United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property
Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Missouri Associated Historic Contexts Warren's Corner to "Useful and Permanent Improvements": 1836-1899
Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri
Introduction and Overview
Warrensburg is located in western Missouri, approximately 60 miles southeast of Kansas City. It has a population of approximately 19,000 and covers just over six square miles of land. It is the seat of Johnson County, and home to the campus of the University of Central Missouri (originally the Second District State Normal School).
The town was platted in 1836, and incorporated in 1855. It takes its name from early settler Martin Warren, who had a log cabin at what is now College and Gay Streets. The original town center was platted on a hilltop west of "Warren's corner," and the first Johnson County courthouse still occupies the old public square at Main and Gay Streets. Spurned by talk of upcoming rail service through the area, new additions to the town in the 1850s created a second business center east of the old town square, complete 'with a new public square and an all important depot for the railroad that reached the city in 1864. The area by the depot gradually replaced "Old Town" as the commercial center of the community. Those streets today are lined with commercial buildings constructed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as the "new" county courthouse, which is now more than a century old. Warrensburg soon developed into a regional trade center, and it is still the largest town in Johnson County.
One of the earliest historic preservation projects in the community began in the mid 1960s, when the Johnson County Historical Society purchased and restored the original Johnson County Courthouse. Built in 1842 at what is now 302 North Main, the old courthouse became the first building in Johnson County to be listed in the National Register on June 15, 1970.
Registration activities since then have been relatively sparse. As of October 2011, only seven other buildings in Warrensburg have been listed in the National Register of Historic Places, all as individual properties. They are: The new (1896-98) Johnson County Courthouse on the Courthouse Square (listed 1994), the Herbert A. and Bettie E. Cress House on West Gay Street (listed 1995), the Warren Street Methodist Episcopal Church (listed 1996), Magnolia Mills (listed 1996 and later demolished), the Masonic Temple on West Market and North Holden Streets (listed 1998), the Howard School on West Culton Street (listed 2002), and the Jones Brothers Mule Barn on North College Avenue (listed 2011).
Previous identification of historic architecture in Warrensburg includes three formal surveys of cultural resources. In the early 1980's, the Show-Me Regional Planning Commission cosponsored two grant-funded surveys of notable historic properties, one of dwellings and one that concentrated on commercial resources.
More recently, the City of Warrensburg commissioned a reconnaissance level survey of all historic resources located in the oldest parts of the community. The later project, conducted by Sally Schwenk Associates in 2007 and 2008, documented just over 1,000 properties, with construction dates that range from 1842 to 1965. In 2010, those survey results were evaluated by Tiffany Patterson, National Register Coordinator for the Missouri State Historic Preservation Office.
Patterson's report identified four potential historic districts, and Patterson and Schwenk Associates both identified several buildings that appear to be individually eligible for National Register designation.
Schwenk Associates and Patterson also recommended that a Multiple Property Documentation Form (MPDF) be created to facilitate future National Register work in the community.
As recommended, this MPDF consolidates new and previous research and lays out guidelines for the systematic evaluation and designation of historic resources in Warrensburg. The cover document provides context for all four of the potential districts listed, as well as many individually significant properties.
One related district nomination has also been prepared; the Grover Street Victorian Historic District is being nominated for significance in the area of architecture. Other areas that appear to retain significant integrity to warrant district designation include several blocks in the commercial center on Pine and Holden Streets, as well as a group of residential properties located along West Gay Street.
The historical period covered in the discussion below begins with the platting of the town in 1836 and ends in 1945, with the start of a significant period of post WWII development. The geographical area covered corresponds to that of the most recent surveys. (See Figure 1.,1
I. Warren's Corner to; Regional Trade Center: 1836-1899
The town of Warrensburg was laid out and platted in 1836 by County Surveyor George Tibbs. What had been a mere crossroads on open prairie known as "Warren's Comer," and later "Warren's Burg," the site had been selected that year by county commissioners as the county seat, and officially named in honor of early settler Martin Warren. The new town's first blocks were arranged in a neat grid around a central public square bounded by Water, Main, Gay and Market Streets. That layout, defined as a Shelbyville, or Block, type square provided order and emphasized the expected role of the square as the hub of community growth and activity. Construction of the new courthouse, a Federal style red brick building facing Main Street, began in 1838. Built by William N. Wade, it was based on plans by Harvey Dyer. The restored original courthouse is one of the few early Federal style courthouses left in Missouri.
By the time the courthouse was complete in 1842, the town of Warrensburg was firmly established. One description of early town development noted that "the business and enterprise of the town steadily increased, till 1840 when Warrensburg was known as an important town." New buildings around the square included a log building for the County Clerk's office, a brick jail (north of the courthouse) and the town's first hotel, also of log. John Evans had opened the first general store, which carried hardware, calico and whiskey, and Davis & Company mercantile opened the first of a series of mercantile establishments.
Davis & Company were to have an enduring presence in Old Town; they remained in business in the area into the 1960s.
A brick commercial building they constructed in 1869 remains in place at the comer of Gay and Main Streets.
The new town offered an increasing variety of goods and services including meat markets, harness makers and saloons. The Methodist Episcopal South Church was organized and the Baptist and Presbyterian soon after; the first school classes
F. E. North, ed., The History of Johnson County. Missouri (Kansas City, MO: Kansas City Historical Company, 1881) 390. The plat, recorded in 1837, illustrates the public square, 302 feet per side, streets sixty-six feet wide, fourteen foot alleys and 144 x 72 foot lots
Marian Ohman, A History of Missouri's Counties. County Seats. and Courthouse Squares, (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri-Columbia Extension, 1983) 33. The Shelbyville square, the most common type throughout Missouri and one repeated throughout the Midwest, evolved in the early 1800s and is named for the earliest examples found in central Tennessee. North 391.
North 217, and Ewing Cockrell, History of Johnson County, Missouri, (Topeka: Historical Publishing Co., 1918) 203.
were taught by Major N. B. Holden and Joel Warren, grandson of the town's namesake. Rumblings about the potential for a railroad through Missouri began in 1849. 12 By 1850 the population of what one early poet described as the "home of common people, the sinew of the world" reached 241. 13
The growing town was incorporated in November 1855. Its growth was linked to the efforts of Col. B. 'We Grover and Major N. B. Holden. Grover was involved early on in bringing the railroad to town-through Johnson County rather than along the Missouri River. In 184:3 Grover purchased Martin Warren's cabin and 40 acres of land around it, and in October 1857 he filed a plat for Grover's Depot Addition to Warrensburg.
14 Oddly, that addition was not adjacent to the existing town boundaries or either of the small additions that were made in 1854; Holden owned a large tract of land in between. (See Figure 2 for a map of early additions.) Holden soon began filling the land between the original town and Grover's addition with even blocks of town lots. Holden's First Addition was filed in 1858, and two more adjacent Holden Additions followed in 1864.
Prior to this, the Land had been cornfield and "brush-patch" but with Grover's Addition came the extension of Gay, Market, Culton and Pine streets.
15 East of Holden Street, these streets were arranged at an angle, skewed from the grid pattern of the original town, in order to miss the Warren cabin and Grover's "Woodside Farm." This variation from the rhythmic pattern of blocks in the rest of town remains a defining characteristic of the neighborhood today. Almost overnight, the grid of buildings and streets in the original plat became known as "Old Town" and the newly added land to the east "New Town." Holden and Miller (later, College) streets provided a new spine running north and south that paralleled Water and Main streets in the original plat.
In 1860, the town (population 982) had four churches, two newspapers, eleven dry goods stores, several grocery and drug stores and two hotels, many of which were located in "New Town."
16
There was a hardware store, blacksmith and wagon shops, stove and tin houses. Its chief products were com, wheat and timber. Improved land sold for 15 to 25 dollars per acre; Warrensburg did not yet have a bank. Listed in the
12
In 1849 a Pacific Railroad charter to build track from St. Louis to western Missouri was announced. Ground was broken in 1851.
13
Cockrell 201 and 221. The quote is from a poem by Mel P. Moody titled "Old Warrensburg" that was included in Cockrell's history of Warrensburg. All population figures cited from Cockrell are based on the U. S. Census for the given year.
14
North, 390-391; Cecille Foster, quoting from the abstract for 212 Grover Street, in 'This Old House", Bulletin of the Johnson County Historical Society, Vol. XI, No.2, Jan 1977, 4. 15
Cockrell 393. Woodside Farm is identified in an article by Lizzie Grover, Col. Grover's daughter, as cited in Mary Rainey, Early History of Warrensburg (2003) 1.
16
Cockrell 201.
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1860 Gazetteer are two brick yards, Davidson & Company brick masons, and five builders and carpenters.
The rapid development of Holden and Grover's Additions was clearly linked to the announcement that the Missouri Pacific Railroad planned to run through Warrensburg. The right of way for the new tracks ran along the south edges of Grover's First and Holden's second additions. Although Grover was supposed to have had a contract with the railroad that assured the town's new depot would be built in his addition, it was, as county historian Ewing Cockrell later wrote, "by mistake or otherwise" Economic built on and Major social Holden's activity land was minimal instead in during 1864
the Civil War
Public schooling was suspended, the Western Missourian and the Weekly Union newspapers shut down, and work on the railroad stalled before the tracks reached Warrensburg. The town's location near the Missouri-Kansas border-a landscape of savage killing and plunder-left it vulnerable to roaming guerrilla bands. The Missouri State Militia was put in place to handle Confederate activity. Although only 3% of the population of Johnson County owned slaves, the state's position-politically and geographically-forced citizens to choose sides. 19 Prominent citizen and attorney Major Edmond A. Nickerson described camp gangs following in the wake of Union and Confederate armies roving through the streets and terrorizing property owners. They "dominated the will in every way, and by their criminal brutal force made Warrensburg an unsafe place for human habitation."
Militias for both sides were organized in town, one drilling on the west side, near their camp beyond the public square, the other on the east. Land near Old Town was used as a parade ground and the courthouse-protected by a stockade built by citizens during the fighting-was used as a federal garrison. The home of Captain Fike was used as a smallpox hospital as was the First Presbyterian Church, on Gay near Warren St. 21 The Bolton House hotel on the south side of the square was taken by soldiers and used as a guard house and District Headquarters. Local legend has it that Quantrill and his gang rode through but spared the courthouse and adjacent buildings. Throughout town was the "stamp of red battle."22 One of the
Cockrell 203. Holden died. on Sept. 21, 1862, shot in the doorway of his residence, and therefore outlived Grover by about eleven months. Change in the depot location could have come with uncertainty prompted by Grover's death. 18
war's the Hemp early Bales, casualties better known was Col. as Grover, the First who Battle died on of October Lexington.
1861, at the Battle of
The first train entered Warrensburg on July 4, 1864. With the war nearly over, the return of routine and the opportunities brought by the railroad, businesses scrambled to open or relocate in New Town. Frame buildings were constructed, sometimes hastily, in an effort to house them. A description of the town as it looked in 1868 noted that a "string of one-story wooden store-houses straggled along on West Pine" and south to the frame depot at the foot of Holden Street.
There were few sidewalks and streets were not graded. Just south of the tracks was the Redford House hotel (later replaced by the Simmons Hotel), but little else; beyond was brush and woods.
This growth "cast the die" for Old Town.
A description of the town written in 1881 referred to it as a "deserted village," claiming that "the business is all gone from the old main street, and the old brick building- which stand have a desolate appearance."26 Some saw Warrensburg as a town divided: New Town with its commercial district near the railroad tracks and Old Town with its "courthouse, the post office and all the lawyers."27 The juxtaposition was described, albeit sentimentally, less than twenty years later: "As it once stood, it was a proud village, overlooking every hill and defile for miles around, while the present new town is couched away among hills and dales as if hiding from the sight of the once thrifty little 'city on a hill." this changed dramatically in less than thirty years. Between 1860 and 1890 the population of Warrensburg grew from 982 to 4,706. Improved conditions, services and way of life are suggested by the listings in city directories and gazetteers and are manifest in the neighborhoods and commercial districts built during the period. A major fire in 1866 shaped New Town in particular. A Christmas Eve fire raged through the new business district, rushing up the west side of Holden Street from the south and burning the majority of the frame buildings. Stopped by the only brick building in all the blocks, the Stewart Hardware store (constructed by J. L. Johnston), it was observed by I. M. Cruce, "Yonder's what we want."29 A second major fire in 1873 made it clear that frame buildings were inappropriate for tightly packed commercial streets.
What followed was a rebuilding of the commercial district using brick and "blue" sandstone from the Bruce and Pickel quarries north of Warrensburg, which
After the Colonel's death, other Grover Additions followed. It is assumed that Mrs. Grover, who remained at Woodside Farm through the 1880s was responsible for their development.
William Lowe, in Cockrell 207
This rebuilding transformed the ragged appearance of early New Town and the streets there are still lined with brick and stone commercial buildings.
News of that rebuilding program could have prompted William Lowe to move to Warrensburg. Celebrated by business associates as an outstanding citizen fifty years after his arrival in 186E., he was a lumberman, builder, and contractor listed regularly in gazetteers. He operated a lumber yard on East Culton Street for decades. His biography in the 1881 history of Johnson County credits him with constructing 300 buildings in the county.31 Those in Warrensburg were the Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, and Cumberland Presbyterian churches; he "finished" the Normal School and built the Howard and Foster schools. He is also credited with building Mr. J. Brown's residence (to date unidentified) and "others too numerous to mention."32 Lowe represents the status of and contribution made by builder-contractors, some of whom-such as Lowe--worked in tandem with trained architects later in the nineteenth century.
Old Town slowed down as New Town grew, but did not disappear altogether. The original courthouse was freshened up with a stucco exterior after the Civil War, the post office was still there, and several area lawyers kept offices in the area to be close to the courthouse. In 1869, W. H. Davis and Co, which opened their first store in new town in the 1840s, built a new brick store at 311 North Main. The Davis Store survives; it is the only commercial building left in the original town. Likely there was a repurposing of many of the buildings around the square, as had happened at the courthouse during the war and prior, when it was used for schooling and by church groups.
The courthouse continued to serve as the hub for county jurisprudence and perhaps the highlight during these years was the 1870 trial between Charles Burden and Leonidas Hornsby. Burden alleged his neighbor, in-law, and wealthy sheep breeder Hornsby had shot and killed his hunting dog, Drum. The trial was found in Burden's favor after attorney and Senator George Graham Vest presented in his "Old closing Drum" argument that identifies his speech the entitled, dog as man's ''The Eulogy best friend.to the Dog," The tear-jerking plea for trial was one of the last official events to take place in the original courthouse; it was replaced in 1875 with a new 30 x 50-foot frame building on the square in New Town. It was later sold and renovated for use as a residence.
William Safire, in Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History, (N. Y.: W. W. Norton, 1997) 174, includes Vest's closing argument as an outstanding tribute in the history of American speeches.
Warrensburg had a significant African-American population throughout the 19th century. Although the history of African Americans in Warrensburg has not yet been assessed sufficiently, an attempt has been made here to introduce the subject. African Americans have been in the area from the first days of settlement. Blacks were brought to area farms and homesteads to work as slaves and domestics in the 1830s. After the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and the end of the Civil War, two rural settlements developed that, with time, contributed to Warrensburg's population. The earliest of these was Mt. Olive, twelve miles to the northeast of town that began in 1832 with the farm established by James Simpson and his mother Sarah.34 Free blacks, most former slaves of the Simpsons, stayed on after 1865 and formed their own community. A decade later, Mt. Olive Church was built, and soon after came a cemetery and schools; ultimately the self-sufficient village grew to include thirty houses and businesses.35 Changes in the local economy linked to farming and the opening of new industries forced workers, and then families, to relocate. The integration of schools reinforced this flight and by the late 1950s little remained of the community.
The second rural community was Montserrat, five miles due east of Warrensburg. In contrast to Mt. Olive's farm tradition, Montserrat (platted in 1870 by geologist John A. Gallaher) began as a coal mining town. Many of its original citizens were born to slavery-half the population was African American in its early years-and its population reached 225 by 1880.36 The economy, based initially on mining, then lumber and later brick and tile production, also was unable to weather changes like those that affected nearby Mt. Olive. Within ten years, coal was stripped from the mines, labor costs increased and after the tum of the century, concrete replaced the use of brick. As at Mt. Olive, residents left to find work; in 1993 the last black resident died.
Many of these rural families relocated in Warrensburg. African Americans who lived in the town of Warrensburg worked at jobs different from those on rural farms but their circumstances were similar. A deed filed in 1836 records slaves owned and sold by town founder Martin Warren.38 In interviews conducted during the Depression, former slave Charlie Richardson refers to "Master" Warren, recalling work from dawn until 11 o'clock at night and long rows of log
Lucille D. Gress, An Informal History of Black families of the Warrensburg. Missouri. Area, (Warrensburg: Mid-America Press, Inc.. 1997)
Rainey 5. It appears Warren sold slaves to free men of color as well as to whites.
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cabins daubed with mud in which families cooked and slept.
39
Slaves, recently well- fed and smeared with grease to appear healthy (increasing their monetary value) were shackled by iron ball and chains when sold on the north side of the courthouse square.40 Census records in 1860 indicate that thirty-two of Warrensburg citizens-- physicians, attorneys, merchants, the sheriff, a clergyman and banker among them-- owned 116 slaves.41
In the 1918 History of Johnson County, builder William Lowe commented on the large number of blacks in town when he arrived in 1866, wondering if they made up the whole population.42 He recalled that of 1,000 citizens "fully a third of them were negroes" although the 1860 census, which records 858 whites and 124 "colored" living in Warrensburg, suggests that percentage might be high. Once free, many stayed in town settling in an abandoned Union camp on the west side near Cave Hollow and were joined by those relocating from Mt. Olive and Montserrat. Old Town has retained the largest population of black families of any of the area's early settlements.
A great leap in progress and the equalizer for Warrensburg's black citizens came with the right to own land and property. They began buying houses on North Main, West Gay and North streets, still clustering around the old courthouse square, and along West Pine, living side-by-side with white neighbors. Many of these houses have been lived in and owned by the same families for decades. By the late nineteenth century, they shared a sense of community bound by faith and an interest in education. Their churches and schools are evidence of these shared values. Early church congregations include the Holbert Chapel CME Church-established in 1860 as the Methodist Church (Colored)-today located at 506 North Main, and the Shiloh Baptist (1888) at North Main and West Market streets. The most architecturally elaborate extant nineteenth-century church is the Warren Street Methodist Episcopal Church, built in 1899 at 201 South Warren Street. (NR 12/13/1996)
Historical accounts of Warrensburg have always mentioned the "fine residences" built by its citizens, such as the Grover house in the Depot Addition, surrounded by orchards, and Major Nickerson's Selmo Park, shaped from twenty acres of land south of town.
43
Other early examples include brick houses near the
39
These interviews were conducted by the WPA in the 1930s and used in the exhibit Slavery's Echoes: Interviews with Former Missouri Slaves, at the Missouri State Museum in Jefferson City, Mo. February 2007 through February 2011.
40
Johnson County Historical Society Bulletin, XVIII No.4, Sept. 2003, np.
41
Rainey 19.
42
Cockrell 205.
43
Nickerson purchased the land in 1866 and began building his brick Italianate estate soon after surrounding it with orchards and vineyards. Named for a former slave to whom Nickerson was indebted, it is now the University of Central Missouri (UCMO) President's residence and a reception center. <<www.ucmo.edu/about/president/selmo, accessed 11-15/2011».
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square and on West Gay near Main Street.44 The Italianate style H. F. Clark house (222 W. Market, ca. 18Hl) is located a bit farther east; its neighbor a block to the south is the Keene house (301 West Culton, ca. 1870), also Italianate and on a comer lot. By the mid-1870s, merchants and professionals were building more flamboyant Gothic Revival houses on W. Gay Street such as the Gilkeson house, at 307 W. Gay.
Between 1866 and 1880 there was a push to promote and improve education to replace this town's saloons that was during this period a city of progress.
To paraphrase 45
one observant citizen, schools The first school, built for African American students in 1867, was the frame Howard School, 400 W. Culton, funded by the black community with assistance from the American Missionary Association and the Freedman's Bureau. Not large enough for its mission for long-African Americans reportedly made up one-third of the town's population when it was built- it was replaced in 1888 by the extant Howard School on the same site. That school was built by William Lowe, from plans by Kansas City architect John Newcomer.46 Other schools followed: the first public school for white students, Reese School, was built in 1867, followed beginning in 1870 and by Foster School a dedicated high in 1870. High School classes were school building was constructed in taught
1898.
47 The state normal school was established south of the New Town in 1871. Such institutions were training schools for teachers, or as explained in the 1881 County history, was the their five-story mission "Old was J\1ain" "to (1872) teach how designed to teach.,,48 in the "Lombard-Venetian" The first building on style.
campus
49
The polychrome facade featured blue and grey limestone with Gothic-arched windows edged in buff-colored stone, side walls were of polished brick, all capped with a mansard roof. Old Main did not survive a major fire in 1915 that destroyed all but two of the normal school buildings. One of the survivors is the turreted Dockery Hall (1903), still in use today as part of the University of Central Missouri campus.50
Johnson County has been described as "one of the great multi-interest counties in Missouri" and Warrensburg embodied this characteristic.51 Besides the recent interest in better education there were traditional vocations of farming, husbandry and viniculture increasingly important activity in this period of improved horticultural practices. The new quarry industry made a giant contribution to the town's financial base and the built environment. By the last years of the
44
Cockrell 219.
45
Cockrell 207.
46
William Foley and Jeff Yelton, National Register nomination for Howard School, 2001.
47
Howard School in the only intact historic school in the study area.
48
North 286.
49
North 302.
50
Ide 51.
51
Walter Williams, The State of Missouri: An Autobiography, (Columbia, MO: E. W. Stephens, 1904) 416.
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nineteenth-century Warrensburg would identify itself as "The Quarry City." Cuts from the great vein of sandstone on which the town sat-one of the first stones to be quarried extensively in the state-can be found in commercial and residential architecture in Warrensburg and many other communities.
At one time Warrensburg sandstone "constituted one of the principal building stones Holden in Street St. Louis."52 and was 'The first Bruce to Quarry open in was 1867.
located 53
Bruce two used miles modem north of methods: town up
the company had its own power plant and used Wordwell channelers and steam derricks to reach the (first) blue then white sandstone (a transitional striped zone lay between) and finally "bottom blue."54 Certainly, railroad access and the subsequent ease of shipping contributed to the St. Louis quarryman's decision to access the blue and white stone; in fact, in the early 1870s, a Missouri Pacific spur was laid to link the quarries to town.
A second quarry, owned and run by generations of the local Pickel family (originally from near Coblenz, Germany) opened in 1873 and operated until the early 1900s. From two quarries located on twenty acres, also north of town, the Pickel team cut fine calcareous sandstone with quartz grains that ran from mostly grey to light blue (with a deeper blue tint as depth increased) to white. Pickel stone was the choice for J. B. Legg's additions to the Missouri State Capitol (which burned in 1911), for local use at Christ
Episcopal
Church (134 E. Gay, 1893-99), the Masonic Temple (310-303 N. Holden, 1893) and residences such as the Eads house (ca. 1910, 137 Grover). Stone from Warrensburg quarries was used in a long list of civic, institutional and residential buildings constructed in St. Louis, Kansas City, Nebraska and Iowa. A Partial list includes in St. Louis: the Lindell and Southern Hotels, the Chamber of Commerce Building and numerous churches and residences; in Omaha: the Hayden Block, the Water Works Station and YMCA; in Kansas City: the U. S. Post Office and Warder Grand Opera House; in Lincoln: the Normal University and Union College; in Iowa: the Grand Hotel and many courthouses in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri.
55 At the base of the Pickel quarry ran a chalybeate (ferrous) spring where mineral water swelled up regularly. After the quarries closed in the 1900s, the rocky voids were allowed to flood with spring water, creating the naturalistic Garden of Eden swimming hewn Pickel pool. sandstone, A small opened service in station 1928.
of the 56
(That same building name, was constructed listed in the of rough
National Register as the Garden of Eden Station 04/08/1994.) Reuse of this industrial site as
52
Buckley 273.
53
In 1871 Bruce partnered to become the firm of Bruce and Veitch.
54
Buckley 274.
55
Buckley 277.
56
Irle 45.
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an everyman's resort is a reminder of another of Warrensburg's multi-interests in the late nineteenth century. The plethora of mineral springs around town made it a "natural sanitarium," a center for balneology, the bathing in and drinking of medicinal waters. This began casually at Cave Hollow, a resort with a bubbling spring, an ideal lover's picnic retreat or a spot for a ramble. 57 Informal use-dipping of a cup and of one's toes--grew to a more sophisticated (and financially viable) recreation in the last decades of the 19th century.
The success of Cave Hollow may have suggested a profitable use to George Colbern, whose family owned tracts of land replete with springs on the northwest edge of town.58 In the 1880s he developed the property into a flourishing health resort, Electric Springs, advertised as a place where one could "Drink your way to health using Nature's own beverage."59 The Oaks Hotel, ringed with gardens framed by woods overlooking a "precipitous natural amphitheater," accommodated overnight guests.60 A forty-tub hot and cold water bathhouse, bowling alley and bottled water that could be shipped home were a part of the experience. Visitors seeking pleasure and health cures went to and from Electric Springs via Colbern's trolleys that ran from South Street near the downtown hotels.61
An even more popular and long-lived resort was Pertle Springs, the brain-child of Warrensburg businessman J. H. Christopher. Long before his development of the property, the healing effect of its medicinal waters was appreciated by Native Americans. Beginning In 1883, Christopher developed this into a pleasure ground of health, recreation and improvement by building the sprawling three-story Minnewawa (presumably Native American for "healing waters") Hotel and a series of nine lakes for swimming, fishing and boating. From the hotel, a footbridge spanned a deep ravine to provide access to the assembly hall known as the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle could seat up to 3,000 for conventions, camp meetings or Chautauqua's with the subjects varying from moral to religious to political in tone.
57
North, 392, Ide 60. The site deteriorated until the 1980s (and was even used as a dump site) but has since reopened as a city park.
58
On the west side of Old Town mineral springs ran north to south bubbling up into wells and on principal streets possibly suggesting the origin for the name of Water Street which ran directly south from Colbern's 1st and 2nd Additions. History and Descriptive Review of MO 1891, 128.
59
<http://www.warrensburg-mo.com/Public_Works/Cemetery/electric_springs.htm>> accessed 11/15/2011. The property was sold to. Cockrell in 1881 then was repurchased by Colbern in 1891. It changed hands again, several times, after 1917.
60
Loring Bullard, Healing Waters, (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2004), 160-61.
61
"Electric Springs," and the term itself, became popular in the last decades of the nineteenth century when electrification, the railroads and this type of resort came into use all at the same time. One would assume that Colbern's resort had an electric show of some sort, lights strung across the grounds, for example, or that his mule-drawn trolley was replaced by one run by electricity.
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An iron-rich spring cut through the hillside and bathhouses provided health cures. Besides hotel accommodations, tents could be rented for four dollars (wood flooring and straw bedding was available) as could cottages such as the charming Stewart Cottage, a two-story Carpenter's Gothic delight adorned with a "picture gallery of brightly colored religious scenes." The grounds also contained an elaborate gazebo topped with a gold Turkish dome.62 Until the early 1920s, day trippers came by train from Kansas City, St. Louis and beyond. It was noted that one could travel all the way from Grand Central Station in New York City to Pertle Springs via the train. Visitors could take the "Dummy" Line, near the Estes Hotel at the comer of Holden and Grover Streets, and travel south past the Normal School campus to the resort until the railway was abandoned in 1922. 63
The popularity of resorts in Warrensburg is just one indication of the quality of life its citizens had gained by the last decade of the century. Increasingly, work was coupled with leisure and, as was the general case in American towns across the country, improvement in education resulted in progress and a level of sophistication never before attained. This was not to say that bad circumstances, judgment and events had not taken place over the last twenty-five years. In 1873, a "Financial Panic" struck businesses and farmers alike, resulting (a few years later) in the closure of two of the town's three banks and the loss of numerous farms. Nature even took its toll when a grasshopper infestation stripped crops and forced farmers into poverty, unable to buy bread.64
But overall there was recovery. The grange movement, a society of farmers-a sort of farmers' monopoly-worked to counter indebtedness due to crop failure and discrimination by railroads and banks and promote sound agricultural practices.
65 The grain milling industry that had begun with the Dougherty Mill in the 1850s had expanded to include three large commercial mills by 1895. Culp and Son had a mill near the railroad depot on South Holden, the Eureka Mill, founded in 1867, was still in operation on E. Gay, and the Magnolia Mill had been in operation at 200 West Pine since 1879. The town had a public library, two newspapers and a large number of physicians, attorneys and lumber yards. There were now thirteen churches, many of them built of local Warrensburg sandstone. Due in part to the improved educational
62
Carol Berkland, Herb Best, and Lisa Ide, Postcard History Series: Warrensburg and Johnson County, (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2004) 73. 63
Ide 68. The "Dummy" Line earned its name either as a reference to its specially silenced engines or as the means of transportation for unruly visitors (or both). In 1959, DCMO purchased the Pertle Springs property and has since used it as a recreation and conservation area for its students and faculty. 64
North 272.
65
Ibid 272.
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system, immigrants poured in and the "song of labor was heard in every valley...prosperity beamed and commerce ran high."66
By all accounts 1893 was a watershed year for Warrensburg, one it could celebrate "for its many useful and permanent improvements."67 J. H. Christopher, developer of Pertle Springs, operated a public water franchise that provided the business district and inner residential neighborhoods with the "purest and most healthful" water "in the state" via seven miles of water mains run directly from Pertle Springs.68 The owners of the Magnolia Mills, William Hartman and Isaac Markward, branched out to open the Magnolia Light, Heat and Power Company, which provided the city with electricity and warmth from its factory at Pine and Warren streets.
At the comer of Washington Avenue and West Pine stood the new Magnolia Opera House (145 West Pine, 1889) which was also built and run by the business team of Hartman and Markward. (See Figure 3.) The 800-seat opera house, a comment on the level of culture the town aspired to, was leased by the Quarry City Orchestra and had a stage graced by hand-painted scenery from the firm of Sosman and Landis of Chicago. A newly completed brick city hall, at the northwest corner of the public square in New Town, housed the police and fire departments. The Masonic Temple (301 N. Holden, 1893; NR 12/24/1998) and a number of "new and beautiful residences"-likely the Victorians along Grover Street such as the Jack house (ca. 1887, 209 Grover) and Sudduth house (ca. 1893,410 Grover)-were complete. 69
Added to these improved services, institutions and signs of civilized living were two important new signs of progress: the newly completed Johnson County Courthouse (300 N. Holden, 1889, NR 04/07/1994) and the new Missouri Pacific Railroad depot (100 S. Holden, 1890). The large Romanesque Revival-style courthouse, designed by George E. McDonald and constructed of local stone, now properly anchored the public square. The new depot at the south end of the business district, also of Warrensburg sandstone presented a more appropriate welcome to the town than the original frame depot that had just burned.
