HISTORIC DISTRICTS

Chillicothe Commercial Historic District
(Approximately 6.5 acres)

The Chillicothe Commercial Historic District in Chillicothe, Livingston County, Missouri, consists of several blocks of primarily commercial properties, covering approximately 6 and one-half acres. The district is located in downtown Chillicothe and is roughly bounded by Clay Street on the north, Ann Street on the south, Washington Street on the west, and Locust Street on the east. Altogether, there are 30 buildings in the district, 24 of which are contributing. Contributing buildings in the district date from ca. 1889 to ca. 1950. Included in the district boundaries are one building from the 400 block and five buildings from the 500 block of Washington Street, one building in the 500 block of Elm Street, the 600 and 700 blocks of Clay Street, and all but two buildings in the 400 block of Locust Street. The earliest buildings in the district are located on Washington and Clay Streets, while all of the buildings along Locust Street were constructed after 1900. Brick, two-part commercial blocks, and Victorian styling and ornamentation proliferated were commonplace and the dominant commercial building type. (The historic names below represent the first known owner of the property or the earliest business in the building; the date in parentheses indicates the first year that owner or business is known to have owned or operated out of the property.)

Clay Street is approximately 25 blocks long and runs east and west from Reynard Street to Boehner Place on the west edge of town. Clay Street forms part of the northern boundary of the district. Of the six buildings on Clay Street included in the district, five are contributing buildings.

• 606 Clay, the Dairy Creme Building (1951) ca. 1950. A small one-story commercial building with fixed windows on the facade that wrap around to the side elevations. The building is typical of small drive-up restaurants constructed in the 1950s and 1960s.
• 608-610 Clay (1963) ca. 1950. A 2-story stuccoed commercial building with many alterations, including the additional of a gable roof.
• 609 Clay, the McVey-Barclay Dry Goods Daylight Annex (1909) 1909. A 3-bay, two and one-half story commercial building. The facade of the building is very much intact.
• 712 Clay, the Luella Bar (1896) ca. 1894. A 4-bay, two-story commercial building. The storefront, which occupies most of the first floor facade, is not original.
• 714 Clay, the Strand Coffee Shop Building (1936) 1936. A 3-story, 3-bay, brick commercial building.
• 716 Clay Street, the Strand Hotel and Garage (1927) 1925. A 5-story, L-Shaped hotel building with Mission/Spanish Revival ornamentation. The narrow facade of the building is three bays wide.

Elm Street forms part of the eastern boundary of the district. Elm Street runs north and south and is 13 blocks long extending from Madison Street on the south to Elmdale Road on the north. One building on the east side of the 500 block of Elm Street is included in the district and is a contributing building.

• 501 Elm Street, the Moore Motor Company Building (1925) ca. 1924. A brick one-part commercial building with a three-bay facade.

Locust Street is 16 blocks long and runs north and south from First Street to Park Avenue. Locust Street forms the eastern boundary of the district. Both sides of the street in the 400 block are included in the district. Of the 17 buildings on Locust Street included in the district, 13 are contributing buildings.

