A trip to Kansas City, MO-Day 2

On Monday, March 17, 2014, we went out to see our friends in Lee's Summit, MO.  It was nice to see their homes.  As I am a very visual person, I feel like I can now visually see things that I see all the time on FB.  We went out to pick up my friend and her mother and then headed for Independence, MO and had lunch together at a BBQ place.  After lunch, we headed to see Truman's house and library.

Truman House

Truman House

Truman House

Sawyer-Jennings House

Squirrel at the Truman Library

Squirrel at the Truman Library

Winter tree at Truman Library

The Jackson County Courthouse, which is also known as the Truman Courthouse is located in Independence, MO on Independence Square at Main and Maple Street.

Jackson County Courthouse

In 1922, Harry Truman, won election as county judge for eastern Jackson County as a candidate of the Tom Pendergast faction of the Democratic Party.  He failed to be reelected in 1924, but won election as presiding judge in 1926.  He served in this position, in effect as county commissioner for eight years.  Mr. Truman divided his time between the courthouse in Independence and the Jackson County Courthouse in Kansas City.  When Mr. Truman was Senator from 1935 to 1939, he had an office in the Kansas City courthouse during most of his first term.

There are currently no county offices in the building.  The Jackson County Historical Society office and archives are house in the Courthouse.  The Courthouse has been undergoing a renovation to restore President Truman's office and courtroom, and to fix structural issues.  This is per Wikpedia.

The Noland home is across the street from the Truman house.  Harry Truman's cousins lived in the house and Mr. Truman often visited them on weekends,  when he was not working on the family farm in Grandview.  In 1910, Truman returned a borrowed cake plate from across the street, which reconnected him with Bess Wallace and the courtship was on.

Noland House

The Harry S. Truman National Historic Site acquired the home of Joseph  T. Noland and Margaret Ellen Truman Noland in 1991.  Major planing and rehabilitation have ben necessary to repair the structure, which was built in three stages between 1858 and 1910.  The first phase was completed in 2006, which raised and placed the structure on a new foundation.

The interior of the structure was completely gutted.  The windows were repaired, new plumbing and electrical systems were installed.  On the exterior, rotten wood siding was replaced and the house received a new roof and a fresh coat of paint.  Historic interior features were preserved.  Original fixtures, samples of wall coverings and exterior architectural elements have become part of the museum collection.  At the time of our visit, the house was not open.

Sawyer/Jennings House was built in  1887 as designed by T. B Smith for the Aaron Sawyer family.  Aaron's son, Lock H. Sawyers sold the house to the Frank Jennings family in the early 1920's.  It was honored by the Jackson County Historical Society in 1976 for their preservation efforts.  It was rehabilitated in 1995 and is one of the few brick Queen Anne houses remaining in Independence.

Sawyer/Jennings House