The town was one and one-half miles from north to south, nearly two. miles wide and covered 1,947 acres. Its assessed real estate valuation was over $1,352,855. By 1900, its population had reached 4,724. A few years into the new century, William Lowe, builder, lumberman, and outstanding citizen who had arrived at the close of the war, described how the town had grown from a "typical Western hamlet to the little city of modem proportions."70
66
North 273.
67
City Directory of Warrensburg. Missouri 1895. (Warrensburg. MO: Irving and Kunkel Pub!., 1895) 9. 68
1895 Directory 9.
69
1895 Directory 10.
70
Cockrell 207.
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II. The Little City of
Proportions: 1900-1945 By 1900 the city's general plan and pattern of growth had been determined, and the arrangement of the business district and residential neighborhoods remained essentially unchanged until the middle of the century. The early decades of the 20th century were marked more by "useful and permanent improvements," than by but population personal growth. property The value town in added Warrensburg fewer than Township 100 people almost between doubled.
1900 71
and 1920,
Although Old Town had generally developed into a residential neighborhood by this point, at least one business hung on in the old city center. The Davis family, which opened one of the first stores in the community in the 1830s, was still in business at the comer of Main and Gay Streets. The Davis store operated on that comer into the 1960s; ads for the store that ran in early 20th century publications called them the "Reliable Old Town Grocer.,,72 (See Figure 4.) The brick commercial building erected for the Davis Store in 1869 has survived. Owner W. O. Davis lived close to his work; by 1H18 the old courthouse had become his residence.73
Between 1900 and 1920, enrollment at the Normal School grew to 1,000, and the institution continued to play an important social and economic role in the community. Church congregations upgraded their houses of worship by moving eastward, just as commercial interests had, or rebuilding on the same sites, as was the case for the First Presbyterian Church (1910, 206 N. College). In 1907 the Fire Department was headquartered at Washington and W. Pine Street; it moved close to the new courthouse square soon after.
Although there had been a post office in Warrensburg since 1836, the service operated out of various stores and rented facilities until 1911, when the frrst building constructed specifically to serve as a post office was completed. That large Beaux- Arts style brick building still occupies a comer lot at 108 N. College, although it is no longer used as a post 01nce. The concept of an official post office building was not embraced by some citizens. Ewing Cockrell, in the 1918 County History, described the communal nature of early mail delivery as a "gay and neighborly party." In his view, with the new businesslike process and government building, the "post office, as a social institution, became absolutely extinct." 74
The increased number of social and professional clubs was represented by the Commercial Club whose one hundred (male) members oversaw the concerns of business and, according to the 1918 County History, "labored for the best interests of
71
U.S. Census figures cited in "Show-Me Through the Years," (Warrensburg: Show-Me Regional Planning Commission, 1977), and Cockrell 199.
72
J. W. McFarlan's Warrensburg City Directory, Warrensburg: 1909.
73 74
Cockrell Cockrell 219. 212.
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the city.,,75 One of the Club's successful ventures was to encourage the paving of city streets; by 1918, four miles of city streets had been paved. They also worked to keep electricity rates low, encourage the phone company (established in 1898) to bury their new lines, and worked with the railroad to ensure crossings and bridges were properly maintained.
The construction industry enjoyed an increasingly professional group of contractors and material suppliers. The 1901 City Directory identifies five contractors, as well as four lumber suppliers, including G. W. Hout and William Lowe. The Bruce and Pickel Quarries are both listed as well (Bruce's with a large photograph of the quarry site). These, paired with Burris and Gibson, a company that sold building materials including sash, doors and blinds, and Foster and Chase, a firm specializing in graining, paper hanging and interior decoration, suggest an increasingly sophisticated approach to residential architecture that is reflected in the building fabric ofWarrensburg today.
By the 1920s, the explosive growth of the automobile industry began to have an effect on the local economy. With state and federal funds for highway construction, the town became a crossroads for major highways: U.S. 50, one of three major routes.
east-west 76
These connections highways in proved the state increasingly and Highway important 13, one to of the two city's major economic
north-south
welfare as, by 1930, only towns located on paved highways in Johnson County gained population; all others lost.
77
Increased automobile, truck and bus travel diminished use of the railroad by passengers and for freight. "Filling stations" began appearing on busy street corners close to the new highways, and car dealers, body shops and commercial garages dotted the streets of downtown Warrensburg. The 1930 census records the working and middle-class occupations of citizens along Gay, North Main and Market streets which ranged from the traditional farmers and cooks to newer occupations such as telephone operator and gas station attendant.78
Area farmers experienced decreasing yields due to poor crop production, and seek many employment.
family farms were sold in the 1920s. local economy suffered sandstone as a popular building material in Some families moved into Warrensburg to the 1920s.
another blow The when concrete replaced
quarries closed as a result. Residential building responded to uncertain times, evident in the adoption of new house types such as the American Foursquare, known for its economy- providing the greatest amount of space for materials used. Good local examples of
75 Cockrell 222. 76 "Show-Me Through the Years" 64. 77 "Show-Me Through the Years" 66. 78 Schwenk Associates 43. 79 "Show-Me Through the Years" 65. 80 Ibid.
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American Four squares include the frame house at 221 West Gay Street (ca. 1920) and a Prairie Style stuccoed version at 307 S. Holden Street (ca. 1920). The Bungalow is another example: its compact plan, built-in furnishings and creative use of indoor and outdoor living space proved the antithesis of the prior century's Queen Anne excess. (See for example 324 West Gay and 215 West Gay, both built ca. 1920.)
Even with those setbacks, Warrensburg weathered the Depression better than many communities. Enrollment at the Normal School, by then renamed Central Missouri State Teacher's College, remained stable. Even with the farming slowdown, the county's rural nature and farming tradition meant fewer families went hungry because they could grow their own food. However, by 1930, agricultural prices had dropped to one-half of the 1920 value, and farmers who had gone into debt to finance machinery and labor for increased food production during WWI found themselves in a financial crisis.
81
President Roosevelt's New Deal programs had a local effect, evident in the Civilian Conservation Corps building of stone cabins and infrastructure at Pertle Springs in 1935-:36.82 Public works projects in the city, including the construction of a new City Hall at 102 S. Holden St., improvements to schools and the paving of streets, provided much-needed employment.
83 Between 1930 and 1940 the population of Warrensburg grew slightly, from 5,146 to 5,868.84 Lower production costs, compared to larger cities, attracted new factories to the community. These included the Unitog (uniform) factory in 1935, the Goodall Manufacturing Company (a lawnmower plant) in 1938, the Town and Country Shoe Factory in 1945 and the Swiser Mower and Machine Co. in 1949. Farming continued to change due to new practices such as contouring, crop rotation, the use of new fertilizers and hybrid seeds. These changes resulted in larger farms and the beginnings of agribusiness.
85
One local business that benefitted from a strong farm market was Cassingham's hardware store, which operated in the remodeled Jones Brothers Mule Bam on College Street from the 1930s into the early 21
st
century.
New to the area \\ras the Sedalia Army Air Field near Knob Noster which opened in 1941 and operated until the end ofWWII. Growth farther east and north came when car dealerships, repair shops, and factories moved off of Pine and Holden Streets and relocated along U. S. 50. Motels such as the Sky Haven Inn and the Belmont Motel, built to accommodate increased automobile tourism, followed.
From 1900 to 19E;0, blacks in Warrensburg were gradually able to access more professional employment. Besides mining, farming, clearing tracks for the railroad
81 "Show-Me Through the Years" 67. 82 Bullard 163. 83 Schwenk Associates 42. 84 U.S. Census, in "Show-Me Through the Years" 83. 85"Show-Me Through the Years" 68.
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and working in construction, many early jobs were service-related employing blacks at local hotels, resorts, restaurants and as domestics for private households. Although inequality renlained at mid-century (Warrensburg blacks remember having to enter the back door at restaurants and waiting until after five o'clock to see a dentist), things were improving. Blacks owned many local businesses, including dry cleaners, restaurants, and daily operations, as well as rental property.
86
Many continued their education, becoming teachers with graduate degrees, joined the military and received recognition for their service, and became members of civic organizations and local government such as the City Council. Lucille D. Gress, in her Informal History of Black Families of the Warrensburg, Missouri, Area, provides a glimpse of this history, and it is hoped that future study will expand upon that topic.
The 1950s represent the most significant decade of growth the city had seen since the arrival ofthe railroad in 1864. The population jumped nearly 70% between 1950 and 1960, to 9,689.87 This revitalization is attributed to the connectivity for freight and leisure prOVided by the highway system, the continued growth of Central Missouri State College, and reactivation of the Sedalia Army Air Field-renamed Whiteman Air Force Base-in 1951.
88
Whiteman Air Force Base became one of three Minuteman Missile Installations in the U. S., and employed approximately 2,000 workers in the reactivation and rebuilding process.89 What followed was a permanent community ofAir Force personnel, staff and families that totaled 3,500 by 196o-an living near Knob Noster, only eleven miles southeast ofWarrensburg.
90 The year 1965 is marked by three events representative ofWarrensburg's development from its founding in 1836 to more recent times. That year, the Johnson County Historical Society purchased the courthouse in Old Town with the intent of restoring it, an act that confirmed the public's interest in history and preservation. The completion of Interstate 70 through the northern part ofJohnson County continued the process of improving highway systems connecting the city to the rest of the state. Lastly enrollInent at Central Missouri State College reached 7,000 and the school established a graduate program, which laid the groundwork for its designation as Central Missouri State University in 1971. (It became the University of Central Missouri in 2006.) The town built by the railroad, quarry industry, resorts and education had successfully made the transition to a 20th century economy.
86 Gress 121. 87 "Show-Me Through the Years" 71. 88 "Show-Me Through the Years" 72. The institution dropped "Teacher's" from its name to reflect broader curriculum and expanded programs. 89 "Show-Me Through the Years" 72. 90 Ibid.
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III. Architectural
Devt~lopment
in Warrensburg: 1842-1945 The following discussion ofWarrensburg's architectural history is based upon previous architectural and historical surveys, National Register nominations for listed properties, recent field study and archival research. Previous surveys documented over 1,000 buildings in the oldest parts of the city that were built before 1965. Of that group, at least 142: properties are potentially eligible for the National Register, either individually or as contributing resources within a district.
91
There are also 7 individual properties that have already been included in the National Register, which brings the core study group for this project to a total of 149. All mentions ofthe study group in the following discussion refer to the group of 149 properties.
92 The following sections have been organized by the time periods discussed above, as well as the construction dates of existing historic resources. Period I begins in 1842, with the construction of the oldest known building in town, the Old Courthouse, and continues through the end of the 19th century. Period II covers 20th century development though 1945, the beginning of post WWII development. Construction dates within the study group are split remarkably evenly between these time periods. Ofthe 149 properties in the group, 75 are from Period I and 74 are from Period II. Early functions also divide evenly; 78 properties are residential, and the rest are commercial, civic or industrial resources.
Architectural Develop:ment in Period I: 1842-1899
Summary: Ofthe 75 properties from Period I, 38 are residential, and 29 are comrnercial. Buildings from Period I include some of the largest and most highly styled of the study group; 43 can be classified as styled; 32 are vernacular buildings. The group also includes a Masonic lodge (listed in the National Register), an opera house, 2 churches (one ofwhich is listed), 2 courthouses (both listed), one school (listed), and one train depot. Some ofthe largest and most intact historic buildings in the community were built in the 19th century, including 6 of the 7 properties that are currently listed in the National Ftegister. Almost all of the styled buildings utilize a Victorian Style; Queen Anne is the most common, especially for residential architecture. Vernacular property types include the Gabled Ell house type, as well as the common commercial forms of the Two Part C(Jlmmercial Block and the One Part Commercial Block.
91 See Section H, Summary of Identification and Evaluation Methods, for more information on identification and evaluation of historic resources. 921\vo of those properties have since been altered or lost, but were left in the group for the sake of discussion. 121. W. Gay was demolished and 223 Madison has been greatly altered and enlarged.
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Warrensburg was settled less than a decade and a half after Missouri became a state, well before the development of statewide transportation systems. Buildings were, by necessity, constructed from whatever the surrounding countryside had to offer. The first buildings of the community were constructed of logs felled at the site or of lumber shipped overland from Lexington, the closest river port.
93 One of the first d\vellings in the area was of log, as were many of the first buildings on the new public square. Martin Warren built a log house when he moved to the area in 1833, and his cabin became a symbol offrontier times, to the point that streets in Grover's First addition were rerouted to avoid it. Businesses also used log construction. The first two hotels in town operated in log buildings, and storekeeper John Evans operated the first general store in what has been described as a "round pole cabin" on Gay Street.
94 Brick was apparently being manufactured in the area at an early date as well. It is probable that a brickyard was established in the late 1830s to supply bricks for the new county courthouse, which was built with 18" thick brick walls. Many of the first houses constructed around that new courthouse were also built of brick. One early description of the town's first buildings, for example, noted that four of the five earliest buildings in the community were brick.
95 The first available State Gazetteer entry for the community, which was published in 1860, lists two brickyards and several carpenters, but no lumber dealers. The 1881 State Gazetteer listing for prominent local lumberman and contractor William Lowe showed that he had a brick kiln at that time, and a later gazetteer entry shows that brickmakers had local access to fuel as well as clay; Joseph Wade was operating a brickyard and coal mine in 1885.
The early populmity of brick is reflected by the study group; the oldest buildings in that group are constructed of brick. Even though this is probably as much a function of the durability of the material as the relative popularity of brick construction, the buildings are significant survivors. The three oldest houses in the study group are substantial two story brick houses constructed in the 1860s or early 1870s. The H. F. Clark house was built ca. 1861 at Market and Warren Streets between the two business centers, and the Christopher Keene House was built just a block away (301 W. Culton) around 1870. Selmo Park, which is now part ofthe
93
William E. Crissey, in Warrensburg: A History with Folklore, (Warrensburg: Daily Star-Journal, 1924, no page numbers) inc1udes a story about a visitor who came to Warrensburg in 1858 by taking a boat on the Mississippi River to Lexington, then catching a ride on a lumber wagon that was headed to Warrensburg.
94
Cockrell 203 and Irle 11.
95
Cockrell 219-220. The list of early houses was supplied by Miss Catherine Rentch, daughter of Daniel Rentch, who filed one of the first additions to the original town.
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VCMO campus, was built on South Holden ca. 1866. All three show, or showed, influence of the Italianate style that was nationally popular at the time. Much of the styling for those houses was evident in the original front porches, which included delicate chamfered square posts and simple bracketed cornices. Although the porches have all been replaced or greatly remodeled, the houses themselves have survived and all three are in fair to good condition.
The oldest house in the study group that can be considered high style architecture is located on West Gay Street. The Archibald Gilkeson House at 307 W. Gay provides a highly intact example of the Gothic Revival style. The Gothic Revival Style in residential architecture is characterized by steeply pitched gable roofs with equally steep cross gabJles that sport decorated vergeboards. Windows are tall and narrow and sometimes use the classic Gothic pointed arch, although that feature is more common to churches ofthe style. Front porches are elaborate and often feature flattened arches.
96 The Gilkeson House is one of three Gothic Revival style houses that were built a block apart on the north side West Gay in the mid 1870s; it is the only one that has not been demolished. 1be houses were strikingly similar in form, building material and ornamentation.97 l'Jo architect or builder has been identified for those houses, but the complex ornamental systems and high level of styling invite speculation that they were the work of a professional architect.
The Gothic Revival style enjoyed widespread popularity for religious architecture, a trend that was true in Warrensburg as well. Two of the churches in the study group have Gothic Revival styling. The Warren Street Methodist Episcopal Church (NR 12/13/19916) was built of brick in 1899, and the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church built a new Gothic Revival style church at 206 North College in 1909. The Presbyterian is one of two churches in the study group constructed of native sandstone.
In spite of brick's early popularity, frame was by far the most common local construction material for much of the 19th century. Numerous early descriptions of the community mention the prevalence of frame construction, especially in the new business center, which had only one brick business building before the devastating frre of 1866. A description of the town that appeared in the 1881 county history mentioned that when the new part of town was being developed "most of the buildings were of frame ...the business houses of Holden and Pine Street were frrst built of wood.
,,98
96
Lee and Virginia McAlester, Field Guide to American Houses, (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1986) 197- 200.
97
Sally Schwenk Associates, Inventory forms for 121 and 307 W. Gay, 2008. (On file with the City of Warrensburg.) 121 West Gay was demolished in March, 2011. 98
North 393.
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After frres on Pine and Holden nearly leveled the commercial center in 1866 and 1873, masonry became the material of choice for commercial architecture. That change in materials, co:mbined no doubt with improved water supplies and a better frre department, essenttally ended the frre danger in the area. County historian Ewing Cockrell wrote in 1918 that the second frre "destroyed the hotel, several business places and cost the lives of three persons. Since then, with the business district chiefly brick and stone, there have been no such frres."gg The preference for masonry construction proved to be an enduring change; not a single commercial building in the study group is of frame construction.
The 1870s also saw the establishment of large commercial quarries north of town, which provided a ready supply ofbuilding stone. Surprisingly, the fme Warrensburg sandstone that had such a wide following in St. Louis and other major cities appears in some\vhat limited quantities in Warrensburg. That popularity may have priced it beyond the means of the everyday business owner; only a few of the largest and most high-style buildings in the community are built completely of the native stone.
Although stone was used liberally for foundations and architectural accents such as quoins, piers and lintels, almost all of the commercial buildings on Pine and Holden streets are built ofbrick. The same holds true in the residential neighborhoods. Residential foundations were built of stone well into the 20th century, and many of the older neighborhoods also have early retaining walls built of rock-faced stone blocks, but there is only one house in the study group that is built completely ofstone. (1:37 Grover Street, ca. 1910.)
The historic stone buildings that do exist tend to be impressive. Not surprisingly, most of those utilize the Richardsonian Romanesque Revival style, which is characterized by the prominent use of rock-faced stone blocks, especially around round-arched openings. 100 The style was popular nationally from around 1860 into the 1890s; most Warrensburg examples date to the 1890s. It takes its name from architect Henry Hobson Richardson, who created a distinct version of the earlier Romanesque Revival style through the use of rock-faced stone and heavy massing.
The oldest Richardsonian Revival style building in the study group is the Missouri Pacific Depot, which was built in 1890 at the south end of the business district. Erected by the railroad company to replace the original frame depot that had recently burned, the depot features rock-faced stone walls and large cross gables filled with oversized round-arched windows. Although no architect had been
99
Cockrell, 203.
100
Marcus Whiffen, American Architecture Since 1780: A Guide to the Styles, (Cambridge: the M.LT. Press, 1969) 133-134.
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identified to date, it is likely that the railroad company used professionally prepared drawings to gUide its construction.
The largest native stone building in the study group is the "new" county courthouse that was completed in 1898. (300 N. Holden, NR 04/07/1994) That high-style Richardsonian Romanesque Revival style building was designed by architect George McDonald of Lincoln, Nebraska. It is the largest historic building in the study group and one of the largest buildings in the downtown commercial center. The massive stone building is constructed of rock-faced blocks ofWarrensburg sandstone and enlivened with round-arched openings and curved domes that top comer towers and the raain rotunda.
The largest of the retail buildings constructed in the style sits just northeast of the courthouse on Holden Street. (313-319 Holden, 1897) The facade ofthat four- bay commercial block fac;ade features a combination of smooth and rock-faced stone. The front wall is faced
v~th
smooth stones and accented with rock faced blocks. The side and back wall of the buildings are constructed of large rock-faced blocks.
Most of the cOITlinercial buildings in the downtown area are relatively simple buildings that are better defmed by form than architectural style. Almost all of the historic commercial buildings in the study group can be classified as either a two- part commercial block or a one-part commercial block. The two-part commercial block is the most COITnnon. Approximately 400/0 (45 of 74) ofthe historic commercial buildings in the study group are two-part commercial blocks. Ofthose, 28 were built in the nineteenth century. Most are two stories tall and built of brick. The oldest of the group is 200 N. Holden, a Second Empire Style commercial building erected ca. 1870, and the newest dates to the mid 1960s.
The two-part cOl]tlmercial block is a commercial building type which has defined Main Streets throughout the United States for more than a century. Architectural historian Richard Longstreth described it as "the most common type of composition used for snlall and moderate sized commercial buildings throughout the country. Generally limited to structures oftwo to four stories, this type is characterized by a horizontal division into two distinct zones.,,101 The single-story lower zones were designed to be used as public or commercial spaces, while the upper floors were generally used for more private functions, such as offices, residences or meeting halls.
That basic form has, over the decades, been ornamented with components from a wide variety of architectural styles; nationally, Victorian-era motifs are the most common. Architectural detailing for the two-part commercial blocks ofWarrensburg tends to be minimal. A few show influences of popular architectural styles, such as a Second Empire style McUlsard roof (200 N. Holden is the only one in the group with a
101 Richard Longstreth, The Buildings of Main Street, (Washington, D.C.: National Trust for Historic PreseIVation, 1987) 24.
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mansard roof) or an ItaJianate bracketed cornice and arched windows (e.g. the Masonic Lodge at
301-~~03
N. Holden, ca. 1893). Most examples, however, are relatively unstyled brick commercial buildings, with architectural detailing limited to corbelled brick cornices and simple stone accents such as piers or window sills.
Most of the smaller commercial buildings in the study group can be classified as one-part commercbl1 blocks. As one might expect, one-part commercial blocks are smaller and simpler than two-part commercial blocks. They are one-story, and the front wall is generally filled with an open storefront. One-part commercial blocks function much like the bottom floors of larger commercial buildings, usually housing a single retail or other type of commercial business. SUrviving one-part commercial blocks in Warrensburg are all of masonry, and even less likely to have architectural embellishments than the larger building types. Even the simple corbelled brick cornices popular for larger commercial buildings in the downtown area are rare for local examples of this property type. This is probably because many were built in the 20th century, when applied architectural ornament was less popular.
Although heavy nlasonry dominated commercial construction after the Civil War, house builders clearly preferred frame construction. More than 90% of the houses in the study group have frame structural systems. That trend holds true for the overall survey group as well. Of the 817 houses documented in the 2008 survey, 805 are of frame.
Railroad service and the rise ofVictorian architectural styles probably played a role in the popularity of lumber for houses. The Victorian era in America was marked by technological advances which facilitated many of the stylistic developments of the period. The innovation of balloon framing made it easy for builders to break from the boxy forms of earlier styles and building types, and irregular massing became a hallmark ofVictorian architecture. Increased railroad access meant lumber and other building supplies were inexpensive and readily available, and also made it easy for local contractors and homeowners to acquire pattern books and architectural journals. Pattern books ofthe time tended to feature elaborate Victorian houses veritably dripping with \vooden elements such as brackets, spindles, shingles and fmials.
Victorian Styles. were widely popular in America from the mid-1800s into the first part ofthe twentieth century. That time span corresponds with the latter part of the rein of England's Queen Victoria, who ruled from 1837-1901.
102
The term Victorian covers a range of architectural movements, including Stick, Shingle and Queen Anne. All of those styles were used in Warrensburg, almost always for residential architecture, Queen Anne was by far the most popular; some 20% of all dwellings in the study group are Queen Anne style houses.
102
McAlester 268.
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The popularity of the Queen Anne style in Warrensburg follows national trends. The Queen Anne style has been described as "the dominant style of domestic building during the period from about 1880 until 1900.
"103
It was frrst introduced in England by a group of 19th century architects led by Richard Norman Shaw. "Queen Anne" is actually a misnomer; the architecture after which early examples were modeled predated the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714) by roughly a hundred years. The English Queen Anne style became known in America through pattern books and architectural manuals, and soon evolved into a widely popular indigenous style.
104 Access to plan books and journals put high style architecture in reach of homeowners in towns Uke Warrensburg, which were large enough to have a demand for housing in the latest architectural styles, but too small to support professional architects. An extensive review of historic business listings and other early sources has yielded the names of only one local architect dUring the period of significance. (See Appendix One. 19th Century Building Professionals in Warrensburg.) Many of the larger buildings in t.he community, including several churches and both courthouses, were designed by architects from other cities and in some cases, other states.
Many contractors and homeowners no doubt turned to architectural pattern books for everything from inspiration to complete sets of construction documents. At least one ofWarrensburg's most elaborate Queen Anne style houses was built directly from mail-order plans. Local contractor James Suddath built the Markward House at 211 Grover Street using plans that appeared in the architect George F. Barber's frrst major publication, The Cottage Souvenir No.2.
105
That large two story Queen Anne style house corresponds to Barber's "Design No. 36." (See Figure 5.)
Some of the local contractors probably did double duty as architects and designers, which was not uncommon for that time period. George Barber, for example, had no formal architectural training, but eventually developed one ofthe most prolific architectural practices in the country through his mail-order plan business. This also appears to be true for the only architect found in any 19th or early 20th century business listing in Warrensburg, John W. King. King spent at least twenty years in the construction business in the city. His best known work in Warrensburg is the WaJTen Street M. E. Church, a Gothic Revival style brick church which still occupies a comer lot at 201 South Warren Street. (NR 12/13/1996.)
103
McAlester 266.
104
Massey, James C., and Shirley Maxwell, House Styles in America (New York: Penguin Studio, 1996) 127.
105
George F. Barber, Victori~m Cottage Architecture: An American Catalogue ofDesigns. 1891. Mineola New York: Dover Publications 1982. (Reprint of Barber's original Cottage Souvenir No 2, with added comment by Michael A. Tomlin.)
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King is listed in the 1900 census as a carpenter, but had a large ad in the 1901 Warrensburg City directory as an "Architect, Contractor, and Builder." King's ad, which promised "Plans and specifications furnished and estimates made on short notice," included a line drawing of an extremely elaborate Queen Anne style house. The house was probably not designed by him, however, as the exact same drawing was also used in an ad for local contractor and builder Daniel M. Hout in the same publication. (See Figure 6.) King may have been able to offer a short tum-around time for plans and specifications because he was using the services of mail order companies such as Barber's.
Other local builders that may have doubled as architects include F. C. Hubbard and John C. l\,1iller, who were described as architects in the summary report for the 1983 survey pr~ject of historic houses. 106 Both men appear in business listings as carpenters
OT
contractors, and the 1880 census has a listing for a John C. Miller who was a wagonmaker, but no sources show them as architects.
Architects or not, local builders had a significant impact upon the built environment. Several vrere in the construction business for decades, including William Lowe, whose career spanned half a century and included hundreds of building projects.
107
Daniel M. Hout, who first shows up in business listings in 1876, may have been Mr. Low'e's biggest competitor. Both men worked as carpenters or builders and both operated large lumberyards on Culton Street for decades. The 1914 Sanborn map shows Lowe's lumberyard on East Culton, and Hout's just a block away on West Culton.
Many of the houses built dUring this time period were vernacular houses that reqUired neither architect nor plan books. A "Bird's Eye View" drawing ofthe city that was made in 1869 shows that the earliest dwellings in the community were relatively modest buildings, one or two stories tall with gable roofs. (See Figure 7.) They utilized traditional folk housing forms that included the I-house and the Hall and Parlor. Vernaculrur housing is defined by floorplan and general form rather than architectural style. The I-House and the Hall and Parlor house both have floorplans that are one room deep and generally two rooms wide; I-houses often have central halls as well. The I-House is the larger of the two; I-Houses are always two stories, and Hall and Parlors are always one. Although the Bird's Eye map and other historic sources show that both house types were locally popular in the mid-19th century, few intact examples have survived to modem times. There are only three I-Houses and one greatly altered Hall and Parlor house in the study group. The map also
106
Tom Christopher, "Historlcal and Architectural Survey ofWarrensburg's Residential Structures." Show-Me Regional Planning Commission: Warrensburg, MO, 1983. (Report and Inventory forms on file 107
North with the 718.
Missouri State Historic Preservation Office, Jefferson City, MO.) 1.
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shows a number of small houses placed with the gable end facing the street; no 19th century houses of that form have survived to modem times.
The most common vernacular house form in Warrensburg is the Gabled Ell, also referred to as the
C~able-Front-and-Wing.
The Gabled Ell is a medium sized house type which has a. front-facing gable end and a side-gabled wing which is set at a right angle, to form an L-shaped house. There is almost always a front porch along the front of the side wing, which is set back from the front gable end wall. Gabled Ells were popular in Warrensburg from the 1880s to the early years of the 20th century.
Although vernacular houses were built more for shelter than style, they were sometimes enlivened with what has been described as "scraps" of architectural detail. Architectural historian David Foster noted that "Scraps ofVictorian detail were also added to farmhouses and the modest vernacular of small town homes, demonstrating an awareness of the fashion through all social levels.
"108
The practice was so widespread that vernacular housing forms ornamented with Victorian era detailing are often referred to as Folk Victorian houses. 109 In Warrensburg, the most common Folk Victorian house type consists of a Gabled Ell that has typically Victorian ornament such as turned porch posts, spindle-work frieze bands and/or fishscale shingles in the front facing gable ends. A good late 19th century example of that house type can be found at 215 W. Market, which was built ca. 1885.
By the end of the 19th century, the commercial center was fmnlyestablished along Holden and Pine Streets in the blocks north of the new depot. "Old Town" had gradually faded from commercial prominence, but continued to be a popular residential neighborhood. The original county courthouse was converted to residential use, and many of the streets between old and new town were lined with houses. Residential development was not limited to that area, however. The 1898 Atlas map of the community shows additions and subdivisions on all sides of the commercial center. The greatest amount ofgrowth had taken place to the north, around Electric Springs, and south and east of the business district, around the Normal School campus and the Dummy line to Pertle Springs. Martin Warren would have had a hard time recognizing his original homestead.
108
Gerald Foster, American Houses: A Field Guide to the Architecture of the Home. (New York: Houghton Mifflin 2004) 282.
109
The term Folk Victorian was possibly coined by Lee and Virginia McAlester, in A Field Guide to American Houses, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986; see pp. 309-317.)