• 407 Locust, the Phillips Motor Company Building, ca. 1924, ca. 1940. A 2-story, brick commercial building.
• 409-411 Locust, the Sutton Building (1940) ca. 1935. A one-story, 5-bay, brick, multiple-entry commercial building with two storefronts.
• 413-417 Locust, the Arnold & Mills Lumber Company Building (1940) ca. 1939. This building is a very side one-story brick commercial building. The 7-bay building consists of an office space and a garage/warehouse.
• 424 Locust, the Warren and Horace Mills Building, (1940), ca. 1939.
  A one-story brick, commercial building. On the north half of the facade, there is a single door and a row of three large plate glass windows. On the south half of the facade, a large garage door opening has been bricked in. Stone belt courses run across the facade below and above the windows and above the garage door opening. Three attic vents are equally spaced across the facade and follow the profile of the roofline in their vertical spacing; the center double vent is located slightly higher on the facade than the outer two vents. The roofline of the facade is stepped and is capped with stone coping.
• 427 Locust, the Goodyear Store/Woodwards Bakery Building, (1940), ca. 1939.
  A one-story, two-bay brick commercial building. The facade of this building is very similar in design to 417 Locust. The north storefront has a recessed central entrance flanked by storefront windows. This storefront is modern. The south storefront has been completely covered by wood siding. Each bay is delineated by full height brick pilasters. The pilasters, which are multi-faceted, have stone bases, capitals and accents. Stone belt courses run the width of the facade at knee-height, at the height of the tops of the storefronts and one foot down from the roofline. The facade is capped with stone coping.
• 434 Locust, the Norman-Wagy-Gordon Funeral Home, 1997.
  A modern one-story brick building with a hip roof, a central bay portico and a porte-cochere on the north elevation.
• 437 Locust, the Matthew McBride Building, (1925), ca. 1918.
  A one-story brick commercial building with Mission-style detailing. The top of the facade, which has an arched center section and a stepped profile, is derived from Mission styling. The building’s storefront has a central entrance flanked by storefront windows with transoms and brick bulkheads. The transoms are covered , but appear to be intact. The windows have straight brick lintels, but the lintel over the entrance is stone. A cloth domed awning shelters the entrance.

