Clifton E. Werts and Russell's first motor home

Motor homes and related recreational vehicles are taken for granted these days, traveling the byways of the Americas and filling campgrounds both public and private. But back in 1926, when Russell's Clifton E. Werts (1868-1943) built what may have been Lucas County's first, such an innovation was front-page news. At least in The Russell Union-Tribune of July 8 that year.

I've borrowed this image of the Werts family from Ancestry.com, where it was posted during 2009 by Gene Pierce, identified in his profile as a "Colorado Texan in Northern Kentucky who wants to be in Hawaii" and a descendant.

The faces are not tied to specific names, but the family consisted of Clifton E. and Clara Mae (McCoy) Werts and their six adult children, Edith (Werts) Lewis and Walter, Harvey, Richard, Charles and Ralph Werts. Here's an image of the house car, courtesy of Darla Weber.

Image courtesy of Darla Weber.

And here's the text of the article that appeared under the headline, "A House on Wheels."

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Of late years we have seen pictures in our dailies of "Houses on Wheels," modern homes built on an automobile chassis, but few of us have seen these close at hand. Two years ago, one of these traveling homes passed through Russell, but now we have one built in Russell by a Russell man.

Mr. C.E. Werts has just finished building on a Willys Knight chassis what will be his home for perhaps the next year.

The house, as it may well be called, is about 8 x 12 feet by 6 and a half feet high, built out of the finest grade white pine, wall board and veneer, covered with galvanized iron. It is equipped with lockers, dining table which fastens to the wall when not in use, a bed which folds up for a seat or a couch in the daytime. These are the built in furnishings of the rear compartment or living room.

In the front and also the driving compartment, there is on one side the entrance and a roomy wardrobe and on the other side a sink, ice box and another locker. These features are all built in and when not in use for their special purposes will form tables and seats. A small stove will be carried in the front locker to be used for their cooking.

Each room is lighted with an electric light bulb, the electricity being generated by the car. The gasoline tank is placed to the left of the driver and down near the running board and enclosed just under the floor, the spout or opening coming out by the hood on the engine. There is a large window in the rear, one on each side of the rear compartment and the forward compartment is glass on both sides back two or more feet and across the front.

It is built low and wide and out of light material and will not weigh much more than an ordinary closed car body.

The walls will be painted an ivory with the woodwork natural, showing the beautiful grain of the wood. The color for the outside has not been decided upon for sure as yet but Mr. Werts says they are planning on a grey or something which will not show the dust too much.

Mr. and Mrs. Werts will leave on their trip around the first of next month. They will go north from here to Minnesota for some fishing in the lakes, thence east to St. Paul, Chicago, several Canadian points and on to Boston. From there they will go to Philadelphia to attend the Sesquicentennial Exposition and on south down the coast to Florida where they will spend the winter mid the palms of the Everglades.

In the spring they will take the famous Dixie Trail west across the continent to southern California and up the coast highway to Vancouver, British Columbia, making the circuit back to their starting point next fall. This is the advance plans as they are now, but Mr. Werts states that he is not making any special plans and that he will go as he feels like it and stop when they wish, taking their time and seeing everything of interest on the way.

This will be a wonderful trip and doubly so with such a modern home to make it in.

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I can find no indication in subsequent editions of Lucas County newspapers that C.E. and Clara actually carried out these ambitious travel plans at the time, although they did spend the winter that followed in Florida.

The "house car" remained in use during extensive travels in the years that followed and was replaced eventually by a later version, shown here, also courtesy of Darla Weber.

Photo courtesy of Darla Weber.

Clifton died at 75 while wintering in Florida on Dec. 11, 1943, and the following paragraph was included in his obituary, published in The Union-Tribune of Dec. 23:

"On March 14, 1889 at Russell, Ia., he was united in marriage to Clara Mae McCoy. They established their home on a farm south of Russell. They continued the farm life until 17 years ago and since that time, he and Mrs. Werts have traveled extensively in their house car. His interests were wide and varied and many times their children or grandchildren accompanied them on one of their trips. Almost five years ago they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in Florida among friends."