For years, I’ve admired the house at the corner of Stewart and Garth, with its deep red details, creamy Spanish-revival exterior and have often wondered what’s inside. Well, this link to a Zillow posting lets me see inside. By the way, Zillow values the house at $177,506, but notes estimates in this neighborhood, close to the University of Missouri and nearby valuable homes, makes the estimate difficult to make.

I’m not alone in appreciating this home. In 2006, Columbia Home magazine published a piece by Jim Muench and in 2004, Columbia named the 1929 home to its Notable Properties list, as noted in this May 5, 2004, article in the Columbia Daily Tribune.

Here’s information gleaned from both of those accounts and a list of its ownership:

• 1929 – Dan and Gona Wilkerson, who had purchased the land two years earlier from Clara and John Stewart, for whom Stewart Road is named
• 1941 – George Foster
• 1942 – Evelyn and Smith Turner
• 1943 – Catherine Tallen, who later married W.E. McClellan
• 1953 — C. Mitchell Tucker and Helen J. Tucker
• 1959 – Webster and Irma Wheelock
• 1971 – David and Marilyn Vernon
• 1980s – Garland Stephens, who owned the Temple Stephens grocery
• 1990 – Jennifer and Alan Polniak
• 2001 – Danna and Keith Vessell

The “Blind” Boone Early Jazz and Ragtime Festival tickets are on sale now and tickets can be purchased here. Performances are in the historic and recently renovated Missouri Theatre on Ninth Street in Columbia, Missouri. In addition to separate concert prices, there is a basic two-day pass for $100 and a three-day pass for $150, for four events and six events, respectively.

The concerts are a short walk from Boone’s historic home at 10 N. Fourth Street, which has had its exterior renovated, but awaits further improvements.

The concerts are sponsored by the J.W. “Blind” Boone Foundation. For more information, see http://www.concertseries.org/event/blind-boone-early-jazz-ragtime-festival/

This year, the event includes The Launch as well as a Ragtime Bash, with proceeds from these two events slated to fund future “Blind” Boone Early Jazz and Ragtime Festivals.

Why is this concert series important? J.W. “Blind” Boone, the child of a run-away slave and U.S. Union bugler, lived from 1864-1927 and played and composed ragtime music, as well as classical music. Many say he was the first person to bring popular, ragtime tunes to the concert stage, and his motto, despite being blind and African-American during a trying time, was “Merit, not sympathy, wins.”

Here’s the schedule for the 2013 Blind Boone Ragtime & Early Jazz Festival.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

4 p.m. — The Launch, Silent Film – $5 (or free with a Ragtime Bash ticket). Silent Film with Dennis James at the Organ and Frederick Hodges at the Piano

6 p.m. The Ragtime Bash! – $50 (includes a ticket for The Launch, Silent Film)

Monday, June 10, 2013

4 p.m. — The Young Turks Concert- $23

7:30 p.m. — A Tribute to Johnny Maddox – $33

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

5:30 p.m. – Piano and Organ Extravaganza – $23

7:30 p.m. – Sweet and Hot Duets – $33

For more information, see concertseries.org, or call 573-882-3781.

This is a great opportunity for mid-Missouri, as last year’s conference was held further away, in St. Louis County.

A short distance from Columbia, the conference in Boonville will offer educational sessions, technical workshops, trade show exhibits,, tours and networking receptions, according to the Save the Date postcard from the Missouri Preservation, a nonprofit dedicated to education, advocacy and assistance to preserve Missouri’s history.

The announcement states rooms are limited at the convention locations, Historic Hotel Frederick, Isle of Capri Hotel and the Comfort Inn. For information on the event, contact Missouri Preservation at preservemo10@yahoo.com or call 660.882.5946.

McDavid has says he supports spending part of the city’s $1.9 million surplus to complete the renovation of this home, where J.W. Boone lived from 1889 until his death in 1927. A famous musician, Boone toured the country playing to black and white audiences, often traveling 10 months a year, playing six nights a week.

The house has been stabilized and the exterior renovated, the inside remains a shell. Remaining costs have been estimated in the area of $500,000.

On Dec. 3, 2012 KOMU.com reported the house project is slated to include a display with video, audio and interactive media and amphitheater, statue of Boone and a garden. The report states the J.W. Boone Heritage Foundation is donating $16,000 to the city for the project.

What do you think are the prospects for a complete renovation of the Boone home? What kind of facility would you like to see in this historic structure?

