Big thanks go out to Matt Bird-Meyer for allowing the republishing of this story and hopefully more stories in the future of the history and heritage of our area that was written and reported in The Free Press newspaper.
Whiteman preserves Buente Town heritage
by Matt Bird-MeyerThe Free Press
"The only remaining evidence of Buente Town in Warrensburg is James and Irene Whiteman's 1889 house on the corner of South Maguire and Jackson streets.
"The university wiped away all other traces of Buente Town (pronounced Benny) when it bulldozed the strip center in front of the Foster Knox apartments, next door to the new Campus Cafe along South Maguire." The site is now a parking lot.
The sturdy, two-inch-thick redwood sign set up next to James Whiteman’s screened-in front porch at 611 S. Maguire is a small memorial to the history of the 113-year-old house, built by itinerant Italian workers and later owned by the Buente family.
The Buente's operated Buente's General Store out of James and Irene Whiteman live in the original location of the Buente General Store on the corner of South Maguire and Jackson streets the house until about 1916 when the store moved a block to the north into what is now the Campus Cafe.
Whiteman's family moved into the house in 1932 and after his parents died, James Whiteman bought the house. He also bought the gray house directly behind the Buente home, connecting the two with a narrow hallway. "People always ask, 'What do you do with so much space?"" said Irene, 80. "I tell them we live all over the house."
And this is certainly true. Most of the rooms in the house are filled with quilts, interesting antique furniture paintings, and cases filled with imported wine glasses and handcrafted plates.
The entire block from Clark Street to the area of the pedestrian overpass over Maguire was known as Buente Town. Whiteman, 79, remembers clearly when this area was a thriving business district that was packed with three or four grocery stores, filling stations, two restaurants, a barbershop with a beauty shop in the back, a cleaning service, and a bowling alley (Plaza Bowl).
He remembers when there was an alley north of Clark Street before the university had buildings there. The alley was lined with a sandwich shop on one side and a shoe repair shop on the other.
Whiteman's family moved into the house in 1932 and after his parents died, James Whiteman bought the house. He also bought the gray house directly behind the Buente home, connecting the two with a narrow hallway. "People always ask, 'What do you do with so much space?"" said Irene, 80. "I tell them we live all over the house."
And this is certainly true. Most of the rooms in the house are filled with quilts, interesting antique furniture paintings, and cases filled with imported wine glasses and handcrafted plates.
The entire block from Clark Street to the area of the pedestrian overpass over Maguire was known as Buente Town. Whiteman, 79, remembers clearly when this area was a thriving business district that was packed with three or four grocery stores, filling stations, two restaurants, a barbershop with a beauty shop in the back, a cleaning service, and a bowling alley (Plaza Bowl).
He remembers when there was an alley north of Clark Street before the university had buildings there. The alley was lined with a sandwich shop on one side and a shoe repair shop on the other.
The Buente Town block was once anchored by the most popular restaurant in Warrensburg. Riggle's "On the College Plaza." Whiteman said Riggle eventually bought four or five buildings in a row adjacent to his restaurant. During his youth, Whiteman worked as a carhop at the restaurant and was later promoted to a soda jerk. Riggle also opened a bowling alley in the strip center sometime in the late 1940s.
"I learned how to gutter those balls with the best of them," Whiteman said of the immediate excitement in town when the first bowling alley opened. The Buente family relocated their general store to the building on Clark and Maguire Streets sometime in 1916, which later became Werling's Grocery store.
"It was the first in this part of the country to have more than one store," Whiteman said, adding that Werling's had stores in Pittsville and Montserrat. "They were really big wheelers and dealers."
The time was one of the heavy competition among no less than 17 grocery stores in Warrensburg. Whiteman said most would deliver without any minimum charge, even delivering a nickel item to your door. "They were really competitive, my lord," he said.
Whiteman has watched dozen s of houses come down all around him and apartments and other buildings go up in their place. He fondly remembers when Nellie Hart Sterling lived across the street. Sterling was well versed in Warrensburg's history. She knew the Buente family and would share stories about the Buente home with Whiteman.
An apartment complex took the place of four homes across the street where Sterling "used to live, he said. At this day and age, you just have to accept change," Whiteman said. "That's the way life is. I try not to worry about things I can't change anyway."
Inside his family home, Whiteman has a framed a newspaper clipping describing the history of the Buente family and the home they built. Below it is an old panoramic picture of Central Missouri State University before the fire (1915) and another panoramic picture of Warrensburg when Railroad Street was lined with half a dozen mule barns.
An apartment complex took the place of four homes across the street where Sterling "used to live, he said. At this day and age, you just have to accept change," Whiteman said. "That's the way life is. I try not to worry about things I can't change anyway."
Inside his family home, Whiteman has a framed a newspaper clipping describing the history of the Buente family and the home they built. Below it is an old panoramic picture of Central Missouri State University before the fire (1915) and another panoramic picture of Warrensburg when Railroad Street was lined with half a dozen mule barns.
The furniture in the house has also been passed down through the generation. There's a more than I00-year-old flour bread storage bin in the kitchen, reupholstered rocking chairs in the living separated by his father's old radio bench. The antique radio around which the would huddle in the evenings is up the second attached house. The upstairs of this house is filled with an elaborate model train network that Whiteman built. Irene said his poor eyesight, aggravated by debris that got into his eyes when the balcony collapsed at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City several years ago, has kept James from his trains recently.
The inside of both houses in general is full of memories and a rich history. Every piece of old, well-kept furniture has a story. The walls are lined with what appears to be hundreds of original Masonite paintings by former local artist Clara Porter Brierly. One wall features a series of painting Brierly made of Pertle Springs, one of
The inside of both houses in general is full of memories and a rich history. Every piece of old, well-kept furniture has a story. The walls are lined with what appears to be hundreds of original Masonite paintings by former local artist Clara Porter Brierly. One wall features a series of painting Brierly made of Pertle Springs, one of
Continued on page 5
"SEPTEMBER 26 - OCTOBER 9, 2002" The Free Press
which describes an encounter she had at the springs when she happened upon a pair of peacocks roosting in the trees.
Whiteman is a retired dentist, and most of these paintings once adorned the walls in his Warrensburg office.
His father, Clarence Whiteman, is listed in the Athletic Hall of Fame at Central for his time as a football player and coach. Clarence was captain of the Mules from 1923-26 and was a coach and physical education teacher from 1926 until he died in 1967.
Whiteman's son, James R. Whiteman II, has since taken over his father's dentistry practice in Warrensburg.
And on most good days, passers-by may catch a glimpse of Whiteman relaxing on his front porch. "I'll keep it in the family as long as I'm around, I guess," he said of the Buente house. ''We love the old house.''
His father, Clarence Whiteman, is listed in the Athletic Hall of Fame at Central for his time as a football player and coach. Clarence was captain of the Mules from 1923-26 and was a coach and physical education teacher from 1926 until he died in 1967.
Whiteman's son, James R. Whiteman II, has since taken over his father's dentistry practice in Warrensburg.
And on most good days, passers-by may catch a glimpse of Whiteman relaxing on his front porch. "I'll keep it in the family as long as I'm around, I guess," he said of the Buente house. ''We love the old house.''
Footnote: Dr. Whiteman's obituary https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/kansascity/obituary.aspx?n=james-r-whiteman&pid=95130590
Buente Town Fire in 1916
Forrest Riggle
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