Missouri’s Most Endangered 2014
ANNOUNCED MAY 20, 2014
Missouri Preservation announced its list of the State’s Most Endangered Historic Places for 2014 at a press conference held at the Henry Blosser House in Malta Bend (Saline County), Missouri. The announcement was made at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20, 2014.
The Henry Blosser House
Malta Bend, Saline County
Lewis & Clark Branch Library
Moline Acres, St. Louis County
Houston House
Newburg, Phelps County
The Coleman House
Poplar Bluff, Butler County
University of Missouri Campus Buildings
Bel Nor, St. Louis County
The Franz Schmidt Cabin
Cape Girardeau, Cape Girardeau County
The Henry Miller House
Bloomfield, Stoddard County
The Phillip Kaes House
Sherman, St. Louis County
The James Clemens, Jr. House
St. Louis City
Greenwood Cemetery
Hillsdale, St. Louis County
The Route 66 Meramec River Bridge
Eureka, St. Louis County
2014 Watched Properties
Athens Methodist Church
Athens, Clark County
Wheatley-Provident Hospital
Kansas City, Jackson County
The Frank L. Sommer “Cracker” House
St. Joseph, Buchanan County
The Diamonds Restaurant
Villa Ridge, Franklin County
School Buildings of Missouri
Statewide
The Kemper Arena
Kansas City, Jackson County
The Russell Hotel
Charleston, Mississippi County
The Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church
Lexington, Lafayette County
The Pelster House Barn
Franklin County
The Henry Blosser House
Malta Bend | Saline County
The Henry Blosser House was constructed c.1878, built by E. R. Page. The home was built for Henry Blosser, who had moved his family from Ross County, Ohio in November 1865. An enterprising and self-reliant farmer, Blosser was well known and respected and his farm known for its large livestock herd and prolific wheat production. The Blosser name is well-recognized in Saline County. Blosser’s daughter-in-law, Georgia Brown Blosser, daughter of St. Louis broker and real estate tycoon Paul Brown, was both designer and financier of the construction of the Georgia Brown Blosser Home for the Aged and the Georgia Brown Blosser Home for Crippled Children on Eastwood Street in Marshall. Unusual in this rural area, the Henry Blosser house in Malta Bend is an elegant and substantial three-story brick Second Empire style home, with a signature mansard roof. The nomination claims that this building was designed by George Ingham Barnett, who was the architect for the current Governor’s Mansion in Jefferson City. Though the claim is not substantiated, it does bear resemblance to Barnett’s French Second Empire designs. The house is currently vacant and vandalized, but not beyond repair. The current owners have indicated that they are willing to sell a small plot of land on which the house is located to a willing buyer interested in renovating the home. If a suitable owner cannot be found, the owner intends to demolish the building and return the land to agricultural use.
Lewis & Clark Branch Library
Moline Acres | St. Louis County
The Lewis & Clark Branch Library, the only library building designed by architect Frederick Dunn, FAIA, was constructed in 1963. Once the pride of the County Library system, the building was fitted with stained glass windows by master artist Robert Harmon, and was constructed as part of a progressive mid-century building program which sought to re-envision libraries in the postwar era. Placed at the northern end of the library building’s main façade and echoed in smaller blocks of colored glassed embedded throughout the curtain wall and tiny hopper windows, Harmon’s design includes images of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the library’s namesakes, along with their Shoshone guide, Sacagawea and her baby, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau. Flora and fauna including a buffalo in sprint are interwoven with abstract patterns to complete a stunning composition. The building design is a very elegant response to functional requirements both in plan (a simple rectangle) and in elevation, with the brick walls extending upward to give a solid wall to display the perimeter book shelves and a clearstory window above providing ample daylight to the interior. These features make this building as fresh today as it was when it was first created and flexible to extend its life well into the future. The St. Louis County Library plans to demolish the Lewis & Clark Branch and replace it with a completely new structure. Our hope is that listing here will help persuade the Library Trustees to reconsider, adding a sensitive addition to meet the future needs of the Library’s patrons rather than demolishing this worthy mid-century St. Louis County Landmark.
