County of building: Franklin County
Location of building: W. Front St. & Cedar St., SW corner, Washington
Built: 1886, 1890, 1905 & 1920
Architectural Style: Victorian Commercial - Italianate
Classified: 2
Current Occupant: Missouri Meerschaum Company
District Map
This huge factory is in fact 4 buildings built connected to each other. As the business grew, more space was needed, and this plant needed power, so the owners built electric power plants to fulfill the needs.
Today, the factory is still in full production, and on the back side (up Cedar St.) it now houses a museum.
"Industrial, circa 1865-1935, Coded 2 (Photos # 4, 5, 21 through 30).
The articulation of the twelve industrial buildings generally follows
materials, forms and detailing of commercial/residential properties
dating to the same period of construction. They are usually devoid of
stylistic ornament but occasionally exhibit generic corbeled brick
cornices. ... Typically, industrial buildings have brick masonry walls resting on stone foundations, and have regular fenestration of segmental arches until after the turn-of the century when soldier course brick lintels are more often employed. The additions to the Missouri Meerschaum Company factory at 400-20 W. Front (Photo #27 and Survey Map) clearly illustrate this change in window form." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
" ... The
largest industrial plant, the Missouri Meerschaum Company, introduced a unique product, the corn cob pipe, which gained national recognition
and distribution: the company was a major employer in town. ... '
" ... Although at the end of the 19th century a diverse assortment of Revival styles began to appear in Washington's architecture, the majority of buildings were little affected. The conservative bias towards unembellished planar brick facades articulated with familiar forms was as much in evidence in commercial and domestic buildings as it was in industrial designs such as the Missouri Meerschaum Company plant ..."
"Washington's unique industry, the manufacture of corn cob pipes,
earned the city a national reputation as the world's entire supplier of commercially made cob pipes while producing a commodity which gave
employment to many local men, women and even children. In 1878, Henry
Tibbe, a native of Holland who came to Washington in 1870 as a wood
craftsman, secured a patent for a lathe turned corncob pipe finished
with plaster of paris. When first marketed the product met with great
success, and in 1886, the firm was incorporated as H. Tibbe & Co.,
known also as the Missouri Meerschaum Company. The first section of
the large complex still manufacturing today at 400-20 W. Front Street
(Photo 827) was erected in 1886, and as production demanded, additions
were made in 1890, 1905 and 1920. In 1895, it was reported that 85 men
were employed, and 25,000 pipes were manufactured daily. At about the
time Tibbe's patent expired, other pipe firms entered the industry.
One of these, Hirschl and Bendheim, had been St. Louis jobbers for
Missouri Meerschaum, and had established their own factory in St.
Louis." ~ NRHP Nomination Form, PDF pages 7, 16, & 21
"Henry Tibbe worked making furniture and spinning wheels in Enschede, Hollard. After a fire destroyed home and business he immigrated to the United States. In Washington, Mo. he opened a woodcraft shop circa 1868. He produced a lathe turned corn cob pipe in 1872 at 209 W. Second St. (demolished) He added plaster of Paris to increase bowl durability and smoothness and patented the process in 1878. That year he moved to a building at Jefferson and Front (demolished). In 1883 Tibbe began the first section of what is now known as the Missouri Meerschaum Pipe factory. The name Mo. Meerschaum derives from the fact that the Tibbe pipes had the same porous quality as the white, claylike mineral called meerschaum used in expensive carved pipes of that name. Tibbe incorporated under that name in 1872. Under Henry Tibbe and his son, Anton, after his death in 1896, the corn cob pipe became an international business commodity. Henry Tibbe was born 1819. he entered this country 1867 coming to Washington. MO in 1870" ~ Washington Historic Survey Phase I, pages 49-53