SHOTGUN HOUSE

This recreation of a shotgun house typifies early 20th century urban workers’ dwellings throughout the South. Such houses were popular for mill villages and many can still be seen around Columbus and Phenix City. Usually one room wide and three rooms deep, there would have been a living room, then a bedroom and finally a kitchen. The shotgun house was inexpensive to build and occupied a small amount of land. Its name comes from the saying that a shotgun blast fired through the front door would leave through the back door without hitting anything.

This home would be similar to that of a mill supervisor. Poorerfamilies might share a shotgun house with another family. Usually there was awaiting list for houses, and workers and their families had to prove themselves worthy of a house. Discipline was easily imposed in the mill-funded schools, since the actions of an unruly child might cost
parents a job or a house.

CHILDREN, FAMILIES AND DAILY LIFE
Throughout most of history, parents and children made their own toys from whatever was at hand. However, by the early 20th century toys were commercially manufactured. Inside the house are some of these “store-bought” toys: a chalkboard, a train set, a toy wagon and a doll.

A new form of entertainment in the early 20th century was the radio, an example of which is seen in the house. The first commercial radio stations began broadcasting in 1920s. Stations played music, dramas, comedies, and sports events. Children listened to programs such as Little Orphan Annie, The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman.