When the cost of wood fell during the late 1800s, the shotgun house did indeed become the best way the poor could keep a roof over their heads.  But, by then, shotgun houses had added a new element to the American architectural vocabulary.  You see, shotgun houses gave us the Southern porch.  We didn&#x27;t previously have porches like that in America.  Like the shotgun house itself, Southern porches are now all over America.