Burns, Caleb, House - Maryville, Missouri
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 40° 20.820 W 094° 52.651
15T E 340545 N 4467963
This house is documented as the oldest existing house in Maryville, Missouri.
Waymark Code: WM5B9Q
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 12/11/2008
Views: 11
"The Caleb P. Burns Home started in 1846 is significant 35 the oldest
surviving home in Maryville, Missouri. In 1973, the Nodaway County Historical
Society researched the residences of Maryville for the town's oldest surviving
home and in 1977, the historic inventory of Nodaway also researched for the
oldest surviving home in the city. In both surveys, the Caleb Burns home started
in 1846 was declared to be the oldest surviving home in-Maryville.
In 1844, Caleb P. Burns moved to Maryville from Andrew County where he had
been serving as a Deputy Sheriff. Mr. Burns claimed a quarter section of land
near the original plat of Maryville where he built a log cabin and began this
house in 1846. The boundary of this section was First Street on the south, 8th
street on the north, Munn Street on the west, and the alley between Main and
Buchanan on the east. Mr. Burns sub-divided a portion of this land and
incorporated it into the city of Maryville as the Burns addition. He also sold a
portion to Amos Graham in 1845 on which Mr. Graham built a house at the corner
of 2nd and Buchanan. The city of Maryville was named after Mr. Graham's wife
Mary.
In 1849, at the time of the gold excitement, Mr. Burns went to California and
left his family in Maryville. No record exists of Mr. Burns' activities in
California but he appears in 1854 city records, giving rise to the speculation
that he returned to the city without amassing a fortune in the gold fields. Mr.
Burns served in various positions in .the early city government being a justice
of the peace and a city clerk.
About the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, there was an exchange of
farms between persons living in Missouri and southern states like Texas. Mr.
Burns was involved in one of these complicated exchanges in the following
manner. A George Downing of Texas came to Missouri and took the farm of Nathan
Murphy; Mr. Murphy took Caleb Burns' farm and Burns took Downing's farm in
Texas. The 1882 History of Nodaway County, Missouri states that Mr. Caleb
P. Burns was still living in Texas in 1881.
The Murphy's kept the property until 1865 when it was acquired by T.L.
Robinson. Mr. Robinson was a cashier of the Nodaway Valley Bank at the time.
Ester Cornell bought the Robinson farm but within the year sold it to the Lewis
C. Evans family. The Evans family lived in the house for a decade. When a
daughter married i n 1874, they build the house directly east for her." -
National Register nomination form