On the Market: Washington School

One of the great things about St. Joseph is the variety of historic buildings that can be purchased at reasonable prices. With these structures the only limitation is your imagination!

One of those historic buildings is Washington School at 1015 N. 5^th St.

The current building was built in 1909 during an era when the St. Joseph School District was undergoing a building boom due to increasing enrollments. This building replaced an a smaller structure on the same site. Noted St. Joseph architectural firm of Eckel and Boschen were awarded the contract to design the school and local contractor J.W. Lehr was engaged to build the new building. A budget of $35,000 was allocated for the structure. There were significant cost overruns, and the architect E.J. Eckel had to appear in front of the school board to justify what was seen as excessive use of structural steel and iron. There exists a memorandum from J.W. Lehr Company to the Eckel firm dated July 19, 1909 setting out ways to reduce costs by altering the materials used; eg. changing the stone cornices to galvanized iron.

The School District continued to spend money on the building to make it more useful and in line with current thinking concerning education. In 1929 a $2,180,000 bond was issued. The allocation for the addition on Washington school was $26,300. In September 1931, 286 students were enrolled at Washington. Washington’s enrollment increased in 1933 when the district disbanded Longfellow School for regular education and some of its students were enrolled at Washington (others went to Everett, Edison, and Webster.).

In 1952 improvements were made to the buildings throughout the district. Washington along with Webster and Sherwood had improvements made to its playground. The recreation area was graded and two inches of bituminous coating was applied. That same year the School District engaged the architectural firm of Eckel and Aldrich (Eckel had been the original architect of the building) to alter the configuration of the basement to incorporate a “Crippled Children’s Room.”

As the city entered the 1970s, shifting residential patterns meant that Washington School was experiencing declining enrollment. In 1973 the decision was taken to close the elementary school. Its students were divided between Humboldt and Webster Schools. The building did service for two additional years as a temporary middle school until Robidoux Middle School was completed. The School District abandoned the structure in 1974.

Since 1974, the building has suffered from varying degrees of neglect. There was a short-lived attempt to use it as a multi-family residential space (the remains of some of the apartments are still intact) and more recently it served as a sort of warehouse for a wholesale pet fish business. It has been empty for approximately five years.

For more information or to view this property:

Contact Lisa Rock RE/MAX Professionals

Lg_kid@yahoo.com

816-262-8462

https://preservemo.org/historic-school-for-sale-st-joseph-mo/

http://www.remaxcommercial.com/?p=findahome.asp&listing=true&mlsid=311&mlsnumber=2146235

909 Robidoux: History in Those Walls

It’s a little hard to get to, but close to downtown St. Joseph is Robidoux St., right in the neighborhood of St. Joseph’s Co-Cathedral (in fact, the historic district – Cathedral Hill – is named for the biggest occupant of the area). This street, oddly empty now, was once a thriving residential area of solid homes.

All that is left is 909, and if something isn’t done soon, that might well be gone as well.

History

The Boyds

In 1884, prominent St. Joseph attorney James W. Boyd (1847-1921) and his wife Mary Frances Sharp Boyd (1854-1919) built a wonderful Italianate brick home in one of the newer neighborhoods in growing St. Joseph. Boyd was a man on the rise, and his new hope reflected that.

Boyd was a transplant from South Carolina, and he had served as a Colonel in the Confederate army. In the summer of 1886 ex-State Senator R.T. Davis (of Aunt Jemima fame) named him as the chairman of Democratic voters of Buchanan County. He also served as a delegate to the state convention from the First District. He was a prominent figure in regional legal circles, serving as the secretary of the Buchanan County Bar Association, Prosecuting Attorney for Buchanan County and candidate for the office of judge of the Kansas City Court of Appeals.

His most notorious case was in 1906 when he was involved in an attempt to declare Mary V. Burnes, an heir to the fabulously wealthy Burnes Estate, insane so that members of her family could seize a portion of her money. He was unsuccessful, but the case with its sordid overtones of greed and insanity, transfixed the city for weeks.

