On November 22, 1903, the Springfield Republican announced the imminent construction of “a very fine residence” for Paul Nicholas. The builder was A.R. Bowman who projected a cost of $16,000 to complete the beautiful home that would be known as Humboldt Place. Work was completed in 1904.

Porte cochere on the west side of the house.

Paul Nicholas was born in England on Christmas day, 1855. He arrived in the US in 1877 and was naturalized in 1890 while living in Graham County, Arizona. In 1893, he married Roselle Tierney in Morenci, Arizona. Nicholas was almost 38 years old and Roselle was 18. 

Though Nicholas was the “superintendent of mines” at the Arizona Copper Company, a trip through Springfield in 1902 led him to buy land west of town and to be a farmer in addition to his work as an engineer. Today, his 176-acre farm is no more, but the house still sits peacefully in a park-like setting on the remaining seven acres.

In the late 1890s, while working for the copper company, Nicholas began to “prospect near Humboldt hill,” which was located near the town of Morenci. It is from this mining operation that Nicholas found the name for his new home in Springfield. Initially, the copper vein in Humboldt turned out to be “small and the ore poor in grade.” However, the mine eventually made a fortune for the Arizona Copper Company and likely for Nicholas as well.

Even while living in Springfield, Nicholas continued his work in Arizona, where he went on occasional visits to “look after his copper interests.” Nicholas and his wife were also busy in the local social scene; in 1908, Nicholas was listed as an “old member” of the Springfield Club, a social organization formed in 1901. 

In addition to their frequent activities at the Springfield Club, Paul and Roselle participated in numerous other social events with Springfield’s leading citizens. In April 1909, they attended a party at the home of the Frank Fellows family on East Walnut. The guest list also included F.X. Heer (Heer’s Department Store), H.B. McDaniel (McDaniel Bank), Holland Keet (Holland Bank), J.T. Woodruff (Woodruff Building), and Miss Annie Abbot. ​ 

The couple were members of the Country Club and they also attended numerous events at the Colonial Hotel. Paul Nicholas just happened to be on the board of directors of the Colonial Hotel Building Company. This social whirl appears to have been the norm for the Nicholas family throughout their lives.

In the autumn of 1911, Paul and Roselle took their daughter Murillo to Boston where she planned to attend Chevy Chase College and Seminary. The school opened in 1903 and was known at the time primarily as a finishing school. I don’t know if Murillo graduated, but two years later she was back in Springfield attending a bridal shower given for her (and two other young ladies) at the Colonial Hotel. Later that week, the three young women were entertained again at the home of Mrs. Holland Keet.

On October 5, 1915, Murillo Nicholas married prominent Springfield banker James Claud McDaniel in her parents “spacious suburban home…west of the city. The wedding was a quiet home affair, but beautiful in its simplicity. The drawing room was beautifully decorated in palms, ferns and baskets of Southern smilax, with large baskets of pink roses.”

The wedding march began at 3:30 and the bridal procession descended the stairs (pictured above). Then the bride appeared, with her father, looking “exquisitely dainty in her gown of white satin, made short and draped with tulle, over which the court train of white, embroidered in silver and seed-pearls, hung in graceful folds. She wore a tulle veil with clusters of orange blossoms encircling the head. Her bouquet was of white orchids and lilies of the valley.” 

The wedding cake was “made in the form of a ring” and was a “marvel of the confectioner’s art, with a monogram of the bride and groom upon it in icing. Its center was filled in with white roses and lilies of the valley, out of which a dainty miniature bride emerged.”

The wedding was attended by about 150 guests and was likely one of the main social events of the season. 

View of the east side, which shows the greenhouse addition.

Nicholas is said to have loved plants and added a small greenhouse (pictured above) to the east side of the house. 

Detail on two of the six columns that support the prominent front gable.

Paul Nicholas died in 1936 of pneumonia. He was 80 years old. Roselle continued to live in the family home until around 1944, when she sold Humboldt Place and moved to a home on S. Weller. She died of pancreatic cancer in 1954 at the age of 81.

Humboldt Place is a two story brick structure and was built in the Neoclassical Style with a main central block and two wings. The front gable is supported by six Corinthian columns. The gable is decorated with a round, stained glass window. This is an uncommon house style for the Springfield area and we are fortunate that this beautiful house is still extant. 

Sources:

Ancestry.com. Census Records and Springfield City Directories.
Colquhoun, James. The History of the Clifton–Morenci Mining District. London:      William Clowes and Sons, 1924.
Missouri Digital Heritage. “Missouri Death Records, 1910-1964.”
Patton, James Monroe. “The History of Clinton.” M.A., 1945.
Springfield Republican.
Taylor, Mabel Carver. “Cavalcade of Homes, Part 15.” Springfield Magazine.

Photos courtesy of Alyson Yen. Used with permission.

Springfield News-Leader, 1894: “Harry Garlick has purchased a fine residence on Washington Avenue and will occupy it in the near future.”

