Into the Past

Who would think that 2-1/2 weeks would be too long to wait for closing? Yet it seems to be.

To occupy myself in the mean time, I’ve started delving into the house’s history. We’re very lucky to have the assistance of not one but two historical societies in this endeavor: The St. Charles Historical Society and the Historic Frenchtown Association. The house is in the heart of the Frenchtown Historic District, which has its own listing in the National Register of Historic Places, separate from the St. Charles Historic District which encompasses Main Street.

Because I had begun haunting an online forum dedicated to the subject of old houses, my first question had quickly become, “What style is it?” After doing some googling of my own, my best guess was that it was an “American Foursquare,” but once I got the input of an expert I found that this was not the case at all. I had a wonderful and thorough response to the inquiry I sent to the Frenchtown Historic Association, quoted here:

Congratulations! You may have just made the buy of the century! I love this house and the way it is sited. What you have is a post-Victorian mutt. I say that lovingly, because most houses are not a pure style, like yours, but rather a collage of many influences of the day. Overall, I would label it a late Queen Anne because of its early Arts & Crafts influences. This is evident in the asymetric fenestration (arrangement of doors, windows and porch) of the facade. Other typical Queen Anne details include the 1 over 1 double hung wood window sashes, porches that emphasize the front door, the stairway stained glass window with Classical Revival motif, pocket doors, and the turned ballusters both inside on the staircases as well as outside around the porch.

Other influences include Romanesque with the belted stone course below the main floor windows on the facade and the Roman arched top leaded glass window as well as the rough chiseled local limestone block foundation. And the house shows early Arts & Crafts details including the pyramid capped interior newel posts, wide plain casings around the interior doors and windows with flat pedimented tops, large plain baseboards and multiple horizontal raised-panel interior doors of quarter-sawn wood on oversized ball-tipped hinges.

Overall, the house looks remarkably well intact of original details. I am especially glad to see what appears to be almost all of the original windows. The only evidence of insensitive changes that I see in the images is the loss of the original dormer window sashes to vinyl ones with 1960's Ranch casing and the addition of cornice crown moulding which would not have been used anywhere in a house of this age/style.

It was difficult not to become more impatient and excited than ever, after such an enlightening and enthusiastic reply as that. The other burning question was, “Who built it?” I had another wonderfully informative reply from a different lady at the Association. Here is the breakdown of the information she provided to me:

- The property was divided and sold/built between 1907 and 1908.

- The house was built by Edward A. Ohlms. He was still there with Edw. P. Ohlms in 1934.

- Edward A. and Edward P. owned the White House Tavern, located just 3 blocks from the house.*

- In 1950, the house was owned by Edward A.'s widow, Marion Ohlms. At this time Edward P. and Ralph Ohlms still owned the White House.

- In 1960, Clarence G. Ohlms, a bookkeeper, lived there; Ralph Ohlms still owned the White House.

- In 1970, Ernest E. Ohlms lived in the house.

- In 1980, Agatha C. Ohlms, a retired widow, lived in the house with Elizabeth Ohlms. Agatha lived in the house until 1983-4.

- In 1985, the house was occupied by another family name, which is the extent of the historical society's records. The tax assessor's website only has the current owner (seller) listed, and he bought the house in '03, so we have a gap between 1985 and 2003 (perhaps it was the same guy that whole time, will have to look into it).

*In my subsequent searching on various Ohlms, I have found reference to an Edwin, so I believe Edward may have had a son named Edwin rather than Edward Jr. This is pending further investigation.

So… the short of it is this: The Ohlms family built the house, and various Ohlms members owned it from 1908 to 1984. That’s 76 years with the original family; no wonder so many lovely original features have been preserved.

And, the man himself, Edward A., was something of a merchant, builder, and entrepreneur. I’ve since gained further details from both historical societies, as follow: Edward actually built the building in which the White House Tavern was located. He built it and then leased it out to The People’s Bank. However, the bank was robbed and then closed during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Edward took the building back and opened the White House...



And today, the home of Barton Brothers Antiques… If you enlarge the photo, look for the block lettering at the very top of the building.


With some more research of my own, with my friend Google, I found a photograph of Edward A's tombstone... and then a scan of his actual death certificate. According to it, he died of "coronary asculsion" (occlusion?), his "Usual profession" was "Merchant," and his "Industry or business" was "Tavern." He was born February 22, 1875, and he died December 27, 1943.

His death certificate also stated that his father was named Christian Ohlms and was born in Hanover, Germany. Christian mmigrated to O'Fallon, MO, where he met and married Edward's mother. Edward had an older brother named Henry (born in 1872), who was a Judge. I still haven't found out how the family originally made its money...