TIME TO MOVE...JUST PACK UP THE HOUSE

KELSO -- When the Eftink family decided it was time to move, they didn't pack up their belongings ... they hoisted the house and towed it away.

The 106-year-old building was moved about 350 feet to a new location on the property just north of Kelso city limits, said Larry Eftink.

"We left all the dishes and appliances and clothes in the house," Eftink said. "We lived in it until Wednesday. On Thursday we disconnected the electricity, cable TV and telephone."

On Friday, Johnson House Movers from Sikeston moved the structure.

Eftink said Friday's move was the second time the old building had been taken to a new spot on the same property.

Built in 1888 or 1889, the building originally served as the Kelso Baptist Church. When the church relocated to Scott City, the building was converted to a one-room school. At some point, it was moved, but Eftink wasn't sure when.

The family bought the house about nine years ago and did some renovations.

"When we tore the plaster off one wall, there was a blackboard still hanging on the wall," he said. "We covered it with new sheetrock so if someone tears it down a hundred years from now they will find the blackboard too."

"A lot of people have asked me why I would move that house," Eftink said.

The Eftinks decided to move their house because they had outgrown it. "It didn't have a basement and not much storage," he said. "We thought about adding on, but decided to build a new house instead.

"We wanted to preserve the old house and the old house was in way too good of shape to tear down, but we wanted our new house to be at the same spot."

So they moved the old house.

The house was up on concrete pillars. Eftink said the movers put long beams under the house and jacked it up so that wheels could be placed under the structure.

The house was hooked to a tractor and was towed to the new location.

The Eftinks put a basement at the new location for the house. The movers backed the house in beside the basement and rolled the building onto its new foundation.

While their new home is being built, the Eftinks will live in the old house at its new location. After that, the property will likely be rented.

"We hope to be back in by Wednesday or Thursday of next week," Eftink said Saturday. In the meantime they are staying with friends. But most of their belongings are still in the house.

"When we need clothes, we just get a step ladder and get in the house."