Harris-Chilton-Ruble House - New Franklin, Missouri - Pre-Victorian Historic Homes on Waymarking.com

"The Harris-Chilton-Ruble House is significant as one of Missouri's finest surviving Federal Style houses; as one of an important group of houses built in the Boonslick region of central Missouri that comprise the westernmost extension of the Federal Style; as the home of Peter B. Harris, an ea'rly merchant and manufacturer in the extinct frontier boom town of Franklin, "capital" of the Boonslick; and as the home of locally prominent citizens of the town of New Franklin, Missouri.

The Boonslick region comprises all or parts of the present counties of Howard, Cooper, Saline, Boone counties and was named after a Howard County salt lick worked at an : early date by the sons of Daniel Boone - Nathan and Daniel Morgan. The small settlement which had formed near there by the beginning of the War of 1812 represented the westernmost extent of American settlement. Franklin, which was built on the river bank of the Missouri immediately after the cessation of hostilities in 1816, became the frontier capital of that exuberant spot on the fringe of western civilization and it would serve as the staging area for that next great westward push towards Santa Fe and its riches, towards rendezvous in Rocky Mountain fur country, and ultimately towards lush Oregon and fabulous California.

Within a year of that town's quick birth, a young man named Peter B. Harris from the odd place, in that land of transplanted Kentuckians, of New-London, Connecticut, appeared in the streets of Franklin to take up the trade of hatter.J Soon, he married Ann Hook, sister to-two Santa Fe traders; within two years he advertised in the Missouri Intelligencer: "fashionable hats of the best quality...a good assortment of gentlemen's beaver and castor hats, ladies beaver and children's hats, all of which are manufactured under his own inspection of durable materials and finished in the neatest, most fashionable style"....

It was in 1831 that Peter B. Harris, then in his late thirties, acquired his lot in New Franklin and probably soon after erected his house. The builder, if Howard County oral tradition is reliable, was Owen Rawlings and his two prodigious slaves, Harry and Booker who, Howard County tradition again, seemed to have laid the brick for practically every house in the southern end of the county between 1830 and 1855. Lilburn A. Kingsbury observes that if this is true they must have laid brick faster than has ever been done since. In any event Harris only owned the house a dozen years, then it changed hands a few times before falling into the possession of J.W. Chilton, whose forty-six years of ownership have indelibly associated his name with the house. Chilton was appointed postmaster at New Franklin in 1855, and the next year took possession of the Chilton House. He was for more than forty years a merchant in the area. Around the turn of the century the Charles C. Alsop family moved in for a residency of twenty-five years. Alsop was part of a merchant dynasty keeping store in New Franklin for over a century. The longest continuous occupancy in the Chilton House is that of the Skinner-Brookman-Ruble family, having lived there since 1925." - Nomination form

Earliest Recorded Date of Construction: 01/01/1832 Architectural Period/Style: Federal Type of Building e.g. Country House, Stately Home, Manor: Village house Interesting Historical Facts or Connections: Was home of village hatter Listed Building Status (if applicable): National Register of Historic Places Main Material of Construction: Brick Private/Public Access: Private Related Website: [Web Link] Rating: Additional Dates of Construction: Not listed Architect (if known): Not listed Landscape Designer (if known): Not listed Admission Fee (if applicable): Not Listed Opening Hours (if applicable): Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   07/08/2021 YoSam. visited it