The beautiful house at 1451 N. Washington was quite new when the Garlick’s bought it 1894, but it was already inhabited. Harry Garlick, an insurance salesman, bought the already built home in March, but Reverend Joseph C. Plumb and his wife, Elizabeth, were already living in the house. (You may remember the Plumb’s from my book about Emma Molloy. Reverend Plumb was one of her main supporters and Emma stayed with him and his wife briefly when she first moved to Springfield.)

By October 1895, the Plumb’s had moved to Kansas and the Garlick’s finally moved into their new home. They lived there until 1901 when they sold it to Austin Blodgett, a tie and timber inspector for the Frisco railroad. By 1913, the Blodgett’s had moved to Alabama and the house once again had new owners. Walter W. Constance, a foreman at the southside Frisco shops, and his wife Viola moved in. Walter was also an award-winning coach for a Frisco baseball team. Their daughter, Rae Josephine, married Fred Hays in the home in September 1920. The lovely scene is described below:
     
“The house was lavishly decorated with potted plants and masses of goldenrod and other flowers, while an altar was improvised on the same…Miss Helen Moore…played the wedding march as the bride entered on the arm of her father…She wore a Frenchy gown of rose-taupe de chine and carried a bouquet of bride roses. She was attended by her sister, Miss Grace Constance, who wore a dainty frock of white organdy…Following congratulations, a wedding breakfast was served in the dining room, covers being laid for twenty. Mr. and Mrs. Hays are spending their honeymoon at Lake Taneycomo. Later they will go to St. Louis, where Mr. Hays will resume his studies at Washington University.”

(As a side note, Grace Constance later worked as a bacteriologist in Mexico. She married Clyde Hyslop in Greene County in 1923.)

By 1925, ownership passed to Charles F. LaBounty and his wife Emma. Charles worked as a machinist at the north side Frisco shops. They lived there for many years, until 1947, when Charles died. The house then went to Warren R. Hoffman and by 1959, to Albert E. Moorman.

Albert Moorman and his wife Evelyn lived in the house until they moved to Canada in 1968. Albert had been a biology professor at Drury since 1947, but the couples unhappiness with the Vietnam War led them to move to Canada where Albert accepted a position at a university. 

For more pictures of this lovely home in Springfield’s historic Midtown Neighborhood, click here.

Sources:
Newspapers.com
     Springfield News Leader
     Springfield Democrat
     Springfield Leader and Press
     Springfield Republican   
     Springfield Daily Republican 
     Springfield Daily News
Greene County, Missouri, Tax Books, 1895-1898
Springfield City Directories
Find A Grave
Greene County, Missouri, Recorder of Deeds, Marriage Records
Missouri Digital Heritage, Death Certificates, 1910-1969
Missouri Department of Natural Resources: Greene County National       Register  Listings,  Mid-Town Historic District

This sad little house was auctioned recently and its fate is as yet undetermined. It has some interesting features, but is in need of considerable work, both inside and out.

The house is located in M.K. Smith’s 4th addition which was platted in Springfield in March 1884. Smith was a well-known local businessman and was the owner of Springfield Woolen Mill.

The house was built at least by 1890 at which time it was inhabited by Thomas B. Lewis and his wife, Sarah. Lewis was a self-employed carpenter, though he later worked for Queen City Wood Works.

Lewis lived here until 1918 when ownership passed to J.E. White, who also owned the lot next door. James E. White, along with his partner, Loran C. Sechler, operated a grocery store located at 312 W. Commercial. In 1920, White sold the house to John W. Welch and his wife, Flora.

John Welch was a chairman with the General Council of the Assemblies of God, which is headquartered in Springfield. By 1925, Welch was the manager of the Gospel Publishing House and by 1936 he was president of Central Bible Institute, now part of Evangel University.

The bedroom closet!

Welch owned the home only a short time before selling it to John C. Cramer and his wife, Ethel. Cramer, along with his partner, G. F. Smith, owned a lunch counter located at 444 E. Commercial. By 1927, Cramer had sold the house to grocer Fred Elliott and his wife, Bertha.

Fred Elliott owned a grocery store at 884 N. Campbell for several years, before taking a job as driver for the Springfield Special Road District in 1932. He was employed at several jobs over the next twenty years, including a position as a watchman at Oberman Manufacturing Company (Oberman’s was a local garment factory.) and later as a custodian at Campbell’s 66 Express. Ethel also worked at Oberman’s for a few years as a machine operator. The Elliott family lived in the house until at least 1959.

Back view

The five-room house has approximately 900-square-feet with two bedrooms and one bath. The house has pine flooring and has a 10 x 12 concrete basement. There was once a one-car garage in back but it is no longer extant.

Detail on the front corner of the house.

After the Elliott’s moved, the house had several other owners prior to its recent auction. It appears to have been vacant for some time.

Maybe a former door?

**Update: I wrote this post in late 2015. The house has since been demolished.