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Architectural Develop:ment in Period II: 1900-1945
Summary: Ofthe 74 properties built in Period II, 39 are houses, and 32 are commercial buildings. The group also includes a post office, a church and a mule barn. The mule barn is the only building from Period II that is listed in the National Register. Although more of the buildings constructed in Warrensburg dUring this period exhibit at least some elements of major architectural styles, fewer can be considered to be high style architecture. Only 12 are best classified by architectural style. The rest are vernacular buildings or examples ofwhat is sometimes called the Builder Style. The dominant new architectural style of this period is what National Register standards refer to as Craftsman/Bungalow. New property types include American Foursquare, Minimal Traditional, and Ranch houses.
Architectural development in Period Two included infill and a slight expansion of the commercial district, paired with the significant growth of residential neighborhoods. The general boundaries ofthe downtown commercial district changed very little between 1900 and the 1960s. Holden and Pine Street were the primary commercial streets in the community until highway development began to lure some business away from the downtown area in the 1940s and 50s. The edges of the business district expanded slightly in the early 1900s, especially to the east along Miller Street (now College).
New construction there included the city's first dedicated post office (108 North College, 1911) and the
~Jones
Brothers Mule Barn in 1912. (NR 02/22/2011) The large Beaux-Arts style post office building is one ofvery few high style 20th century buildings in the study group, and one of only two that are not houses. The Jones Brothers Mule Barn was built by local mule dealers Walter and Percy Jones to house their successful mule dealership. The mule barn was one of several buildings in the area that originally catered to area stock growers; it is the only one to have made it to modem times, in part because it was converted to a hardware store in the 1930s. That large brick building features architectural detailing that is similar to that used on area commercial buildings of the late 19th century, including a corbelled brick cornice and accents of native sandstone.
Commercial buildings constructed from this period tend to be long on utility and short on architectural styling. Most ofthe 20th century commercial buildings in the group are relatively unadorned one- or two-part commercial blocks. Ornament on upper facades is generally limited to simplified corbelled brick cornices and/or string courses. Although most ground floors were faced with open storefronts, the rising popularity of the automobile is reflected by an increased number of buildings that include large overhead garage doors for vehicle access.
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A few of the new buildings deviated from the standard one- or two-part commercial block configurations that had defmed the commercial streetscapes of the late 19th century. Several new buildings were built with multiple shop spaces. Those multiple entry commercial buildings look and function much like rows of one-part commercial blocks. In 'Warrensburg, they are generally one story tall, with two or three storefront bays, or in a few cases, with a combination of storefront and garage door bays. The bays are sometimes divided by simple piers, and each has its own entrance. Although the separate bays are often occupied by different businesses they were built (or remodeled) as a single unit and should be considered one building.
11
0 The one story commercial building at 108 Hout is a good example of this property type, as is the ca. 1935 Kroger Grocery store at 110 E. Market. The ca. 1920 building on Hout housed an automobile dealership and commercial garage for decades. It has two cornmercial bays; one has a standard commercial storefront and the other has a wide garage door opening. The Kroger store, which has two shop spaces, features a curved comer entrance and streamlined detailing typical of Moderne Style buildings. The relatively sophisticated styling and unusual form invite speculation that the building was built to specifications of the Kroger Company.
The downtown area also saw the addition of a notable new free standing commercial building. In 1933, Ted and Elsie Hartshorn had Ora Stone and John Winders build a modest one-story stone building to house Hart's Hamburger Shop, which they had been operating in a nearby building since 1930. The picturesque new building was constructed of random slabs of Ozark rock, with square towers at each comer and Spanish tile hoods over the windows. It made quite an impression; the local paper proclaimed "the building is one of the most attractive in Warrensburg and although it is small, the Spanish style architecture and massive stone work make it most attractive.The Hartshorn's burgers must have been as popular as their new building; the restaurant occupied the little stone building on Pine until the late 1970s or early 1980s.
Several existing commercial buildings also saw updates during this period. Those changes ranged from relatively minor storefront updates to major rebuilding projects. Several commercial buildings have storefronts that appear to date to the 1950s or 60s, which were probably added during post WWII economic growth to project up-to-date images to retail customers. Others appear to have received full new facades. Survey activities identified several commercial buildings that appear to be 19th century buildings with 20th century facades.
110
Many of these were considered as separate buildings for the recent survey project and therefore counted as separate properHes in the study group.
111
Warrensburg Daily Star Journal, May 19, 1933, quoted in "Hamburgers in Warrensburg," Bulletin of the Johnson County Historical Society, (Vol. XVIII, No.4 Sept. 2003) 1. Ora Stump and John Winders were named as the builders in that article.
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Residential development was robust for much of Period II. Houses built in the first decades tended to be located in established parts of town, usually on lots that had not yet been developed. Later in the period, new developments were added around the edges of the community, including in the eastern edge of the study area. Victorian styles remained popular for houses until around 1910, when architectural styles that utilized cleaner lines and more restrained detailing came into favor, both nationally and locally.
The most influential early 20th century style in Warrensburg is what National Register gUidelines refer to as the Craftsman/Bungalow style. The Craftsman movement in architecture was popular for housing nationwide from around 1905 to 1930; Craftsman houses in the study group were built between 1910 and 1925. The Craftsman style, which was influenced by the English Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th century, was developed in the U. S. by California architects Charles and Henry Mather Greene. Greene and Greene began designing California houses in the style around 1903, and high style examples of Craftsman houses, especially in California, are sometimes called Western Stick style. The actual term Craftsman is linked to Gustav Stickley, a New York furniture maker who used his Craftsman magazine to promote everything from furniture to residential design.
112 The Craftsman
s~yle
features an emphasis on rustic ideals and a strict avoidance of the kind of exuberant ornamentation typical ofVictorian architecture. Character defming features of the Craftsman style include low-pitched roofs with wide overhangs that are supported by triangular brackets or false beams, and generous front porches with heavy posts. Porches are often supported by square tapered posts that sit upon high masonry piers, although square brick posts are also common. One-story houses with those characteristics are often called Bungalows or Craftsman Bungalows. Most Craftsman houses in Warrensburg are relatively simple bungalows, although there are a few larger and more highly styled examples, such as the J. A. Zimmerman House, which was built at 205 W. Gay Street ca. 1911.
A large number of the houses built in Warrensburg in this period are neither high style nor vernacular. This reflects an architectural and economic leveling of the playing field for home builders. Increased communication and transportation networks mean that infc)rmation about architectural styles and types was readily available, and a growing middle class created a strong market for houses that reflected the latest styles.
Many of the houses built in Warrensburg in the first half of the 20th century are representative of the Builder Style property type. That term has been used by James C. Massey and Shirley Maxwell to describe working class houses of the period;
112
Gerald Foster, American Houses: A Field Guide to the Architecture of the Home, (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2004) 346-348.
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as they put it, the tenn "pays tribute to the crucial role that speculative developers, plan-book designers, and mail order houses played in putting homes on the building lots ofAmerica's suburbs."1l3 This new movement, which relied heavily but not exclusively on mail order plans and house kits, went beyond merely adding "scraps" of style to established fonns. Builder style houses were generally modest but well designed houses that incorporated elements of the latest styles as well as up-to-date building technology. Technological innovations of the day took the pattern book model to a whole new level; one could not only order a set of plans by mail, it was now possible to get evelything from prefabricated parts to entire house "kits." The mail order houses of the day offered a plethora of fonns and styles, including revival styles such as Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival as well as more original "American" styles like Craftsman and Prairie. Craftsman bungalows were very popular, nationally and locally. The American Foursquare house type was also very popular. The Foursquare house is one of the larger popular house types of the period. Foursquare houses are two or two and one-half stories tall, with wide hipped roofs, high foundations and wide front porches. They generally were built with four large rooms on each oftwo floors, and a square plan, hence the name. Foursquares were easy to customize in the owner's style of choice, including Colonial Revival, Craftsman and Prairie.
Foursquares, bungalows and other Builder Style houses were popular until the early 1930s, when housing construction slowed considerably. Only six houses in the study group were built after 1969. Ofthose, two are Builder Style houses that use some elements of the Tudor Revivial style, and one is a small massed plan house that features native stone,
OT
Ozark rock, construction. Although Ozark rock was a popular building materi.al in many Missouri communities in the early to mid 20th century, few examples ,vere indentified dUring survey activities. The modest stone house at 606 Broad Street, built ca. 1930, is the only example of an Ozark rock house in the study group. It is a side gable house with a simple rectangular plan, and walls constructed of ransom slabs of native stone. A small garage near the back ofthe lot is constructed ofthe same material. Together they fonn a nicely intact example of Ozark rock construction.
The compact plan and simple massing of the house on Broad Street are typical of houses of the 1930s :md 40s, which reflect changing attitudes toward house style and a general move away from complex house shapes and elaborate ornamentation. The clean lines of modem movement styles inspired home builders to use simple fonns and compact plans, and front porches and applied ornamentation became much less common. The increasing popularity ofthe automobile led to another
113
James C. Massey and Shirley Maxwell, House Styles in America, (New York: Penguin Studio, 1996) 211.
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major change-the garage moved from the back of the property right into the main body of the house. One architectural history called the automobile in this period a "deJacto family member, taking up a place of honor at the front ofthe house.,,114 The most common house types of this period are the Minimal Traditional house and the Ranch house.
The study group :lncludes two Minimal Traditional houses; the oldest was built in 1939, and the other dates to ca. 1945. This follows national trends; the Minimal Traditional house type \vas popular in many parts of the country between 1935 and 1950. Minimal Traditional houses are usually modest one-story houses that have compact forms and little ornamentation. They have low-pitched side gabled roofs that have little to no overhang, sometimes with off-center front cross-gables. Front porches, when used, are very small and unobtrusive.
115 Another common mid-20th century house type is the Ranch house. Ranch houses are always one story with low-pitched roofs and horizontal compositions.
rare. Built-in 116
Although garages are not very represented common to in Ranch the current houses, study and group, applied the ornamentation Ranch house is is
one of the most common postwar house types in Warrensburg. Survey activities identified nearly 160 local ranch houses, most ofwhich were built between 1950 and 1965. The vast majority of those houses are located along the edges of the survey area, in neighborhoods that saw most of their development after WWII. Future study and evaluation of the Ranch houses in the community and the state may yield enough information to add a related context to the MPDF as time and interest allows.
From the original Johnson County Courthouse to modest mid 20th century dwellings, the historic resources ofWarrensburg help defme the city. They illustrate Warrensburg's long and varied history and reflect the many early influences that shaped it into the city it is today.
114
Massey and Maxwell, 250.
115
McAlester 477.
116
McAlester, 479, Massey and Maxwell, 249-250.
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Appendix One.
Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri
Contractors and Builders in Operation Duri:ng the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries The following names have been gleaned from historic business listings published dUring the period of significance. State Gazetteer, City Directories, and business lists from the 1881 and 1918 county histories were the primary sources. (See the bibliography for more information.) Any addresses given indicate listed business locations unless otherwise noted.
J. M. Bosaker 1876 Hout and Bosaker, carpenters on Culton Street 1879 Bosaker and Hout, carpenters 1881 Bosaker, J. M., builder 1888 Bosaker, J. M., in Carpenters and Builders section "Market, w of courthouse" 1893 Bosaker, John M., Lumber 1895 Bosaker, J. M., 30 N Minard Ave. in Builders and Lumber Dealers section
Caldwell and Greenlee 1895, Caldwell and Greenlee, Builders and Lumber dealers
J. C. Cheatham 1860 Carpenter and builder
P.Cook 1860 Carpenter and builder
J. A. Cooper 1860 Carpenter and builder
Davidson &: Co. 1860 Brick masons and builders
w. M. Douglass 1899 Carpenter
Hebden, Adams &: Co. 1860 Brick yard
Daniel M. Hout Contactor and Builder 1876 Hout and Bosaker carpenters on Culton Street 1879 Bosaker and Hout, carpenters
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1881 Hout, Geo. W. LUlnber yard 1888 Hout, Geo. W. Culton Street 1895 Hout, D. M. 113 VV'. Culton in Builders and Lumber Dealers section 1901 Daniel M. Hout (I3ig directory ad with woodcut of a Victorian house.) General Contractor and Builder 113 W. Culton Street 1914 Sanborn shows G. W. Hout and Son with large lumberyard at 118 W. Culton
F. C. Hubbard 1895 Contractor 1899 Contractor (1983 survey report called him an architect, but he was listed as a contractor in directories. The 1910 census showed an F. P. Hubbard working as a carpenter in Saline County. No architects with this name were found in census records.)
Huston & Redford 1860 Cabinet makers and dealers in furniture
N. Johnson, or Johns(Jln Bros. 1881 North says J. L. Johnson erected the first brick building in New Town for the hardware store ofJ. A. Stewart 1895 Johnson Bros., Builders and Lumber Dealers 1899 N. Johnson, Carpenter 1901 W. C. Johnson, Contractor (Probably William, could be a different person.)
John W. King 1881 E. W. King, Carpenter (Same person?) 1898 John W. King awarded contract for constructing the Warren Street A. M. E. Church (NR 12/13/1996) 1901 big ad for J. W. King "Architect, Contractor, and Builder" with the same woodcut ofa house used for Hout's ad. "Plans and specifications furnished and estimates made on sholt notice." King (born 1859) is listed in the 1900 census as a carpenter. He was living on East Gay Street with his wife Martha and son Benjamin in 1900.
Wm. Lowe A transcript of a speech Lowe gave in 1916, on the 50th anniversary of his arrival in Warrensburg, was reprinted in the 1918 county history. In it, Lowe noted that he was still doing business in "the stand he started in 1868", and had sold lumber to four generations of many local families. The stand he referred to was presumably his lumberyard, which Sanborn maps show was located at what is now 109 E. Culton.
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1876 Lumber dealer and contractor, Culton 1879 Lumber 1881 Brick Kiln and builder 1885 Brick yard and IUJmber 1888 Carpenters and Builders, Culton, east of Holden 1888 Built Howard School 400 W. Culton, with plans by draftsman John Newcomer. (Register nomination for the school.) 1895 Wm. and Chas. Lowe each have a listing at 109 E. Culton in Builders and Lumber dealers. 1900 Census shows hiIJa living on Gay Street with wife Anna, three children and John Todd. He and Todd appear to be listed as builders, but it is very faded. 1901 1914 Sanborn Directory shows W. Lowe rus lumberyard lumberyard at at 109 109 E. E. Culton
Culton
H. Mertel 1860 Carpenter and builder
J. A. Miller 1883 Carpenter 1895 John C. Miller, carpenter 513 E. Grover (The 1983 survey report called him an architect. No one with this name listed as an architect was found in census records. 1880 had a John C. Miller as a wagonmaker, and in 1900 there was a John C. Miller in Knob Noster, but he had no occupation listed.)
Moore and Kinsel 1876 Moore and Kinsel, Lumber dealers Culton 1879 John H. Kinsel, lumber
Morgan & Clay 1860 Carpenters and builders
James N. Suddath Contractor for Markward House at 211 Grover in 1902, which is a pattern book house from a George Barber design. 1900 Census Carpenter, living at 413 Market Street. 1901 J. N. Suddath contractor, 118 W. Culton (G. W. Hout and Son had a lumberyard at that location in 1914 per the Sanborn map.) Suddath house at 410 Grover was occupied by James W. Suddath, per the 1901 city directory. The name Suddath was also in the 1980s survey.
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1910 Listed in the Census as a "building contractor-dwellings," lived at 417 Market Street with wife Ida and several children.
Sylvester & Ruth 1860 Carpenters and builders
Ora Stump 1933 Built a stone building for Hart's Hamburger Shop, with Joe Winders.
Joe Wade 1860 Brickyard (Crissey has a story about a boy who "carried brick and mortar for Joe Wade at 25 cents a day, the fIrst money he ever earned.")
West and Hayden 1899 Carpenters
A. Williams 1901 Contractor, 523 S. MagUire
Wood Brothers 1893 Carpenters
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ASSOCIATED
PROPEE~TY
TYPES Historic architecture can be classified in a variety ofways, including architectural style, building form and historic function. Because architectural styles tended to be applied to buildings of all forms and functions, the property types below have been based upon historic function. As previously noted, the study group for this project consisted of the most intact historic buildings in the community today. Those buildings were constructed between 1842 and ca. 1945.
The study group of 149 properties was identified through previous survey and National Register activities as well as recent fieldwork. The group includes the few previously listed resources in the city, as well as those most likely to be eligible for future listing under the contexts included in Section E ofthis document. The group also includes seven resjdential properties that are being nominated as part of the Grover Street Victorian Historic District. Historic functions of the properties in the study group divide almost evenly between residential and non-residential uses. Just over half of the properties, 77, contain houses.
Property Type 1. Residential Resources
Description: Residentiial Resources
The Residential R.esources property type includes both primary and secondary buildings that were built and used for residential purposes dUring the period of significance. The term primary resource in this case refers to a house or apartment building; typical secondary resources would be garages, storage sheds or carriage houses. Almost all prinlary residential historic resources in Warrensburg are, or were originally, single family houses. There are no multiple-family residences in the study group, and previous surveys identified just a few duplexes, only one ofwhich was built before the mid-20th century.
Construction dates for Residential Resources in the study group range from ca. 1861 to ca. 1955. Intact historic houses can be found throughout the central part of the city. As would be expected, the oldest houses in the group are located near the historic commercial center. There are several mid-19th century houses between Old Town and the downtown area, as well as a few notably intact late 19th century houses on Grover Street, just southeast of downtown.
The vast majority of the historic houses in Warrensburg are of frame construction. Ofthe 77' houses in the study group, 71 have frame structural systems. Frame dwellings range from a modest unadorned shotgun house to large high style Queen Anne dwellings. Most of those houses were sheathed with weatherboards when they were new, and an impressive number (about 400/0) retain their original wall treatrnents. Many others have asbestos shingle siding that was
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applied within the period of significance. Even more retain significant amounts of early wooden architectural detailing such as gable ornament and porch trim.
Intact frame houses include several relatively modest houses, such as B. T. Sams house, a vernacular Gabled Ell which was built ca. 1890 at 210 W. Gay Street, and the John Lyons House, a small bungalow erected ca. 1920 at 324 W. Gay. Large frame houses of note include most of the houses in the Grover Street Victorian Historic District, as well as individually significant houses such as the ca. 1890 Plumer House, at 223 vv. Market Street.
Brick was a popular construction material for houses in the early history of the community, but later fell from favor. Just across the street from the Plumer House can be found one of the oldest brick houses in the community, the H. F. Clark House, at 222 W. Market. (ca. 1861) It is one of only five houses in the study group that have load-bearing brick walls. The Plumer House is the oldest ofthose, and the newest was completed in the mid-1870s.
Warrensburg sandstone is surprisingly absent as a structural material. Only one house in the study group has load-bearing stone walls. The exterior walls and full front porch of the ca. 1910 Eads House, at 137 Grover Street is built of sandstone blocks that appear to be locally qUarried. The Eads house features very uniform rock-faced blocks of sandstone that gradually become smaller the higher they appear in the walls.
Although apparently not popular as a wall material, the local sandstone was used extensively for residential foundations and retaining walls. Sandstone block foundations can be found on houses built as late as the 1920s. That differs from many other parts of the state, in which poured concrete was used almost exclusively for foundations of houses built after the first decade of the 20th century. Locally quarried stone blocks \vere also popular for retaining walls in residential settings. Several houses along West Gay Street, for example, have low stone retaining walls constructed of rock-faced blocks ofWarrensburg sandstone.
Historic houses in Warrensburg form a diverse grouping. The smallest is a one story house with no more than three rooms, while the largest is two and one-half stories tall, with multiple porches, a complex plan and elaborate architectural detailing. Architectural styles and types vary as much as size. Roughly a third ofthe houses in the study group can be classified as high style architecture, another third have at least some detailing that relates to a mainstream architectural movement, and the rest are vernacular dwellings better classified by form than style. High style houses are almost all from the Victorian period, while those with lesser architectural detailing represent all periods of architectural development.
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Subtype A. Victorian Ilouses
"Victorian" can be a nebulous term when used to describe architecture. It applies to relatively straightforward examples of a particular style such as the Queen Anne, and to buildings which feature a more general mixture ofVictorian-era styles. Although individual properties show great variation, there is a common attention to picturesque ideals, and frequent use of applied ornamentation. Popular ornamental motifs include irregular massing, complex rooflines, and patterned wall surfaces. Elaborate porches that include ornamental porch posts, spindles and other "gingerbread" are comrILon.
National Register gUidelines include many different Victorian era movements within the category of Late Victorian, including Italianate, Gothic Revival, Stick, Queen Anne and ShingJle styles. Nationally those styles were popular from around 1860 to 1900; Warrensburg examples date from 1861-ca. 1902. 1\vo ofthe oldest Victorian houses in the community are Gothic Revival style brick houses that were near twins when they \\'ere built ca. 1875. Typical Gothic Revival elements of the houses at 121 and 307 West Gay Street include steeply pitched roofs and cross gables, decorated vergeboards and open porches ornamented with flattened pointed arches. (The house at 121 W. Gay was recently demolished.)
As in many other M:idwest communities, Queen Anne was the most popular local style for large houses in the late 1800s. A significant percentage of the largest and most intact historic houses in the study group are Queen Anne style houses. Stick or Eastlake styling also had a strong following, and several of the largest frame Victorian houses in the area feature elements common to both styles.
Stick style houses are almost always of frame construction, with steeply pitched gable roofs that include cross gables and wide overhangs. Roooflines are often accented by rectilinear brackets and exposed rafter ends; ornamental trusses in the gable ends are extremely common. Wall surfaces are clad with horizontal or vertical boards and ornamented with flat horizontal or vertical bands. A distinctly Stick Style form of ornament that can often be found in gable ends or along cornice bands consists ofvertical pickets lined up to resemble an upside down fence.
Queen Anne houses can be similar, but tend to have more irregular forms and more elaborately textured wall surfaces. Polygonal or curved bays, complex rooflines and ornate trim are all common. Walls are nearly always enlivened by varied textures, often through the use of patterned shingles and ornamental belt courses. Elaborate porches are common; they often wrap around more than one elevation and feature scrolled brackets, elaborate frieze bands and ornamental support posts. Although nationally the Queen Anne style was popular for masonry as well as frame construction, all Queen Anne houses in the study group are frame.
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Local examples of note include several houses in the Grover Street Victorian Historic District in the 200 block of Grover Street. Four of the seven houses in that small district are highly intact frame houses with Queen Anne and Stick styling. The ca. 1887 Leonidus and Mary Jack house, at 209 Grover, is one of the best examples of the Stick Style in Warrensburg. Other district houses of note include 211 and 218 Grover, both of which are large, highly intact Queen Anne style houses.
Subtype B. 19th Century Vernacular Houses
Vernacular buildings utilize forms and methods of construction which are based more upon tradition and local building practices than the latest architectural movement. As is the case in most communities, many ofthe houses in Warrensburg have simple vernacular forms and little to no architectural styling. Most are of frame construction, and one or two stories tall. Vernacular house types in Warrensburg include the Gabled Ell, Gable Front, I-house, and Shotgun house types. Construction dates for vernacular houses in the study group range from 1885 into the 1920s and 30s.
The Gabled Ell, aJlso sometimes called a Gable-Front-and-Wing, is the most common vernacular house type in Warrensburg. Gabled Ell houses can be one or two stories tall; they have a generally L-shaped plan that features a front facing gable and a side gabled wing, or ell. The side ell is set back from the front block and faced with an open front porch. Gabled Ells in the study group were built between ca. 1885 and the first years of the 20th century.
There are also several Gable Front houses, which as the name implies, are simple houses topped by a gable roof and set with the gable end facing the street. They have rectangular plans and can be one or two stories tall; most local examples are one story. Most are relatively modest houses built in the fIrst three decades of the 20th century. A similar gable front form is known as the Shotgun House. Shotgun houses are one room wide and two or more rooms deep, and most Missouri examples have a front-f3.cing gable roof. They were popular in some areas for worker houses and have often been identified as a favored African American housing form.
II? Other common vernacular forms include the I-house and the Hall and Parlor. Both are one room deep, at least two rooms wide and topped with a side-facing gable roof. I-houses are two stories, and Hall and Parlor houses are one story. These were among the fIrst vernacular forms to come into widespread use in Missouri, and while they were probably once common in Warrensburg, only a few have survived to modem times. The study group includes just three I-houses, and one Hall and Parlor.
117 Dell Upton, ed., America's Architectural Roots: Ethnic Groups That Built America, (Washington, D.C.: The Preservation Press, 1986) 45-47.
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Subtype C. Folk Victolrian Houses
The typical Folk 'Tictorian house includes elements of the preceding two property types. A Folk 'Victorian house is a common vernacular house type that is adorned with minor elelnents ofVictorian styling. In Warrensburg, the most common Folk Victorian houses are one story Gabled Ells that have Victorian style porch embellishments such as turned posts and spindled friezes or brackets. A few also have ornamental shingles in their front gable ends. All or most are of frame construction, with construction dates that range from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. There are three Folk Victorian houses in the study group, all of which have a Gabled Ell form to which Queen Anne style detailing has been added. Other intact Folk Victorian houses in the study area include 210 West Gay and 300 W.Gay.
Subtype D. Early 20th Century Houses
The early 20th Century Houses subtype includes both high style and popular houses constructed froIn the tum ofthe century to the early 1940s. A marked increase in the availability of everything from pattern books to complete house kits dUring this time period meant that mainstream architectural styles were no longer restricted to the large expensive houses. As a result, elements ofthose styles can be found on dwellings of all sizes and types, in communities across the country.
High style movemlents of the period that were popular for houses include Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Craftsman, and Prairie. This period also saw the development of distinctive everyday house forms such as the Foursquare and Bungalow, both of which were favored by mail order house companies.
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The typical Foursquare house is two stories, with a cubic form and four main rooms per floor. They generally have a hipped roof, high foundation and a wide front porch. Foursquares could be ornamented with any of the mainstream architectural styles of the day, including Craftsman, Prairie and Colonial Revival. Bungalows are generally one or one and one half stories, with low profiles and wide front porches.
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Most bungalows in the study area have Craftsman style detailing such as wide roof overhangs supported by triangular brackets and tapered square porch posts set upon heavy piers.
Subtype E. Modem Mc.vement Houses
Modem Movement houses were built between 1935 and 1962; most examples in Warrensburg date to the post World War II building boom of the late 1940s. The late 1930s and early 1940s saw a change in attitude toward residential architecture,
118
Alan Gowans. The Comfortable House: North American Suburban Architecture 1890-1930. (Cambridge. Massachusetts: The MIT Press. 1986) 70-99.
119
McAlester 453-463.
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as builders and designers looked to the streamlined forms of the Modem movement for inspiration. The
no,~-established
role of the automobile in American life is also apparent in houses of this era, which were the fIrst to incorporate garages into the main body ofthe house. The most common house types ofthis period in Warrensburg are the Mjlnimal Traditional house and the Ranch house.
Minimal Traditional houses came into favor nationally around 1935; the two examples in the study group were built ca. 1939 and ca. 1945. Minimal Traditional houses are generally modest one-story houses that have compact forms and little applied ornamentation.
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They have low-pitched side gabled roofs that have little to no overhang; off-center front cross-gables are common. Ranch houses, which were most popular locally after 1950, are one story houses with horizontal compositions, integrated garages, and minimal applied ornament.
Significance: Residential Resources
The historic houses ofWarrensburg represent nearly a century of residential development. They reflect local building customs and offer tangible links to the families that shaped the history ofthe community. Intact residential resources are significant under Criterion C, in the area ofArchitecture. A few may also be eligible under Criterion B for their association with prominent citizens.
Residential Resources built during Period I (1842-1899) reflect the early development ofthe community, as well as national and local architectural trends. As development shifted fro:m Old Town to the present commercial center at Holden and Pine Streets, the surrounding streets filled with houses. Not surprisingly, many of the oldest houses in the study group are located between those early commercial centers. The establishnlent of the State Normal School southeast of the depot in 1871 spurred additional residential development in that area, especially along Grover Street, which is home to many of the largest Victorian houses in the city.
The houses also reflect general social and economic trends of the time, when refined architectural styling was generally reserved for the homes of the upper class. Those with financial resources could hire a builder or buy plans for the most up to date housing styles, while others simply built what they knew. High style dwellings built in Warrensburg in the 19th century reflect not only the latest architectural styles, but also the social standing and aspirations of the families for whom they were constructed. The town has a particularly rich collection ofVictorian houses that offer near textbook examples of Stick and Queen Anne styles. Those houses were constructed for some of the most prominent citizens of the community. Vernacular dwellings represent an equally important part ofWarrensburg's history. Working
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McAlester 477.
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class families often occupied simple dwellings that were constructed with locally available materials and more attention to function than the latest style.
Residential Resources built dUring Period II (1900-1945) show less of a stylistic division between the houses of different socio-economic groups. By the tum of the century, the widespread availability of pattern books, prefabricated buildings components and even complete house "kits" had blurred the line between high style and vernacular architecture, especially for the types of houses being constructed in Warrensburg during this period. Even relatively modest houses erected in the early 20th century reflected national trends in residential design. Established residential neighborhoods saw continued development, and new subdivisions were added around the edges of the community.
The newest houses in the group reflect the postwar building boom experienced by most communities in the country, including Warrensburg, where the population increased more than 60% between 1940 and 1960. Although surviving Ranch and Minimal Traditional houses in Warrensburg are generally too new and too common at this point to qualify for the National Register, they represent a relatively large collection of intact resources that merit future study.
Registration RequireUlents: Residential Resources
Representative examples of the Residential Resources property type will be eligible for inclusion in the National Register if they are reasonably intact and readily recognizable to their period of significance. Intact properties will retain their basic original fonn, with no ITlajor alterations to principal exterior dimensions or rooflines. Original or early materials should predominate, especially on exterior walls. Door and window openings, especially on principal elevations, should be unaltered. Most original exterior trim and other woodwork should remain in place, and the doors and windows themselves should be original or at least fIfty years old. Modem porch changes can have a major impact upon integrity and must be very carefully evaluated. Extensive porch changes are likely to render a house ineligible.
Although the buildings must be reasonably intact to qualify for listing, alterations and minor changes are practically inevitable, and it is important to gauge the overall effect of any changes. Additions and alterations to rear ells and secondary elevations are acceptable, as long as the basic fonn and massing of the original building are not seriously impacted, and the scale of any new construction does not overpower the original portion ofthe building. Replacement windows, for example, may be acceptable, if they are the only major alteration, and are very similar to the originals in material, dilnensions, and muntin configuration. Additions and alterations which are more than fifty years old may have acqUired historic value of their own, and should be carefully evaluated.
