County of house: Cooper County
Location of house: E. High St., 2nd house W of 7th St., N side, Boonville
Built: mid-1800's; front added 1883
Architect: John S. Weber
Architectural Style: Italianate
Original Occupant: Sarah Williams
Current Occupant: Private Residence
District Map
"13. Holmes Residence, 617 E. High Street, mid-1800's. Built in several sections, the two-story brick Italianate front section was added in 1881-1883." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"Built: mid-1800's with ca. 1881-1883 front section
Style/Design: Italian Villa
Facade features two-story bay window and a decorative wooden porch. The cornice has a generous overhang supported by scroll brackets. Inside, the original false--grained wood-work remains throughout the front of the house. Sliding doors of false-grained woodwork separate the west parlor and dining room. Both downstairs front rooms have cast iron mantels on working fireplaces.
"Information in the property abstract strongly suggest the existence of buildings on lot 83 since 1822 (p.4). It is of interest to note the properties of lots 59 and 83 were grouped together with lots 10 and 11 in 1832 (p.8). Lots 10 and 11 contained a saw mill and grist mill and milling machinery. In 1834 (p.9) a transaction involving these 4 lots carried a considerations of $18,000. In 1850 Sarah Williams bought lots 58, 59, and 83 for $1000 (p.16). In 1852 she moved to California state and gave her brother, John Porter, the power of attorney to manage her real estate, collect rents and sell the properties. This fact suggests buildings and tenants were on the properties at that time. Jesse Homan purchased the three lots from Sarah Williams in July 1855 for $1200 (p.18).
In 1863 Homan borrowed $1397.50 (p.20) placing his properties in trust to secure the promissory note. The Homans lived on lot 58 (p.21). They sold lot 83 to Julia P. Weber on Oct. 18, 1881 (p.21) "with appurtenances" for $450. It appears a house already existed
on lot 83 at that time. The Webers transferred lot 83 to Julius A. Weber on Nov. 1883 for $3000. And Julius transferred it back to John S. Weber in the same month for $3500 (p. 24). In Oct. 1885, lot 83 was sold by John S. Weber and Julia P. Weber to David Andrews for $3725 (p.26). These facts would suggest the house on the lot in 1881 was
improved between 1881-1883 by the Webers. There are three floor levels in the present house's first story and evidences in the brick walls of additions. The rear (N) section possibly retains some fabric of the ca. 1822-1881 building(s). The front (S) portion may then date from the 1881-1883 jump in value under the Weber ownership. There are keys in the house with 1870's patents. If constructed in the early 1880's, it is conservative for that time, containing interior millwork, stairway balusters and newel found in other Missouri examples dating from the 1860's and 1870's.
The house is not featured in the 1900 publication, Boonville the Vine Clad City. This booklet shows the new homes of that time. The deletion indicates this house was considered old by 1900. The west side is partially visible in the photograph illustrating the neighboring house to the west, now known as the Charles Verts residence. The Webers sold lot 83 to David Andrews in 1885 for $3725 (p.26). The Andrews bought lots 58 in 1889 and lot 59 in 1891 and retained ownership of all three lots until 1930 when they were sold to Sadie Howard Chilton for $6,350. Mrs. Chilton lived to be 102. She died in 1968. William and M. Patricia Holmes purchased the
property in 1970 from Mrs. Chilton's estate. Levens and Drake's History of Cooper County, 1876, mentions a 4th of July celebration in 1820 in which a canon was fired from the Indian mound in the front yard of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Homan "north and northwest of the courthouse." This mound is extant today immediately north of the house on Lot 83 (617 E. High St.). A root cellar has been dug into the southeast corner of the mound.
This cellar appears to date from the 1880's period. The only surviving building on the property now is the Holmes house, but many evidences of earlier buildings are to be found in the rear yard. While digging holes for fruit trees in 1976 we noted a straight foundation wall of brick east of the Indian mound and northeast of the house.
The present garden area at the north edge of lot 83 and the south edge of lots 58 and 59 is full of cinders, brick bats, stones, glass fragments, old bottles, dish fragments, etc. As the
bluff is wind deposited loess soil, any stones or other such matter have been introduced into the property. The topsoil is extremely deep. Rectangular foundation outlines are visible and there is a basin which was possibly a watering trough. The Andrews were tinners and supposedly were quite wealthy. (conversation with the late Judge Roy D. Williams) They had gold flatware at their table. (Williams) Three generations of Andrews owned the property 1885-1930. This family has a prominent obelisque monument at Walnut Grove Cemetery in Boonville.
The Chiltons were local jewelers. They had lived in a fine large house on Main Street until moving here in 1930. The Main Street property was needed for a filling station to serve the then bustling U.S. Highway 40 traffic. Mrs. Chilton was 64 when she moved here. Her husband died 4 years later. She was known as an industrious, enterprising, business woman who was well respected. She remodeled the
house putting in hardwood floors, moving the kitchen into the back stair hall and taking out the back stairs. She enclosed the rear first story porch to make a summer bedroom for herself and put in bathrooms. She also had a two-story stairhall added to the southwest corner of the house. This addition was done quite sympathetically to the original architecture. She was then able to rent out a three-room apartment on the west side of the upstairs and the eastern bedroom and bathroom upstairs. Mrs. Chilton had quarters for a live-in servant in a back room north of her kitchen. She apparently removed the speaking tubes from the house. During the depression she allowed a man of European birth named "John" to live in a make-shift shack in the north of the property. A skillful gardener, this man raised vegetables in the rich soil of the back yard and sold his produce up and down the streets of Boonville for his livelihood. Mrs. Chilton would not
allow him inside her house, however, because he had 'bedbugs." Mrs. Chilton loaned money to negro persons. They would come to the rear door of her summer bedroom -- a room she also used as her office, to do business with her. She helped people in these ways. (interviews with Judge Roy D. Williams, Mrs. S.E. Bailey and Mrs. E.F. Utley,
former occupants of the apartment who knew Mrs. Chilton)
The structure is both architecturally and historically significant on a local level. It is one of the few houses remaining in this district of the Italianate style, however, due to size and location it fits into the streetscape and forms an important element in the neighborhood
"Residential neighborhood. Street lined with hewn stone curbing. Brick paving covered over. Hard maple trees along curbs produce colorful fall display. Utility poles and wires fortuitously were installed along the alleys rather than along High St. thus permitting a canopy of attractive folliage. No original outbuildings survive
No original outbuildings survive. Their former locations In the rear yard noted in plowing for a garden and digging holes to plant fruit trees. A squatter's shanty exists 2/3 on lot 59 and partly on an alley right-of-way which is not used as an alley due to the steep slope of the ground." ~ Boonville Historic Survey PDF pages 1508-1513