And yet, it is good to ask why the public might want to save and renovate the house. In many ways, it is ordinary. In some ways, it is odd, a house in a now commercial area, next to a church, the Second Baptist Church.

There are many reasons to save the home and here are three:

1. The house offers a story of courage and hope.

People are ephemeral. We live, we die, we can be forgotten. This could have been the case with J.W. “Blind” Boone, but the loss would have been a great loss in terms of role models, hope and courage. Yes, Boone was African-American. He was also American. He was the offspring of a U.S. Union soldier and an at-the-time war contraband, a slave. Despite his birth in 1864, subsequent illness that lead to the removal of his eyes and blindness, Boone went on to become a classical musician, composer and performer, traversing the nation for more than 40 years. As a new book on Boone, “Merit, Not Sympathy, Wins: The Life and Times of Blind Boone,” notes, while many performers had to shuffle and play the clown during this time to be on stage, Boone went on stage throughout a segregated country, playing to crowds of all colors, wearing a tuxedo. Financially he was an astonishing success, the book notes, earning $3,600 to $14,375 a night in 2010 dollars for his performances.

2. The house highlights a story of entrepreneurship.

Yes, Boone was talented, but his talents were in danger of drifting into the seedy part of society until he came under the guidance and partnership of John Lange Jr. Lange’s story is also told in “Merit, Not Sympathy, Wins: The Life and Times of Blind Boone.” Briefly, Lange was the son of a former slave (who belonged to James Shannon, second president of the University of Missouri) and free French Creole. Lange Sr., was a successful businessman and his son went on to also succeed in business and operated Boone’s touring company as a business, complete with a manager, booking agents and advance men.

3. The house stands as a testimony to our racial past.

Why are there no other homes near the Boone home? The housing for African-Americans in the past was deplorable. A quote in the book about Boone quotes a 1911 newspaper article as saying the houses of African-Americans are often like sheds than houses. The area surrounding the Boone home was once Sharp’s End, the place where African-Americans lived, yet where few public services were offered. The same 1911 article notes that the area had no sidewalks and the streets were mud and stone. By the way, Boone lived in the house from 1889 until 1927 — and during 1923, when only five blocks from the house, James Scott was lynched in 1923, after he was accused of raping a white girl.

Of course, there are more than three reasons to save the house, but these offer food for thought.

What are your thoughts on the reasons to save the Blind Boone home?

The pictures are poor and only give you a small view of what’s inside this 1909, but it’s nice to get a look inside this seven bedroom, five bath house. The house is 6,447 square feet and is for sale for $659,900. It is listed by Colby Ardrey of Coldwell Banker Tatie Payne Inc.

But these pictures don’t tell the real story of this house. This Colonial Revival home under went a $1.3 million renovation in 1999 by Deborah and Robert Tucker.

The history behind the home is even better. This two and one-half story home was built by a man who attended school only through the age of 12, when he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker. Today, the age of being apprenticed to someone is long gone.

The story of John Newton Taylor and his wife Elizabeth F. Reed of Huntsville is told in the National Register of Historic Places. The home was placed on the Register on May 25, 2001 and named to Columbia’s Historical Preservation Commission’s List of Notable Properties in 2002.

716 W. Broadway, Taylor House, photograph courtesy of Columbia’s Historic Preservation Commission and FitzImages Photography

Born in Pennsylvania, John Taylor  moved to Iowa and worked as a cabinet-maker. There he married Lida Stroup and they moved to Huntsville in Randolph County, Missouri. They went on to have four children, but she died in 1886 and he married Huntsville, native Elizabeth F. Reed in 1890. They went on to have seven children.

The Taylors built their house in 1909. John Taylor had piano and furniture stores in several mid-Missouri towns, including Columbia and gradually he went into the automobile business, even acquiring the local Dodge dealership before the car was even on the market, according to the NRHP nomination form. In 1917, Taylor ran an ad in the Boone County Atlas proclaiming himself a wholesale and retail dealer in pianos and automobiles, the document notes. Taylor also served on the board of directors for the Columbia Commercial Club, the forerunner of Columbia’s Chamber of Commerce.

By his death in 1932 at age 83, he was a prominent businessman. His obituary was printed on the front page of the local newspaper with a photograph, and the mayor and city council all attended. City employees were even given time off for the funeral, the NRHP document continues — noting his son Thomas Taylor was a city councilman at the time.

After his death, wife Elizabeth continued to live in the house with her daughter Eleanor, who was then an assistant professor at the University of Missouri. In 1935, Elizabeth had the house divided into a triplex and continued to live in the home. Elizabeth also developed the surrounding acreage.