The Boyds mixed in the upper echelons of St. Joseph society, and 909 Robidoux was the scene of lovely dinner parties with guests bearing the last names of Tootle, Motter, Wyeth, and Kemper.

It was the Boyds that began to take in borders as early as 1910, when a fellow southerner, Leona Madison lived there. After Mary’s death in 1919, James had an African-American servant, Ora Hill living in the house with him. James died in the home and is buried next to his wife at Mount Mora.

 

The Ryans

Following the death of James Boyd in 1921, the house was purchased by Thomas F. (1848-1933) and Elizabeth C. Ryan (1861-1931). Thomas, like Boyd, was an attorney and a judge who made a name for himself in St. Joseph.

Also like Boyd, Ryan came to some notoriety in the city due to his involvement in a sensational case. In 1916, Harriet McDaniel was found brutally bludgeoned to death in her home. The nature of the crime was shocking enough that it would have gained much notice in the press, but the fact that Harriet was the wife of Oscar McDaniel, the Prosecuting Attorney and he was accused of the crime, made it all the more exciting. Oscar was tried for the crime in the courtroom of Judge Thomas Ryan. He was found not guilty, but he soon felt the need to leave St. Joseph and change his name. It was only a few years after this case that the Ryans purchased 909 Robidoux.

It is likely that the Ryans, Catholics who had emigrated from Ireland, were attracted to 909 by its location so close to St. Joseph’s Co-Cathedral, the center of Catholic life in the city. They remodeled the house and began to entertain there as befitted their stations in life. They both lived at the home until their deaths.

Multi-Family Home

Though the Boyds had had lodgers living with them, as far as the city was concerned 909 Robidoux was a single residence. That changed by 1924 under the Ryans. It is in that year that separate listings for 909 ½ appear in the City Directories. In 1924, Eudora Lucinda Martin was in residence and by 1927 she had been joined by her sister Martina. The Martin sisters were a teacher and a librarian respectively. During the 1950s, one of the Hunts – of Hunt Orchard – lived there. The home continued to provide affordable housing to families well in to the 21^st century.

Worth Holding On To

Researching the history of 909 Robidoux brings home a basic truth: every place has a history. We are very lucky in St. Joseph to have a robust stock of historic homes, many of which have long histories as affordable housing. With care and upkeep these solidly built homes can continue to serve us well for decades to come.

 

 

On the Market: 1921 Francis

 

3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, 1,824 sq. feet
Queen Anne
arching natural woodwork, pocket doors
kitchen appliances stay.
Lovely outdoor deck with pond for entertaining.
One car garage
Iron fence

$129,000

MLS#2132545

Call Lisa Rock at Re/Max to take a look

Located in the charming Harris Kemper National Historic District, this Queen Anne home has sat proudly behind its iron fence since at least 1898. The house was built by local entrepreneur and real estate developer (John) George Schneider. Ernst V. Harding and his wife Jessie M. chose the house as a sign of their upward mobility; he was a cashier at the German American Bank and seemed to be on the path to prosperity and influence in St. Joseph.

Their turreted home was decorated with a fish scale shingle frieze and gable dormers and imposing cast stone columns fronted the house. It is a house that reflects well on those who live in it. Inside the lovely arched woodwork, pocket doors, and graceful stairway made it the perfect place to entertain.

 

But in the Spring of 1901, scandal disturbed the quiet neighborhood. Ernst had disappeared and rumors spread through the city like wildfire. There were those who whispered that he had stolen from his employer and absconded with the cash; stories that were seemingly confirmed after he was found the victim of a botched suicide attempt. And then he began to talk. He claimed that he had returned home unexpectedly one afternoon and found his wife dallying with their coachman. He supposedly was so horrified that he fled the scene and attempted to kill himself with morphine at the Hotel Metropole. He then fled to Colorado. Jessie loudly defended herself and people began to listen when it emerged that Ernst had not gone to Colorado alone; he had taken a young lady with him. The scandal made the national papers, and Jessie was awarded a divorce. Ernest attempted to hold on to the house when he returned to St. Joseph, but his reputation was so damaged that he was unable to secure employment with a large enough wage to support it. He gave it up in 1905.

