Historic house needs major help

Drivers pass the old house with its white columns and clapboard siding intact, perhaps unaware of its profound influence on the town in which they drive.

If only houses could talk.

Alexander Majors Historic House, an 1856 antebellum house, where Pony Express riders mounted their saddles and supply oxen headed west, is full of history to share.

"The next generation needs to understand this is where commerce started in Kansas City," Joe Huber, Alexander Majors Historic Foundation board president, said.

Huber wants to give the house and museum, 8201 Stateline Road, home of Kansas City’s earliest and most influential freighting leader of the day, a fresh start under new leadership.

"It’s important to history," Huber said.

Former board president, architect Terry Chapman, died in January, leaving a small board of directors with an uncertain future.

As the original Alexander Majors Historic House and Museum trustee appointed by Majors’ descendent, Chapman restored the house in 1984 and oversaw the museum for 25 years.

"He loved the history and working with the facility," said Joel Chapman, Terry’s son, board of directors vice president and foundation secretary.

Chapman said his father enjoyed the hands-on aspect of building and maintaining the house and buildings, but did not develop an ongoing volunteer force under his leadership or committed board of directors necessary for fundraising.

He said the board raised enough money to hire several directors, but regularly ran out of funding after a year.

"Dad was a doer," Chapman said. "It takes a group to do it."

Chapman said the board is developing a business plan for a prospective organization to run the site. They also want to find a new board committed to the museum.

"Long term, we’re not the board that’s going to run it," he said.

The board has approached Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department, Native Sons and Daughters of Greater Kansas City, and the John Wornall House Museum for help. The board plans to call the National Trust for Historical Preservation.

"What we’re trying to do is get a group of new people to see how to make this go," Chapman said.

He said the museum is debt-free, in good repair with outbuildings that include a smoke house, blacksmith shop, gift store and barn. He said the barn is a money maker, rented for events.

"A new group can take this thing and will run with it," Chapman said.

Kandice Walker, executive director of the John Wornall House Museum, 6115 Wornall Road, said she would love to partner with the Alexander Majors Historical House.

Both houses are from the same era and located three miles apart.

"It’s an incredible house," she said. "It’s a wonderful part of history. I definitely don’t want to see it close."

Walker said the Wornall House partnered with the Majors House during the Wornall House Road Show. She said she sees great potential combining the historical houses, citing the Majors House barn and blacksmith shop.

"I’d love to see it be used educationally," she said.

Walker said the Majors House, where Alexander Majors’ freight company grew Kansas City’s economy, and the 1858 Wornall House, which served as a Civil War hospital, offer unique and important slices of history.

Walker said her dream is to combine the museums and double the programming.

"Together we can be more powerful," she said.

Walker is interested in directing both museums, but said that would require more staffing and a bigger budget.

"Frankly, it would take funding," she said. "It’s a difficult time for museums, historical centers and nature sites."

Chuck Loomis, director of the Trailside Center, 9901 Holmes Road, said the Majors property, formerly Indian territory, held more livestock than others in the mid 1850s.

"It’s one of the better historic homes in Kansas City," he said. "It’s very prominent between State Line and Ward Parkway. The old house is just a wonderful thing to go through."

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