Spanish Influence – Vessell Home – 2 East Stewart Road

It can be easy to forget history, but historic homes serve as wonderful reminders.

That’s the theme of the article, “Historic Home: A Slice of Spain,” published in the April/May 2006 Columbia Home & Lifestyle magazine written by Jim Muench.

The home at 2 E. Stewart Road looks like something that could be found in Spain or California or anywhere Spanish settlers had influenced. This Spanish look highlights the fact the article notes, that Spain held the Louisiana Territory, which included what is now Missouri, from 1763 to 1800.

The Spanish influence doesn’t stop there. The Santa Fe Trail was a vital trade route that connected Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico, which was in use until the railroads took over the job of moving goods and people.

Yet, the home at 2 E. Stewart Road doesn’t stem from those origins. Spanish Colonial stucco and tile became popular in Missouri in the 1920s, with its most prominent example shown in the Kansas City’s County Club Plaza, the article notes.

Indeed, the home on the corner of Stewart and Garth was built in 1929 on land purchased from Clara and John Stewart, for which the road is named, the article states. It was owned by a long list of people and named to Columbia’s Notable Properties list in 2004 by the Historic Preservation Commission of the City Council.

Here’s a list of the owners of the home, taken from the April/May 2006 article by Muench.

 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

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