The Houston House
Newburg | Phelps County
Newburg, Missouri is first and foremost a railroad town. Founded by the St. Louis-San Francisco (Frisco) Railroad in 1883-84, the town served as the major refueling point between St. Louis and Springfield. The first structures to be erected at Newburg for the purposes of the railroad were the Frisco roundhouse and the “Railroad Hotel and Eating House,” known today as the Houston House. Both of these structures opened for business on 1 January 1884. Construction began on the white frame, three-story Colonial Revival Style hotel building in 1883 by William H. Harris, who had previously operated a hotel and restaurant in Dixon. Following the relocation of the Frisco’s division point to Newburg, he set out to establish a hotel and restaurant for the developing community, railway employees, and the passengers traveling along the Frisco Line. For three generations the building not only serviced the railroad clientele but also served as the Harris family home. After the death of William Harris, his daughter Martha Elizabeth “Matt” Houston took over the operations of the building. It is at this time that the building took the name associated with William Harris’s daughter. Despite the fact that other such establishments existed along First Street, the Houston House was widely renowned for its hospitality, food, and ambiance. Today the building is threatened by decades of flood damage, rising damp, and a fire that ravaged the third flood in the mid-1970s. Subsequent renovation efforts went unfinished in the 1990s, leaving some of the building’s outer walls to become cracked and exposed to the elements. In 2004 the Newburg Community Revitalization Program Group purchased the building. This group has since operated the Houston House as a weekly soup kitchen in an effort to raise funds to help with the building’s maintenance and upkeep. With much work still to be done, it is hoped that by being listed on Missouri’s Most Endangered Historic Places, that a renewal of interest for the building will help generate not only awareness for the building’s condition but will also to help raise the much-needed funds for the preservation of this historic building that many consider to be the heart and soul of the Newburg community.
The Coleman House
Poplar Bluff | Butler County
Poplar Bluff’s Coleman house was constructed about 1902 for local prominent dentist, Charles Bernard Coleman and his wife, Ruth Hinckley. Dr. Coleman was born in 1873 in Foristell, Missouri, the son of Daniel T. And Sarah C. Price Coleman, a native of Missouri. Sarah’s parents were originally from Virginia and relocated to promote the primary pioneer settlement of Missouri. Her father, Job Price, was the cousin of Confederate General Sterling Price, and was considered one of the more affluent farmers and property owners of Warren County. The house is significant architecturally as it was designed in the Colonial Revival style, which is unusual in this Southern Missouri town. It is located in a well-known residential area of Poplar Bluff less than a block from the North Main Street Historic District. While it retains many of its original architectural elements including wood trim, hardwood floors, fireplace mantles, original staircase, pocket doors, transoms and plaster walls, the house has been vacant since 1983 and has been condemned by the City of Poplar Bluff, which has ordered its demolition if required repairs are not made. There is strong support within the community to save the Coleman House, and it is hoped that this listing will help persuade the current owner to sell the property to someone who is interested in renovating this important historic property.
University of Missouri Historic Resources
Bel Nor | St. Louis County
A community outcry against demolition of two important buildings on the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis has caused this nomination to Missouri’s Most Endangered Historic Places. The first is at 2800 Normandy Drive and is currently known as Normandie Hall. This building is on the former estate of James H. Lucas, one of the original settlers to the area. Originally a convent for the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, it was constructed in 1922 and used by the Sisters until 1992 when sold to the University of Missouri. The University utilized the building first as on-campus housing, then as the Honors College center, then as a conference center, before vacating a few years ago. The other building is currently known as the Alumni Center. Located at 7956 Natural Bridge Road, the house is a substantial Mediterranean style house built of all masonry construction in 1927. The exterior features stone, and red brick as well as a green glazed tile roof. Interior features include arched leaded glass windows, French doors, decorative plaster walls and molding and terrazzo floors throughout. The University vacated the Alumni Center and maintains that it is too costly to renovate. Given the strong community support shown for the preservation of these buildings, the University has agreed to stave off demolition to see if suitable owners can be found to renovate and again occupy these buildings. We hope that by naming them to the list of Most Endangered Historic Places, purchasers interested in renovation and repurposing of these buildings might be identified.