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Representative examples of the Residential Resources property type which meet the above requirements will be eligible under Criterion C, in the area ofArchitecture, with a period of significance which corresponds to the construction date and/or the period in which the building took its present fonn. For example, a house built ca. 1885 which received a significant remodeling or addition in 1920 would have a period of significance of ca. 1885-1920. Specific registration requirements for houses within a district will be addressed under Property Type 2. Residential Historic Districts.
A few residences may also be significant under Criterion B for their associations with persons who were directly involved with the development of Warrensburg. The hornes ofleading businessmen, civic leaders, or elected officials may possess associations within this area of significance. These individuals must have made a significant contribution to Warrensburg's development dUring this period, and their association with the residence must coincide with their time of involvement with the significant activity. Integrity of association is the most critical for significance under Criterion B, but integrity of design and materials must be evident as well.
Property Type 2. Residential Historic Districts
Description: Residentjial Historic Districts
Residential Historic Districts are intact segments of historic residential neighborhoods. Contributing resources within a district will include houses and secondary buildings, as well as structures and objects such as retaining walls and sidewalks. Street and lot configurations and general patterns of spatial organization are also important features that help define the historic streetscapes. District boundaries, which can follow either natural or manmade features, encompass significant concentrations of intact residential resources. Those elements work together within a district to represent historical patterns of residential development. Most of the streets surrounding the historic commercial center ofWarrensburg have been residential neighborhoods for more than a century. Although many of those streets have naturally seen redevelopment and other modem changes, a few areas retain significant concentrations of intact residential resources, and thereby merit district designation. The two most likely residential historic districts in Warrensburg contain the vast majority of the residential resources in the study group. There are 6 contributing houses in the 200 block of Grover Street, and approximately 47 houses along West Gay Street that have potential to contribute to a historic district.
The houses on Grover Street fonn one of the most homogenous and intact collections of historic houses in the city. That small group of residences is being nominated as the Grover Street Victorian Historic District in association with this
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cover document. That district contains seven houses, with construction dates that range from ca. 1887 to ca. 1944. One ofthe largest potential residential historic districts is located north and west of the commercial center, between it and the original town square.
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survey and evaluation of historic resources identified a potential district that includes several blocks ofWest Gay Street and part of the 200 block of E. Market Street.
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That area contains approximately 56 contributing properties, with constnlction dates from ca. 1861 to ca. 1955. Portions ofthe mid 20th century residential neighborhoods located in the east end of the study area may also qualify as historic districts in the future.
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Significance: Residential Historic Districts
While one house ccm be an effective illustration of a particular style and/or the life experiences of its builder and owners, a group of historic residences provides a greater variety of infomlation about local architectural styles and patterns of development. Warrensburg's historic neighborhoods took years and often decades to develop, and therefore offer a better representation of how the community functioned over time. Residential historic districts in Warrensburg include historic houses from the periods of developm.ent discussed in Historic Contexts I and II, and provide good examples of the architectural development covered in Context III.
Intact ResidentiallIistoric Districts are significant under Criterion C, in the area ofArchitecture. They are significant for the way they reflect local and national patterns of architectural development. They can provide representative collections of architectural styles and types utilized for housing dUring the period of significance, or serve to illustrate the local popularity of one or two particular styles. Districts also have the simple advantage of having more resources, which naturally offers a more complete picture of an area's architectural development.
Registration Requireulents: Residential Historic Districts
Residential Historic Districts will be eligible for inclusion in the National Register if they contain a reasonably intact collection of historic residential resources, which together convey a sense of their time and place. An eligible Residential Historic District will represent a pattern or period of growth and development that is related to one or more of the historical contexts discussed in Section E.
A residential historic district gains much of its significance from the way the resources relate to each other. The individual houses and buildings found there do not have to be outstanding examples of specific styles and types, but as a group, they should offer a significant concentration of historic resources. General levels of
121
Patterson 7-8.
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Schwenk Associates identified a high number of intact resources in this area, but most are barely fifty years old and do not appear to be eligible at this time.
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integrity, along with unifying features such as average house size and level of styling, landscape features, and street layout should be evaluated when setting potential boundaries and determining overall eligibility. As a group, the buildings within the districts should reflect general patterns of residential development, and need not be limited to representation of single contexts, styles or types.
For an area to be eligible as a residential historic district under Criterion C, the majority of the buildings there must be of a residential nature, and as a group they should reflect one or more periods of development in Warrensburg. The general setting and the cohesiveness of streetscapes will have a strong impact upon how well the area conveys a sense of time and place. A significant concentration of intact buildings, street patterns, and landscape features is therefore required. There should also be a general consistency in form and function, even among non-contributing resources. A newer house of approximately the same size and shape as those around it would, for example, be less obtrusive than a large commercial building of the same age.
Intact buildings are those in which the original form and patterns of fenestration are intact, and which are readily recognizable to the period of significance. There should be no major alterations to principal exterior dimensions or rooflines. Door and window openings, especially on principal elevations, should be unaltered, and major stylistic embellishment should be intact. Additions and alterations to rear ells and secondary elevations are acceptable, as long as they do not have high visibility from the street. Additions and alterations done within the district's period of significance which are visible from the street may have acqUired historic value of their o,wn, and should be carefully evaluated.
Buildings which ,vould not normally be individually eligible may be considered contributing buildings ,vithin a district, as long as any changes to design, materials, or workmanship do not negatively impact district streetscapes. In general, at least two of the following elernents must be intact for a house to be eligible: front porch, including roofline, posts and any associated architectural detailing, wall cladding such as weatherboards or brick, original exterior millwork and architectural detailing, such as door and window trim, roof brackets, and cornices. For example, a house with modem vinyl siding may be contributing, if the original front porch and roof brackets are intact. and the siding does not cover door and window trim.
Representative examples of the Residential Historic Districts property type which meet the above requirements will be eligible under Criterion C, in the area of Architecture, with a period of significance which corresponds to the construction dates ofthe contributing buildings in the district. For example, a district in which the oldest contributing resource dates to ca. 1882, and the newest to 1950, would have a period of significance of ca. 1882-1950.
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Property Type 3. Civic: and Commercial Buildings
Description: Civic and, Commercial Buildings
Civic and commercial buildings were built to serve the public good and/or to enhance the economy ofWarrensburg through commercial or industrial activities. This property type includes business buildings constructed by private citizens, as well as buildings erected. by government entities and other organizations for civic, public or semi-public functions, such as government buildings, schools, churches, industrial, and commercial resources. The vast majority ofthe resources in this group are commercial buildings.
Construction dates run from the fIrst days of settlement to the end of the period of significance. The oldest buildings in the group include the first Johnson County courthouse, built in 1842, as well as the oldest commercial building in town, the Davis Store, built ca. 1869 at 311 N. Main; the newest are commercial buildings that date to the early 1960s. (107 and 109 W. Culton, ca. 1962).
Civic and commercial buildings in the study group are almost exclusively of masonry construction. The single exception is the Howard School, a frame building constructed at 400 W. Culton in 1888. (NR 2/14/2002.) Brick is the most common type of masonry constnlction, although this property type also includes the largest and most highly styled stone buildings in the community. Stone buildings of note include the previously listed "new" Johnson County Courthouse (300 N. Holden, 1898; NR 04/07/1994) and the individually eligible Missouri Pacific Depot, which was built at 100 South Holden in 1890. The group includes a small number of relatively modest stone commercial buildings as well, including a nicely intact two story commercial building constructed at 121 W. Pine St. ca. 1895.
Civic and commercial resources are concentrated around Pine and Holden Streets, but there are notable exceptions away from those streets. The Davis Store, one of the few individually eligible commercial buildings in the study group, is in the Old Town area, across from the original courthouse. Most ofthe churches in the group are located between Old Town and New Town, or along the eastern edge of downtown.
The commercial buildings tend to have minimal architectural styling, while civic buildings are among the most high-style historic buildings in the community. The most common style seen on 19th century buildings of the group is Richardsonian Romanesque. That style is characterized by heavy massing, round arched openings, and the liberal use of rock-faced stone blocks. Most of the stone buildings in the group use some elements of this style, including the courthouse on N. Holden and the Missouri Pacific Depot. There is one late 19th century stone church that can better be classified as Shingle Style: the Christ Episcopal Church at 134 E. Gay,
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constructed in 1899. Cine ofthe most notable styled buildings ofthe 20th century is the large Beaux-Arts style post office, built in 1911 at 108 N. College.
Subtype A. Commercial Buildings
Commercial buildings in Warrensburg were built and used for commercial functions dUring the period of significance. Uses include such things as retail, office, restaurants, and other business-related functions. Multi-function buildings that were built to include a commercial function, such as the Magnolia Opera House (145 W. Pine) or the Masonic Lodge (301-303 N. Holden), are also part of this subtype. Commercial buildings are one of the most common building types in the study group. Of the 149 properties in the study group, 65 are commercial buildings.
The most common commercial building form is the two-part commercial block. There are 42 in the study group. '!\vo-part commercial blocks are at least two stories tall, and characterized by a horizontal division ofform and function. The lower zones of such buildings were designed to be used as public or commercial spaces, while the upper floors were used for more private functions, such as offices, residences or meeting halls. The study group includes 29 two part commercial blocks from Period I and 14 from Period II. Construction dates range from ca. 1870 to ca. 1962.
The second major commercial building form is the one-part commercial block. There are 9 one·-part commercial blocks in the study group. One-part commercial blocks are one-story, and function much like the lower story of two-part commercial blocks. The facade often consists almost exclusively of an open storefront, which usually includes display windows and a recessed entrance. There are 9 one-part commercial blocks in the study group; one was built dUring Period I and 8 are from Period II. Construction dates range from ca. 1895 to ca. 1930.
A related one-stoly commercial building type that was popular in the early 20th century is the multiple entry commercial building. This one-story building type often looks like a row of one-part commercial blocks but differs in that it is a single building with articulated bays that look like separate shop spaces. The upper fa<;;ade sometimes has a horizontal composition to define the larger building; the lower spaces are often very silnilar to each other. The study group includes 7 multiple entry commercial buildings that have two to three separate bays each. Most of those are retail spaces, but a few were used for automobile related businesses dUring the period of significance. Jill were built in Period II; construction dates range from ca. 1915 to ca. 1925.
Subtype B. Civic Buildings
The Civic Building subtype includes public and privately owned buildings constructed for public use and/or private gatherings. The subtype includes the two
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historic Johnson County Courthouses, the first building constructed to serve as a Warrensburg post office, a train depot, churches, and the one intact historic school in the study group. There are three unlisted civic buildings in the study group: the Missouri Pacific Depot (100 South Holden, 1890), the Post Office (106 N. College, 1911) and Christ Episcopal Church (134 E. Gay, 1899).
Significance: Civic and Commercial Buildings
The historic civic and commercial resources in Warrensburg reflect more than a century of development. Intact examples are significant under Criterion A, with possible areas of significance that include Commerce and Education. (The area of significance will be dependent upon the historic role of the particular resource.) Outstanding individual resources may also be eligible under Criterion C, in the area ofArchitecture, and a few may also be eligible under Criterion B for association with prominent citizens.
Civic and comme:rcial buildings built dUring Period I (1842-1899) include the oldest buildings in the community. During that time period, the town was established as the seat ofJohnson County, gained all-important railroad access, and developed two different commercial centers. Although commercial and civic buildings once lined the streets ruround the original public square, few remained after the business center migrated to the east. Those that have survived to modem times are significant reminders of the earliest days of settlement.
Much of the conunercial center in "NewTown," now downtown Warrensburg, was also built up during Period I. With the establishment of the railroad in 1864, North Holden and Pine Streets became the civic and commercial heart of the community. Once developed, that area became the primary commercial center of Warrensburg. Many ofthe civic and commercial buildings found there today were built dUring Period I. Those brick and stone buildings were built by business leaders, churches and governments to serve the citizens ofWarrensburg. They utilize common building forms and architectural styles that reflect local and national trends.
Period II, (1900-1945) brought continued prosperity and new methods of transportation. The weU-established commercial center saw infill development, major remodeling projects and a slight expansion ofits boundaries. Buildings constructed in this period include everything from a large formal new post office to a car dealership. The explosive growth of the automobile industry and the development of cross state highways brought a new customer base, as well as competition for the railroad. Automobile-related businesses began to share the streets of downtown with the existing commercial establishments. Sanborn maps show that by 1945, there were more than a dozen different downtown businesses that catered to car owners, including filling stations, commercial garages and car dealerships.
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Registration RequireUlents: Civic and Commercial Buildings
Representative examples of the above property type will be eligible for inclusion in the National Register under Criterion A in the area of Commerce or Industry, if they are the site of a business of particular importance to the community, exemplify a particular building type or use, or are associated with an important event or occurrence. Their period ofsignificance will correspond to the time in which they had the historic commercial function. Eligible buildings will be reasonably intact, and readily recognizable to their period of significance.
Properties which are individually eligible under Criterion A will retain their basic original form, with no major alterations to principal exterior dimensions or rooflines. Original or early materials should predominate, especially on wall surfaces. Early ornamental featuJres such as window hoods and cornices should also be largely intact. Second floor window openings, especially on the facade, should also be intact. Replacement window sashes may be acceptable, if they are close to the originals in individual dimensions and muntin configurations.
Although the buildings must be reasonably intact to qualify for listing, alterations and minor changes are practically inevitable, and it is important to gauge the overall effect of any changes when evaluating eligibility. Rear additions and alterations to secondary elevations are acceptable, as long as they are not overly noticeable from the street. Other additions and alterations which are more than fifty years old may have acqUired historic value of their own and should be carefully evaluated.
Storefront alterations often represent a natural evolution in the history of the building, and original storefront units are therefore not requisite for listing under Criterion A. The actual ground floor openings themselves should, however, be little- changed, and fenestration patterns should be similar to those of the early storefront units, preferably with display windows, bulkheads, and transoms. By the same token, surviving original storefronts and other distinctive architectural features represent especially significant historic resources, and their existence can outweigh other integrity issues, as long as the building continues to clearly evoke its period of significance.
Buildings may also be individually eligible under Criterion C, in the area of Architecture, if they exhibit exceptional levels of integrity and/or architectural styling. To be eligible under Criterion C, a building must be a notable example of a particular style or vernacular type, and/or possess unusual design elements and detailing. The building must also possess integrity of setting and location, design, workmanship, and materials. An eligible building under this criterion will meet all integrity requirements listed above, and will retain at least some historic storefront components and notable interior features.
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Intact historic cOlnrnercial buildings may also be eligible if they are part of a cohesive grouping of resources which meets historic district criteria. Specific registration requirements for buildings within a commercial historic district will be addressed in Property l'ype 4, Commercial Historic Districts.
Property Type 4. CODlmercial Historic Districts
Description: Commer(:ial Historic Districts
Warrensburg has a.t least two potential historic commercial districts. Both are located in downtown Warrensburg.
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They are in close proximity to each other but are separated by modern or altered older buildings. The largest potential district runs along Holden Street, from the Missouri Pacific Railroad Depot north to Gay Street, and including short sections of East Pine, East and West Culton Street and East Market Street. That district includes the previously listed Johnson County Courthouse and Masonic Hall, as well as the depot, which is potentially individually eligible. The Holden Street District has approximately 50 properties, roughly 45 of which are already listed. or would be considered contributing resources in a district. Most of the buildings are one- or two-story brick commercial buildings; there are 34 two part commercial blocks, 6 one-part commercial blocks and 6 multiple entry commercial buildings. Construction dates for the group range from ca. 1870 to ca. 1963.
A second potential district contains a concentration of historic resources along the 100 block ofWest Pine Street, which runs perpendicular to Holden and parallel to the railroad tracks. That district includes one of the largest historic buildings in the downtown area, the Magnolia Opera house, as well as several early automobile related resources. The Pine Street District has approximately 14 properties, roughly 13 ofwhich would be considered contributing resources in a district. Construction dates for the group range from ca. 1880 to ca. 1940. The district includes 9 two-part commercial blocks, 3 one-part commercial blocks and 2 multiple entry commercial buildings. The largest of the multiple entry commercial building, which was built at 135 W. Pine ca. 1925, housed a Chevrolet dealership for several decades.
Significance: Commer1cial Historic Districts
The districts in downtown Warrensburg provide a snapshot of what the community looked like \vhen almost all commercial ventures were located within a few blocks of the county courthouse. Many of the business buildings that line the streets of downtown Warrensburg have been serving local merchants and their
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Potential commercial district boundaries were identified by Tiffany Patterson of the MO SHPO in April 2010, and reevaluated and confirmed as part of the preparation for this cover document. (See Patterson 10-11.)
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customers for more than a century. The streetscapes ofthe historic districts there reflect a variety of conditions and events. The commercial center is located where it is because of the railroad. The majority of the buildings are built of brick and stone because early builders had experienced or at least heard of the devastating effects of fires in the commercial district, and later builders simply continued the tradition. The size, shape, and even the way the buildings are placed on their lots reflect trends in commercial developnlent that were common throughout the country.
The historic functions of the buildings within the districts help illustrate the economic history of the community. The oldest buildings were erected to house dry goods stores, stove and hardware dealers, feed stores and agricultural implement dealers. In the early decades of the 20th century the district began to see new functions and new types of customers. Car dealers and commercial garages moved in, and agricultural implement stores became less common.
Commercial Histonlc Districts in Warrensburg are significant under Criterion A, in the area of Commerce, and Criterion C in the area ofArchitecture.
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Potential commercial historic districts in Warrensburg encompass intact commercial and civic architecture from the periods of development discussed in Historic Contexts I and II, and provide good examples of the architectural development covered in Context III.
Registration Requiren:lents: Commercial Historic Districts
Commercial historic districts in Warrensburg will be eligible under Criterion A in the area of Commerce if they contain a reasonably intact collection of historic commercial buildings which together convey a sense of their time and place. Particularly intact groupings may also be eligible under Criterion C in the area of Architecture. An historic district gains much of its significance from the way the resources relate to each other. The individual buildings found there need not be outstanding examples of specific styles and types, but as a group, they should offer a significant concentration of historic resources.
For an area to be eligible as a district under Criterion A, the majority of the buildings there must have had a commercial function dUring the period of significance, and as a group they should reflect one or more of the periods of development discussed in this cover document. The majority of the resources within the district must retain integrity of design, workmanship, materials, setting and location, feeling and association.
Multi-story buildings should retain a majority of their upper level facade detailing. Upper floor \vindows that have been covered over may be acceptable, if the openings are intact and the window coverings are easily reversible. Enclosed windows on secondary elevations are minimally acceptable. Buildings with
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No districts with potential to be listed under Criterion C, in the area ofArchitecture have been identified.
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replacement storefronts may retain integrity, if their original ground floor openings are little-changed, and jf replacement storefront fenestration patterns are similar to those of the early units, preferably with a pattern of display windows and bulkheads. This is especially important for one-story buildings. One-story buildings which have had the ground floor
fa~~ade
enclosed with solid walls of frame or masonry will no longer retain integrity, and will be considered non-contributing resources. Two-story buildings with partially enclosed storefronts may be contributing, if the rest of the building is highly intact. Several buildings in the downtown area have early or original vehicular doors in lieu of storefronts. Many of those are historic features that contribute to the historic character of the district.
The historic buildings of downtown Warrensburg were built dUring a period of time in which the town transformed from an isolated trading post into a "little city of modem proportions." lhe businesses located in those buildings played a vital role in the social and economic well-being ofWarrensburg, a role that continues to modem times.
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G. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA This multiple property documentation form was prepared to include the oldest parts of the community, and all of the properties inventoried dUring previous survey projects. The geographical boundaries correspond to those of the survey of the community that was completed in 2008. (See Figure 1.) The area includes the core of the Original Town or-Warrensburg as well as most of the major additions to the city that were platted in the 19th century.
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H. SUMMARY OF IDE:NTIFICATION AND EVALUATION METHODS
This Multiple Property Documentation Form (MPDF) was created for the City of Warrensburg, at the request of the Warrensburg Historic Preservation Commission. The project continues recent efforts to document how the existing built environment reflects historical development ofthe community. Architectural historian Debbie Sheals was hired to coulplete the MPDF cover document, and a nomination of the Grover Street Victorian Historic District. Sheals worked with city staff member Angela Ely and members of the Historic Preservation Commission, as well as staff of the State Historic Preservation Office. In-house assistance was provided by Carol Groves and Kylee J. Rooney.
The MPDF utilized survey data for more than 1,000 historic resources. The first organized architectural and historical surveys of the community took place in the early 1980s. Tom Christopher ofthe Show-Me Regional Planning Commission conducted a survey of commercial resources in 1981 and documented notable residential resources in 1983. The later survey also included a study ofthe historic Warrensburg sandstone quarries. Those two studies documented more than 200 historic resources.
In 2007 and 2008, the City sponsored a new reconnaissance-level survey of the historic core ofthe city. (See Figure 1. Survey Area Map.) At the City's request, that project focused on intact historic resources in the Central Business District, the Original Town ofWarrensburg (Old Town), Grover Street, and the areas surrounding the University of Central Missouri. That two-phase project resulted in the documentation of 1,08B properties, including 104 that had been recorded as part of the earlier surveys. A subsequent report and evaluation of the 2008 survey report by Tiffany Patterson of the State Historic Preservation Office identified four historic districts and at least a dozen individually eligible properties.
Follow-up fieldwork by Sheals included site visits to the areas covered by previous surveys. Extra attention was given to the areas and individual properties identified as potentially eligible in the Patterson report. Raw data from the Schwenk Associates database file was integrated into a new database, using Filemaker Pro 7 software. The database allowed comparative analysis of all ofthe historic architecture in the study area.
A smaller group of properties was targeted for closer study. The core study group for this MPDF project included 149 intact historic resources. The study group includes properties already listed in the National Register, as well as those identified as either individually eligible or having a potential to contribute to one of the historic districts identified in the SHPO report.
Electronic copies of the inventory forms and photos of the properties in the study group were also produced. The City ofWarrensburg and the Missouri State Historic Preservation 01Iice will receive a copy of the new one-page inventory form for
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each property in the study group in .pdf format (Adobe Acrobat) as well as an Excel file of the entire database, which includes basic information on more than 1,000 buildings.
125 This cover docuInent has been written to expedite future National Register nominations. As noted in the Patterson report, there are two potential historic districts along Holden and Pine Streets in the commercial center, and at least one residential district on \Vest Gay Street. Several buildings have also been judged potentially eligible on an individual basis.
As recommended by the Patterson report, future study should include an intensive survey ofAfrican American resources in the community, followed by the addition of an African American context for this cover document. Other possible topics include a closer look at architecture and history of the University, and the impact of the Warrensburg sandstone quarries. Post WWII development within and around the original surV'ey area also merits further attention, and a possible future context. Postwar resources of interest include Ranch houses, described briefly here, as well as commercial enterprises that were built along new transportation corridors.
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The vast majority of the infonnation in the database was compiled by Schwenk Associates.
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I. MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
Barber, George F. Victorian Cottage Architecture: An American Catalogue of Designs, 1891. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications 1982. (Reprint of Barber's original Cottage Souvenir No 2, with added comment by Michael A. Tomlin.)
Berkland, Carol, Herb Best, and Lisa Irle. Postcard History Series: Warrensburg and Johnson County.
Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2004.
Buckley, E. R. and H. A. Buehler. The Quarrying Industry ofMissouri, Vol. II, 2nd Series, Jefferson
City, MO: 1904.
Bullard, Loring. Healing Wa.ters. Columbia, MO: University ofMissouri Press, 2004.
Christopher, Tom. "Warrensburg's Architectural and Historical Heritage." Show-Me Regional Planning Commission: Warrensburg, MO, 1981. (Report and Inventory forms on file with the Missouri State Historic Preservation Office, Jefferson City, MO.)
Christopher, Tom. "Historical and Architectural Survey ofWarrensburg's Residential Structures."
Show-Me Regional Planning Commission: Warrensburg, MO, 1983. (Report and Inventory forms on file with the Missouri State Historic Preservation Office, Jefferson City, MO.)
City Directory ofWarrensburg, Missouri 1895. Warrensburg, MO: Irving and Kunkel Publ., 1895.
City Directory ofWarrensburg, Missouri 1888-1889. Kansas City, MO: Western Directory Co., 1889.
City Directory ofWarrensburg, Missouri 1900-1901. Quincy, Ill: Wallin, Schaffer and Co., 1901.
Cockrell, Ewing. History oLJohnson County, Missouri. Topeka: Historical Publishing Co., 1918.
Crissey, William E. Warrensburg: A History with Folklore. Warrensburg: Daily Star-Journal, 1924.
Foley, William and Jeff Yelton, National Register nomination for Howard School, 2001.
Foster, Cecille. "This Old House," in Bulletin of the Johnson County Historical Society, Vol. XI, No.2,
Jan 1977,4.
Foster, Gerald. American Houses: A Field Guide to the Architecture of the Home. New York:
Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
Gottfried, Herbert and Jan Jennings. American Vernacular Design 1870-1940: An Illustrated
Glossary. New York: Van Nostrand Company, 1985.
Gowans, Alan. The Comfortable House: North American Suburban Architecture 1890-1930.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1986.
Gress, Lucille. An Informal
History of Black Families of the Warrensburg, Missouri, Area. Warrensburg, MO: The :Mid-America Press, Inc., 1997.
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Hopkins, D. S. Late Victorian House Designs: 56 American Homes and Cottages with Floor
Plans. Mineola, NY: Dov,er Publications, Inc., 2004. (Reprint ofHopkins' original Houses and Cottages, Book No.7: A Collection of House and Cottage Designs/ Containing 57 Designs Costing from $1,600 to $2,500, 1893.)
Irle, Lisa. Images ofAmerica: Warrensburg Missouri. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2004.
J. W. McFarlan's Warrensburg City Directory, Warrensburg: 1909.
Jones, Nancy T. National
Rel~ister
Nomination for the Cress, Herbert and Bettie House, 1995.
Jones, Robert T., ed. Authentic Small Houses of the 1\venties: Illustrations and Floor Plans of
254 Characteristic Homes. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1987.
Longstreth, Richard. The Buildings of Main Street: A Guide to American Commercial Architecture.
Washington, D.C.: National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2000.
Marshall, Howard Wight. Vernacular Architecture in Rural and Small Town Missouri: An
Introduction. Columbia: University of Missouri Extension Publications, 1994.
Maserang, Roger. National Register Nomination for the Johnson County Courthouse, 1994.
National Register Nomination for the Garden of Eden Station, 1994.
National Register Nomination for the Masonic Temple, 1998.
National Register Nomination for the Waqrren Street M. E. Church, 1996.
Massey, James C. and Shirley Maxwell. House Styles in America. New York: PengUin Studio, 1996.
McAlester, Lee and Virginia. Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1986.
Missouri Gazetteer and Business Directory 1876-77. St. Louis, MO: R. L. Polk & Co. 1876.
Missouri Gazetteer and Business Directory 1879-80. St. Louis, MO: R. L. Polk & Co. 1879.
Missouri Gazetteer and Business Directory 1885-1886. Vol.V. St. Louis, MO: R.L. Polk & Co. 1886.
Missouri Gazetteer and Business Directory 1893-1894. Vol.VIII. St. Louis, MO: R.L. Polk & Co. 1894.
Missouri Gazetteer and Business Directory 1898-99. St. Louis, MO: R. L. Polk & Co. 1899.
Ohman, Marian. A History of Missouri's Counties. County Seats. and Courthouse Squares.
Columbia, MO: University of Missouri-Columbia Extension, 1983.
"Old Newspapers Source of HistOlY ofTheir Times." Star Journal 28 Mar. 1936: 33.
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Patterson, Tiffany. "Residential and Commercial District Boundary Recommendations, Warrensburg,
Johnson County." Missouri State Historic Preservation Office, Jefferson City, Missouri, April 2010.
Pentlin, Susan, "Hamburgers in Warrensburg," Bulletin of the Johnson County Historical Society, Vol.
XVIII, No.4 Sept. 2003.
Poppeliers, John C. et. al. What Style Is It? Washington, D.C.: Preservation Press, 1984.
Rainey, Mary L. Early History ofWarrensburg. NP: 2003.
Safire, William. Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997.
Schwenk, Sally F. and Kerry Davis. "Final Survey Report: Cultural Resource Survey-Phases I & II,
Warrensburg, Missouri." September, 2008. Report on File with the City ofWarrensburg.
Sheals, Debbie. National Register Nomination for Magnolia Mills, 1996.
______. National Register Nomination for the Jones Brothers Mule Barn, 2011.
"Show-Me Through the Years." Warrensburg: Show-Me Regional Planning Commission, 1977.
Thornton, Rosemary. The Houses That Sears Built: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know
About Sears Catalog HOf(les. Alton, IL: Gentle Beam Publications, 2002.
Tucker, William C., ed. "Pedaling Through the Past." Daily Star-Journal, 1955.
Upton, Dell, ed. America's Architectural Roots: Ethnic Groups That Built America. Washington, D.C.:
The Preservation Press, 1986.
Whiffen, Marcus. American Architecture Since 1780: A gUide to the Styles. Cambridge: the M.I.T.
Press, 1969.
Williams, Walter. The State of Missouri: An Autobiography. Columbia, MO: E. W. Stephens, 1904.
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Figure List.
Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri
Figure 1. Outline Map ofthe Study Area. Figure 2. 1877 Atlas Map, with dates for early additions. Figure 3. An advertisenlent for the Magnolia Opera House, from the 1899 State Gazetteer. Figure 4. A 1909 advertisement for the Davis Grocery Store. Figure 5. Mail Order Plcm Used for 211 Grover Street in 1902. Figure 6. 1901 Advertisement for local builder Daniel M. Hout. Figure 7. 1869 Drawing of Central Warrensburg.
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Figure 1. Outline Map of the Study Area. These boundaries correspond to the area surveyed in 2007 and 2008, and include areas surveyed in 1981 and 1983.
Warrensburg
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Figure 2. 1877 Atlas Map, with dates for early additions. Addition dates are from North, F. E., ed. History ofJohnson County. Missouri. (Kansas City, MO.: Kansas City Historical Company, 1881) 390-391.
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Figure 3. An ad for the Magnolia Opera House, from the 1899 State Gazetteer.
