In the spring of 1956, the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway inspired a new business venture. James and Margaret Sandburg owned 6 acres of land on the river not far from several of the construction sites. A friend suggested it would be a great spot for a trailer park. Workers for some of the world's greatest construction firms would be moving in and staying for the years it would take to complete the waterway, and afterward the great economic growth that the new Seaway was expected to stimulate in the area would keep the park full.

Morning Star Mobile Village opened in the spring of 1956. There were spaces for 80 of the mobile living units people called trailers, which were then 8 feet wide and up to 50 feet long. The trailer life style was becoming so popular that it caught Hollywoods imagination, and The Long, Long Trailer, starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz was one result. The park did fill quickly, and stayed full until the Seaway was completed.

As the construction families moved on to other projects, it became clear that something would have to be done to find new residents for the park. There were some trailer dealers in the vicinity, and they sent some of their customers. Trailer manufacturers began contacting the Sandburgs, suggesting they become dealers. They consulted their good friend, business advisor, and banker, Jack Ward, of the Ogdensburg Trust Company about the idea. After getting the answers to the usual bankerly questions, Jack got the bank's board to lend the money for the beginning inventory: one home. Along with the go ahead, Jack offered some advice: "make sure the quality you sell is good, and give customers more than they expect for their money, and you'll do OK."

Forty years later, manufactured homes have entered the mainstream of American housing. Millions of Americans have chosen this housing form, and today about 1 in 10 housing starts is a manufactured home. A typical house now contains around 2,000 square feet and meets the most stringent building code in the U.S. That's a long haul from the 8-wides that inspired that 1950s movie in which Lucy and Desi played a newly married couple setting out with their new home hitched to their car.

The banker's advice became the Morning Star Homes operating philosophy and the secret of the company's success. It's included in every advertisement in the motto and promise: "More house for the money."

Morning Star Homes has installed nearly 4,000 manufactured homes throughout northern New York. In the beginning, Jim Sandburg and a helper could deliver a home with a pickup truck and set it up in a few hours. Today, Morning Star Homes employs 16 people to sell, deliver, install, and service approximately 100 new and used homes each year.

Morning Star Mobile Village is still the area's premier mobile home park. As homes grew in size from 8-wide to 10-wide, 12-wide, 14-wide and doublewide, the lots changed in size and shape, too. Today, the park accomodates a total of 55 homes.

As on-site construction costs continue to escalate faster than inflation and as standards continue to improve, the manufactured home is becoming a more accepted form of permanent housing. This greater acceptance is bringing a more sophisticated buyer into the market-a buyer who seeks out a well established, respected company to do business with. Morning Star's longevity and professionalism appeals to that buyer as well as the younger, less experienced buyer.

Morning Star enters its 5th decade with a renewed commitment to seek better, more effective and efficient ways to perform its major responsibility: providing the best possible housing value at the lowest cost-More House For The Money.