Published May 23, 2007
Historic Joplin house, antiques go on auction block Saturday

— By Wally Kennedy
wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

For 117 years, color has flooded through a stained-glass window in the corner tower of the Simon Schwartz house at 420 S. Byers Ave.

“The color in this room is one thing I will never forget about this house,” said Greg Rosenak, who lived in the house for several years in the late 1960s. “It’s like stepping back in time.”

The Schwartz house, a gem among the crown jewels of Joplin’s historic homes, will be placed on the auction block at 2 p.m. Saturday. The public will have an opportunity to peer into Joplin’s past during a preview before it is sold. The auction will be preceded by two sales, one for household items at 8 a.m. and another for antiques an hour later.

The house was last occupied by Dr. Irvine Kilbane and his wife, Jo, and their children, one of whom is Rosenak. When Kilbane — who was known for his trademark suspenders — died four years ago at age 89, the family decided to clear out the house and put the property up for sale. That has been a daunting task for the children in that the Kilbanes were avid collectors of all kinds of things.

House history

The house was built in 1890 by Schwartz, who was a dry-goods merchant when Joplin was a boomtown.

Leslie Simpson, an expert on Joplin’s historic architecture, said: “It’s a Queen Anne-style house. The interesting architectural features include the prominent square corner tower, stone lintels and chimney pot.

“When it was built, the flamboyant style was identified as something new to the area in that it featured many novelties. Each room was crafted with different wood — birch, maple, oak and cherry. The stone and brick were brought from St. Louis.”

Historical records indicate that Schwartz hired architect C.W. Kellogg to design the house. It sold a few years later to John Graham, a wholesale grocer who built a carriage house at the rear of the home in 1898. It is said that Graham built a brick stable “because he was a lover of good horses and believed in having them well-housed.”

Construction of the house and stable were featured in local newspaper accounts on March 23, 1890; Sept. 21, 1890; and April 30, 1898.

After Graham, the house was occupied by Dr. Samuel Grantham and his wife. Grantham, a physician and surgeon, had his office in the front parlor. The carriage house later was renovated into a medical office and surgical room.

Gangster tales

“This is an unsubstantiated story, but Dr. Kilbane told it for years,” Rosenak said. “At one time, Grantham was held at gunpoint by a member of Bonnie and Clyde’s gang who forced him to do surgery to remove a bullet from someone in their gang who had been shot.

“It makes sense in the time frame. They would not have gone to a hospital, but to a physician with an office in his home. It makes perfect sense.”

Simpson said it is doubtful that the story is valid.

“It’s probably an urban legend,” she said. “There is no definitive proof. The shootings involving the gang don’t coincide with when they were here.”

A member of the gang was shot April 13, 1933, in a shootout with officers at 3447 Oak Ridge Drive in Joplin, but records show the gang member received medical attention in Amarillo, Texas.

Brad Belk, director of the Joplin Museum Complex, said Bonnie Parker was familiar with the area and might have known that Grantham had an office in his home. She had lived in Commerce, Okla., before moving to Dallas, where she hooked up with Clyde Barrow.

The gang passed through the area a number of times, robbing banks in Oronogo and Baxter Springs, Kan., and killing or kidnapping lawmen in Joplin, Springfield and Commerce.

“There could have been something prior to 1933,” Belk said. “They had quite a few encounters with the law during their two-year crime spree. They could have wound up here after one of those encounters.

“What’s interesting about history in general is that it takes as much evidence to disprove something as it does to prove it. Urban legends often are based in fact.”

‘I loved it’

Kilbane purchased the house from Grantham’s widow about 1963. Rosenak lived in the house with his brothers and sisters from 1965 to 1973.

“I loved it,” he said. “When I first lived there, they finished off the upstairs and made a huge bedroom for us three boys on the third floor. It was a great house for family gatherings. We could seat 25 people at the dining table.”

His sister, Bobbi Pauline, said: “When I was in high school here, my friends thought it was haunted. I did hear some weird noises at night when I would baby-sit the boys.

“It’s just a beautiful home, and we loved it.”

Table for 25

Furniture to be auctioned Saturday includes a dining-room table with eagle-claw legs, a center leg and 10 leaves.

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