He Hung Himself and She Burned to Death

A few weeks ago Bruce Uhler asked me to do some research on the Cheatham House.  This one at 414 South Holden.

It's the house that UCM just bought.

I couldn't find anything about the house but Bruce did.  Here's a link he found to a Facebook page with some amazing photographs and stories about the home.

https://www.facebook.com/search/str/the%2Bcheatham%2B-%2Bphillips%2Bhouse/keywords_search?filters_rp_author=239083159839076

What I found in my research was that the above home wasn't the only Cheatham house in town.  There was once this one at 204 Grover.

Here's a really interesting story about the old house.

In case you can't (or don't want to) read the tiny print in this article, here's part of it:   

"There has been a great deal of happiness, sorrow and tragedy in the house.  The first owner known to me was a Mr. Howard.  He hung himself from the stairwell.  Some years later as Mrs. Howard and her children, John and Mable, were getting ready for bed, she pulled the hanging oil lamp down to extinguish it - it fell and set her nightgown on fire.  She burned to death."

I guess that proves that having a fancy house isn't necessarily a key to happiness.

Thanks to Bruce Uhler for providing current pictures of this house:
https://www.redfin.com/MO/Warrensburg/204-Grover-St-64093/home/77027240

We Used to Hunt Rats There

Buddy Baker, 92, remembers Jay's Garage very well.  "It was where BiLo is now.  Jay's dad owned all of that land all the way to Gay Street - that area where Parkview Gardens is now.  That creek between BiLo and Parkview Gardens - it was an open sewer back when I was a kid.  We used to go down there and hunt rats for fun.

"He was a fine fellow.  He did a lot of mechanic work for me.  My son, Bob (Baker), worked for him until Jay died, then his wife sold the land and the garage.

"He had a cat in the shop that would climb a step ladder clear to the top and would sit up there and watch everything that was going on.  He had his garage there when I was young.  He built it before I was driving."

Jay was Jay Eller.  

He died in 1974. He was so young but he had heart trouble.

And the building sold in 1976