As the years passed, the house passed out of the Taylor family and fell into some disrepair.

Then, in 1999, Deborah and Robert Tucker, then owners of Tucker’s Jewelry, renovated the home, converting it into a bed and breakfast. Then, in 2012, the bed and breakfast was suddenly closed.

The home was also featured in a January 13, 2010, Columbia Missourian article on an effort to have a section of West Broadway placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

All this in a home built by someone who only attended school through the age of 12 and then went on to become a cabinet-maker. Yes, historical homes do tell us about who were were and, in this case, with his automobile business, where we went.

The report outlines the history of the Niedermeyer Apartments on Cherry Street:

1837 – Built by Gen. Richard and Ann Hawkins Gentry.

Home to Columbia Female Academy and Gordon Hotel, frequented by Mark Twain, William Jennings Bryan and Mary Todd Lincoln.

1921 – Became Niedermeyer Apartments.

Previous reports outlined plans by Collegiate Housing Partners to demolish the apartment building to make way for a 15-story apartment building. There was significant backlash by historic preservationists against the St. Louis firm’s plans. A report in the Columbia Missourian on Jan. 3, 2013, noted an online petition designed to stop the demolition had gathered 1,500 signatures.

Today’s KOMU report states Columbia Mayor Bob McDavid and the City of Columbia’s Historic Preservation Commission reached a tentative agreement to have a private buyer purchase the building. Brent Gardner, a local realtor and member of the Commission, is quoted as saying preservation could involve a combination of resources including historic preservation tax credits, energy efficiency grants and other city programs.

The event includes an awards ceremony and luncheon. Call 660.882.5947 or email preservemo10@yahoo.com for reservations.

This year’s winners will include seven buildings, three women, one book and one historic initiative. Such events are important to mark the successes of historic preservation, such as the transformation of an under-used school building into senior apartments, and to spotlight the efforts of people spearheading preservation efforts.

The buildings are: the Power House at Union Station in Kansas City, the A.F. Davis House in Fayette, the Antoine Lalumondiere Home in St. Genevieve, the Bismarck Depot in Bismarck, First Presbyterian Church in La Grange, Council Plaza Phillips 66 Gas Station in St. Louis and the Trenton High School, now Trenton Senior Apartments in Trenton.

Missouri Preservation/Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation is a nonprofit dedicated to promoting, supporting and coordinating historic preservation activities in Missouri.

Qualifications for being named to the list include the property being older than 50 years, within Columbia’s city limits and highlights the historical or architectural influences in Columbia. To learn more about the Most Notable Properties criteria, check out this publication by the city.

The 2013 properties are as follows:

920 Cherry St. — Niedermeyer Apartments, circa 1837, with additions in 1902.

110 S. Ninth St. — Booche’s, circa 1925.

511 E. Rollins St., Pi Beta Phi Missouri Alpha Chapter House, 1930.

1411 Anthony St. – Arthur and Susie Buchroeder House, circa 1906. Dutch Colonial revival-style

703 Ingleside Drive, W.J. and Clara Lhamon House, 1926.

916 W. Stewart Road — Claude and Stella Woolsey House, circa 1930.

To read more about the properties, here are links to media coverage of the properties.

Feb. 5, 2013 – Columbia’s 2013 Most Notable Properties. Six properties, including a business rather than a property per se, were named to the Columbia Most Notable Properties list. Columbia Missourian article.

Feb. 5, 2013 – Commission to honor city’s notable properties: Six buildings to be recognized. Columbia Daily Tribune article.

The event is sponsored by the Historic Preservation Commission of the City of Columbia. It will be held at 7 p.m. preceded by light appetizers. The event will be in the Historic Daniel Boone Building Lobby, which has recent under gone an amazing renovation itself. It is at 701 East Broadway, Columbia, Mo.

Why attend? This is where the year’s newest additions to the city’s Most Notable Properties list are announced, the property owners accept the honors and you have an opportunity to get to know more about Columbia and the properties that mark the city’s history. Last properties named to the list have included the “Gingerbread house,” at 121 N. West Blvd., brick streets and even Columbia Cemetery.

This Columbia Missourian article of Feb. 6, 2012, “Six properties to be honored by Columbia’s Historic Preservation Commission,” covers last year’s event, honoring the Arrowhead Motel, Calvary Cemetery, Harry Satterlee Bill and Florence Henderson Home, Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority House, Missouri Hall at Columbia College, and the Columbia Telephone Building, which now houses CenturyLink.