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Figure 5. 'Design No. 36" used for 211 Grover Street in 1902. From George F. Barber, Victorian Cottage Architecture: An American Catalogue of Designs. 1891. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications 1982. (Reprint of Barber's original Cottage Souvenir No 2, with added comment by Michael A. Tomlin.)
Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri
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Figure 6. 1901 Advertisement for local builder Daniel M. Hout. The same publication had an ad for J. W. King "Architect, contractor and builder" that included the same drawing. From City Directory ofWarrensburg, Missouri 1900-1901. QUincy, Ill: Wallin, Schaffer and Co., 1901. .
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Figure 7. 1869 Drawing of Central Warrensburg. Detail of a "Bird's Eye View of the City ofWarrensburg, 1869" by A. Ruger. From the Library ofCongress. Old Town and the first courthouse are circled in the top left. New Town and railroad depot are in the lower right.
National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property
Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Missouri Associated Historic Contexts Warren's Corner to "Useful and Permanent Improvements": 1836-1899
Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri
Introduction and Overview
Warrensburg is located in western Missouri, approximately 60 miles southeast of Kansas City. It has a population of approximately 19,000 and covers just over six square miles of land. It is the seat of Johnson County, and home to the campus of the University of Central Missouri (originally the Second District State Normal School).
The town was platted in 1836, and incorporated in 1855. It takes its name from early settler Martin Warren, who had a log cabin at what is now College and Gay Streets. The original town center was platted on a hilltop west of "Warren's corner," and the first Johnson County courthouse still occupies the old public square at Main and Gay Streets. Spurned by talk of upcoming rail service through the area, new additions to the town in the 1850s created a second business center east of the old town square, complete 'with a new public square and an all important depot for the railroad that reached the city in 1864. The area by the depot gradually replaced "Old Town" as the commercial center of the community. Those streets today are lined with commercial buildings constructed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as the "new" county courthouse, which is now more than a century old. Warrensburg soon developed into a regional trade center, and it is still the largest town in Johnson County.
One of the earliest historic preservation projects in the community began in the mid 1960s, when the Johnson County Historical Society purchased and restored the original Johnson County Courthouse. Built in 1842 at what is now 302 North Main, the old courthouse became the first building in Johnson County to be listed in the National Register on June 15, 1970.
Registration activities since then have been relatively sparse. As of October 2011, only seven other buildings in Warrensburg have been listed in the National Register of Historic Places, all as individual properties. They are: The new (1896-98) Johnson County Courthouse on the Courthouse Square (listed 1994), the Herbert A. and Bettie E. Cress House on West Gay Street (listed 1995), the Warren Street Methodist Episcopal Church (listed 1996), Magnolia Mills (listed 1996 and later demolished), the Masonic Temple on West Market and North Holden Streets (listed 1998), the Howard School on West Culton Street (listed 2002), and the Jones Brothers Mule Barn on North College Avenue (listed 2011).
Previous identification of historic architecture in Warrensburg includes three formal surveys of cultural resources. In the early 1980's, the Show-Me Regional Planning Commission cosponsored two grant-funded surveys of notable historic properties, one of dwellings and one that concentrated on commercial resources.
More recently, the City of Warrensburg commissioned a reconnaissance level survey of all historic resources located in the oldest parts of the community. The later project, conducted by Sally Schwenk Associates in 2007 and 2008, documented just over 1,000 properties, with construction dates that range from 1842 to 1965. In 2010, those survey results were evaluated by Tiffany Patterson, National Register Coordinator for the Missouri State Historic Preservation Office.
Patterson's report identified four potential historic districts, and Patterson and Schwenk Associates both identified several buildings that appear to be individually eligible for National Register designation.
Schwenk Associates and Patterson also recommended that a Multiple Property Documentation Form (MPDF) be created to facilitate future National Register work in the community.
As recommended, this MPDF consolidates new and previous research and lays out guidelines for the systematic evaluation and designation of historic resources in Warrensburg. The cover document provides context for all four of the potential districts listed, as well as many individually significant properties.
One related district nomination has also been prepared; the Grover Street Victorian Historic District is being nominated for significance in the area of architecture. Other areas that appear to retain significant integrity to warrant district designation include several blocks in the commercial center on Pine and Holden Streets, as well as a group of residential properties located along West Gay Street.
The historical period covered in the discussion below begins with the platting of the town in 1836 and ends in 1945, with the start of a significant period of post WWII development. The geographical area covered corresponds to that of the most recent surveys. (See Figure 1.,1
I. Warren's Corner to; Regional Trade Center: 1836-1899
The town of Warrensburg was laid out and platted in 1836 by County Surveyor George Tibbs. What had been a mere crossroads on open prairie known as "Warren's Comer," and later "Warren's Burg," the site had been selected that year by county commissioners as the county seat, and officially named in honor of early settler Martin Warren. The new town's first blocks were arranged in a neat grid around a central public square bounded by Water, Main, Gay and Market Streets. That layout, defined as a Shelbyville, or Block, type square provided order and emphasized the expected role of the square as the hub of community growth and activity. Construction of the new courthouse, a Federal style red brick building facing Main Street, began in 1838. Built by William N. Wade, it was based on plans by Harvey Dyer. The restored original courthouse is one of the few early Federal style courthouses left in Missouri.
By the time the courthouse was complete in 1842, the town of Warrensburg was firmly established. One description of early town development noted that "the business and enterprise of the town steadily increased, till 1840 when Warrensburg was known as an important town." New buildings around the square included a log building for the County Clerk's office, a brick jail (north of the courthouse) and the town's first hotel, also of log. John Evans had opened the first general store, which carried hardware, calico and whiskey, and Davis & Company mercantile opened the first of a series of mercantile establishments.
Davis & Company were to have an enduring presence in Old Town; they remained in business in the area into the 1960s.
A brick commercial building they constructed in 1869 remains in place at the comer of Gay and Main Streets.
The new town offered an increasing variety of goods and services including meat markets, harness makers and saloons. The Methodist Episcopal South Church was organized and the Baptist and Presbyterian soon after; the first school classes
F. E. North, ed., The History of Johnson County. Missouri (Kansas City, MO: Kansas City Historical Company, 1881) 390. The plat, recorded in 1837, illustrates the public square, 302 feet per side, streets sixty-six feet wide, fourteen foot alleys and 144 x 72 foot lots
Marian Ohman, A History of Missouri's Counties. County Seats. and Courthouse Squares, (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri-Columbia Extension, 1983) 33. The Shelbyville square, the most common type throughout Missouri and one repeated throughout the Midwest, evolved in the early 1800s and is named for the earliest examples found in central Tennessee. North 391.
North 217, and Ewing Cockrell, History of Johnson County, Missouri, (Topeka: Historical Publishing Co., 1918) 203.
were taught by Major N. B. Holden and Joel Warren, grandson of the town's namesake. Rumblings about the potential for a railroad through Missouri began in 1849. 12 By 1850 the population of what one early poet described as the "home of common people, the sinew of the world" reached 241. 13
The growing town was incorporated in November 1855. Its growth was linked to the efforts of Col. B. 'We Grover and Major N. B. Holden. Grover was involved early on in bringing the railroad to town-through Johnson County rather than along the Missouri River. In 184:3 Grover purchased Martin Warren's cabin and 40 acres of land around it, and in October 1857 he filed a plat for Grover's Depot Addition to Warrensburg.
14 Oddly, that addition was not adjacent to the existing town boundaries or either of the small additions that were made in 1854; Holden owned a large tract of land in between. (See Figure 2 for a map of early additions.) Holden soon began filling the land between the original town and Grover's addition with even blocks of town lots. Holden's First Addition was filed in 1858, and two more adjacent Holden Additions followed in 1864.
Prior to this, the Land had been cornfield and "brush-patch" but with Grover's Addition came the extension of Gay, Market, Culton and Pine streets.
15 East of Holden Street, these streets were arranged at an angle, skewed from the grid pattern of the original town, in order to miss the Warren cabin and Grover's "Woodside Farm." This variation from the rhythmic pattern of blocks in the rest of town remains a defining characteristic of the neighborhood today. Almost overnight, the grid of buildings and streets in the original plat became known as "Old Town" and the newly added land to the east "New Town." Holden and Miller (later, College) streets provided a new spine running north and south that paralleled Water and Main streets in the original plat.
In 1860, the town (population 982) had four churches, two newspapers, eleven dry goods stores, several grocery and drug stores and two hotels, many of which were located in "New Town."
16
There was a hardware store, blacksmith and wagon shops, stove and tin houses. Its chief products were com, wheat and timber. Improved land sold for 15 to 25 dollars per acre; Warrensburg did not yet have a bank. Listed in the
12
In 1849 a Pacific Railroad charter to build track from St. Louis to western Missouri was announced. Ground was broken in 1851.
13
Cockrell 201 and 221. The quote is from a poem by Mel P. Moody titled "Old Warrensburg" that was included in Cockrell's history of Warrensburg. All population figures cited from Cockrell are based on the U. S. Census for the given year.
14
North, 390-391; Cecille Foster, quoting from the abstract for 212 Grover Street, in 'This Old House", Bulletin of the Johnson County Historical Society, Vol. XI, No.2, Jan 1977, 4. 15
Cockrell 393. Woodside Farm is identified in an article by Lizzie Grover, Col. Grover's daughter, as cited in Mary Rainey, Early History of Warrensburg (2003) 1.
16
Cockrell 201.
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1860 Gazetteer are two brick yards, Davidson & Company brick masons, and five builders and carpenters.
The rapid development of Holden and Grover's Additions was clearly linked to the announcement that the Missouri Pacific Railroad planned to run through Warrensburg. The right of way for the new tracks ran along the south edges of Grover's First and Holden's second additions. Although Grover was supposed to have had a contract with the railroad that assured the town's new depot would be built in his addition, it was, as county historian Ewing Cockrell later wrote, "by mistake or otherwise" Economic built on and Major social Holden's activity land was minimal instead in during 1864
the Civil War
Public schooling was suspended, the Western Missourian and the Weekly Union newspapers shut down, and work on the railroad stalled before the tracks reached Warrensburg. The town's location near the Missouri-Kansas border-a landscape of savage killing and plunder-left it vulnerable to roaming guerrilla bands. The Missouri State Militia was put in place to handle Confederate activity. Although only 3% of the population of Johnson County owned slaves, the state's position-politically and geographically-forced citizens to choose sides. 19 Prominent citizen and attorney Major Edmond A. Nickerson described camp gangs following in the wake of Union and Confederate armies roving through the streets and terrorizing property owners. They "dominated the will in every way, and by their criminal brutal force made Warrensburg an unsafe place for human habitation."
Militias for both sides were organized in town, one drilling on the west side, near their camp beyond the public square, the other on the east. Land near Old Town was used as a parade ground and the courthouse-protected by a stockade built by citizens during the fighting-was used as a federal garrison. The home of Captain Fike was used as a smallpox hospital as was the First Presbyterian Church, on Gay near Warren St. 21 The Bolton House hotel on the south side of the square was taken by soldiers and used as a guard house and District Headquarters. Local legend has it that Quantrill and his gang rode through but spared the courthouse and adjacent buildings. Throughout town was the "stamp of red battle."22 One of the
Cockrell 203. Holden died. on Sept. 21, 1862, shot in the doorway of his residence, and therefore outlived Grover by about eleven months. Change in the depot location could have come with uncertainty prompted by Grover's death. 18
war's the Hemp early Bales, casualties better known was Col. as Grover, the First who Battle died on of October Lexington.
1861, at the Battle of
The first train entered Warrensburg on July 4, 1864. With the war nearly over, the return of routine and the opportunities brought by the railroad, businesses scrambled to open or relocate in New Town. Frame buildings were constructed, sometimes hastily, in an effort to house them. A description of the town as it looked in 1868 noted that a "string of one-story wooden store-houses straggled along on West Pine" and south to the frame depot at the foot of Holden Street.
There were few sidewalks and streets were not graded. Just south of the tracks was the Redford House hotel (later replaced by the Simmons Hotel), but little else; beyond was brush and woods.
This growth "cast the die" for Old Town.
A description of the town written in 1881 referred to it as a "deserted village," claiming that "the business is all gone from the old main street, and the old brick building- which stand have a desolate appearance."26 Some saw Warrensburg as a town divided: New Town with its commercial district near the railroad tracks and Old Town with its "courthouse, the post office and all the lawyers."27 The juxtaposition was described, albeit sentimentally, less than twenty years later: "As it once stood, it was a proud village, overlooking every hill and defile for miles around, while the present new town is couched away among hills and dales as if hiding from the sight of the once thrifty little 'city on a hill." this changed dramatically in less than thirty years. Between 1860 and 1890 the population of Warrensburg grew from 982 to 4,706. Improved conditions, services and way of life are suggested by the listings in city directories and gazetteers and are manifest in the neighborhoods and commercial districts built during the period. A major fire in 1866 shaped New Town in particular. A Christmas Eve fire raged through the new business district, rushing up the west side of Holden Street from the south and burning the majority of the frame buildings. Stopped by the only brick building in all the blocks, the Stewart Hardware store (constructed by J. L. Johnston), it was observed by I. M. Cruce, "Yonder's what we want."29 A second major fire in 1873 made it clear that frame buildings were inappropriate for tightly packed commercial streets.
What followed was a rebuilding of the commercial district using brick and "blue" sandstone from the Bruce and Pickel quarries north of Warrensburg, which
After the Colonel's death, other Grover Additions followed. It is assumed that Mrs. Grover, who remained at Woodside Farm through the 1880s was responsible for their development.
William Lowe, in Cockrell 207
This rebuilding transformed the ragged appearance of early New Town and the streets there are still lined with brick and stone commercial buildings.
News of that rebuilding program could have prompted William Lowe to move to Warrensburg. Celebrated by business associates as an outstanding citizen fifty years after his arrival in 186E., he was a lumberman, builder, and contractor listed regularly in gazetteers. He operated a lumber yard on East Culton Street for decades. His biography in the 1881 history of Johnson County credits him with constructing 300 buildings in the county.31 Those in Warrensburg were the Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, and Cumberland Presbyterian churches; he "finished" the Normal School and built the Howard and Foster schools. He is also credited with building Mr. J. Brown's residence (to date unidentified) and "others too numerous to mention."32 Lowe represents the status of and contribution made by builder-contractors, some of whom-such as Lowe--worked in tandem with trained architects later in the nineteenth century.
Old Town slowed down as New Town grew, but did not disappear altogether. The original courthouse was freshened up with a stucco exterior after the Civil War, the post office was still there, and several area lawyers kept offices in the area to be close to the courthouse. In 1869, W. H. Davis and Co, which opened their first store in new town in the 1840s, built a new brick store at 311 North Main. The Davis Store survives; it is the only commercial building left in the original town. Likely there was a repurposing of many of the buildings around the square, as had happened at the courthouse during the war and prior, when it was used for schooling and by church groups.
The courthouse continued to serve as the hub for county jurisprudence and perhaps the highlight during these years was the 1870 trial between Charles Burden and Leonidas Hornsby. Burden alleged his neighbor, in-law, and wealthy sheep breeder Hornsby had shot and killed his hunting dog, Drum. The trial was found in Burden's favor after attorney and Senator George Graham Vest presented in his "Old closing Drum" argument that identifies his speech the entitled, dog as man's ''The Eulogy best friend.to the Dog," The tear-jerking plea for trial was one of the last official events to take place in the original courthouse; it was replaced in 1875 with a new 30 x 50-foot frame building on the square in New Town. It was later sold and renovated for use as a residence.
William Safire, in Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History, (N. Y.: W. W. Norton, 1997) 174, includes Vest's closing argument as an outstanding tribute in the history of American speeches.
Warrensburg had a significant African-American population throughout the 19th century. Although the history of African Americans in Warrensburg has not yet been assessed sufficiently, an attempt has been made here to introduce the subject. African Americans have been in the area from the first days of settlement. Blacks were brought to area farms and homesteads to work as slaves and domestics in the 1830s. After the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and the end of the Civil War, two rural settlements developed that, with time, contributed to Warrensburg's population. The earliest of these was Mt. Olive, twelve miles to the northeast of town that began in 1832 with the farm established by James Simpson and his mother Sarah.34 Free blacks, most former slaves of the Simpsons, stayed on after 1865 and formed their own community. A decade later, Mt. Olive Church was built, and soon after came a cemetery and schools; ultimately the self-sufficient village grew to include thirty houses and businesses.35 Changes in the local economy linked to farming and the opening of new industries forced workers, and then families, to relocate. The integration of schools reinforced this flight and by the late 1950s little remained of the community.
The second rural community was Montserrat, five miles due east of Warrensburg. In contrast to Mt. Olive's farm tradition, Montserrat (platted in 1870 by geologist John A. Gallaher) began as a coal mining town. Many of its original citizens were born to slavery-half the population was African American in its early years-and its population reached 225 by 1880.36 The economy, based initially on mining, then lumber and later brick and tile production, also was unable to weather changes like those that affected nearby Mt. Olive. Within ten years, coal was stripped from the mines, labor costs increased and after the tum of the century, concrete replaced the use of brick. As at Mt. Olive, residents left to find work; in 1993 the last black resident died.
Many of these rural families relocated in Warrensburg. African Americans who lived in the town of Warrensburg worked at jobs different from those on rural farms but their circumstances were similar. A deed filed in 1836 records slaves owned and sold by town founder Martin Warren.38 In interviews conducted during the Depression, former slave Charlie Richardson refers to "Master" Warren, recalling work from dawn until 11 o'clock at night and long rows of log
Lucille D. Gress, An Informal History of Black families of the Warrensburg. Missouri. Area, (Warrensburg: Mid-America Press, Inc.. 1997)
Rainey 5. It appears Warren sold slaves to free men of color as well as to whites.
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cabins daubed with mud in which families cooked and slept.
39
Slaves, recently well- fed and smeared with grease to appear healthy (increasing their monetary value) were shackled by iron ball and chains when sold on the north side of the courthouse square.40 Census records in 1860 indicate that thirty-two of Warrensburg citizens-- physicians, attorneys, merchants, the sheriff, a clergyman and banker among them-- owned 116 slaves.41
In the 1918 History of Johnson County, builder William Lowe commented on the large number of blacks in town when he arrived in 1866, wondering if they made up the whole population.42 He recalled that of 1,000 citizens "fully a third of them were negroes" although the 1860 census, which records 858 whites and 124 "colored" living in Warrensburg, suggests that percentage might be high. Once free, many stayed in town settling in an abandoned Union camp on the west side near Cave Hollow and were joined by those relocating from Mt. Olive and Montserrat. Old Town has retained the largest population of black families of any of the area's early settlements.
A great leap in progress and the equalizer for Warrensburg's black citizens came with the right to own land and property. They began buying houses on North Main, West Gay and North streets, still clustering around the old courthouse square, and along West Pine, living side-by-side with white neighbors. Many of these houses have been lived in and owned by the same families for decades. By the late nineteenth century, they shared a sense of community bound by faith and an interest in education. Their churches and schools are evidence of these shared values. Early church congregations include the Holbert Chapel CME Church-established in 1860 as the Methodist Church (Colored)-today located at 506 North Main, and the Shiloh Baptist (1888) at North Main and West Market streets. The most architecturally elaborate extant nineteenth-century church is the Warren Street Methodist Episcopal Church, built in 1899 at 201 South Warren Street. (NR 12/13/1996)
Historical accounts of Warrensburg have always mentioned the "fine residences" built by its citizens, such as the Grover house in the Depot Addition, surrounded by orchards, and Major Nickerson's Selmo Park, shaped from twenty acres of land south of town.
43
Other early examples include brick houses near the
39
These interviews were conducted by the WPA in the 1930s and used in the exhibit Slavery's Echoes: Interviews with Former Missouri Slaves, at the Missouri State Museum in Jefferson City, Mo. February 2007 through February 2011.
40
Johnson County Historical Society Bulletin, XVIII No.4, Sept. 2003, np.
41
Rainey 19.
42
Cockrell 205.
43
Nickerson purchased the land in 1866 and began building his brick Italianate estate soon after surrounding it with orchards and vineyards. Named for a former slave to whom Nickerson was indebted, it is now the University of Central Missouri (UCMO) President's residence and a reception center. <<www.ucmo.edu/about/president/selmo, accessed 11-15/2011».
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square and on West Gay near Main Street.44 The Italianate style H. F. Clark house (222 W. Market, ca. 18Hl) is located a bit farther east; its neighbor a block to the south is the Keene house (301 West Culton, ca. 1870), also Italianate and on a comer lot. By the mid-1870s, merchants and professionals were building more flamboyant Gothic Revival houses on W. Gay Street such as the Gilkeson house, at 307 W. Gay.
Between 1866 and 1880 there was a push to promote and improve education to replace this town's saloons that was during this period a city of progress.
To paraphrase 45
one observant citizen, schools The first school, built for African American students in 1867, was the frame Howard School, 400 W. Culton, funded by the black community with assistance from the American Missionary Association and the Freedman's Bureau. Not large enough for its mission for long-African Americans reportedly made up one-third of the town's population when it was built- it was replaced in 1888 by the extant Howard School on the same site. That school was built by William Lowe, from plans by Kansas City architect John Newcomer.46 Other schools followed: the first public school for white students, Reese School, was built in 1867, followed beginning in 1870 and by Foster School a dedicated high in 1870. High School classes were school building was constructed in taught
1898.
47 The state normal school was established south of the New Town in 1871. Such institutions were training schools for teachers, or as explained in the 1881 County history, was the their five-story mission "Old was J\1ain" "to (1872) teach how designed to teach.,,48 in the "Lombard-Venetian" The first building on style.
campus
49
The polychrome facade featured blue and grey limestone with Gothic-arched windows edged in buff-colored stone, side walls were of polished brick, all capped with a mansard roof. Old Main did not survive a major fire in 1915 that destroyed all but two of the normal school buildings. One of the survivors is the turreted Dockery Hall (1903), still in use today as part of the University of Central Missouri campus.50
Johnson County has been described as "one of the great multi-interest counties in Missouri" and Warrensburg embodied this characteristic.51 Besides the recent interest in better education there were traditional vocations of farming, husbandry and viniculture increasingly important activity in this period of improved horticultural practices. The new quarry industry made a giant contribution to the town's financial base and the built environment. By the last years of the
44
Cockrell 219.
45
Cockrell 207.
46
William Foley and Jeff Yelton, National Register nomination for Howard School, 2001.
47
Howard School in the only intact historic school in the study area.
48
North 286.
49
North 302.
50
Ide 51.
51
Walter Williams, The State of Missouri: An Autobiography, (Columbia, MO: E. W. Stephens, 1904) 416.
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nineteenth-century Warrensburg would identify itself as "The Quarry City." Cuts from the great vein of sandstone on which the town sat-one of the first stones to be quarried extensively in the state-can be found in commercial and residential architecture in Warrensburg and many other communities.
At one time Warrensburg sandstone "constituted one of the principal building stones Holden in Street St. Louis."52 and was 'The first Bruce to Quarry open in was 1867.
located 53
Bruce two used miles modem north of methods: town up
the company had its own power plant and used Wordwell channelers and steam derricks to reach the (first) blue then white sandstone (a transitional striped zone lay between) and finally "bottom blue."54 Certainly, railroad access and the subsequent ease of shipping contributed to the St. Louis quarryman's decision to access the blue and white stone; in fact, in the early 1870s, a Missouri Pacific spur was laid to link the quarries to town.
A second quarry, owned and run by generations of the local Pickel family (originally from near Coblenz, Germany) opened in 1873 and operated until the early 1900s. From two quarries located on twenty acres, also north of town, the Pickel team cut fine calcareous sandstone with quartz grains that ran from mostly grey to light blue (with a deeper blue tint as depth increased) to white. Pickel stone was the choice for J. B. Legg's additions to the Missouri State Capitol (which burned in 1911), for local use at Christ
Episcopal
Church (134 E. Gay, 1893-99), the Masonic Temple (310-303 N. Holden, 1893) and residences such as the Eads house (ca. 1910, 137 Grover). Stone from Warrensburg quarries was used in a long list of civic, institutional and residential buildings constructed in St. Louis, Kansas City, Nebraska and Iowa. A Partial list includes in St. Louis: the Lindell and Southern Hotels, the Chamber of Commerce Building and numerous churches and residences; in Omaha: the Hayden Block, the Water Works Station and YMCA; in Kansas City: the U. S. Post Office and Warder Grand Opera House; in Lincoln: the Normal University and Union College; in Iowa: the Grand Hotel and many courthouses in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri.
55 At the base of the Pickel quarry ran a chalybeate (ferrous) spring where mineral water swelled up regularly. After the quarries closed in the 1900s, the rocky voids were allowed to flood with spring water, creating the naturalistic Garden of Eden swimming hewn Pickel pool. sandstone, A small opened service in station 1928.
of the 56
(That same building name, was constructed listed in the of rough
National Register as the Garden of Eden Station 04/08/1994.) Reuse of this industrial site as
52
Buckley 273.
53
In 1871 Bruce partnered to become the firm of Bruce and Veitch.
54
Buckley 274.
55
Buckley 277.
56
Irle 45.
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an everyman's resort is a reminder of another of Warrensburg's multi-interests in the late nineteenth century. The plethora of mineral springs around town made it a "natural sanitarium," a center for balneology, the bathing in and drinking of medicinal waters. This began casually at Cave Hollow, a resort with a bubbling spring, an ideal lover's picnic retreat or a spot for a ramble. 57 Informal use-dipping of a cup and of one's toes--grew to a more sophisticated (and financially viable) recreation in the last decades of the 19th century.
The success of Cave Hollow may have suggested a profitable use to George Colbern, whose family owned tracts of land replete with springs on the northwest edge of town.58 In the 1880s he developed the property into a flourishing health resort, Electric Springs, advertised as a place where one could "Drink your way to health using Nature's own beverage."59 The Oaks Hotel, ringed with gardens framed by woods overlooking a "precipitous natural amphitheater," accommodated overnight guests.60 A forty-tub hot and cold water bathhouse, bowling alley and bottled water that could be shipped home were a part of the experience. Visitors seeking pleasure and health cures went to and from Electric Springs via Colbern's trolleys that ran from South Street near the downtown hotels.61
An even more popular and long-lived resort was Pertle Springs, the brain-child of Warrensburg businessman J. H. Christopher. Long before his development of the property, the healing effect of its medicinal waters was appreciated by Native Americans. Beginning In 1883, Christopher developed this into a pleasure ground of health, recreation and improvement by building the sprawling three-story Minnewawa (presumably Native American for "healing waters") Hotel and a series of nine lakes for swimming, fishing and boating. From the hotel, a footbridge spanned a deep ravine to provide access to the assembly hall known as the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle could seat up to 3,000 for conventions, camp meetings or Chautauqua's with the subjects varying from moral to religious to political in tone.
57
North, 392, Ide 60. The site deteriorated until the 1980s (and was even used as a dump site) but has since reopened as a city park.
58
On the west side of Old Town mineral springs ran north to south bubbling up into wells and on principal streets possibly suggesting the origin for the name of Water Street which ran directly south from Colbern's 1st and 2nd Additions. History and Descriptive Review of MO 1891, 128.
59
<http://www.warrensburg-mo.com/Public_Works/Cemetery/electric_springs.htm>> accessed 11/15/2011. The property was sold to. Cockrell in 1881 then was repurchased by Colbern in 1891. It changed hands again, several times, after 1917.
60
Loring Bullard, Healing Waters, (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2004), 160-61.
61
"Electric Springs," and the term itself, became popular in the last decades of the nineteenth century when electrification, the railroads and this type of resort came into use all at the same time. One would assume that Colbern's resort had an electric show of some sort, lights strung across the grounds, for example, or that his mule-drawn trolley was replaced by one run by electricity.
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An iron-rich spring cut through the hillside and bathhouses provided health cures. Besides hotel accommodations, tents could be rented for four dollars (wood flooring and straw bedding was available) as could cottages such as the charming Stewart Cottage, a two-story Carpenter's Gothic delight adorned with a "picture gallery of brightly colored religious scenes." The grounds also contained an elaborate gazebo topped with a gold Turkish dome.62 Until the early 1920s, day trippers came by train from Kansas City, St. Louis and beyond. It was noted that one could travel all the way from Grand Central Station in New York City to Pertle Springs via the train. Visitors could take the "Dummy" Line, near the Estes Hotel at the comer of Holden and Grover Streets, and travel south past the Normal School campus to the resort until the railway was abandoned in 1922. 63
The popularity of resorts in Warrensburg is just one indication of the quality of life its citizens had gained by the last decade of the century. Increasingly, work was coupled with leisure and, as was the general case in American towns across the country, improvement in education resulted in progress and a level of sophistication never before attained. This was not to say that bad circumstances, judgment and events had not taken place over the last twenty-five years. In 1873, a "Financial Panic" struck businesses and farmers alike, resulting (a few years later) in the closure of two of the town's three banks and the loss of numerous farms. Nature even took its toll when a grasshopper infestation stripped crops and forced farmers into poverty, unable to buy bread.64
But overall there was recovery. The grange movement, a society of farmers-a sort of farmers' monopoly-worked to counter indebtedness due to crop failure and discrimination by railroads and banks and promote sound agricultural practices.
65 The grain milling industry that had begun with the Dougherty Mill in the 1850s had expanded to include three large commercial mills by 1895. Culp and Son had a mill near the railroad depot on South Holden, the Eureka Mill, founded in 1867, was still in operation on E. Gay, and the Magnolia Mill had been in operation at 200 West Pine since 1879. The town had a public library, two newspapers and a large number of physicians, attorneys and lumber yards. There were now thirteen churches, many of them built of local Warrensburg sandstone. Due in part to the improved educational
62
Carol Berkland, Herb Best, and Lisa Ide, Postcard History Series: Warrensburg and Johnson County, (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2004) 73. 63
Ide 68. The "Dummy" Line earned its name either as a reference to its specially silenced engines or as the means of transportation for unruly visitors (or both). In 1959, DCMO purchased the Pertle Springs property and has since used it as a recreation and conservation area for its students and faculty. 64
North 272.
65
Ibid 272.
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system, immigrants poured in and the "song of labor was heard in every valley...prosperity beamed and commerce ran high."66
By all accounts 1893 was a watershed year for Warrensburg, one it could celebrate "for its many useful and permanent improvements."67 J. H. Christopher, developer of Pertle Springs, operated a public water franchise that provided the business district and inner residential neighborhoods with the "purest and most healthful" water "in the state" via seven miles of water mains run directly from Pertle Springs.68 The owners of the Magnolia Mills, William Hartman and Isaac Markward, branched out to open the Magnolia Light, Heat and Power Company, which provided the city with electricity and warmth from its factory at Pine and Warren streets.