Following the departure of the Hardings, the house had a succession of occupants all of whom were solid respectable members of St. Joseph society. Among them was Clarence G. Sampson, the president of Sampson Dry Goods on Felix St., the journalist Clarence C. Pierce, and the Assistant superintendent of Prudential Insurance Co., Harvey J. Becker and his wife Carrie M. Helen C. Burris lived at 1921 Francis for more than 40 years from 1940 until her death in 1981. Initially she lived there with her husband, Lee, but when the marriage broke down Helen shared the home with her sons Jack and Robert (who worked for both Goetz and Pearl breweries as well as Gray Manufacturing).

Since Helen’s death, the house has been much loved and tended. The most recent owner has freshened the exterior paint so as to highlight the decorative elements. It’s charming back yard has been the site of innumerable social gatherings over the years.

Because 1921 Francis is in a Historic District it is eligible for assistance such as the Save Our Heritage grants awarded by the City of St. Joseph.

Getting Creative With It: What To Do With It After It’s Restored

Skyline of St. Joseph, MO showing many of the historic buildings of downtown

Saving old/historic buildings is a good thing. Few people disagree with that. Certainly if you’re reading this, you probably think that preservation is a positive good .However, saving the building may well be the easy part. Once it is rehabbed, then what?

In St. Joseph, as in other cities, one of the reoccurring questions whenever the question of preserving an historic structure is brought up is “What do we do with it.” And that is a question that should be asked and answered before preservation even begins.

Adaptive Reuse

The secret to successful historic preservation lies in creative and adaptive reuse of the buildings. Many of them can no longer be used for their original purposes but they do need to be put to some use or what is the point of saving them?

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has a toolkit to help guide you through the process of determining adaptive reuse for an historic structure.

Often it seems that people’s first suggestion is “Make it a museum.” Lovely idea, but museums are rarely self-sustaining (a good example of this is the National Military Heritage Museum in St. Joseph, located in an old police station, that has recently run into hard times financially) so where are the funds to keep it running going to come from?

National Military Heritage Museum

So other than museums – what other possibilities are there?

Lofts – many of the buildings that people want to preserve are massive. Such large buildings often can be creatively repurposed as lofts. This is particularly popular in today’s age as young professionals and the recently retired are both interested in returning to live in the urban core. The Mitchell Park Plaza lofts located in the old Mead Paper building is a grand example of such reuse.

Mitchell Park Plaza

Church of Christ Scientist

Event Spaces – I hesitate to write this, because truly how many event spaces does any town need? But this is a popular option, especially it seems, for churches. In St. Joseph, one of the reuses for the Twin Spires church was as a wedding venue (it is now being repurposed once again, we’ll discuss the new use below). The First Church of Christ, Scientist is, after quite a lot of controversy, nearly ready to open as a large events space. The Wyeth-Tootle Mansion, a part of St. Joseph Museums, Inc. is one of the most used rental facilities in the city.

Restaurant – The Provident Savings Association Building on Francis Street in St. Joe, built in 1910 and recently rehabbed as a single family dwelling is undergoing yet another transformation. The new owner intends to open a Cuban restaurant with a speakeasy-style bar in the basement. Oddly St. Joseph has two Cajun restaurants within blocks of each other, both in historic buildings. Boudreaux’s Louisiana Seafood, on 4th Street is housed in one of the historic warehouses downtown. The Ballinger Building, once the site of Walter Cronkite’s father’s dental practice, now houses Bourbon Street.

Way Outside the Box

More creative – and controversial? – options are out there as well. Many of them involve the reuse of churches, which are among the most frequently reused structures.

Recreational space – In Spain they have transformed a 100-year-old church into a brightly painted skatepark. While there are those who would cry blasphemy at such a use, in today’s increasingly secular world there seem to be more churches than congregations.

