The Ridgeway-Thurman home is pictured on the upper left.  The other buildings are: top center – Christian Church; right center – Blanchard Depot; bottom left – Methodist Church (still standing with changes); bottom center – Reformed “Covenanter” Church; and bottom right – First Street as looking north from Ridgeway Thurman home. (Submitted photo)

By Beverly Clinkingbeard

The house was built in the era of fashionably big homes that prosperity afforded in the late 1800’s and the turn of the new century. It still stands true and straight, but sadly, the grandeur can only be imagined.

The Ridgeway-Thurman House is located on the Missouri side of Blanchard in Bernice City. Since it is located in Atchison County, Bernice City, rather than Blanchard proper, it is considered rural. Today, the street is Hughes Street, but at the turn of the century and until 911 dreamers changed street names, it was Missouri Avenue and unofficially “silk stocking” street. The home is deserted, but privately owned and unofficial residents are buzzards and other wildlife. Flowers still bloom at their appointed time and wild berry bushes vie for sunlight amid the growing trees.

The home was the built by Samuel and Laura Ridgeway. They were early-day Blanchard citizens and merchants. Their names appear on the Blanchard Methodist Church Membership in 1892. The Ridgeways owned farm land in Atchison and Nodaway Counties and also owned Ridgeway Lumber Company (later known as Ridgeway-Thurman Lumber). It was a good time to be in the lumber business as surrounding farmers were building new homes, barns and other outbuildings. The new rail line that came through Blanchard facilitated commerce as the farmer now had a means of transporting grain and livestock to sell in other markets. At the time the Ridgeway-Thurman House was built, the steel tracks of the railroad on its way from Omaha, Nebraska, to St. Louis, Missouri, curved across the Ridgeway land and put Blanchard on the map. The area gave much promise for commerce, and with a growing city and rural population, homes of all sizes and description quickly lined Blanchard’s brick streets.

The home was built with exacting detail. On the interior, each room featured its own wood, and as the builders were in the lumber business, the home reflected their availability to materials. There was a bedroom finished in walnut wood, a bedroom of bird’s eye maple, a bedroom of oak wood, another of mahogany, and pine was used in the back staircase, kitchen and out of the way places. The wood was crafted to fit and carved in many places. Furnishings within the house were of the same wood as was featured in a room. Many pieces were large and were made for a particular spot and function. As the family often entertained, there was china, crystal and silver filling the buffet and cupboards. Between the kitchen and dining room there was a small butler’s pantry. The kitchen had a large work table in the center, a massive wood or coal burning cooking range as well as a kerosene cooking stove.

There was a broad staircase to the left of the front entrance and a narrower back staircase off the kitchen for the help to use. There were five large fireplaces of marble and wood. The tiles surrounding the fireplaces matched the wallpaper in the room. There were three bathrooms, when at the time of building most people were using an outhouse. Upstairs included five bedrooms. Hired help was available and essential in a house of this size, and for the social leadership the Ridgeways and later the Thurmans had in the community. Hired help had space in an attic bedroom, but not all roomed there, using an upstairs room instead.

The house was equipped with a communications system of the time. A series of bells connected the home with a speak-in tube. There were three telephones in the home – one in the kitchen, a desk type phone in the library and a phone upstairs. An elevator was in the center of the home and was described as a “cage.” It was electric and moved slowly. They used it to haul things up and down; however, its main purpose was for Mr. Ridgeway, who was quite crippled with arthritis. The elevator and communication system made it possible for him to have access throughout the home.

All rooms were spacious in size and “pocket doors” on the main floor could be slid aside to open the downstairs to include the library, living room and dining room as one. The laundry facilities were in the basement and included an early-day manual washer and wringer. There was a coal bin and a massive coal-fired furnace that reputedly required a train carload of coal each winter to heat the house. A huge water vat was also in the basement. It was filled daily from a house well located in the basement. Later a town water system was available. The house had its own electrical system and was used until the town was commercially electrified.

The house spoke of an era of extravagance that followed pioneering generations, the promise of railroad commerce and predated World War I. Following Mrs. Thurman’s death in 1960, there were two heirs without heirs or interest and the house sold and rumored to have sold “for a pittance of its value.” The style of large energy-inefficient homes had fallen from favor. The bed and breakfast era that we know today hadn’t made a social entrance, especially in small Midwestern towns.

The contents of the home were auctioned off and its furnishings and artifacts undoubtedly made their way into antique shops and now grace another home, the possessor knowing not of origin or past service. The Great Depression, wars, changes in agriculture, disinterested out-of-town owners have left the old dame of Blanchard standing, but out of options. Despite being vacant from the era of 1960, the home stands straight and true, though in sad condition. There were a series of owners who pillaged and removed anything of value, including the ornate stairway at the front of the home. There was also a fire that did damage. The roof is a lifetime slate that has witnessed storms, neglect, buzzards and vandals.

The late Hardin Cox of Rock Port, Missouri, recalled riding the train to Blanchard with his father. (They possibly accessed the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (CB&Q) train in Corning, Missouri, or Tarkio, Missouri, and in Coin, Iowa, transferred to the Wabash line that came through Blanchard.) Hardin remembered walking from the depot past a hotel, the Ridgeway-Thurman Lumber Company, and to a big house where he looked wide-eyed at the surroundings while his father did business with the family.

For those who are fascinated and have a love for old houses, the Ridgeway-Thurman House is a grand one that evokes sadness and a shake of the head, for what once was or might still be under different heirs, circumstances and history. In a later installment, there will be an introduction to the folks that dwelled in the home.

’Til next time.