JACKSON'S OLIVER HOUSE A LIVING HISTORY OF HERITAGE

A pair of reading glasses and a woman's fan from the 1800 on a dresser in Mrs. R.B. Oliver's bedroom at the Oliver House.

A desk of walnut burl veneer of the late 1800s along with Sen. R.B. Oliver's chair at the Oliver House.

JACKSON Since its renovation in the mid-1970s, the Oliver House at 224 East Adams in Jackson has become a living history of heritage. Today, the house is a focal point for special community activities throughout the year as it continues to serve as a link with heritage.

During the Christmas season the Oliver House is decorated inside and out in the style of an early Victorian mansion. Special tours and activities are offered on weekends.

This is the final weekend that the Oliver House will be open this year. The last in a series of special Christmas holiday weekend activities this month is a Sunday afternoon tea from 1-4 p.m. The Oliver House will close after that and reopen next May.

The two-story, brick Oliver House has had several owners and at least two names since it was built just prior to the Civil War and the election of Abraham Lincoln as President.

According to the Jackson Heritage Association, which is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the home, parts of what is now called the Oliver House were standing in 1848. So in all probability the original house was started prior to that time.

Bernard Schaper, a member of the association, said that in 1854 a man by the name of Tobler bought the four lots on which the house now stands for the sum of $425. It is believed that there was a one- or two-room structure over an old cellar beneath the present kitchen floor.

Tobler sold the land in 1855 to George W. Ferguson for $1,100. Ferguson lived there from 1855 to 1881.

The house is an ante-bellum home of Federal-type architecture and built of handmade brick, probably made in one of the two brick factories in operation in Jackson at the time.

Schaper said early records show that the original lot on which the house is situated extended from Main Street to what is now Adams Street, which the house faces. The rear of the lot was a pasture for livestock that was raised by the families who lived there.

The house consists of five rooms downstairs with a winding stairway leading to the upstairs from the entryway. On the second floor are three bedrooms with a large hallway leading out on the top balcony. When the plaster was pulled off the upper story during restoration, it was discovered from the method of construction that at one time the front portion of the house was a story and a half with two dormer windows on the front side -- old German-type construction.

The kitchen was of one story and was separated from the main house by a dog-trot, or breezeway, as was quite common for houses built when there was no electricity.

It is believed the Ferguson family remodeled the house, enclosing the dog-trot and raising the whole portion, kitchen included, to make a two-story Federal style building.

At one time it was called the White House because all of the bricks had been painted white. However, the paint was sandblasted off the house during its restoration in the mid-1970s and the brick tuckpointed as part of the process.

Today, it is known as the Oliver House, named after the family of Sen. R.B. Oliver, who lived there and owned the home until 1896. Mrs. R.B. Oliver was the head of a committee that designed the first state flag of Missouri.

The Olivers purchased the house from Ferguson's wife on March 2, 1881 for $2,500. They lived there until 1896 where they raised their family of six children. In that year they built a large brick house in Cape Girardeau and moved.

Oliver began his law practice in 1878 and became prosecuting attorney the same year. In 1882 he was elected to the Missouri Senate.

Sometime during the years when the house belonged to the Olivers a room was added, possibly a bedroom, perhaps later a sewing room or flower porch. During the restoration the room was made into Oliver's study.

Schaper said that for many years it was believed the room was added onto the house by the second husband of Mrs. Ferguson, who was a doctor, and he used the room to see his patients. However, a letter was found by one of Oliver's children that mentions that his family built the room.

The house was purchased by the Jackson Chamber of Commerce in 1966, but prior to the mid 1970s the house was unused for more than 15 years. At one time it had been divided into a two-family dwelling.

In 1976, the Jackson Heritage Association, a non-profit corporation, was formed, and took over management and extensive restoration of the house, which began in June 1976, much of it with volunteer labor. Materials were purchased from numerous fund-raising events throughout the restoration period.

During the restoration a tremendous amount of time and research was done to make sure the restoration was kept as accurate as possible, showing home life during the period from 1850 to 1900. Attention was paid to small details such as the wallpaper, which is from a design from that time period. Whenever possible, the original components of the house were restored. Where necessary to use materials, they were fit into the original designs.

Heat and air conditioning was added during the restoration so the home can be kept open in the summer and winter months. The lighting fixtures in the house are of the original coal-oil design, but were converted to electricity.

Furnishings for the Oliver House have been donated by many area residents, some outright gifts and others on permanent loan to the Oliver House. The impressive list includes the first piano in the area that was brought to the territory by George Frederick Bollinger in the early 1800s. Schaper said the piano was made in London, and traveled by wagon to the Ohio River, then by boat on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to Cape Girardeau. It then was hauled by wagon to Burfordville, where Bollinger had built his mill on the Whitewater River. The piano was donated to the Oliver House by his descendants.

The Oliver House is operated with funds generated by an endowment fund created in 1988. "Interest earned from the endowment is used to maintain the house and pay for the utilities," Schaper said. "The endowment is made up strictly from gifts and donations, and fund-raising activities."

Each year the Jackson Heritage Association sponsors a cruise party and ice cream social to raise money for the endowment fund. The organization also prints a calender that illustrates historic sites and buildings in the area. Schaper said the calender is now on sale at Jackson drug stores and at the Oliver House this weekend.

Today, in an age when many historic structures in this area have been demolished in the name of progress, the Oliver House is a restored reminder of our great American Heritage.