Twin Spires

Political Statement – Twin Spires, now properly known as the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, is slated to come online as a Pro-life museum. One could argue that all preservation is a political statement, but few are as overt as this.

Bar – In Pittsburgh, a rather grand old church has been lovingly – and respectfully – transformed into a bar. Many of the architectural features were repaired and restored and continue to adorn a building that still functions as a gathering place for the community.

Supermarket – Almost as problematic to restore as churches are grand old bank buildings. We have already discussed the small bank in St. Joseph that is being repurposed as a Cuban restaurant and bar. In Cleveland, they have repurposed one of the massive bank structures as a supermarket. In order to harvest the historic tax credits, they took particular care to preserve the historic fabric of the building thus creating a supermarket experience far removed from the usual mega-mart.

Church – Taking this tour full circle in a sense, the natatorium (public swimming pool) at 117 Francis in St. Joseph, just reopened as a church. Just goes to show that you can make a church into anything and anything into a church.

Tell us – what do you think of these projects? Do you have any great ideas for creative/adaptive reuse of historic structures?

The Economic Benefits of Historic Preservation

The Economic Benefits of Historic Preservation

There are lots of reasons why historic preservation is important. Many of the most important speak to quality of life issues (and will be the topic of a future blog post). But there are hard-core economic benefits as well. Bottom line: preservation is good business.

 Jobs, Jobs, and More Jobs

When people argue that preservation is good for the economy, the first thing they point to is job creation. There is no question but that historic preservation is a job-creating engine.

Most of the studies that make this point do so within a very limited scope. They tend to focus on the number of jobs created by the act of rehabilitation itself. While those jobs are certainly real – and important – there are other ways to think about job creation.

A community that invests in historic preservation will reap the rewards in terms of increased economic activity across a variety of sectors, beginning with tourism. Heritage tourism is a major source of income for communities that work to exploit their historic resources. Tourists bring dollars that are spent in a variety of businesses and result in increased tax revenue.

All of that creates jobs.

 Green and Sustainability

We all hear about the importance of going green, the benefits of sustainability. Recycling is a sure ticket into heaven. Seriously what could be a better example of recycling than the rehabilitation of an historic structure? Historic preservation is by definition green.

Everyone with an old house has heard people criticize them for being energy inefficient. The truth is that an appropriately rehabbed historic building is not significantly less efficient than a newer structure. Also, it takes 15 to 30 times the amount of energy to build a home than is consumed in its annual operation. Historic houses have long ago embodied the energy expended during their construction and are now in the lesser-use phase of their life cycle.

 Property Values

Investment in historic rehabilitation revitalizes established neighborhoods. Preservation of older buildings increases the property values in the neighborhood. There is truth to the saying that a neighborhood is only as strong as its weakest structure.

Blight costs money. It brings with it crime and a significantly decreased tax base. Unrehabilitated homes create neighborhoods that no one wants to live in. That means that if you want to sell your house in such a neighborhood you are going to have a tough time of it.

There are lots of reasons why communities should invest in historic preservation and we’ll be exploring many of them in coming posts. But to be very practical about it: historic preservation is good for a community’s bottom line.

What other ways can you think of that historic preservation makes good business sense? Reach out to us at historicstjoefoundation@gmail.com, Follow us on Facebook, Twitter https://twitter.com/HStJoeF, and Pinterist https://www.pinterest.com/historicstjosep/

Historic Fundraisers

The ghouls gather in Harris Kemper Addition to welcome the brave to the neighborhood.

HI$TORIC TOURI$M: MOUNT MORA CEMETERY’S VOICES OF THE PAST and HAUNTED HARRIS-KEMPER

Every year Saint Joseph features a number of historic events that feature our local history and regional lore. Two particular fundraisers that feature history and architecture sell out every year.

The first on October 10^th this year, is in the Harris-Kemper neighborhood, a nationally designated historic district that sits roughly east of the Museum Hill Neighborhood and 22^nd Street, and roughly North from Union to Charles Streets. Each year Haunted Harris-Kemper hosts a walking tour of the district that features the haunted lore of the neighborhood homes. Harris-Kemper boasts an amazing variety of Victorian mansions and homes that have stories to share.

