Purchase Price $49,900

3 bed · 2 bath · 1,529 sqft

Tons of charm and character in this brick home. Main floor laundry, hardwood floors, wonderful woodwork, pocket doors, stained glass, transom windows. Lots of potential. Home is being sold with extra lot next door. Inspections welcomed but owner prefers to sell as is.

Contact: Kathleen Saulan at Coldwell Banker

Call: 816-390-5277

 

House History & Gallery

In 1890, Edward A. and Anna E. Brittain took out a building permit to build their dream home for their growing family. They chose one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in St. Joseph, now known as Museum Hill – the neighborhood was dominated by the wonderful Wyeth-Tootle Mansion at 11th and Charles. The Brittain’s new house cost $2,775 and was hooked up to the city water supply on August 12, 1889.

Edward was a member of a prominent St. Joseph family. His father Robert Allan Brittain had been a respected druggist in St. Joseph and Brittain Dry Goods was one of the leading commercial concerns. Edward himself went in to banking. He was employed by the National Bank of St. Joseph. While working there he became acquainted with James N. and Lewis C. Burnes, whose huge family wealth was handled by the Burnes Estate. Brittain must have impressed the Burneses and by 1906 he is working as Secretary for the Burnes Estate.

Edward and Anna were the parents of a large family. They had two daughters when they built the house: Josephine and Maria. Another daughter, Anna and a son Robert were born while they lived at 208 S. 13th Street. Their eldest daughter Josephine, born in 1881, was a fixture on the St. Joseph social scene. Between 1898 and 1900 the newspapers frequently carried stories about the parties she gave and attended and one gets the distinct impression of a happy, well-to-do young woman who was enjoying her life very much. Unfortunately, tragedy struck in May 1900 and the vivacious Josephine died suddenly of appendicitis. Her saddened family continued to live at 208 S. 13th St. for several more years.

In about 1908 the house was rented to Guillaume B. Hay and his wife Julia. Guillaume was the President of Hay Brothers Jewelry at 707 Felix. In 1912, while he was still living at the house, his jewelry store was robbed. The burglars entered through a skylight and got away with several hundred dollars worth of loot from the showcases at the back of the store despite the fact that no fewer than three night watchmen were supposed to check on the store after closing as well as one police patrol. Apparently the thieves dropped on to the roof of the store from the Y.M.C.A. building next door.

Not long after the robbery, the Hays moved and Marvin E. Maxwell and his wife Gertrude rented the house. Marvin was a salesman for one of the local candy companies. The Maxwells only remained in the home for about 2 years and then Martin Krapf, his wife Mary, and their six children moved in. Martin operated a collection agency in rooms 312-13 at the German American Bank building. The Krapf stay in the home was cut tragically short when Martin’s mental health gave way. He was committed to State Hospital #2 on the edge of the city where he died on August 9, 1917 of “general paralysis of the insane” (a catch-all diagnosis). After the Krapfs, 208 S. 13th Street became the short-term home of Ernest Holtzschue and his wife Matilda and his mother Elizabeth. Ernest was a foreman at Swift & Company in the stockyards. While he was living here, he registered for the draft (World War I was still going on).

In 1920, local barber William Sterling Ward and his wife and daughter rented the house. It is with the Wards that for the first time a lodger is recorded as living at the house (other families beginning with the Brittains at times had live-in servants). Among their lodgers was T.O. Cash, a divorced hatter from Kentucky and George Bostick who was a cashier for Carder Wholesale Grocery at 206 S. 4th St.

When the Wards moved out the house was sold to Jesse B. Sargent. Jesse and his family lived here from the late 1920s until well in to the 1950s. Jesse was a piano tuner who also sold instruments from his shop at 116 S. 2nd Street. Jesse grew up in Balcow, MO but his wife Bessie Hill Sargent was a local girl and it must have been her fond memories of life in St. Joseph and the economic possibilities that brought the family back to St. Joseph.

While the Wards owned the house part of it was regularly rented out. One of the longest tenants (from the mid 1940s to the early 1950s) was Dora Allison, a telephone operator who had been widowed in 1922.

 The Edward A. Brittain Residence at 208 S. 13th St. is a contributing structure in the Museum Hill district, which is both a local and national historic district. This status means that its historic integrity is protected by the design guidelines overseen by the Landmark Commission. The property is eligible for grants including the Save Our Heritage grant awarded by the city of St. Joseph.