• 439 Locust, the Chillicothe Motor Company Building, 1910
  The facade of this two-story commercial building has been totally altered. A pressed tin cornice and end bracket are the only remnants of this building’s original appearance. The lower half of the facade is covered with vertical board siding. The upper half of the facade is covered by a steep shed-roofed awning.
• 440 Locust, the Adams Auto Supply Building, (1916), 1915.
  A large three-story brick commercial building. The first floor of the building is divided into five bays. The outer bays and the center bay on the first floor have storefront windows with wide transoms. The transoms have been filled in with decorative wooden panels and the windows are not original, but the original openings are intact. The two inner bays have deeply recessed entrances with modern double doors. Each bay on the second floor contains a wide-multipaned fixed window topped by a transom that has been covered by a decorative wood panel. Each bay on the third floor contains two tall multipaned windows with hinged sections in the center. A bracketed shed awning covered with clay tiles runs across the facade above the third floor windows. The top of the facade is stepped and capped by stone coping.
• 441-443 Locust, the Norman & Jarvis Funeral Home Building, (1916), ca. 1916.
  A two-story, brick, two-part commercial building. The first floor of the facade features a storefront and a door to the second floor. The storefront has an off-center entrance and a storefront window with a brick bulkhead. A shed awning covered with cedar shakes runs the width of the facade above the storefront. On the upper half of the facade there is a wide centered opening with a thick stone lintel and a stone sill. The opening is intact, but it has been boarded up. There are two equally-spaced rectangular brick panels above the second floor windows. Stone coping caps the facade.
• 445 Locust, the Bailey Building, (1927), ca. 1926, ca. 1939.
  A tall two-story brick commercial building. The lower half of the facade is filled by a storefront with a slightly off-center entrance flanked by storefront windows. The storefront windows have low wooden bulkheads. The door is modern. Windows stretch across the width of the second floor of the facade. The center window section contains two fixed sash, plate glass windows. These windows are flanked by a pair of single pane casement windows. All three sets of windows have transoms, but those above the center windows are pressed glass. The brick above the second floor windows has a blue/purple tinge and is different than the side wall brick. Two brick belt courses extend across the facade near the roofline. This building was originally four stories tall, but a fire ca. 1939 destroyed the two top stories.
• 447-449 Locust, the Empire Theatre, (1916), 1916. 
  A two story commercial building with a completely altered facade. The lower half of the facade has two storefronts that are recessed at an angle. The entrances to both storefronts is in the center of the facade. The north storefront has a roll-up garage door and a doorway; the south storefront has a multipaned fixed window and a doorway. The upper half of the facade is completely covered with vinyl siding.
• 450 Locust, the Chillicothe Post Office/Federal Building, (1916),1916.
  A three-story, seven-bay brick building with a hip roof and Beaux Arts detailing. The buff-colored brick walls are laid in a Flemish bond pattern. On the first floor of the facade, the two outer bays on the facade have 8/8 double hung windows with decorative stone lintels and dressed stone sills. The main entrance, which is located in the center bay of the facade, has a Palladian arched transom. The main entrance doors are not original. Each of the two bays that flank the entrance contain large, original, double hung windows with Palladian arch transoms. On the second floor of the facade, there are seven equally-spaced 8/8 double hung windows. In between each of the five central bays, there are carved stone medallions. A wide stone belt course runs between the second and third floors. On the third floor, the outer bays each contain an 8/8 double hung window and the five inner bays each contain two such windows. The secondary facade, which faces Clay Street, is three bays wide. The outer bays have one 8/8 window on each floor; the inner bay has three such windows. The windows in the easternmost bay have been bricked in to accommodate an elevator tower. Scrolled brackets support the wide overhang of the hipped roof. The roof is covered with Mediterranean-style red clay tiles.
• 451 Locust Dudley B. Ewen Building, (1916), ca. 1915.
  A two-story, brick commercial building. The first floor of this two-part commercial building has been radically changed. A new facade with a single roll-up garage door in the has been constructed in front of the original facade. The upper half of the facade is relatively intact. There are three equally-spaced windows on the second floor, but the window sash have been covered with vinyl siding. A brick corbel table runs across the width of the facade. This building is similar in design to the building directly to the north.
• Locust Dudley B. Ewen Building #2, (1916), ca. 1915. 
  A three-bay, three-story commercial building. The first floor of the facade features a central recessed entrance flanked by early or original storefront windows with brick bulkheads. The transom windows, which appear to be intact, are obscured by a modern sign. There are three equally spaced windows on the second and third floors of the facade. All but one have been completely covered with vinyl siding, but the flat stone lintels and sills are intact. At the roofline, the cornice has been replaced by a sheet of flat tin. This building is very similar in design to both of the adjacent buildings.
• 455 Locust, the Lee Furniture & Undertaking Building, (1916), ca. 1915. 
  A two-bay, three-story commercial building. The north half of the north bay on the first floor is recessed and contains the entrances to the first floor commercial space as well as to the upper and lower floors. Tall storefront windows fill the south half of the north bay and all of the south bay of the first floor facade. The second and third floor facades are identical. Each bay is delineated by brick pilasters and each contains three equally-spaced 1/1 double-hung windows on each floor. The windows are early or original and have stone lintels and sills. Like the building to the south, the building’s cornice has been replaced by flat tin.

Washington Street is also known as Missouri State Highway 65. The road becomes Washington Street at the southern city limits. It runs through the center of downtown, continues on to the northern city limits where it reverts to Highway 65. Washington Street forms the western boundary of the district. One building in the 400 block and the west half of the 500 block of Washington Street are included in the district. Of the six buildings on Washington Street within the district boundaries, five are contributing buildings.