At the comer of Washington Avenue and West Pine stood the new Magnolia Opera House (145 West Pine, 1889) which was also built and run by the business team of Hartman and Markward. (See Figure 3.) The 800-seat opera house, a comment on the level of culture the town aspired to, was leased by the Quarry City Orchestra and had a stage graced by hand-painted scenery from the firm of Sosman and Landis of Chicago. A newly completed brick city hall, at the northwest corner of the public square in New Town, housed the police and fire departments. The Masonic Temple (301 N. Holden, 1893; NR 12/24/1998) and a number of "new and beautiful residences"-likely the Victorians along Grover Street such as the Jack house (ca. 1887, 209 Grover) and Sudduth house (ca. 1893,410 Grover)-were complete. 69
Added to these improved services, institutions and signs of civilized living were two important new signs of progress: the newly completed Johnson County Courthouse (300 N. Holden, 1889, NR 04/07/1994) and the new Missouri Pacific Railroad depot (100 S. Holden, 1890). The large Romanesque Revival-style courthouse, designed by George E. McDonald and constructed of local stone, now properly anchored the public square. The new depot at the south end of the business district, also of Warrensburg sandstone presented a more appropriate welcome to the town than the original frame depot that had just burned.
The town was one and one-half miles from north to south, nearly two. miles wide and covered 1,947 acres. Its assessed real estate valuation was over $1,352,855. By 1900, its population had reached 4,724. A few years into the new century, William Lowe, builder, lumberman, and outstanding citizen who had arrived at the close of the war, described how the town had grown from a "typical Western hamlet to the little city of modem proportions."70
66
North 273.
67
City Directory of Warrensburg. Missouri 1895. (Warrensburg. MO: Irving and Kunkel Pub!., 1895) 9. 68
1895 Directory 9.
69
1895 Directory 10.
70
Cockrell 207.
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II. The Little City of
Proportions: 1900-1945 By 1900 the city's general plan and pattern of growth had been determined, and the arrangement of the business district and residential neighborhoods remained essentially unchanged until the middle of the century. The early decades of the 20th century were marked more by "useful and permanent improvements," than by but population personal growth. property The value town in added Warrensburg fewer than Township 100 people almost between doubled.
1900 71
and 1920,
Although Old Town had generally developed into a residential neighborhood by this point, at least one business hung on in the old city center. The Davis family, which opened one of the first stores in the community in the 1830s, was still in business at the comer of Main and Gay Streets. The Davis store operated on that comer into the 1960s; ads for the store that ran in early 20th century publications called them the "Reliable Old Town Grocer.,,72 (See Figure 4.) The brick commercial building erected for the Davis Store in 1869 has survived. Owner W. O. Davis lived close to his work; by 1H18 the old courthouse had become his residence.73
Between 1900 and 1920, enrollment at the Normal School grew to 1,000, and the institution continued to play an important social and economic role in the community. Church congregations upgraded their houses of worship by moving eastward, just as commercial interests had, or rebuilding on the same sites, as was the case for the First Presbyterian Church (1910, 206 N. College). In 1907 the Fire Department was headquartered at Washington and W. Pine Street; it moved close to the new courthouse square soon after.
Although there had been a post office in Warrensburg since 1836, the service operated out of various stores and rented facilities until 1911, when the frrst building constructed specifically to serve as a post office was completed. That large Beaux- Arts style brick building still occupies a comer lot at 108 N. College, although it is no longer used as a post 01nce. The concept of an official post office building was not embraced by some citizens. Ewing Cockrell, in the 1918 County History, described the communal nature of early mail delivery as a "gay and neighborly party." In his view, with the new businesslike process and government building, the "post office, as a social institution, became absolutely extinct." 74
The increased number of social and professional clubs was represented by the Commercial Club whose one hundred (male) members oversaw the concerns of business and, according to the 1918 County History, "labored for the best interests of
71
U.S. Census figures cited in "Show-Me Through the Years," (Warrensburg: Show-Me Regional Planning Commission, 1977), and Cockrell 199.
72
J. W. McFarlan's Warrensburg City Directory, Warrensburg: 1909.
73 74
Cockrell Cockrell 219. 212.
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the city.,,75 One of the Club's successful ventures was to encourage the paving of city streets; by 1918, four miles of city streets had been paved. They also worked to keep electricity rates low, encourage the phone company (established in 1898) to bury their new lines, and worked with the railroad to ensure crossings and bridges were properly maintained.
The construction industry enjoyed an increasingly professional group of contractors and material suppliers. The 1901 City Directory identifies five contractors, as well as four lumber suppliers, including G. W. Hout and William Lowe. The Bruce and Pickel Quarries are both listed as well (Bruce's with a large photograph of the quarry site). These, paired with Burris and Gibson, a company that sold building materials including sash, doors and blinds, and Foster and Chase, a firm specializing in graining, paper hanging and interior decoration, suggest an increasingly sophisticated approach to residential architecture that is reflected in the building fabric ofWarrensburg today.
By the 1920s, the explosive growth of the automobile industry began to have an effect on the local economy. With state and federal funds for highway construction, the town became a crossroads for major highways: U.S. 50, one of three major routes.
east-west 76
These connections highways in proved the state increasingly and Highway important 13, one to of the two city's major economic
north-south
welfare as, by 1930, only towns located on paved highways in Johnson County gained population; all others lost.
77
Increased automobile, truck and bus travel diminished use of the railroad by passengers and for freight. "Filling stations" began appearing on busy street corners close to the new highways, and car dealers, body shops and commercial garages dotted the streets of downtown Warrensburg. The 1930 census records the working and middle-class occupations of citizens along Gay, North Main and Market streets which ranged from the traditional farmers and cooks to newer occupations such as telephone operator and gas station attendant.78
Area farmers experienced decreasing yields due to poor crop production, and seek many employment.
family farms were sold in the 1920s. local economy suffered sandstone as a popular building material in Some families moved into Warrensburg to the 1920s.
another blow The when concrete replaced
quarries closed as a result. Residential building responded to uncertain times, evident in the adoption of new house types such as the American Foursquare, known for its economy- providing the greatest amount of space for materials used. Good local examples of
75 Cockrell 222. 76 "Show-Me Through the Years" 64. 77 "Show-Me Through the Years" 66. 78 Schwenk Associates 43. 79 "Show-Me Through the Years" 65. 80 Ibid.
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American Four squares include the frame house at 221 West Gay Street (ca. 1920) and a Prairie Style stuccoed version at 307 S. Holden Street (ca. 1920). The Bungalow is another example: its compact plan, built-in furnishings and creative use of indoor and outdoor living space proved the antithesis of the prior century's Queen Anne excess. (See for example 324 West Gay and 215 West Gay, both built ca. 1920.)
Even with those setbacks, Warrensburg weathered the Depression better than many communities. Enrollment at the Normal School, by then renamed Central Missouri State Teacher's College, remained stable. Even with the farming slowdown, the county's rural nature and farming tradition meant fewer families went hungry because they could grow their own food. However, by 1930, agricultural prices had dropped to one-half of the 1920 value, and farmers who had gone into debt to finance machinery and labor for increased food production during WWI found themselves in a financial crisis.
81
President Roosevelt's New Deal programs had a local effect, evident in the Civilian Conservation Corps building of stone cabins and infrastructure at Pertle Springs in 1935-:36.82 Public works projects in the city, including the construction of a new City Hall at 102 S. Holden St., improvements to schools and the paving of streets, provided much-needed employment.
83 Between 1930 and 1940 the population of Warrensburg grew slightly, from 5,146 to 5,868.84 Lower production costs, compared to larger cities, attracted new factories to the community. These included the Unitog (uniform) factory in 1935, the Goodall Manufacturing Company (a lawnmower plant) in 1938, the Town and Country Shoe Factory in 1945 and the Swiser Mower and Machine Co. in 1949. Farming continued to change due to new practices such as contouring, crop rotation, the use of new fertilizers and hybrid seeds. These changes resulted in larger farms and the beginnings of agribusiness.
85
One local business that benefitted from a strong farm market was Cassingham's hardware store, which operated in the remodeled Jones Brothers Mule Bam on College Street from the 1930s into the early 21
st
century.
New to the area \\ras the Sedalia Army Air Field near Knob Noster which opened in 1941 and operated until the end ofWWII. Growth farther east and north came when car dealerships, repair shops, and factories moved off of Pine and Holden Streets and relocated along U. S. 50. Motels such as the Sky Haven Inn and the Belmont Motel, built to accommodate increased automobile tourism, followed.
From 1900 to 19E;0, blacks in Warrensburg were gradually able to access more professional employment. Besides mining, farming, clearing tracks for the railroad
81 "Show-Me Through the Years" 67. 82 Bullard 163. 83 Schwenk Associates 42. 84 U.S. Census, in "Show-Me Through the Years" 83. 85"Show-Me Through the Years" 68.
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and working in construction, many early jobs were service-related employing blacks at local hotels, resorts, restaurants and as domestics for private households. Although inequality renlained at mid-century (Warrensburg blacks remember having to enter the back door at restaurants and waiting until after five o'clock to see a dentist), things were improving. Blacks owned many local businesses, including dry cleaners, restaurants, and daily operations, as well as rental property.
86
Many continued their education, becoming teachers with graduate degrees, joined the military and received recognition for their service, and became members of civic organizations and local government such as the City Council. Lucille D. Gress, in her Informal History of Black Families of the Warrensburg, Missouri, Area, provides a glimpse of this history, and it is hoped that future study will expand upon that topic.
The 1950s represent the most significant decade of growth the city had seen since the arrival ofthe railroad in 1864. The population jumped nearly 70% between 1950 and 1960, to 9,689.87 This revitalization is attributed to the connectivity for freight and leisure prOVided by the highway system, the continued growth of Central Missouri State College, and reactivation of the Sedalia Army Air Field-renamed Whiteman Air Force Base-in 1951.
88
Whiteman Air Force Base became one of three Minuteman Missile Installations in the U. S., and employed approximately 2,000 workers in the reactivation and rebuilding process.89 What followed was a permanent community ofAir Force personnel, staff and families that totaled 3,500 by 196o-an living near Knob Noster, only eleven miles southeast ofWarrensburg.
90 The year 1965 is marked by three events representative ofWarrensburg's development from its founding in 1836 to more recent times. That year, the Johnson County Historical Society purchased the courthouse in Old Town with the intent of restoring it, an act that confirmed the public's interest in history and preservation. The completion of Interstate 70 through the northern part ofJohnson County continued the process of improving highway systems connecting the city to the rest of the state. Lastly enrollInent at Central Missouri State College reached 7,000 and the school established a graduate program, which laid the groundwork for its designation as Central Missouri State University in 1971. (It became the University of Central Missouri in 2006.) The town built by the railroad, quarry industry, resorts and education had successfully made the transition to a 20th century economy.
86 Gress 121. 87 "Show-Me Through the Years" 71. 88 "Show-Me Through the Years" 72. The institution dropped "Teacher's" from its name to reflect broader curriculum and expanded programs. 89 "Show-Me Through the Years" 72. 90 Ibid.
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III. Architectural
Devt~lopment
in Warrensburg: 1842-1945 The following discussion ofWarrensburg's architectural history is based upon previous architectural and historical surveys, National Register nominations for listed properties, recent field study and archival research. Previous surveys documented over 1,000 buildings in the oldest parts of the city that were built before 1965. Of that group, at least 142: properties are potentially eligible for the National Register, either individually or as contributing resources within a district.
91
There are also 7 individual properties that have already been included in the National Register, which brings the core study group for this project to a total of 149. All mentions ofthe study group in the following discussion refer to the group of 149 properties.
92 The following sections have been organized by the time periods discussed above, as well as the construction dates of existing historic resources. Period I begins in 1842, with the construction of the oldest known building in town, the Old Courthouse, and continues through the end of the 19th century. Period II covers 20th century development though 1945, the beginning of post WWII development. Construction dates within the study group are split remarkably evenly between these time periods. Ofthe 149 properties in the group, 75 are from Period I and 74 are from Period II. Early functions also divide evenly; 78 properties are residential, and the rest are commercial, civic or industrial resources.
Architectural Develop:ment in Period I: 1842-1899
Summary: Ofthe 75 properties from Period I, 38 are residential, and 29 are comrnercial. Buildings from Period I include some of the largest and most highly styled of the study group; 43 can be classified as styled; 32 are vernacular buildings. The group also includes a Masonic lodge (listed in the National Register), an opera house, 2 churches (one ofwhich is listed), 2 courthouses (both listed), one school (listed), and one train depot. Some ofthe largest and most intact historic buildings in the community were built in the 19th century, including 6 of the 7 properties that are currently listed in the National Ftegister. Almost all of the styled buildings utilize a Victorian Style; Queen Anne is the most common, especially for residential architecture. Vernacular property types include the Gabled Ell house type, as well as the common commercial forms of the Two Part C(Jlmmercial Block and the One Part Commercial Block.
91 See Section H, Summary of Identification and Evaluation Methods, for more information on identification and evaluation of historic resources. 921\vo of those properties have since been altered or lost, but were left in the group for the sake of discussion. 121. W. Gay was demolished and 223 Madison has been greatly altered and enlarged.
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Warrensburg was settled less than a decade and a half after Missouri became a state, well before the development of statewide transportation systems. Buildings were, by necessity, constructed from whatever the surrounding countryside had to offer. The first buildings of the community were constructed of logs felled at the site or of lumber shipped overland from Lexington, the closest river port.
93 One of the first d\vellings in the area was of log, as were many of the first buildings on the new public square. Martin Warren built a log house when he moved to the area in 1833, and his cabin became a symbol offrontier times, to the point that streets in Grover's First addition were rerouted to avoid it. Businesses also used log construction. The first two hotels in town operated in log buildings, and storekeeper John Evans operated the first general store in what has been described as a "round pole cabin" on Gay Street.
94 Brick was apparently being manufactured in the area at an early date as well. It is probable that a brickyard was established in the late 1830s to supply bricks for the new county courthouse, which was built with 18" thick brick walls. Many of the first houses constructed around that new courthouse were also built of brick. One early description of the town's first buildings, for example, noted that four of the five earliest buildings in the community were brick.
95 The first available State Gazetteer entry for the community, which was published in 1860, lists two brickyards and several carpenters, but no lumber dealers. The 1881 State Gazetteer listing for prominent local lumberman and contractor William Lowe showed that he had a brick kiln at that time, and a later gazetteer entry shows that brickmakers had local access to fuel as well as clay; Joseph Wade was operating a brickyard and coal mine in 1885.
The early populmity of brick is reflected by the study group; the oldest buildings in that group are constructed of brick. Even though this is probably as much a function of the durability of the material as the relative popularity of brick construction, the buildings are significant survivors. The three oldest houses in the study group are substantial two story brick houses constructed in the 1860s or early 1870s. The H. F. Clark house was built ca. 1861 at Market and Warren Streets between the two business centers, and the Christopher Keene House was built just a block away (301 W. Culton) around 1870. Selmo Park, which is now part ofthe
93
William E. Crissey, in Warrensburg: A History with Folklore, (Warrensburg: Daily Star-Journal, 1924, no page numbers) inc1udes a story about a visitor who came to Warrensburg in 1858 by taking a boat on the Mississippi River to Lexington, then catching a ride on a lumber wagon that was headed to Warrensburg.
94
Cockrell 203 and Irle 11.
95
Cockrell 219-220. The list of early houses was supplied by Miss Catherine Rentch, daughter of Daniel Rentch, who filed one of the first additions to the original town.
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VCMO campus, was built on South Holden ca. 1866. All three show, or showed, influence of the Italianate style that was nationally popular at the time. Much of the styling for those houses was evident in the original front porches, which included delicate chamfered square posts and simple bracketed cornices. Although the porches have all been replaced or greatly remodeled, the houses themselves have survived and all three are in fair to good condition.
The oldest house in the study group that can be considered high style architecture is located on West Gay Street. The Archibald Gilkeson House at 307 W. Gay provides a highly intact example of the Gothic Revival style. The Gothic Revival Style in residential architecture is characterized by steeply pitched gable roofs with equally steep cross gabJles that sport decorated vergeboards. Windows are tall and narrow and sometimes use the classic Gothic pointed arch, although that feature is more common to churches ofthe style. Front porches are elaborate and often feature flattened arches.
96 The Gilkeson House is one of three Gothic Revival style houses that were built a block apart on the north side West Gay in the mid 1870s; it is the only one that has not been demolished. 1be houses were strikingly similar in form, building material and ornamentation.97 l'Jo architect or builder has been identified for those houses, but the complex ornamental systems and high level of styling invite speculation that they were the work of a professional architect.
The Gothic Revival style enjoyed widespread popularity for religious architecture, a trend that was true in Warrensburg as well. Two of the churches in the study group have Gothic Revival styling. The Warren Street Methodist Episcopal Church (NR 12/13/19916) was built of brick in 1899, and the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church built a new Gothic Revival style church at 206 North College in 1909. The Presbyterian is one of two churches in the study group constructed of native sandstone.
In spite of brick's early popularity, frame was by far the most common local construction material for much of the 19th century. Numerous early descriptions of the community mention the prevalence of frame construction, especially in the new business center, which had only one brick business building before the devastating frre of 1866. A description of the town that appeared in the 1881 county history mentioned that when the new part of town was being developed "most of the buildings were of frame ...the business houses of Holden and Pine Street were frrst built of wood.
,,98
96
Lee and Virginia McAlester, Field Guide to American Houses, (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1986) 197- 200.
97
Sally Schwenk Associates, Inventory forms for 121 and 307 W. Gay, 2008. (On file with the City of Warrensburg.) 121 West Gay was demolished in March, 2011. 98
North 393.
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After frres on Pine and Holden nearly leveled the commercial center in 1866 and 1873, masonry became the material of choice for commercial architecture. That change in materials, co:mbined no doubt with improved water supplies and a better frre department, essenttally ended the frre danger in the area. County historian Ewing Cockrell wrote in 1918 that the second frre "destroyed the hotel, several business places and cost the lives of three persons. Since then, with the business district chiefly brick and stone, there have been no such frres."gg The preference for masonry construction proved to be an enduring change; not a single commercial building in the study group is of frame construction.
The 1870s also saw the establishment of large commercial quarries north of town, which provided a ready supply ofbuilding stone. Surprisingly, the fme Warrensburg sandstone that had such a wide following in St. Louis and other major cities appears in some\vhat limited quantities in Warrensburg. That popularity may have priced it beyond the means of the everyday business owner; only a few of the largest and most high-style buildings in the community are built completely of the native stone.
Although stone was used liberally for foundations and architectural accents such as quoins, piers and lintels, almost all of the commercial buildings on Pine and Holden streets are built ofbrick. The same holds true in the residential neighborhoods. Residential foundations were built of stone well into the 20th century, and many of the older neighborhoods also have early retaining walls built of rock-faced stone blocks, but there is only one house in the study group that is built completely ofstone. (1:37 Grover Street, ca. 1910.)
The historic stone buildings that do exist tend to be impressive. Not surprisingly, most of those utilize the Richardsonian Romanesque Revival style, which is characterized by the prominent use of rock-faced stone blocks, especially around round-arched openings. 100 The style was popular nationally from around 1860 into the 1890s; most Warrensburg examples date to the 1890s. It takes its name from architect Henry Hobson Richardson, who created a distinct version of the earlier Romanesque Revival style through the use of rock-faced stone and heavy massing.
The oldest Richardsonian Revival style building in the study group is the Missouri Pacific Depot, which was built in 1890 at the south end of the business district. Erected by the railroad company to replace the original frame depot that had recently burned, the depot features rock-faced stone walls and large cross gables filled with oversized round-arched windows. Although no architect had been
99
Cockrell, 203.
100
Marcus Whiffen, American Architecture Since 1780: A Guide to the Styles, (Cambridge: the M.LT. Press, 1969) 133-134.
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identified to date, it is likely that the railroad company used professionally prepared drawings to gUide its construction.
The largest native stone building in the study group is the "new" county courthouse that was completed in 1898. (300 N. Holden, NR 04/07/1994) That high-style Richardsonian Romanesque Revival style building was designed by architect George McDonald of Lincoln, Nebraska. It is the largest historic building in the study group and one of the largest buildings in the downtown commercial center. The massive stone building is constructed of rock-faced blocks ofWarrensburg sandstone and enlivened with round-arched openings and curved domes that top comer towers and the raain rotunda.
The largest of the retail buildings constructed in the style sits just northeast of the courthouse on Holden Street. (313-319 Holden, 1897) The facade ofthat four- bay commercial block fac;ade features a combination of smooth and rock-faced stone. The front wall is faced
v~th
smooth stones and accented with rock faced blocks. The side and back wall of the buildings are constructed of large rock-faced blocks.
Most of the cOITlinercial buildings in the downtown area are relatively simple buildings that are better defmed by form than architectural style. Almost all of the historic commercial buildings in the study group can be classified as either a two- part commercial block or a one-part commercial block. The two-part commercial block is the most COITnnon. Approximately 400/0 (45 of 74) ofthe historic commercial buildings in the study group are two-part commercial blocks. Ofthose, 28 were built in the nineteenth century. Most are two stories tall and built of brick. The oldest of the group is 200 N. Holden, a Second Empire Style commercial building erected ca. 1870, and the newest dates to the mid 1960s.
The two-part cOl]tlmercial block is a commercial building type which has defined Main Streets throughout the United States for more than a century. Architectural historian Richard Longstreth described it as "the most common type of composition used for snlall and moderate sized commercial buildings throughout the country. Generally limited to structures oftwo to four stories, this type is characterized by a horizontal division into two distinct zones.,,101 The single-story lower zones were designed to be used as public or commercial spaces, while the upper floors were generally used for more private functions, such as offices, residences or meeting halls.
That basic form has, over the decades, been ornamented with components from a wide variety of architectural styles; nationally, Victorian-era motifs are the most common. Architectural detailing for the two-part commercial blocks ofWarrensburg tends to be minimal. A few show influences of popular architectural styles, such as a Second Empire style McUlsard roof (200 N. Holden is the only one in the group with a
101 Richard Longstreth, The Buildings of Main Street, (Washington, D.C.: National Trust for Historic PreseIVation, 1987) 24.
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mansard roof) or an ItaJianate bracketed cornice and arched windows (e.g. the Masonic Lodge at
301-~~03
N. Holden, ca. 1893). Most examples, however, are relatively unstyled brick commercial buildings, with architectural detailing limited to corbelled brick cornices and simple stone accents such as piers or window sills.
Most of the smaller commercial buildings in the study group can be classified as one-part commercbl1 blocks. As one might expect, one-part commercial blocks are smaller and simpler than two-part commercial blocks. They are one-story, and the front wall is generally filled with an open storefront. One-part commercial blocks function much like the bottom floors of larger commercial buildings, usually housing a single retail or other type of commercial business. SUrviving one-part commercial blocks in Warrensburg are all of masonry, and even less likely to have architectural embellishments than the larger building types. Even the simple corbelled brick cornices popular for larger commercial buildings in the downtown area are rare for local examples of this property type. This is probably because many were built in the 20th century, when applied architectural ornament was less popular.
Although heavy nlasonry dominated commercial construction after the Civil War, house builders clearly preferred frame construction. More than 90% of the houses in the study group have frame structural systems. That trend holds true for the overall survey group as well. Of the 817 houses documented in the 2008 survey, 805 are of frame.
Railroad service and the rise ofVictorian architectural styles probably played a role in the popularity of lumber for houses. The Victorian era in America was marked by technological advances which facilitated many of the stylistic developments of the period. The innovation of balloon framing made it easy for builders to break from the boxy forms of earlier styles and building types, and irregular massing became a hallmark ofVictorian architecture. Increased railroad access meant lumber and other building supplies were inexpensive and readily available, and also made it easy for local contractors and homeowners to acquire pattern books and architectural journals. Pattern books ofthe time tended to feature elaborate Victorian houses veritably dripping with \vooden elements such as brackets, spindles, shingles and fmials.
Victorian Styles. were widely popular in America from the mid-1800s into the first part ofthe twentieth century. That time span corresponds with the latter part of the rein of England's Queen Victoria, who ruled from 1837-1901.
102
The term Victorian covers a range of architectural movements, including Stick, Shingle and Queen Anne. All of those styles were used in Warrensburg, almost always for residential architecture, Queen Anne was by far the most popular; some 20% of all dwellings in the study group are Queen Anne style houses.
102
McAlester 268.
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The popularity of the Queen Anne style in Warrensburg follows national trends. The Queen Anne style has been described as "the dominant style of domestic building during the period from about 1880 until 1900.
"103
It was frrst introduced in England by a group of 19th century architects led by Richard Norman Shaw. "Queen Anne" is actually a misnomer; the architecture after which early examples were modeled predated the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714) by roughly a hundred years. The English Queen Anne style became known in America through pattern books and architectural manuals, and soon evolved into a widely popular indigenous style.
104 Access to plan books and journals put high style architecture in reach of homeowners in towns Uke Warrensburg, which were large enough to have a demand for housing in the latest architectural styles, but too small to support professional architects. An extensive review of historic business listings and other early sources has yielded the names of only one local architect dUring the period of significance. (See Appendix One. 19th Century Building Professionals in Warrensburg.) Many of the larger buildings in t.he community, including several churches and both courthouses, were designed by architects from other cities and in some cases, other states.
Many contractors and homeowners no doubt turned to architectural pattern books for everything from inspiration to complete sets of construction documents. At least one ofWarrensburg's most elaborate Queen Anne style houses was built directly from mail-order plans. Local contractor James Suddath built the Markward House at 211 Grover Street using plans that appeared in the architect George F. Barber's frrst major publication, The Cottage Souvenir No.2.
105
That large two story Queen Anne style house corresponds to Barber's "Design No. 36." (See Figure 5.)
Some of the local contractors probably did double duty as architects and designers, which was not uncommon for that time period. George Barber, for example, had no formal architectural training, but eventually developed one ofthe most prolific architectural practices in the country through his mail-order plan business. This also appears to be true for the only architect found in any 19th or early 20th century business listing in Warrensburg, John W. King. King spent at least twenty years in the construction business in the city. His best known work in Warrensburg is the WaJTen Street M. E. Church, a Gothic Revival style brick church which still occupies a comer lot at 201 South Warren Street. (NR 12/13/1996.)
103
McAlester 266.
104
Massey, James C., and Shirley Maxwell, House Styles in America (New York: Penguin Studio, 1996) 127.
105
George F. Barber, Victori~m Cottage Architecture: An American Catalogue ofDesigns. 1891. Mineola New York: Dover Publications 1982. (Reprint of Barber's original Cottage Souvenir No 2, with added comment by Michael A. Tomlin.)
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King is listed in the 1900 census as a carpenter, but had a large ad in the 1901 Warrensburg City directory as an "Architect, Contractor, and Builder." King's ad, which promised "Plans and specifications furnished and estimates made on short notice," included a line drawing of an extremely elaborate Queen Anne style house. The house was probably not designed by him, however, as the exact same drawing was also used in an ad for local contractor and builder Daniel M. Hout in the same publication. (See Figure 6.) King may have been able to offer a short tum-around time for plans and specifications because he was using the services of mail order companies such as Barber's.
Other local builders that may have doubled as architects include F. C. Hubbard and John C. l\,1iller, who were described as architects in the summary report for the 1983 survey pr~ject of historic houses. 106 Both men appear in business listings as carpenters
OT
contractors, and the 1880 census has a listing for a John C. Miller who was a wagonmaker, but no sources show them as architects.
Architects or not, local builders had a significant impact upon the built environment. Several vrere in the construction business for decades, including William Lowe, whose career spanned half a century and included hundreds of building projects.
107
Daniel M. Hout, who first shows up in business listings in 1876, may have been Mr. Low'e's biggest competitor. Both men worked as carpenters or builders and both operated large lumberyards on Culton Street for decades. The 1914 Sanborn map shows Lowe's lumberyard on East Culton, and Hout's just a block away on West Culton.
Many of the houses built dUring this time period were vernacular houses that reqUired neither architect nor plan books. A "Bird's Eye View" drawing ofthe city that was made in 1869 shows that the earliest dwellings in the community were relatively modest buildings, one or two stories tall with gable roofs. (See Figure 7.) They utilized traditional folk housing forms that included the I-house and the Hall and Parlor. Vernaculrur housing is defined by floorplan and general form rather than architectural style. The I-House and the Hall and Parlor house both have floorplans that are one room deep and generally two rooms wide; I-houses often have central halls as well. The I-House is the larger of the two; I-Houses are always two stories, and Hall and Parlors are always one. Although the Bird's Eye map and other historic sources show that both house types were locally popular in the mid-19th century, few intact examples have survived to modem times. There are only three I-Houses and one greatly altered Hall and Parlor house in the study group. The map also
106
Tom Christopher, "Historlcal and Architectural Survey ofWarrensburg's Residential Structures." Show-Me Regional Planning Commission: Warrensburg, MO, 1983. (Report and Inventory forms on file 107
North with the 718.
Missouri State Historic Preservation Office, Jefferson City, MO.) 1.
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shows a number of small houses placed with the gable end facing the street; no 19th century houses of that form have survived to modem times.
The most common vernacular house form in Warrensburg is the Gabled Ell, also referred to as the
C~able-Front-and-Wing.
The Gabled Ell is a medium sized house type which has a. front-facing gable end and a side-gabled wing which is set at a right angle, to form an L-shaped house. There is almost always a front porch along the front of the side wing, which is set back from the front gable end wall. Gabled Ells were popular in Warrensburg from the 1880s to the early years of the 20th century.
Although vernacular houses were built more for shelter than style, they were sometimes enlivened with what has been described as "scraps" of architectural detail. Architectural historian David Foster noted that "Scraps ofVictorian detail were also added to farmhouses and the modest vernacular of small town homes, demonstrating an awareness of the fashion through all social levels.
"108
The practice was so widespread that vernacular housing forms ornamented with Victorian era detailing are often referred to as Folk Victorian houses. 109 In Warrensburg, the most common Folk Victorian house type consists of a Gabled Ell that has typically Victorian ornament such as turned porch posts, spindle-work frieze bands and/or fishscale shingles in the front facing gable ends. A good late 19th century example of that house type can be found at 215 W. Market, which was built ca. 1885.
