FE414C8D-1DD8-B71B-0B6EC46ABD26855A

Feature 102: 630 North Delaware Street (in 2011)

Bungalow style

Classification: Contributing. Historic Name: Houchens House. Architectural Style: Bungalow. Construction Date: ca. 1925. Period 3 of Harry S Truman's Life: Developing Political Skills and Associations, 1920-1933. Tax Identification: 26-310-20-01. Legal Description: McCauley Park Addition, block 1, part of lot 1. Description: Contributing one- and one-half story coursed stone dwelling; irregular shape; gabled roof with hipped dormers and broad overhanging eaves and decorative brackets, clad with composition shingles; squared coursed stone exterior; large fixed light and also double-hung sash windows; porch with square stone posts supporting balustrade-encircled deck above, extending across facade, is now enclosed; recessed main entrance; stone foundation with daylight basement. Corner lot with lawn and foundation shrubbery elevated above the street. • Alterations: Front porch has been enclosed; a deck has been built above the porch roof. • Contributing wood-frame double-car garage in rear, accessible from West College Street [Feature 103]. History/Significance: Basil Manley and Frances Clements Houchens had this house constructed around 1925. Basil Manley Houchens, the son of First Baptist minister Manley Houchens, was a childhood friend of Harry Truman. He owned B.M. Houchens Realty and Mortgage Company in the 1910s and 1920s. Between 1920 and 1926, Houchens served on the Independence City Council. He also was president of the Chamber of Commerce. In the mid-1920s, Houchens became president of Citizens Security Bank in nearby Englewood, Missouri. Around that time, Harry S Truman, Fielding Houchens, B.M. Houchens's brother and high school classmate of Truman's, along with several others, took over this small tottering bank as a business venture, soon to learn that the bank had limited assets. The bank failed not long after Truman and others sold their interests. Subsequently, Basil Manley Houchens committed suicide in his garage here at 630 North Delaware Street. Frances Houchens continued living in the house into the 1930s. In the late 1940s and 1950s, Vera Thomason resided in the house.

U.S. National Park Service

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Harry S. Truman National Historic Site, Code: HSTR

39.093238830566406,-94.4156265258789, Harry S. Truman National Historic Site

NPS.gov Collection

5/9/2011 12:00:00 AM

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Wednesday, January 10, 2018 2:19:25 AM

Wednesday, January 10, 2018 2:19:25 AM

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Scenic