• 452 Washington, the Grace & Simpson Apartments, (1916), 1916.
  A two-story brick apartment building with Colonial Revival detailing. This building was originally two independent buildings; one faced Washington St. and the other faced Clay Street. The facade is dominated by a full-width front porch with round columns and an enclosed second story. On the first floor, the symmetrical three-bay facade has a window and a door in each of the outer bays and a single window in the center bay. The center window appears to be a modern replacement, but the outer 4/1 Craftsman-style windows, and the doors are early or original. Both the windows and the doors have wide stone lintels and the windows have stone sills. On the second floor of the facade, the outer bays are totally enclosed and the center bay is enclosed with screening. Each outer bay is filled with three 1/1 double hung windows with transoms set above wooden bulkheads. Windows on the side elevations are also 8/1 Craftsman and have stone lintels and sills. A simple wood cornice runs around the front and side elevations of the building approximately three feet below the roofline.
• 502-504 Washington, the Chillicothe Constitution Building, (1896), ca. 1895, 1960.
  As late as the mid-1950’s, this building had a stone facade. The current facade is a combination of brick and metal siding. The modern first floor storefront is recessed, and it is framed by a wrought iron archway. The space between the top of the storefront and the bottom of the second floor windows is covered by metal siding. The upper part of the facade is brick. The three equally-spaced 1/1 windows on the second floor are also modern. There is a one story shed-roofed brick rear addition.
• 506 Washington, the J. Fitzpatrick Building, (1890), 1889.
  A two-story brick commercial building with a late-twentieth century storefront. The first floor of the facade is covered with board and batten style plywood. A large display window extends across the majority of the facade. The entrance to the commercial space is on the north end of the facade. The door is modern, but the early or original narrow transom above the door is still in place. The upper half of the facade is very much intact. The three equally-spaced windows on the third floor have arched brick tops and stone sills. A brick cornice with elongated brick dentils extends across the width of the facade at the roofline. Just below the cornice, a diamond pattern inset into the brick runs across the facade. The one story rear addition has brick walls and a shed roof.
• 508 Washington, the Scruby Brothers Building, (1893), 1893.
  A two-story brick commercial building with extensive cast iron detailing. A wide storefront occupies the majority of the first floor of the facade; the narrow entrance to the second floor is tucked into the northern end of the facade. The storefront, which is early or original, has a deeply recessed entrance flanked by wood-framed storefront windows with paneled bulkheads and transoms. Two cast iron columns support the center of the facade where the entrance is recessed and a cast iron cornice runs the width of the facade above the storefront. Retractable cloth awnings shelter the storefront windows. The upper half of the facade is symmetrical and is divided into three bays. In the center bay, there is a one 1/1 double-hung window. In the outer bays, three 1/1 double hung windows are grouped together. Full height cast iron pilasters are located on the ends of the facade and shorter ones flank each of the second floor windows. The name of the manufacturer of the building’s cast iron detailing, “Smith-Hill Foundry & Machine Co, Quincy, IL” is cast into the base of the full height pilasters. A wide cast iron frieze is topped by a large cast iron cornice with brackets. The date “1893” is set into the cornice above the center bay window.
• 512 Washington, the S. A. Stone Building, (1896), ca. 1894.
  A two-story brick commercial building with cast iron detailing. The first floor storefront has an off-center deeply-recessed entrance. The storefront windows have wooden bulkheads, but the transom windows are obscured by a shed awning with cedar shakes and a large sign. There is a wide cast iron pilaster that extends from the side wall to the second floor on the north end of the facade. A smaller pilaster forms the corner of the storefront windows. A cast iron cornice over the first floor storefront also serves as a sill for the second floor windows. Four 1/1 double-hung windows with arched transoms fill the second floor of the facade. Paired cast iron pilasters with engaged columns flank each window. At the ends of the facade, the outermost pilasters are larger and extend up to the cornice. The cast iron cornice has paired brackets and dentils. In the frieze above each window, there are cast iron sunbursts.
• 514 Washington, the Loomis Building/Chillicothe Post Office, (1898), 1898.
  A two-story commercial building with a stone facade and Romanesque detailing. The first floor of the facade has a mid-twentieth century storefront. The deeply recessed central entrance is flanked by storefront windows with ceramic tile bulkheads. The area between the storefront windows and the second floor windows is covered by a grooved wooden panel. A row of stone dentils runs across the facade above the wood panel. The narrow entrance to the second floor is on the north end of the facade. The second floor of the facade, which is rusticated stone, is dominated by a large arched window with a dressed stone keystone. The Palladian-style window is filled with three double hung windows topped with art glass transoms. A stone name plaque above the window reads “LOOMIS.” The roofline is capped by a dentiled cornice. A wide dressed stone pediment with dentils, which is flanked by large rusticated stone pendants projects above the roofline. The date 1898 is carved into the center of the pediment.

