Friday, December 16, 2016

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.
Image may contain: house, plant, tree and outdoor
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






5 comments:

  1. Interesting story, again! thanks Peggy

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  2. I went to a sale this summer and got some black vases that when held to the light are purple. Before leaving I looked at some sheet music and there was some by Curly Broyles, a cousin of my mother, I was so happy to find this and got two copies.

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  3. Learned from Cheatham family members that the house at 414 S. Holden came from the Sears, Roebuck & Co catalog. It was called the Magnolia and cost $5,100.00 in 1915(excluding bricks and mortar}. It was the most expensive house offered by Sears, the least could be had for $191.00.

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    1. Unfortunately, the Johnson County Historical Society has misidentified this house. This is not a Sears Magnolia. Not only is it not a close match but the construction date of 1915 is not correct. The Sears Magnolia was not offered until 1918.
      If you will look at the Magnolia catalog image and examples you will notice that the roof is hipped. The house at 414 S. Holden Street does not have a hipped roof, it has a side/end gabled roof. When identifying houses I always tell people to start with the roof. Does the roof style match? No? Wrong identification. Then, there’s that construction date……..

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    2. thanks, but JOCOMO Historical did not misidentify, this came from an anonymous poster.

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