalogue was probably taken sometime in
the late 1920's.