By the end of the 19th century, the commercial center was fmnlyestablished along Holden and Pine Streets in the blocks north of the new depot. "Old Town" had gradually faded from commercial prominence, but continued to be a popular residential neighborhood. The original county courthouse was converted to residential use, and many of the streets between old and new town were lined with houses. Residential development was not limited to that area, however. The 1898 Atlas map of the community shows additions and subdivisions on all sides of the commercial center. The greatest amount ofgrowth had taken place to the north, around Electric Springs, and south and east of the business district, around the Normal School campus and the Dummy line to Pertle Springs. Martin Warren would have had a hard time recognizing his original homestead.
108
Gerald Foster, American Houses: A Field Guide to the Architecture of the Home. (New York: Houghton Mifflin 2004) 282.
109
The term Folk Victorian was possibly coined by Lee and Virginia McAlester, in A Field Guide to American Houses, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986; see pp. 309-317.)
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Architectural Develop:ment in Period II: 1900-1945
Summary: Ofthe 74 properties built in Period II, 39 are houses, and 32 are commercial buildings. The group also includes a post office, a church and a mule barn. The mule barn is the only building from Period II that is listed in the National Register. Although more of the buildings constructed in Warrensburg dUring this period exhibit at least some elements of major architectural styles, fewer can be considered to be high style architecture. Only 12 are best classified by architectural style. The rest are vernacular buildings or examples ofwhat is sometimes called the Builder Style. The dominant new architectural style of this period is what National Register standards refer to as Craftsman/Bungalow. New property types include American Foursquare, Minimal Traditional, and Ranch houses.
Architectural development in Period Two included infill and a slight expansion of the commercial district, paired with the significant growth of residential neighborhoods. The general boundaries ofthe downtown commercial district changed very little between 1900 and the 1960s. Holden and Pine Street were the primary commercial streets in the community until highway development began to lure some business away from the downtown area in the 1940s and 50s. The edges of the business district expanded slightly in the early 1900s, especially to the east along Miller Street (now College).
New construction there included the city's first dedicated post office (108 North College, 1911) and the
~Jones
Brothers Mule Barn in 1912. (NR 02/22/2011) The large Beaux-Arts style post office building is one ofvery few high style 20th century buildings in the study group, and one of only two that are not houses. The Jones Brothers Mule Barn was built by local mule dealers Walter and Percy Jones to house their successful mule dealership. The mule barn was one of several buildings in the area that originally catered to area stock growers; it is the only one to have made it to modem times, in part because it was converted to a hardware store in the 1930s. That large brick building features architectural detailing that is similar to that used on area commercial buildings of the late 19th century, including a corbelled brick cornice and accents of native sandstone.
Commercial buildings constructed from this period tend to be long on utility and short on architectural styling. Most ofthe 20th century commercial buildings in the group are relatively unadorned one- or two-part commercial blocks. Ornament on upper facades is generally limited to simplified corbelled brick cornices and/or string courses. Although most ground floors were faced with open storefronts, the rising popularity of the automobile is reflected by an increased number of buildings that include large overhead garage doors for vehicle access.
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A few of the new buildings deviated from the standard one- or two-part commercial block configurations that had defmed the commercial streetscapes of the late 19th century. Several new buildings were built with multiple shop spaces. Those multiple entry commercial buildings look and function much like rows of one-part commercial blocks. In 'Warrensburg, they are generally one story tall, with two or three storefront bays, or in a few cases, with a combination of storefront and garage door bays. The bays are sometimes divided by simple piers, and each has its own entrance. Although the separate bays are often occupied by different businesses they were built (or remodeled) as a single unit and should be considered one building.
11
0 The one story commercial building at 108 Hout is a good example of this property type, as is the ca. 1935 Kroger Grocery store at 110 E. Market. The ca. 1920 building on Hout housed an automobile dealership and commercial garage for decades. It has two cornmercial bays; one has a standard commercial storefront and the other has a wide garage door opening. The Kroger store, which has two shop spaces, features a curved comer entrance and streamlined detailing typical of Moderne Style buildings. The relatively sophisticated styling and unusual form invite speculation that the building was built to specifications of the Kroger Company.
The downtown area also saw the addition of a notable new free standing commercial building. In 1933, Ted and Elsie Hartshorn had Ora Stone and John Winders build a modest one-story stone building to house Hart's Hamburger Shop, which they had been operating in a nearby building since 1930. The picturesque new building was constructed of random slabs of Ozark rock, with square towers at each comer and Spanish tile hoods over the windows. It made quite an impression; the local paper proclaimed "the building is one of the most attractive in Warrensburg and although it is small, the Spanish style architecture and massive stone work make it most attractive.The Hartshorn's burgers must have been as popular as their new building; the restaurant occupied the little stone building on Pine until the late 1970s or early 1980s.
Several existing commercial buildings also saw updates during this period. Those changes ranged from relatively minor storefront updates to major rebuilding projects. Several commercial buildings have storefronts that appear to date to the 1950s or 60s, which were probably added during post WWII economic growth to project up-to-date images to retail customers. Others appear to have received full new facades. Survey activities identified several commercial buildings that appear to be 19th century buildings with 20th century facades.
110
Many of these were considered as separate buildings for the recent survey project and therefore counted as separate properHes in the study group.
111
Warrensburg Daily Star Journal, May 19, 1933, quoted in "Hamburgers in Warrensburg," Bulletin of the Johnson County Historical Society, (Vol. XVIII, No.4 Sept. 2003) 1. Ora Stump and John Winders were named as the builders in that article.
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Residential development was robust for much of Period II. Houses built in the first decades tended to be located in established parts of town, usually on lots that had not yet been developed. Later in the period, new developments were added around the edges of the community, including in the eastern edge of the study area. Victorian styles remained popular for houses until around 1910, when architectural styles that utilized cleaner lines and more restrained detailing came into favor, both nationally and locally.
The most influential early 20th century style in Warrensburg is what National Register gUidelines refer to as the Craftsman/Bungalow style. The Craftsman movement in architecture was popular for housing nationwide from around 1905 to 1930; Craftsman houses in the study group were built between 1910 and 1925. The Craftsman style, which was influenced by the English Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th century, was developed in the U. S. by California architects Charles and Henry Mather Greene. Greene and Greene began designing California houses in the style around 1903, and high style examples of Craftsman houses, especially in California, are sometimes called Western Stick style. The actual term Craftsman is linked to Gustav Stickley, a New York furniture maker who used his Craftsman magazine to promote everything from furniture to residential design.
112 The Craftsman
s~yle
features an emphasis on rustic ideals and a strict avoidance of the kind of exuberant ornamentation typical ofVictorian architecture. Character defming features of the Craftsman style include low-pitched roofs with wide overhangs that are supported by triangular brackets or false beams, and generous front porches with heavy posts. Porches are often supported by square tapered posts that sit upon high masonry piers, although square brick posts are also common. One-story houses with those characteristics are often called Bungalows or Craftsman Bungalows. Most Craftsman houses in Warrensburg are relatively simple bungalows, although there are a few larger and more highly styled examples, such as the J. A. Zimmerman House, which was built at 205 W. Gay Street ca. 1911.
A large number of the houses built in Warrensburg in this period are neither high style nor vernacular. This reflects an architectural and economic leveling of the playing field for home builders. Increased communication and transportation networks mean that infc)rmation about architectural styles and types was readily available, and a growing middle class created a strong market for houses that reflected the latest styles.
Many of the houses built in Warrensburg in the first half of the 20th century are representative of the Builder Style property type. That term has been used by James C. Massey and Shirley Maxwell to describe working class houses of the period;
112
Gerald Foster, American Houses: A Field Guide to the Architecture of the Home, (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2004) 346-348.
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as they put it, the tenn "pays tribute to the crucial role that speculative developers, plan-book designers, and mail order houses played in putting homes on the building lots ofAmerica's suburbs."1l3 This new movement, which relied heavily but not exclusively on mail order plans and house kits, went beyond merely adding "scraps" of style to established fonns. Builder style houses were generally modest but well designed houses that incorporated elements of the latest styles as well as up-to-date building technology. Technological innovations of the day took the pattern book model to a whole new level; one could not only order a set of plans by mail, it was now possible to get evelything from prefabricated parts to entire house "kits." The mail order houses of the day offered a plethora of fonns and styles, including revival styles such as Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival as well as more original "American" styles like Craftsman and Prairie. Craftsman bungalows were very popular, nationally and locally. The American Foursquare house type was also very popular. The Foursquare house is one of the larger popular house types of the period. Foursquare houses are two or two and one-half stories tall, with wide hipped roofs, high foundations and wide front porches. They generally were built with four large rooms on each oftwo floors, and a square plan, hence the name. Foursquares were easy to customize in the owner's style of choice, including Colonial Revival, Craftsman and Prairie.
Foursquares, bungalows and other Builder Style houses were popular until the early 1930s, when housing construction slowed considerably. Only six houses in the study group were built after 1969. Ofthose, two are Builder Style houses that use some elements of the Tudor Revivial style, and one is a small massed plan house that features native stone,
OT
Ozark rock, construction. Although Ozark rock was a popular building materi.al in many Missouri communities in the early to mid 20th century, few examples ,vere indentified dUring survey activities. The modest stone house at 606 Broad Street, built ca. 1930, is the only example of an Ozark rock house in the study group. It is a side gable house with a simple rectangular plan, and walls constructed of ransom slabs of native stone. A small garage near the back ofthe lot is constructed ofthe same material. Together they fonn a nicely intact example of Ozark rock construction.
The compact plan and simple massing of the house on Broad Street are typical of houses of the 1930s :md 40s, which reflect changing attitudes toward house style and a general move away from complex house shapes and elaborate ornamentation. The clean lines of modem movement styles inspired home builders to use simple fonns and compact plans, and front porches and applied ornamentation became much less common. The increasing popularity ofthe automobile led to another
113
James C. Massey and Shirley Maxwell, House Styles in America, (New York: Penguin Studio, 1996) 211.
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major change-the garage moved from the back of the property right into the main body of the house. One architectural history called the automobile in this period a "deJacto family member, taking up a place of honor at the front ofthe house.,,114 The most common house types of this period are the Minimal Traditional house and the Ranch house.
The study group :lncludes two Minimal Traditional houses; the oldest was built in 1939, and the other dates to ca. 1945. This follows national trends; the Minimal Traditional house type \vas popular in many parts of the country between 1935 and 1950. Minimal Traditional houses are usually modest one-story houses that have compact forms and little ornamentation. They have low-pitched side gabled roofs that have little to no overhang, sometimes with off-center front cross-gables. Front porches, when used, are very small and unobtrusive.
115 Another common mid-20th century house type is the Ranch house. Ranch houses are always one story with low-pitched roofs and horizontal compositions.
rare. Built-in 116
Although garages are not very represented common to in Ranch the current houses, study and group, applied the ornamentation Ranch house is is
one of the most common postwar house types in Warrensburg. Survey activities identified nearly 160 local ranch houses, most ofwhich were built between 1950 and 1965. The vast majority of those houses are located along the edges of the survey area, in neighborhoods that saw most of their development after WWII. Future study and evaluation of the Ranch houses in the community and the state may yield enough information to add a related context to the MPDF as time and interest allows.
From the original Johnson County Courthouse to modest mid 20th century dwellings, the historic resources ofWarrensburg help defme the city. They illustrate Warrensburg's long and varied history and reflect the many early influences that shaped it into the city it is today.
114
Massey and Maxwell, 250.
115
McAlester 477.
116
McAlester, 479, Massey and Maxwell, 249-250.
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Appendix One.
Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri
Contractors and Builders in Operation Duri:ng the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries The following names have been gleaned from historic business listings published dUring the period of significance. State Gazetteer, City Directories, and business lists from the 1881 and 1918 county histories were the primary sources. (See the bibliography for more information.) Any addresses given indicate listed business locations unless otherwise noted.
J. M. Bosaker 1876 Hout and Bosaker, carpenters on Culton Street 1879 Bosaker and Hout, carpenters 1881 Bosaker, J. M., builder 1888 Bosaker, J. M., in Carpenters and Builders section "Market, w of courthouse" 1893 Bosaker, John M., Lumber 1895 Bosaker, J. M., 30 N Minard Ave. in Builders and Lumber Dealers section
Caldwell and Greenlee 1895, Caldwell and Greenlee, Builders and Lumber dealers
J. C. Cheatham 1860 Carpenter and builder
P.Cook 1860 Carpenter and builder
J. A. Cooper 1860 Carpenter and builder
Davidson &: Co. 1860 Brick masons and builders
w. M. Douglass 1899 Carpenter
Hebden, Adams &: Co. 1860 Brick yard
Daniel M. Hout Contactor and Builder 1876 Hout and Bosaker carpenters on Culton Street 1879 Bosaker and Hout, carpenters
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1881 Hout, Geo. W. LUlnber yard 1888 Hout, Geo. W. Culton Street 1895 Hout, D. M. 113 VV'. Culton in Builders and Lumber Dealers section 1901 Daniel M. Hout (I3ig directory ad with woodcut of a Victorian house.) General Contractor and Builder 113 W. Culton Street 1914 Sanborn shows G. W. Hout and Son with large lumberyard at 118 W. Culton
F. C. Hubbard 1895 Contractor 1899 Contractor (1983 survey report called him an architect, but he was listed as a contractor in directories. The 1910 census showed an F. P. Hubbard working as a carpenter in Saline County. No architects with this name were found in census records.)
Huston & Redford 1860 Cabinet makers and dealers in furniture
N. Johnson, or Johns(Jln Bros. 1881 North says J. L. Johnson erected the first brick building in New Town for the hardware store ofJ. A. Stewart 1895 Johnson Bros., Builders and Lumber Dealers 1899 N. Johnson, Carpenter 1901 W. C. Johnson, Contractor (Probably William, could be a different person.)
John W. King 1881 E. W. King, Carpenter (Same person?) 1898 John W. King awarded contract for constructing the Warren Street A. M. E. Church (NR 12/13/1996) 1901 big ad for J. W. King "Architect, Contractor, and Builder" with the same woodcut ofa house used for Hout's ad. "Plans and specifications furnished and estimates made on sholt notice." King (born 1859) is listed in the 1900 census as a carpenter. He was living on East Gay Street with his wife Martha and son Benjamin in 1900.
Wm. Lowe A transcript of a speech Lowe gave in 1916, on the 50th anniversary of his arrival in Warrensburg, was reprinted in the 1918 county history. In it, Lowe noted that he was still doing business in "the stand he started in 1868", and had sold lumber to four generations of many local families. The stand he referred to was presumably his lumberyard, which Sanborn maps show was located at what is now 109 E. Culton.
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1876 Lumber dealer and contractor, Culton 1879 Lumber 1881 Brick Kiln and builder 1885 Brick yard and IUJmber 1888 Carpenters and Builders, Culton, east of Holden 1888 Built Howard School 400 W. Culton, with plans by draftsman John Newcomer. (Register nomination for the school.) 1895 Wm. and Chas. Lowe each have a listing at 109 E. Culton in Builders and Lumber dealers. 1900 Census shows hiIJa living on Gay Street with wife Anna, three children and John Todd. He and Todd appear to be listed as builders, but it is very faded. 1901 1914 Sanborn Directory shows W. Lowe rus lumberyard lumberyard at at 109 109 E. E. Culton
Culton
H. Mertel 1860 Carpenter and builder
J. A. Miller 1883 Carpenter 1895 John C. Miller, carpenter 513 E. Grover (The 1983 survey report called him an architect. No one with this name listed as an architect was found in census records. 1880 had a John C. Miller as a wagonmaker, and in 1900 there was a John C. Miller in Knob Noster, but he had no occupation listed.)
Moore and Kinsel 1876 Moore and Kinsel, Lumber dealers Culton 1879 John H. Kinsel, lumber
Morgan & Clay 1860 Carpenters and builders
James N. Suddath Contractor for Markward House at 211 Grover in 1902, which is a pattern book house from a George Barber design. 1900 Census Carpenter, living at 413 Market Street. 1901 J. N. Suddath contractor, 118 W. Culton (G. W. Hout and Son had a lumberyard at that location in 1914 per the Sanborn map.) Suddath house at 410 Grover was occupied by James W. Suddath, per the 1901 city directory. The name Suddath was also in the 1980s survey.
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1910 Listed in the Census as a "building contractor-dwellings," lived at 417 Market Street with wife Ida and several children.
Sylvester & Ruth 1860 Carpenters and builders
Ora Stump 1933 Built a stone building for Hart's Hamburger Shop, with Joe Winders.
Joe Wade 1860 Brickyard (Crissey has a story about a boy who "carried brick and mortar for Joe Wade at 25 cents a day, the fIrst money he ever earned.")
West and Hayden 1899 Carpenters
A. Williams 1901 Contractor, 523 S. MagUire
Wood Brothers 1893 Carpenters
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ASSOCIATED
PROPEE~TY
TYPES Historic architecture can be classified in a variety ofways, including architectural style, building form and historic function. Because architectural styles tended to be applied to buildings of all forms and functions, the property types below have been based upon historic function. As previously noted, the study group for this project consisted of the most intact historic buildings in the community today. Those buildings were constructed between 1842 and ca. 1945.
The study group of 149 properties was identified through previous survey and National Register activities as well as recent fieldwork. The group includes the few previously listed resources in the city, as well as those most likely to be eligible for future listing under the contexts included in Section E ofthis document. The group also includes seven resjdential properties that are being nominated as part of the Grover Street Victorian Historic District. Historic functions of the properties in the study group divide almost evenly between residential and non-residential uses. Just over half of the properties, 77, contain houses.
Property Type 1. Residential Resources
Description: Residentiial Resources
The Residential R.esources property type includes both primary and secondary buildings that were built and used for residential purposes dUring the period of significance. The term primary resource in this case refers to a house or apartment building; typical secondary resources would be garages, storage sheds or carriage houses. Almost all prinlary residential historic resources in Warrensburg are, or were originally, single family houses. There are no multiple-family residences in the study group, and previous surveys identified just a few duplexes, only one ofwhich was built before the mid-20th century.
Construction dates for Residential Resources in the study group range from ca. 1861 to ca. 1955. Intact historic houses can be found throughout the central part of the city. As would be expected, the oldest houses in the group are located near the historic commercial center. There are several mid-19th century houses between Old Town and the downtown area, as well as a few notably intact late 19th century houses on Grover Street, just southeast of downtown.
The vast majority of the historic houses in Warrensburg are of frame construction. Ofthe 77' houses in the study group, 71 have frame structural systems. Frame dwellings range from a modest unadorned shotgun house to large high style Queen Anne dwellings. Most of those houses were sheathed with weatherboards when they were new, and an impressive number (about 400/0) retain their original wall treatrnents. Many others have asbestos shingle siding that was
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applied within the period of significance. Even more retain significant amounts of early wooden architectural detailing such as gable ornament and porch trim.
Intact frame houses include several relatively modest houses, such as B. T. Sams house, a vernacular Gabled Ell which was built ca. 1890 at 210 W. Gay Street, and the John Lyons House, a small bungalow erected ca. 1920 at 324 W. Gay. Large frame houses of note include most of the houses in the Grover Street Victorian Historic District, as well as individually significant houses such as the ca. 1890 Plumer House, at 223 vv. Market Street.
Brick was a popular construction material for houses in the early history of the community, but later fell from favor. Just across the street from the Plumer House can be found one of the oldest brick houses in the community, the H. F. Clark House, at 222 W. Market. (ca. 1861) It is one of only five houses in the study group that have load-bearing brick walls. The Plumer House is the oldest ofthose, and the newest was completed in the mid-1870s.
Warrensburg sandstone is surprisingly absent as a structural material. Only one house in the study group has load-bearing stone walls. The exterior walls and full front porch of the ca. 1910 Eads House, at 137 Grover Street is built of sandstone blocks that appear to be locally qUarried. The Eads house features very uniform rock-faced blocks of sandstone that gradually become smaller the higher they appear in the walls.
Although apparently not popular as a wall material, the local sandstone was used extensively for residential foundations and retaining walls. Sandstone block foundations can be found on houses built as late as the 1920s. That differs from many other parts of the state, in which poured concrete was used almost exclusively for foundations of houses built after the first decade of the 20th century. Locally quarried stone blocks \vere also popular for retaining walls in residential settings. Several houses along West Gay Street, for example, have low stone retaining walls constructed of rock-faced blocks ofWarrensburg sandstone.
Historic houses in Warrensburg form a diverse grouping. The smallest is a one story house with no more than three rooms, while the largest is two and one-half stories tall, with multiple porches, a complex plan and elaborate architectural detailing. Architectural styles and types vary as much as size. Roughly a third ofthe houses in the study group can be classified as high style architecture, another third have at least some detailing that relates to a mainstream architectural movement, and the rest are vernacular dwellings better classified by form than style. High style houses are almost all from the Victorian period, while those with lesser architectural detailing represent all periods of architectural development.
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Subtype A. Victorian Ilouses
"Victorian" can be a nebulous term when used to describe architecture. It applies to relatively straightforward examples of a particular style such as the Queen Anne, and to buildings which feature a more general mixture ofVictorian-era styles. Although individual properties show great variation, there is a common attention to picturesque ideals, and frequent use of applied ornamentation. Popular ornamental motifs include irregular massing, complex rooflines, and patterned wall surfaces. Elaborate porches that include ornamental porch posts, spindles and other "gingerbread" are comrILon.
National Register gUidelines include many different Victorian era movements within the category of Late Victorian, including Italianate, Gothic Revival, Stick, Queen Anne and ShingJle styles. Nationally those styles were popular from around 1860 to 1900; Warrensburg examples date from 1861-ca. 1902. 1\vo ofthe oldest Victorian houses in the community are Gothic Revival style brick houses that were near twins when they \\'ere built ca. 1875. Typical Gothic Revival elements of the houses at 121 and 307 West Gay Street include steeply pitched roofs and cross gables, decorated vergeboards and open porches ornamented with flattened pointed arches. (The house at 121 W. Gay was recently demolished.)
As in many other M:idwest communities, Queen Anne was the most popular local style for large houses in the late 1800s. A significant percentage of the largest and most intact historic houses in the study group are Queen Anne style houses. Stick or Eastlake styling also had a strong following, and several of the largest frame Victorian houses in the area feature elements common to both styles.
Stick style houses are almost always of frame construction, with steeply pitched gable roofs that include cross gables and wide overhangs. Roooflines are often accented by rectilinear brackets and exposed rafter ends; ornamental trusses in the gable ends are extremely common. Wall surfaces are clad with horizontal or vertical boards and ornamented with flat horizontal or vertical bands. A distinctly Stick Style form of ornament that can often be found in gable ends or along cornice bands consists ofvertical pickets lined up to resemble an upside down fence.
Queen Anne houses can be similar, but tend to have more irregular forms and more elaborately textured wall surfaces. Polygonal or curved bays, complex rooflines and ornate trim are all common. Walls are nearly always enlivened by varied textures, often through the use of patterned shingles and ornamental belt courses. Elaborate porches are common; they often wrap around more than one elevation and feature scrolled brackets, elaborate frieze bands and ornamental support posts. Although nationally the Queen Anne style was popular for masonry as well as frame construction, all Queen Anne houses in the study group are frame.
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Local examples of note include several houses in the Grover Street Victorian Historic District in the 200 block of Grover Street. Four of the seven houses in that small district are highly intact frame houses with Queen Anne and Stick styling. The ca. 1887 Leonidus and Mary Jack house, at 209 Grover, is one of the best examples of the Stick Style in Warrensburg. Other district houses of note include 211 and 218 Grover, both of which are large, highly intact Queen Anne style houses.
Subtype B. 19th Century Vernacular Houses
Vernacular buildings utilize forms and methods of construction which are based more upon tradition and local building practices than the latest architectural movement. As is the case in most communities, many ofthe houses in Warrensburg have simple vernacular forms and little to no architectural styling. Most are of frame construction, and one or two stories tall. Vernacular house types in Warrensburg include the Gabled Ell, Gable Front, I-house, and Shotgun house types. Construction dates for vernacular houses in the study group range from 1885 into the 1920s and 30s.
The Gabled Ell, aJlso sometimes called a Gable-Front-and-Wing, is the most common vernacular house type in Warrensburg. Gabled Ell houses can be one or two stories tall; they have a generally L-shaped plan that features a front facing gable and a side gabled wing, or ell. The side ell is set back from the front block and faced with an open front porch. Gabled Ells in the study group were built between ca. 1885 and the first years of the 20th century.
There are also several Gable Front houses, which as the name implies, are simple houses topped by a gable roof and set with the gable end facing the street. They have rectangular plans and can be one or two stories tall; most local examples are one story. Most are relatively modest houses built in the fIrst three decades of the 20th century. A similar gable front form is known as the Shotgun House. Shotgun houses are one room wide and two or more rooms deep, and most Missouri examples have a front-f3.cing gable roof. They were popular in some areas for worker houses and have often been identified as a favored African American housing form.
II? Other common vernacular forms include the I-house and the Hall and Parlor. Both are one room deep, at least two rooms wide and topped with a side-facing gable roof. I-houses are two stories, and Hall and Parlor houses are one story. These were among the fIrst vernacular forms to come into widespread use in Missouri, and while they were probably once common in Warrensburg, only a few have survived to modem times. The study group includes just three I-houses, and one Hall and Parlor.
117 Dell Upton, ed., America's Architectural Roots: Ethnic Groups That Built America, (Washington, D.C.: The Preservation Press, 1986) 45-47.
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Subtype C. Folk Victolrian Houses
The typical Folk 'Tictorian house includes elements of the preceding two property types. A Folk 'Victorian house is a common vernacular house type that is adorned with minor elelnents ofVictorian styling. In Warrensburg, the most common Folk Victorian houses are one story Gabled Ells that have Victorian style porch embellishments such as turned posts and spindled friezes or brackets. A few also have ornamental shingles in their front gable ends. All or most are of frame construction, with construction dates that range from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. There are three Folk Victorian houses in the study group, all of which have a Gabled Ell form to which Queen Anne style detailing has been added. Other intact Folk Victorian houses in the study area include 210 West Gay and 300 W.Gay.
Subtype D. Early 20th Century Houses
The early 20th Century Houses subtype includes both high style and popular houses constructed froIn the tum ofthe century to the early 1940s. A marked increase in the availability of everything from pattern books to complete house kits dUring this time period meant that mainstream architectural styles were no longer restricted to the large expensive houses. As a result, elements ofthose styles can be found on dwellings of all sizes and types, in communities across the country.
High style movemlents of the period that were popular for houses include Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Craftsman, and Prairie. This period also saw the development of distinctive everyday house forms such as the Foursquare and Bungalow, both of which were favored by mail order house companies.
118
The typical Foursquare house is two stories, with a cubic form and four main rooms per floor. They generally have a hipped roof, high foundation and a wide front porch. Foursquares could be ornamented with any of the mainstream architectural styles of the day, including Craftsman, Prairie and Colonial Revival. Bungalows are generally one or one and one half stories, with low profiles and wide front porches.
119
Most bungalows in the study area have Craftsman style detailing such as wide roof overhangs supported by triangular brackets and tapered square porch posts set upon heavy piers.
Subtype E. Modem Mc.vement Houses
Modem Movement houses were built between 1935 and 1962; most examples in Warrensburg date to the post World War II building boom of the late 1940s. The late 1930s and early 1940s saw a change in attitude toward residential architecture,
118
Alan Gowans. The Comfortable House: North American Suburban Architecture 1890-1930. (Cambridge. Massachusetts: The MIT Press. 1986) 70-99.
119
McAlester 453-463.
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as builders and designers looked to the streamlined forms of the Modem movement for inspiration. The
no,~-established
role of the automobile in American life is also apparent in houses of this era, which were the fIrst to incorporate garages into the main body ofthe house. The most common house types ofthis period in Warrensburg are the Mjlnimal Traditional house and the Ranch house.
Minimal Traditional houses came into favor nationally around 1935; the two examples in the study group were built ca. 1939 and ca. 1945. Minimal Traditional houses are generally modest one-story houses that have compact forms and little applied ornamentation.
L20
They have low-pitched side gabled roofs that have little to no overhang; off-center front cross-gables are common. Ranch houses, which were most popular locally after 1950, are one story houses with horizontal compositions, integrated garages, and minimal applied ornament.
Significance: Residential Resources
The historic houses ofWarrensburg represent nearly a century of residential development. They reflect local building customs and offer tangible links to the families that shaped the history ofthe community. Intact residential resources are significant under Criterion C, in the area ofArchitecture. A few may also be eligible under Criterion B for their association with prominent citizens.
Residential Resources built during Period I (1842-1899) reflect the early development ofthe community, as well as national and local architectural trends. As development shifted fro:m Old Town to the present commercial center at Holden and Pine Streets, the surrounding streets filled with houses. Not surprisingly, many of the oldest houses in the study group are located between those early commercial centers. The establishnlent of the State Normal School southeast of the depot in 1871 spurred additional residential development in that area, especially along Grover Street, which is home to many of the largest Victorian houses in the city.
The houses also reflect general social and economic trends of the time, when refined architectural styling was generally reserved for the homes of the upper class. Those with financial resources could hire a builder or buy plans for the most up to date housing styles, while others simply built what they knew. High style dwellings built in Warrensburg in the 19th century reflect not only the latest architectural styles, but also the social standing and aspirations of the families for whom they were constructed. The town has a particularly rich collection ofVictorian houses that offer near textbook examples of Stick and Queen Anne styles. Those houses were constructed for some of the most prominent citizens of the community. Vernacular dwellings represent an equally important part ofWarrensburg's history. Working
120
McAlester 477.
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class families often occupied simple dwellings that were constructed with locally available materials and more attention to function than the latest style.
Residential Resources built dUring Period II (1900-1945) show less of a stylistic division between the houses of different socio-economic groups. By the tum of the century, the widespread availability of pattern books, prefabricated buildings components and even complete house "kits" had blurred the line between high style and vernacular architecture, especially for the types of houses being constructed in Warrensburg during this period. Even relatively modest houses erected in the early 20th century reflected national trends in residential design. Established residential neighborhoods saw continued development, and new subdivisions were added around the edges of the community.
The newest houses in the group reflect the postwar building boom experienced by most communities in the country, including Warrensburg, where the population increased more than 60% between 1940 and 1960. Although surviving Ranch and Minimal Traditional houses in Warrensburg are generally too new and too common at this point to qualify for the National Register, they represent a relatively large collection of intact resources that merit future study.