Participants gather and are led around the neighborhood to local homes where costumed volunteers come to the curb to share the history and architectural heritage of the homes — with a twist — that usually includes stories of haunted, ill-fated, or odd-ball residents. In 2014, the local dance studio next to Luna’s Fine Dining performed a ghostly ballet as a finale to the ghoulish tour. Everyone was enchanted by the dancing spectral waifs.  After each tour, gourmet appetizers and drinks are served.

An additional event of the Halloween season is held at historic Mount Mora Cemetery, one of the oldest cemeteries in St. Joseph. Voices of the Past features “residents” of the burial site, or their acquaintances, who briefly tell the stories and significance of their lives while lit only by lamplight along Mausoleum Row in the dark cemetery.  This well-attended event, produced in cooperation with the Saint Joseph Museums, Inc., is a sell-out every year.  And, no wonder, as Mount Mora claims Missouri governors, Pony Express Riders, as well as the insignificant buried in its grounds.  A wealth of Saint Joseph history is celebrated among the unique and impressive architectural monuments and tombstones.

Local historian Suzanne Lehr volunteers many hours each year in researching and documenting available historic information to write the individual scripts for each of the featured Voices. Each year an array of volunteer actors dress in period costume and portray famous and infamous town citizens of yore. This event is so popular that it is no longer even advertised as it sells out prior to the event. Visitors meet at the Wyeth-Tootle Mansion at 1100 Charles and are bused in for four different performances over the course of two evenings.  This year, Voices of the Past is scheduled for October 22nd and 23^rd and, as of mid-September, was already filling up.  So, get tickets NOW by calling St. Joseph Museums, Inc. at 816-232-8471.

Using history and architecture to produce these delightful events for Mount Mora Cemetery and the Harris-Kemper Neighborhood Association help to fund and strengthen these organizations, as well as our local economy. People come from all over the region to attend these tours.  St. Joseph history and rich architecture generate income and interest. Saving this history and architecture is not just a sentimental endeavor: it’s a smart, fiscal investment for the future.

Why It Matters

Why It Matters: Preserving St. Joseph’s Past with an Eye to Its Future

Those of us who have lived in St. Joseph for any time at all have heard them: The reasons why St. Joseph isn’t great now like it once was. The stories are many and manifold and they, generally, have some link to the truth. They include:

• During the Civil War, the former mayor and southern sympathizer Jeff Thompson ran afoul of the federal government and the city never really recovered.
• In the late 19th century, the city government failed to build the railroad bridge over the Missouri River and it went to Kansas City instead. They grew and we died.
• The ‘old’ families of the city operate in a sort of cabal in order to maintain their control and keep out new ideas and growth.
• Urban renewal in the 1970s gutted the downtown and left it a rotting shell.

And on and on and on.

Most of you reading could add a story or two of your own.

Well fine, as I said, most of those stories have a kernel of truth to them, no doubt that there have been lost opportunities in the past.

But what all of the stories also have in common is that they are destructive. They have burrowed so deeply into the collective psyche that any time someone has an idea that would bring real change and growth to the city, the knee-jerk reaction is “Sounds good, but it won’t work here.”

It is time for St. Joseph to change the story, to alter the historical narrative. It is time to realize that St. Joe has amazing resources that, if stewarded with an eye to the future, could raise all boats.

There are some voices in the city that are telling a new story. Go downtown, that former ghost town, and just look around. Things are happening there. Interesting things, interesting people.

Historic St. Joseph Foundation is another of those optimistic voices. We believe wholeheartedly in the future of this city. We believe that through projects like the revitalization of Krug Park and the rehabilitation of the Livestock Exchange the next hundred years of our city’s history will be characterized by real growth and movement.

It is going to take investment in ourselves. Investment of time, talent, and yes – treasure. But it is an investment that undoubtedly will pay off.