The Franz Schmidt Cabin
Cape Girardeau | Cape Girardeau Co.
The current appearance of what was the Franz Schmidt Cabin (818 N. Fountain) – a frame Bungalow design typical of the 1930s – belies its original form. The settlement of this property occurred prior to 1832, although it is unsure whether a building existed here when Franz Schmidt acquired it in 1860. During some initial rehabilitation work in 2013, the first logs became visible from beneath the exterior clapboard siding, and it was discovered that the southern half of the house was indeed a log “cabin” of modified lap and half-notch construction. The cabin structure is shown in early lithograph maps of Cape Girardeau and military maps from the Civil War. The cabin is in close proximity to the location of the Union Army’s Fort A and was very near to the horse corral, on land now bisected by what is now Cape Girardeau’s Fountain Street. Verbal historical accounts from the Schmidt family indicate that Franz Schmidt was its builder. The original core of the present house represents one of the oldest extant structures in the historic City of Cape Girardeau, as well as being a rare remaining structure in the Fort A District, and a rare example of German Vernacular construction. The City of Cape Girardeau has condemned the house and considers it “impractical” for renovation. A support group consisting of local preservationists has been working with the house’s owner to stabilize the building, and has also done preliminary work toward listing it on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition, these supporters have established a social networking site and have begun the process of establishing a tax-exempt corporation in order to raise funds for its restoration. It is hoped that listing on Missouri’s Most Endangered will help persuade the City of Cape Girardeau to give the preservationists more time in which to raise these funds and establish a new use for this historic place.
The Henry Miller House
Bloomfield | Stoddard County
This house was constructed sometime between 1845 and 1849 for Henry Miller, a civic leader and merchant who was prominent in the early swamp land reclamation movement in Southeast Missouri and was also involved in the creation and promotion of the Cairo & Fulton Railroad Company in the 1850s. Known architecturally as an “I-House,” it is believed to be the oldest in Stoddard County and one of the oldest houses in Southeast Missouri. The interior of the house retains much of its original material, with the exception of minor repairs. The house was used as a residence continually from the time it was constructed until about 1979 and has been vacant ever since. The house has since fallen into general disrepair from neglect, some siding is missing, and the porch collapsed and was removed. A $200,000.00 grant was received several years ago to restore the house, but after one of the contractors failed to produce, the grant was forfeited. Student volunteers from the Historic Preservation Association at Southeast Missouri State University have been working to stabilize the Miller House. It is hoped that Missouri’s Most Endangered List will bring added recognition to this historic place, that the building can be listed on the National Register of Historic Places and that it will be able to once again garner economic favor through a broader system of support.
(The house was used as the site for the 2013 Most Endangered Announcement)
The Phillip Kaes House
Sherman (Castlewood State Park) | St. Louis County
The land on which the Phillip Kaes house sits was part of a Spanish land grant to Samuel Pruitt, who was one of the first English-speaking settlers west of the Mississippi. By 1862, most of Pruitt’s holdings had been divided between the Lewis, Kaehs (Kaes) and Coons families. The house was sited on land belonging to the Kaeses. There is still a private cemetery on the property bearing Kaes family inscriptions. The house is designated a St. Louis County Landmark and is now part of Castlewood State Park. It suffers sorely from lack of maintenance. Acquired by the State Parks Department in 1980, one year later the first proposal to pay for its restoration started through the bureaucratic maze. Finally in 1986 $172,000.00 was allocated by the state legislature for the house, but officials shifted money to other needs at the park. In the ensuing years, time has not been kind to State Parks budgets and even though the house was listed in a previous Most Endangered list, has continued to fall into disrepair. It is hoped that this nomination will call attention to the need for increased funding for Missouri’s State Parks and historic buildings that have been acquired into the State Parks system.