SUMMARY

I. Early Settlement: 1837-1851
None of the buildings in the district date from Chillicothe’s earliest period of development. The original town of Chillicothe, Missouri was laid out in 1837 by Nathan Gregory and officially platted in 1859. Although a block of the Original Town was designated as a public square and the first courthouse was constructed in 1837, Chillicothe was not officially named the county seat of Livingston County until 1839. The second Livingston County Courthouse, which replace the original log courthouse, was constructed in 1840 and was one of the only brick buildings in the area. In the early years of the town’s existence, Chillicothe was little more than a trading post. According to the History of Caldwell and Livingston County, Missouri, “Nothing but the fact that it was the county seat kept it [Chillicothe] alive.”

II. The Railroad Era: 1852-1882
None of the buildings in the district date from Chillicothe’s second period of development. In 1852, construction began on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, and Chillicothe was announced as one of the stops along the new railroad’s route. Chillicothe began to experience both commercial and population growth as soon as construction on the railway began. The town’s first boom period lasted from 1852 to 1860. By 1860, Chillicothe’s population reached nearly 1000, and more than twenty-five different stores were in operation there. However, the town’s growth and prosperity were temporarily interrupted when the Civil War began in 1861. The economy of Chillicothe suffered from the war, but the town itself was only sparsely damaged. As soon as the Civil War ended, Chillicothe’s economy began to recover. With the completion of two additional rail lines to Chillicothe in 1867 and 1869, the town quickly became an agricultural, commercial and industrial center. In the five years following the war, the town’s population increased markedly and many commercial buildings were constructed around the courthouse square.

A bird’s eye map of Chillicothe drawn by A. Ruger and published in 1869 shows the square itself as a tree lined park and it shows that the blocks lining the public square were extensively developed with commercial buildings by that time. The map also shows the Chillicothe Commercial Historic District as a area of mixed commercial and residential development. However, none of the buildings shown on the 1869 map are extant. The earliest building in the Chillicothe Commercial Historic District was not constructed until twenty years later.

III. The Victorian Era: 1883-1900
Six of the thirty (20%) buildings in the district were constructed during Chillicothe’s third period of development, The Victorian Era: 1883-1900. Of the six buildings constructed in the district between 1883 and 1900, five are contributing buildings.

Chillicothe’s location on three major rail lines continued to draw new business and industry during the last two decades of the twentieth century. As a result of the town’s growth and prosperity, Chillicothe’s downtown area continued to develop. Because the area around the square was fully developed by this time, new development spread to the blocks beyond the immediate periphery of the square. Five of the six buildings constructed in the district during this period are located in the 500 block of Washington Street. The sixth building, the Luella Bar was constructed at 712 Clay Street.
All of the buildings constructed in the district during Chillicothe’s third period of development are examples of the Two-Part Commercial Property Type laid out in the MPS cover document. In addition, more than half of the intact buildings in the district that were constructed during Chillicothe’s Victorian Era exhibit some degree of Victorian styling. The design and elaborate ornamentation on many of these new buildings reflected not only the prosperity of the owners, but also the nationwide interest in Victorian styling. Common Victorian features include prominent cast iron, pressed tin, brick or stone cornices, cast iron lintels, pilasters and columns, pressed tin panels, and projecting bay windows. Pre-fabricated architectural elements also became popular throughout the country in the late nineteenth century, and they were easily acquired by Chillicothe builders. Some of these architectural elements were manufactured in Chillicothe by the F. Way Foundry, but also, they could be ordered by mail and brought in on the railroad from other towns such as Quincy, IL. In the Chillicothe Commercial Historic District, the Scruby Brothers Building at 508 Washington Street, and the S. A. Stone Building at 512 Washington Street are the most intact examples of Victorian architecture. The Loomis Building, located at 514 Washington, is the only example of Romanesque styling in the district.

