First, allow me to point out that labeling this as folklore is entirely appropriate: besides dealing with oral traditions, folklorists also undertake the material culture of the folk. The famed false front of the American West was a "vernacular" or "folk" attempt to create the impression of an Italianate-style building.

Italianate-style architecture was popular from the 1850s through the 1880s. As often happened, styles lingered longer in the West. Italianate buildings were noted for their blocky appearance and they were often taller than they were wide, often with a flat-topped front façade. The flat-topped façade hid a roof structure that was usually gabled, even if only a bit, to shed water. In those Western laces there were heavy snow loads, the pitch of the hidden roof would need to be higher.

Because many nineteenth-century Western towns had a commercial district that was built "wall-to-wall" the presentation from the street point of view could be a large mass of flat-topped roof lines - hiding a series of gable-pitches behind, allowing for the discharge of rain and snow.

Italianate structures were often masonry, and the front façade could hardly be called a false front; the dynamics of style and the practical need for shedding water and snow simply made the front seem a bit false. In the West, particularly when dealing with the first phase of commercial architecture, buildings were often wooden, so it was possible to exaggerate the height of the front façade with little worry about an unsupported masonry wall. This allowed for a more modestly-constructed building to take on the appearance of height even if the dimensions of the actual roofline did not justify it, hence the idea of a "false" front. Initially, there was nothing altogether "false" about the front elevation of an Italianate-style building, but when it was exaggerated to this point, it began to take on the appearance of being "false."