Registration RequireUlents: Residential Resources
Representative examples of the Residential Resources property type will be eligible for inclusion in the National Register if they are reasonably intact and readily recognizable to their period of significance. Intact properties will retain their basic original fonn, with no ITlajor alterations to principal exterior dimensions or rooflines. Original or early materials should predominate, especially on exterior walls. Door and window openings, especially on principal elevations, should be unaltered. Most original exterior trim and other woodwork should remain in place, and the doors and windows themselves should be original or at least fIfty years old. Modem porch changes can have a major impact upon integrity and must be very carefully evaluated. Extensive porch changes are likely to render a house ineligible.
Although the buildings must be reasonably intact to qualify for listing, alterations and minor changes are practically inevitable, and it is important to gauge the overall effect of any changes. Additions and alterations to rear ells and secondary elevations are acceptable, as long as the basic fonn and massing of the original building are not seriously impacted, and the scale of any new construction does not overpower the original portion ofthe building. Replacement windows, for example, may be acceptable, if they are the only major alteration, and are very similar to the originals in material, dilnensions, and muntin configuration. Additions and alterations which are more than fifty years old may have acqUired historic value of their own, and should be carefully evaluated.
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Representative examples of the Residential Resources property type which meet the above requirements will be eligible under Criterion C, in the area ofArchitecture, with a period of significance which corresponds to the construction date and/or the period in which the building took its present fonn. For example, a house built ca. 1885 which received a significant remodeling or addition in 1920 would have a period of significance of ca. 1885-1920. Specific registration requirements for houses within a district will be addressed under Property Type 2. Residential Historic Districts.
A few residences may also be significant under Criterion B for their associations with persons who were directly involved with the development of Warrensburg. The hornes ofleading businessmen, civic leaders, or elected officials may possess associations within this area of significance. These individuals must have made a significant contribution to Warrensburg's development dUring this period, and their association with the residence must coincide with their time of involvement with the significant activity. Integrity of association is the most critical for significance under Criterion B, but integrity of design and materials must be evident as well.
Property Type 2. Residential Historic Districts
Description: Residentjial Historic Districts
Residential Historic Districts are intact segments of historic residential neighborhoods. Contributing resources within a district will include houses and secondary buildings, as well as structures and objects such as retaining walls and sidewalks. Street and lot configurations and general patterns of spatial organization are also important features that help define the historic streetscapes. District boundaries, which can follow either natural or manmade features, encompass significant concentrations of intact residential resources. Those elements work together within a district to represent historical patterns of residential development. Most of the streets surrounding the historic commercial center ofWarrensburg have been residential neighborhoods for more than a century. Although many of those streets have naturally seen redevelopment and other modem changes, a few areas retain significant concentrations of intact residential resources, and thereby merit district designation. The two most likely residential historic districts in Warrensburg contain the vast majority of the residential resources in the study group. There are 6 contributing houses in the 200 block of Grover Street, and approximately 47 houses along West Gay Street that have potential to contribute to a historic district.
The houses on Grover Street fonn one of the most homogenous and intact collections of historic houses in the city. That small group of residences is being nominated as the Grover Street Victorian Historic District in association with this
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cover document. That district contains seven houses, with construction dates that range from ca. 1887 to ca. 1944. One ofthe largest potential residential historic districts is located north and west of the commercial center, between it and the original town square.
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survey and evaluation of historic resources identified a potential district that includes several blocks ofWest Gay Street and part of the 200 block of E. Market Street.
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That area contains approximately 56 contributing properties, with constnlction dates from ca. 1861 to ca. 1955. Portions ofthe mid 20th century residential neighborhoods located in the east end of the study area may also qualify as historic districts in the future.
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Significance: Residential Historic Districts
While one house ccm be an effective illustration of a particular style and/or the life experiences of its builder and owners, a group of historic residences provides a greater variety of infomlation about local architectural styles and patterns of development. Warrensburg's historic neighborhoods took years and often decades to develop, and therefore offer a better representation of how the community functioned over time. Residential historic districts in Warrensburg include historic houses from the periods of developm.ent discussed in Historic Contexts I and II, and provide good examples of the architectural development covered in Context III.
Intact ResidentiallIistoric Districts are significant under Criterion C, in the area ofArchitecture. They are significant for the way they reflect local and national patterns of architectural development. They can provide representative collections of architectural styles and types utilized for housing dUring the period of significance, or serve to illustrate the local popularity of one or two particular styles. Districts also have the simple advantage of having more resources, which naturally offers a more complete picture of an area's architectural development.
Registration Requireulents: Residential Historic Districts
Residential Historic Districts will be eligible for inclusion in the National Register if they contain a reasonably intact collection of historic residential resources, which together convey a sense of their time and place. An eligible Residential Historic District will represent a pattern or period of growth and development that is related to one or more of the historical contexts discussed in Section E.
A residential historic district gains much of its significance from the way the resources relate to each other. The individual houses and buildings found there do not have to be outstanding examples of specific styles and types, but as a group, they should offer a significant concentration of historic resources. General levels of
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Patterson 7-8.
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Schwenk Associates identified a high number of intact resources in this area, but most are barely fifty years old and do not appear to be eligible at this time.
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integrity, along with unifying features such as average house size and level of styling, landscape features, and street layout should be evaluated when setting potential boundaries and determining overall eligibility. As a group, the buildings within the districts should reflect general patterns of residential development, and need not be limited to representation of single contexts, styles or types.
For an area to be eligible as a residential historic district under Criterion C, the majority of the buildings there must be of a residential nature, and as a group they should reflect one or more periods of development in Warrensburg. The general setting and the cohesiveness of streetscapes will have a strong impact upon how well the area conveys a sense of time and place. A significant concentration of intact buildings, street patterns, and landscape features is therefore required. There should also be a general consistency in form and function, even among non-contributing resources. A newer house of approximately the same size and shape as those around it would, for example, be less obtrusive than a large commercial building of the same age.
Intact buildings are those in which the original form and patterns of fenestration are intact, and which are readily recognizable to the period of significance. There should be no major alterations to principal exterior dimensions or rooflines. Door and window openings, especially on principal elevations, should be unaltered, and major stylistic embellishment should be intact. Additions and alterations to rear ells and secondary elevations are acceptable, as long as they do not have high visibility from the street. Additions and alterations done within the district's period of significance which are visible from the street may have acqUired historic value of their o,wn, and should be carefully evaluated.
Buildings which ,vould not normally be individually eligible may be considered contributing buildings ,vithin a district, as long as any changes to design, materials, or workmanship do not negatively impact district streetscapes. In general, at least two of the following elernents must be intact for a house to be eligible: front porch, including roofline, posts and any associated architectural detailing, wall cladding such as weatherboards or brick, original exterior millwork and architectural detailing, such as door and window trim, roof brackets, and cornices. For example, a house with modem vinyl siding may be contributing, if the original front porch and roof brackets are intact. and the siding does not cover door and window trim.
Representative examples of the Residential Historic Districts property type which meet the above requirements will be eligible under Criterion C, in the area of Architecture, with a period of significance which corresponds to the construction dates ofthe contributing buildings in the district. For example, a district in which the oldest contributing resource dates to ca. 1882, and the newest to 1950, would have a period of significance of ca. 1882-1950.
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Property Type 3. Civic: and Commercial Buildings
Description: Civic and, Commercial Buildings
Civic and commercial buildings were built to serve the public good and/or to enhance the economy ofWarrensburg through commercial or industrial activities. This property type includes business buildings constructed by private citizens, as well as buildings erected. by government entities and other organizations for civic, public or semi-public functions, such as government buildings, schools, churches, industrial, and commercial resources. The vast majority ofthe resources in this group are commercial buildings.
Construction dates run from the fIrst days of settlement to the end of the period of significance. The oldest buildings in the group include the first Johnson County courthouse, built in 1842, as well as the oldest commercial building in town, the Davis Store, built ca. 1869 at 311 N. Main; the newest are commercial buildings that date to the early 1960s. (107 and 109 W. Culton, ca. 1962).
Civic and commercial buildings in the study group are almost exclusively of masonry construction. The single exception is the Howard School, a frame building constructed at 400 W. Culton in 1888. (NR 2/14/2002.) Brick is the most common type of masonry constnlction, although this property type also includes the largest and most highly styled stone buildings in the community. Stone buildings of note include the previously listed "new" Johnson County Courthouse (300 N. Holden, 1898; NR 04/07/1994) and the individually eligible Missouri Pacific Depot, which was built at 100 South Holden in 1890. The group includes a small number of relatively modest stone commercial buildings as well, including a nicely intact two story commercial building constructed at 121 W. Pine St. ca. 1895.
Civic and commercial resources are concentrated around Pine and Holden Streets, but there are notable exceptions away from those streets. The Davis Store, one of the few individually eligible commercial buildings in the study group, is in the Old Town area, across from the original courthouse. Most ofthe churches in the group are located between Old Town and New Town, or along the eastern edge of downtown.
The commercial buildings tend to have minimal architectural styling, while civic buildings are among the most high-style historic buildings in the community. The most common style seen on 19th century buildings of the group is Richardsonian Romanesque. That style is characterized by heavy massing, round arched openings, and the liberal use of rock-faced stone blocks. Most of the stone buildings in the group use some elements of this style, including the courthouse on N. Holden and the Missouri Pacific Depot. There is one late 19th century stone church that can better be classified as Shingle Style: the Christ Episcopal Church at 134 E. Gay,
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constructed in 1899. Cine ofthe most notable styled buildings ofthe 20th century is the large Beaux-Arts style post office, built in 1911 at 108 N. College.
Subtype A. Commercial Buildings
Commercial buildings in Warrensburg were built and used for commercial functions dUring the period of significance. Uses include such things as retail, office, restaurants, and other business-related functions. Multi-function buildings that were built to include a commercial function, such as the Magnolia Opera House (145 W. Pine) or the Masonic Lodge (301-303 N. Holden), are also part of this subtype. Commercial buildings are one of the most common building types in the study group. Of the 149 properties in the study group, 65 are commercial buildings.
The most common commercial building form is the two-part commercial block. There are 42 in the study group. '!\vo-part commercial blocks are at least two stories tall, and characterized by a horizontal division ofform and function. The lower zones of such buildings were designed to be used as public or commercial spaces, while the upper floors were used for more private functions, such as offices, residences or meeting halls. The study group includes 29 two part commercial blocks from Period I and 14 from Period II. Construction dates range from ca. 1870 to ca. 1962.
The second major commercial building form is the one-part commercial block. There are 9 one·-part commercial blocks in the study group. One-part commercial blocks are one-story, and function much like the lower story of two-part commercial blocks. The facade often consists almost exclusively of an open storefront, which usually includes display windows and a recessed entrance. There are 9 one-part commercial blocks in the study group; one was built dUring Period I and 8 are from Period II. Construction dates range from ca. 1895 to ca. 1930.
A related one-stoly commercial building type that was popular in the early 20th century is the multiple entry commercial building. This one-story building type often looks like a row of one-part commercial blocks but differs in that it is a single building with articulated bays that look like separate shop spaces. The upper fa<;;ade sometimes has a horizontal composition to define the larger building; the lower spaces are often very silnilar to each other. The study group includes 7 multiple entry commercial buildings that have two to three separate bays each. Most of those are retail spaces, but a few were used for automobile related businesses dUring the period of significance. Jill were built in Period II; construction dates range from ca. 1915 to ca. 1925.
Subtype B. Civic Buildings
The Civic Building subtype includes public and privately owned buildings constructed for public use and/or private gatherings. The subtype includes the two
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historic Johnson County Courthouses, the first building constructed to serve as a Warrensburg post office, a train depot, churches, and the one intact historic school in the study group. There are three unlisted civic buildings in the study group: the Missouri Pacific Depot (100 South Holden, 1890), the Post Office (106 N. College, 1911) and Christ Episcopal Church (134 E. Gay, 1899).
Significance: Civic and Commercial Buildings
The historic civic and commercial resources in Warrensburg reflect more than a century of development. Intact examples are significant under Criterion A, with possible areas of significance that include Commerce and Education. (The area of significance will be dependent upon the historic role of the particular resource.) Outstanding individual resources may also be eligible under Criterion C, in the area ofArchitecture, and a few may also be eligible under Criterion B for association with prominent citizens.
Civic and comme:rcial buildings built dUring Period I (1842-1899) include the oldest buildings in the community. During that time period, the town was established as the seat ofJohnson County, gained all-important railroad access, and developed two different commercial centers. Although commercial and civic buildings once lined the streets ruround the original public square, few remained after the business center migrated to the east. Those that have survived to modem times are significant reminders of the earliest days of settlement.
Much of the conunercial center in "NewTown," now downtown Warrensburg, was also built up during Period I. With the establishment of the railroad in 1864, North Holden and Pine Streets became the civic and commercial heart of the community. Once developed, that area became the primary commercial center of Warrensburg. Many ofthe civic and commercial buildings found there today were built dUring Period I. Those brick and stone buildings were built by business leaders, churches and governments to serve the citizens ofWarrensburg. They utilize common building forms and architectural styles that reflect local and national trends.
Period II, (1900-1945) brought continued prosperity and new methods of transportation. The weU-established commercial center saw infill development, major remodeling projects and a slight expansion ofits boundaries. Buildings constructed in this period include everything from a large formal new post office to a car dealership. The explosive growth of the automobile industry and the development of cross state highways brought a new customer base, as well as competition for the railroad. Automobile-related businesses began to share the streets of downtown with the existing commercial establishments. Sanborn maps show that by 1945, there were more than a dozen different downtown businesses that catered to car owners, including filling stations, commercial garages and car dealerships.
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Registration RequireUlents: Civic and Commercial Buildings
Representative examples of the above property type will be eligible for inclusion in the National Register under Criterion A in the area of Commerce or Industry, if they are the site of a business of particular importance to the community, exemplify a particular building type or use, or are associated with an important event or occurrence. Their period ofsignificance will correspond to the time in which they had the historic commercial function. Eligible buildings will be reasonably intact, and readily recognizable to their period of significance.
Properties which are individually eligible under Criterion A will retain their basic original form, with no major alterations to principal exterior dimensions or rooflines. Original or early materials should predominate, especially on wall surfaces. Early ornamental featuJres such as window hoods and cornices should also be largely intact. Second floor window openings, especially on the facade, should also be intact. Replacement window sashes may be acceptable, if they are close to the originals in individual dimensions and muntin configurations.
Although the buildings must be reasonably intact to qualify for listing, alterations and minor changes are practically inevitable, and it is important to gauge the overall effect of any changes when evaluating eligibility. Rear additions and alterations to secondary elevations are acceptable, as long as they are not overly noticeable from the street. Other additions and alterations which are more than fifty years old may have acqUired historic value of their own and should be carefully evaluated.
Storefront alterations often represent a natural evolution in the history of the building, and original storefront units are therefore not requisite for listing under Criterion A. The actual ground floor openings themselves should, however, be little- changed, and fenestration patterns should be similar to those of the early storefront units, preferably with display windows, bulkheads, and transoms. By the same token, surviving original storefronts and other distinctive architectural features represent especially significant historic resources, and their existence can outweigh other integrity issues, as long as the building continues to clearly evoke its period of significance.
Buildings may also be individually eligible under Criterion C, in the area of Architecture, if they exhibit exceptional levels of integrity and/or architectural styling. To be eligible under Criterion C, a building must be a notable example of a particular style or vernacular type, and/or possess unusual design elements and detailing. The building must also possess integrity of setting and location, design, workmanship, and materials. An eligible building under this criterion will meet all integrity requirements listed above, and will retain at least some historic storefront components and notable interior features.
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Intact historic cOlnrnercial buildings may also be eligible if they are part of a cohesive grouping of resources which meets historic district criteria. Specific registration requirements for buildings within a commercial historic district will be addressed in Property l'ype 4, Commercial Historic Districts.
Property Type 4. CODlmercial Historic Districts
Description: Commer(:ial Historic Districts
Warrensburg has a.t least two potential historic commercial districts. Both are located in downtown Warrensburg.
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They are in close proximity to each other but are separated by modern or altered older buildings. The largest potential district runs along Holden Street, from the Missouri Pacific Railroad Depot north to Gay Street, and including short sections of East Pine, East and West Culton Street and East Market Street. That district includes the previously listed Johnson County Courthouse and Masonic Hall, as well as the depot, which is potentially individually eligible. The Holden Street District has approximately 50 properties, roughly 45 of which are already listed. or would be considered contributing resources in a district. Most of the buildings are one- or two-story brick commercial buildings; there are 34 two part commercial blocks, 6 one-part commercial blocks and 6 multiple entry commercial buildings. Construction dates for the group range from ca. 1870 to ca. 1963.
A second potential district contains a concentration of historic resources along the 100 block ofWest Pine Street, which runs perpendicular to Holden and parallel to the railroad tracks. That district includes one of the largest historic buildings in the downtown area, the Magnolia Opera house, as well as several early automobile related resources. The Pine Street District has approximately 14 properties, roughly 13 ofwhich would be considered contributing resources in a district. Construction dates for the group range from ca. 1880 to ca. 1940. The district includes 9 two-part commercial blocks, 3 one-part commercial blocks and 2 multiple entry commercial buildings. The largest of the multiple entry commercial building, which was built at 135 W. Pine ca. 1925, housed a Chevrolet dealership for several decades.
Significance: Commer1cial Historic Districts
The districts in downtown Warrensburg provide a snapshot of what the community looked like \vhen almost all commercial ventures were located within a few blocks of the county courthouse. Many of the business buildings that line the streets of downtown Warrensburg have been serving local merchants and their
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Potential commercial district boundaries were identified by Tiffany Patterson of the MO SHPO in April 2010, and reevaluated and confirmed as part of the preparation for this cover document. (See Patterson 10-11.)
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customers for more than a century. The streetscapes ofthe historic districts there reflect a variety of conditions and events. The commercial center is located where it is because of the railroad. The majority of the buildings are built of brick and stone because early builders had experienced or at least heard of the devastating effects of fires in the commercial district, and later builders simply continued the tradition. The size, shape, and even the way the buildings are placed on their lots reflect trends in commercial developnlent that were common throughout the country.
The historic functions of the buildings within the districts help illustrate the economic history of the community. The oldest buildings were erected to house dry goods stores, stove and hardware dealers, feed stores and agricultural implement dealers. In the early decades of the 20th century the district began to see new functions and new types of customers. Car dealers and commercial garages moved in, and agricultural implement stores became less common.
Commercial Histonlc Districts in Warrensburg are significant under Criterion A, in the area of Commerce, and Criterion C in the area ofArchitecture.
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Potential commercial historic districts in Warrensburg encompass intact commercial and civic architecture from the periods of development discussed in Historic Contexts I and II, and provide good examples of the architectural development covered in Context III.
Registration Requiren:lents: Commercial Historic Districts
Commercial historic districts in Warrensburg will be eligible under Criterion A in the area of Commerce if they contain a reasonably intact collection of historic commercial buildings which together convey a sense of their time and place. Particularly intact groupings may also be eligible under Criterion C in the area of Architecture. An historic district gains much of its significance from the way the resources relate to each other. The individual buildings found there need not be outstanding examples of specific styles and types, but as a group, they should offer a significant concentration of historic resources.
For an area to be eligible as a district under Criterion A, the majority of the buildings there must have had a commercial function dUring the period of significance, and as a group they should reflect one or more of the periods of development discussed in this cover document. The majority of the resources within the district must retain integrity of design, workmanship, materials, setting and location, feeling and association.
Multi-story buildings should retain a majority of their upper level facade detailing. Upper floor \vindows that have been covered over may be acceptable, if the openings are intact and the window coverings are easily reversible. Enclosed windows on secondary elevations are minimally acceptable. Buildings with
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No districts with potential to be listed under Criterion C, in the area ofArchitecture have been identified.
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replacement storefronts may retain integrity, if their original ground floor openings are little-changed, and jf replacement storefront fenestration patterns are similar to those of the early units, preferably with a pattern of display windows and bulkheads. This is especially important for one-story buildings. One-story buildings which have had the ground floor
fa~~ade
enclosed with solid walls of frame or masonry will no longer retain integrity, and will be considered non-contributing resources. Two-story buildings with partially enclosed storefronts may be contributing, if the rest of the building is highly intact. Several buildings in the downtown area have early or original vehicular doors in lieu of storefronts. Many of those are historic features that contribute to the historic character of the district.
The historic buildings of downtown Warrensburg were built dUring a period of time in which the town transformed from an isolated trading post into a "little city of modem proportions." lhe businesses located in those buildings played a vital role in the social and economic well-being ofWarrensburg, a role that continues to modem times.
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Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri
G. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA This multiple property documentation form was prepared to include the oldest parts of the community, and all of the properties inventoried dUring previous survey projects. The geographical boundaries correspond to those of the survey of the community that was completed in 2008. (See Figure 1.) The area includes the core of the Original Town or-Warrensburg as well as most of the major additions to the city that were platted in the 19th century.
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H. SUMMARY OF IDE:NTIFICATION AND EVALUATION METHODS
This Multiple Property Documentation Form (MPDF) was created for the City of Warrensburg, at the request of the Warrensburg Historic Preservation Commission. The project continues recent efforts to document how the existing built environment reflects historical development ofthe community. Architectural historian Debbie Sheals was hired to coulplete the MPDF cover document, and a nomination of the Grover Street Victorian Historic District. Sheals worked with city staff member Angela Ely and members of the Historic Preservation Commission, as well as staff of the State Historic Preservation Office. In-house assistance was provided by Carol Groves and Kylee J. Rooney.
The MPDF utilized survey data for more than 1,000 historic resources. The first organized architectural and historical surveys of the community took place in the early 1980s. Tom Christopher ofthe Show-Me Regional Planning Commission conducted a survey of commercial resources in 1981 and documented notable residential resources in 1983. The later survey also included a study ofthe historic Warrensburg sandstone quarries. Those two studies documented more than 200 historic resources.
In 2007 and 2008, the City sponsored a new reconnaissance-level survey of the historic core ofthe city. (See Figure 1. Survey Area Map.) At the City's request, that project focused on intact historic resources in the Central Business District, the Original Town ofWarrensburg (Old Town), Grover Street, and the areas surrounding the University of Central Missouri. That two-phase project resulted in the documentation of 1,08B properties, including 104 that had been recorded as part of the earlier surveys. A subsequent report and evaluation of the 2008 survey report by Tiffany Patterson of the State Historic Preservation Office identified four historic districts and at least a dozen individually eligible properties.
Follow-up fieldwork by Sheals included site visits to the areas covered by previous surveys. Extra attention was given to the areas and individual properties identified as potentially eligible in the Patterson report. Raw data from the Schwenk Associates database file was integrated into a new database, using Filemaker Pro 7 software. The database allowed comparative analysis of all ofthe historic architecture in the study area.
A smaller group of properties was targeted for closer study. The core study group for this MPDF project included 149 intact historic resources. The study group includes properties already listed in the National Register, as well as those identified as either individually eligible or having a potential to contribute to one of the historic districts identified in the SHPO report.
Electronic copies of the inventory forms and photos of the properties in the study group were also produced. The City ofWarrensburg and the Missouri State Historic Preservation 01Iice will receive a copy of the new one-page inventory form for
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each property in the study group in .pdf format (Adobe Acrobat) as well as an Excel file of the entire database, which includes basic information on more than 1,000 buildings.
125 This cover docuInent has been written to expedite future National Register nominations. As noted in the Patterson report, there are two potential historic districts along Holden and Pine Streets in the commercial center, and at least one residential district on \Vest Gay Street. Several buildings have also been judged potentially eligible on an individual basis.
As recommended by the Patterson report, future study should include an intensive survey ofAfrican American resources in the community, followed by the addition of an African American context for this cover document. Other possible topics include a closer look at architecture and history of the University, and the impact of the Warrensburg sandstone quarries. Post WWII development within and around the original surV'ey area also merits further attention, and a possible future context. Postwar resources of interest include Ranch houses, described briefly here, as well as commercial enterprises that were built along new transportation corridors.
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The vast majority of the infonnation in the database was compiled by Schwenk Associates.
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I. MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
Barber, George F. Victorian Cottage Architecture: An American Catalogue of Designs, 1891. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications 1982. (Reprint of Barber's original Cottage Souvenir No 2, with added comment by Michael A. Tomlin.)
Berkland, Carol, Herb Best, and Lisa Irle. Postcard History Series: Warrensburg and Johnson County.
Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2004.
Buckley, E. R. and H. A. Buehler. The Quarrying Industry ofMissouri, Vol. II, 2nd Series, Jefferson
City, MO: 1904.
Bullard, Loring. Healing Wa.ters. Columbia, MO: University ofMissouri Press, 2004.
Christopher, Tom. "Warrensburg's Architectural and Historical Heritage." Show-Me Regional Planning Commission: Warrensburg, MO, 1981. (Report and Inventory forms on file with the Missouri State Historic Preservation Office, Jefferson City, MO.)
Christopher, Tom. "Historical and Architectural Survey ofWarrensburg's Residential Structures."
Show-Me Regional Planning Commission: Warrensburg, MO, 1983. (Report and Inventory forms on file with the Missouri State Historic Preservation Office, Jefferson City, MO.)
City Directory ofWarrensburg, Missouri 1895. Warrensburg, MO: Irving and Kunkel Publ., 1895.
City Directory ofWarrensburg, Missouri 1888-1889. Kansas City, MO: Western Directory Co., 1889.
City Directory ofWarrensburg, Missouri 1900-1901. Quincy, Ill: Wallin, Schaffer and Co., 1901.
Cockrell, Ewing. History oLJohnson County, Missouri. Topeka: Historical Publishing Co., 1918.
Crissey, William E. Warrensburg: A History with Folklore. Warrensburg: Daily Star-Journal, 1924.
Foley, William and Jeff Yelton, National Register nomination for Howard School, 2001.
Foster, Cecille. "This Old House," in Bulletin of the Johnson County Historical Society, Vol. XI, No.2,
Jan 1977,4.
Foster, Gerald. American Houses: A Field Guide to the Architecture of the Home. New York:
Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
Gottfried, Herbert and Jan Jennings. American Vernacular Design 1870-1940: An Illustrated
Glossary. New York: Van Nostrand Company, 1985.
Gowans, Alan. The Comfortable House: North American Suburban Architecture 1890-1930.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1986.
Gress, Lucille. An Informal
History of Black Families of the Warrensburg, Missouri, Area. Warrensburg, MO: The :Mid-America Press, Inc., 1997.
OMS No. 1024-0018, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
National Register .)f Historic Places Continuation Shee!t
Section
No.~
Page.2 Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri
Hopkins, D. S. Late Victorian House Designs: 56 American Homes and Cottages with Floor
Plans. Mineola, NY: Dov,er Publications, Inc., 2004. (Reprint ofHopkins' original Houses and Cottages, Book No.7: A Collection of House and Cottage Designs/ Containing 57 Designs Costing from $1,600 to $2,500, 1893.)
Irle, Lisa. Images ofAmerica: Warrensburg Missouri. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2004.
J. W. McFarlan's Warrensburg City Directory, Warrensburg: 1909.
Jones, Nancy T. National
Rel~ister
Nomination for the Cress, Herbert and Bettie House, 1995.
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254 Characteristic Homes. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1987.
Longstreth, Richard. The Buildings of Main Street: A Guide to American Commercial Architecture.
Washington, D.C.: National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2000.
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Introduction. Columbia: University of Missouri Extension Publications, 1994.
Maserang, Roger. National Register Nomination for the Johnson County Courthouse, 1994.
National Register Nomination for the Garden of Eden Station, 1994.
National Register Nomination for the Masonic Temple, 1998.
National Register Nomination for the Waqrren Street M. E. Church, 1996.
Massey, James C. and Shirley Maxwell. House Styles in America. New York: PengUin Studio, 1996.
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OMS No. 1024-0018, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places Continuation
Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri
Patterson, Tiffany. "Residential and Commercial District Boundary Recommendations, Warrensburg,
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XVIII, No.4 Sept. 2003.
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______. National Register Nomination for the Jones Brothers Mule Barn, 2011.
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About Sears Catalog HOf(les. Alton, IL: Gentle Beam Publications, 2002.
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OMS No. 1024-0018, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
National Register Historic Places Continuation Sheet
Section No. Figures Page
1
Figure List.
Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri
Figure 1. Outline Map ofthe Study Area. Figure 2. 1877 Atlas Map, with dates for early additions. Figure 3. An advertisenlent for the Magnolia Opera House, from the 1899 State Gazetteer. Figure 4. A 1909 advertisement for the Davis Grocery Store. Figure 5. Mail Order Plcm Used for 211 Grover Street in 1902. Figure 6. 1901 Advertisement for local builder Daniel M. Hout. Figure 7. 1869 Drawing of Central Warrensburg.
OMS No. 1024-0018, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet
Section No. Figures Page 2 Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri
Figure 1. Outline Map of the Study Area. These boundaries correspond to the area surveyed in 2007 and 2008, and include areas surveyed in 1981 and 1983.
Warrensburg
OMS No. 1024-0018, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet
Section No. Figures Page
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Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri
Figure 2. 1877 Atlas Map, with dates for early additions. Addition dates are from North, F. E., ed. History ofJohnson County. Missouri. (Kansas City, MO.: Kansas City Historical Company, 1881) 390-391.
OMS No. 1024-0018, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet
Section No. Figures Page.4 Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri
Figure 3. An ad for the Magnolia Opera House, from the 1899 State Gazetteer.
OMS No. 1024-0018, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet
Section No. Figures Page Q
Figure 5. 'Design No. 36" used for 211 Grover Street in 1902. From George F. Barber, Victorian Cottage Architecture: An American Catalogue of Designs. 1891. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications 1982. (Reprint of Barber's original Cottage Souvenir No 2, with added comment by Michael A. Tomlin.)
Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri
OMS No. 1024-0018, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet
Section No. Figures Page 1 Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri
Figure 6. 1901 Advertisement for local builder Daniel M. Hout. The same publication had an ad for J. W. King "Architect, contractor and builder" that included the same drawing. From City Directory ofWarrensburg, Missouri 1900-1901. QUincy, Ill: Wallin, Schaffer and Co., 1901. .
OMS No. 1024-0018, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet
Section No. Figures Page.a Historic and Architectural Resources of Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri
Figure 7. 1869 Drawing of Central Warrensburg. Detail of a "Bird's Eye View of the City ofWarrensburg, 1869" by A. Ruger. From the Library ofCongress. Old Town and the first courthouse are circled in the top left. New Town and railroad depot are in the lower right.
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