The James Clemens, Jr. House
The City of Saint Louis
This house, completed 1859-60 was designed by architect, Patrick Walsh and constructed for James Clemens, who was a highly successful businessman and cousin to writer Samuel Clemens. The house is listed on the National Register and is a St. Louis City Landmark. This imposing Palladian-style villa with extensive cast iron ornamentation represents one of the most intact antebellum mansions in the St. Louis area. After the death of the illustrious owner in 1888, the house and furnishings were sold to the Sisters of Carondelet, a chapel addition was constructed, and the property became the Convent of Our Lady of Good Counsel. The Sisters enlarged the property to include a dormitory and a Georgian Palladian chapel, which was designed by Aloysius Gillick and completed in 1896. Beginning in 1949 the buildings were used by a number of Roman Catholic communities and charities, and in 1987 it was sold to the Berean Missionary Baptist Association and then in 2005 to the Universal Vietnamese Buddhist Association. In these recent years, the complex has been used as a homeless shelter and the buildings have received little or no maintenance. A 1984 inspection report suggested that the cast iron used in the façade had become cracked and brittle, allowing water to be trapped behind. The quoins at the corners of the building were reportedly in bad condition, were missing fragments and cracking at the anchor bolts. A conservative price tag for repairs needed at that time was $100,000.00. Since then the building has transferred hands a number of times, the most recent being to the developer of the proposed “NorthSide Regeneration” project. Representatives of NorthSide Regeneration removed the cast iron façade of the house years ago when it was promised the building would be renovated. Since then, even though NorthSide has received substantial tax credits for redevelopment of the area, nothing has been done to preserve or stabilize the house or additions, and the roof of the nearby chapel has collapsed. It is hoped that this nomination will encourage NorthSide Regeneration to complete rehabilitation of the Clemens House and to include preservation as a focal point of its future plans in the NorthSide Regeneration area.
Greenwood Cemetery
Hillsdale | St. Louis County
Greenwood Cemetery was established in 1874 as the first commercial African-American cemetery in the St. Louis area. After emancipation and before the establishment of Greenwood, the majority of African-Americans in this area did not have a choice of burial location for their deceased family members – due to Jim Crow laws the potters fields and other city-owned cemeteries were the final resting places not only for indigents, but also for people of color no matter what their circumstances or status. Greenwood, with its rural location, park-like setting and 31.85 acres of beautiful well-kept grounds was a welcome change for the small but growing black middle class. Maintenance at the cemetery seems to have ended in the 1980s, as the cemetery showed a drastic loss in revenue due to decreased burials. In 1993 burials ceased at the cemetery due to deteriorating conditions and eventually vegetation was allowed to grow wild in all of Greenwood’s 31.85 acres, making it an impenetrable wilderness. Due to the many decades of neglect, the situation at Greenwood is grim. Much of the cemetery has been used as a dump site, the roads are impassable, stones have been toppled and buried, and shrubs and trees have now become impenetrable overgrowth. Despite current conditions, this site has potential as a cultural and historical resource. It has enormous potential for education, African-American genealogical research, and could be restored for hiking, biking and other activities.
The Route 66 Bridge
Eureka Vicinity | St. Louis County
The Route 66 Bridge over the Meramec River in Southwest St. Louis County was constructed in 1932 and is known as a Warren deck truss bridge, of which only three other examples remain in Missouri. Route 66’s passage across the Meramec River was heavily promoted as a tourist attraction due to the river itself, as well as the adjacent working class resort community known as Times Beach. Although major highway traffic is now carried over the Meramec by the Interstate 44 Bridge, the Route 66 Bridge was incorporated into the boundaries of Route 66 State Park, which opened in 1999. A Route 66 Museum was opened in a former lodge and road house, which houses maps and memorabilia from “The Mother Road.” Most of the remaining acreage of the park, however, lies across the bridge in what was formerly Times Beach, leaving the interpretive center cut off from most of the remaining park space. Previously one of the most visited State Parks in Missouri at around 250,000 visitors per year, park attendance has dropped since the bridge’s closure in 2009. There is strong support from a number of local and statewide groups to preserve this bridge. Since this is a deck truss bridge, the biggest detriment to its structural integrity is the heavy weight of the concrete surface above. The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has used some of the money in its demolition budget to remove the deck and give supporters of saving the bridge until 2015 to find a new owner to assume the cost of rehabilitation.
Update: MoDOt used some of the money originally dedicated for demolition to remove the concrete decking so it would be easier to renovate.