IV. The Highway City: 1901-1952
Twenty-four of the thirty (80%) buildings in the district were constructed during Chillicothe’s third period of development, The Highway City: 1901-1952. Of the twenty-four buildings constructed between 1901 and 1952, nineteen are contributing buildings.

Automobiles and trucks began to gain popularity in the early twentieth century and Chillicothe became a highway crossroads. By the second decade of the twentieth century, Chillicothe had earned the nickname, “The Highway City. The Pike’s Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway, now Highway 36, runs east and west just south of town. In addition, Washington Street (Highway 65), the western boundary of the district and the major north/south thoroughfare in Chillicothe, became part of “The Jefferson Highway - Blue J Route.” With the development of the highway system and the increase in automobile traffic came new auto-related businesses. Four such buildings were constructed between 1915 and 1925 in the Chillicothe Commercial Historic District. All four buildings were used as auto dealerships and three of the four buildings are located on Locust Street. The largest building in the district, the Adams Automobile and Supply Company Building, is included in that group. Located at 440 Locust Street and erected in 1915 for prominent businessman C.F. Adams, this four-story brick building was a state-of-the-art automobile sales and service facility.

The Adams Automobile and Supply Company Building is also an example of the rejection against Victorian architectural detailing, a sentiment which spread across the country in the early twentieth century. The buildings that were constructed in the Chillicothe Commercial Historic District after 1900 are representative of the changing trends in architectural styling in America as a result of this move away from exuberant ornamentation and Victorian picturesqueness. Buildings with little or no ornamentation such as the Norman & Jarvis Funeral Home Building and the Bailey Building located at 443 and 445 Locust Street respectively, are examples of one response to this trend. (See Photo No. 2) Other buildings in the district such as the Arnold and Mills Lumber Yard at 417 Locust Street and the Strand Hotel and Garage at 716 Clay Street demonstrate the emergence of wholly new architectural styles such as Art Deco and the development of new American styles using Period Revival influences.

The Strand Hotel and Garage is one of the few buildings in Chillicothe with Mission/Spanish Revival ornamentation. It is also one of only two hotel buildings in the downtown area. The hotel and garage were built next to the Strand Theatre in 1925 replacing an earlier hotel, called the Luella Hotel, on the same site. The styling of the hotel was undoubtedly chosen to complement the Mission/Spanish Revival style of the Strand Theatre. (See Figure Five.) When the Strand Theatre burned in the early 1930s, the theatre building was replaced by the Strand Hotel Annex and Coffee Shop. (See Figure Six.)

The construction of new commercial buildings in the district in the early decades of the twentieth century was indicative of the continued growth and development of Chillicothe. However, the most significant new building constructed in the district during this period was the Chillicothe Post Office and Federal Building. Not only is it one of the largest buildings in the district, but also it is the only building in the district known to be designed by a professional architect, and it is among the few high-style buildings in Chillicothe.

In 1910, Chillicothe was awarded a federal appropriation of $65,000 to erect a post office building. The original plan called for a second story addition to house federal court chambers and offices. However, the construction of the post office was delayed until the additional money for the upper floors could be appropriated. The Chillicothe Post Office and Federal Building was finally completed in 1915. The three-story, brick, Beaux-Arts style building was designed by architects in the United States Treasury Department Supervising Architects Office and was constructed at a cost of $125,000. It served as the Chillicothe Post Office from 1915 to 1965 when a new Post Office was constructed and the Livingston County Library moved into the building.

The Chillicothe Commercial Historic District contains a number of historically and architecturally significant buildings; it is an intact grouping of historic commercial buildings; and it is representative of the growth and expansion of downtown Chillicothe. The district continues to look and function much like it did during the period of significance, and the contributing buildings within the district meet the registration requirements set forth in the MPS cover document “Historic and Architectural Resources of Chillicothe, Missouri.”

Owner Information

Information for our Business Guide pages was obtained from the United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form completed by Becky L. Snider of Becky L. Snider Consulting, LLC, April, 2002. You may contact Becky Snider by calling 573-256-1105, Columbia, Missouri.

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