Step Inside History in Scarritt Renaissance

By Diane Euston

  As time goes on, landmarks like a well-placed home or even a street named in honor of a pioneer have disappeared. And, to be honest, Kansas City hasn’t done the best job of preserving its past. 

  Brick structures have been replaced by parking lots and high-rise buildings. Some of Kansas City’s oldest neighborhoods such as Quality Hill, platted in 1857 by real estate dealer Kersey Coates between 7th and 13th near Broadway, are a skeleton of their prior glory. 

  Kansas City’s richest lived in Quality Hill, but the influx of population growth and need for a larger footprint downtown slowly but surely destroyed these gorgeous homes.

  Kansas City’s growth answers quite a bit of the questions on why so many structures have disappeared; in the 1880s, the real estate boom led to the expansion of the suburbs on the east side as real estate in Quality Hill became limited; they simply ran out of land to develop.

  It took some good luck and real estate development decisions through the turn of the last century that likely saved so many structures that were built on the east side. While Kansas City appeared to be moving to the east to neighborhoods such as Indian Mound, Lykins, Pendleton Heights, Independence Plaza, Sheffield, and Scarritt Renaissance, other real estate dealers saw the city’s future to the south.

  J.C. Nichols began building the Country Club District in 1906, and the years that followed showcased new homes on tree-lined streets in the Brookside neighborhood, Mission Hills and Westwood Hills. This drove many of Kansas City’s wealthy – especially with the expansion of the streetcar line and the affordability of the automobile – to the south.

  And luckily, so many of those large structures built in neighborhoods on the east side survived due to lack of redevelopment. They escaped the bulldozers over the years, and due to a close-knit community of historic preservationists, these homes don’t just survive – they have been carefully restored and maintained. 

  The Northeast Kansas City Historical Society (NEKCHS), a non-profit focused on historic preservation and educational programs, is at the helm of all the incredible efforts this community has accomplished over the past few decades, and on Saturday, October 24, six of these gorgeous homes in the Scarritt Renaissance neighborhood will open their doors for the 13th annual Fall Homes Tour.

 The name “Scarritt” may be recognizable due to a subdivision, school, a building, and a street all bearing the name. 

  Scarritt is synonymous in our city’s history, and it all started with a preacher, teacher, and missionary to the Native Americans named Nathan Scarritt (1821-1890) who over the course of the early city’s history morphed into a real estate developer, banker and early millionaire.

  And two of the homes on this year’s Fall Homes Tour are directly connected to Nathan Scarritt’s family.

Rev. Nathan Scarritt 

  Nathan Scarritt was born in 1821 in Edwardsville, Ill., and by 1845, he moved to Fayette, Mo. where he worked as a teacher and established Howard Female College. A few years later, he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and became an ordained minister.

  Rev. Scarritt came to the Kansas City area in 1848 to teach advanced classes, including “the Latin and Greek languages” at the Shawnee Indian Mission, led by Rev. Thomas Johnson. There, he worked for about four years.

  While working at Shawnee Indian Mission, Scarritt met Martha Matilda Chick (1831-1873), daughter of William Miles Chick (1794-1847). She and her family had left Virginia for the town of Westport in 1837 where her father operated a general store. A veteran of the War of 1812, Chick was also one of the 14 original founders of Kansas City and the first postmaster. In 1850, the couple was married by Rev. Johnson and started their lives together at the Shawnee Indian Mission three miles west of Westport.

  Nathan and his wife, Martha had nine children, six of which survived to adulthood.

   In 1852, Rev. Scarritt moved to Westport to take over two congregations–Westport Methodist Church and the 5th Street Church. 

  The house where he lived until 1862 is still standing at 4038 Central.

  Rev. Scarritt could see there could be a bright future for the “City of Kansas,” incorporated in 1853. He began buying up portions of real estate in the town that would later earn him a substantial amount of money.

 In early 1862, Nathan purchased 40 acres overlooking the Missouri River a few miles past Kansas City’s limits. The Border Wars and later the Civil War erupted any sense of peace throughout the area, and the town of Westport was a hotbed of hostility.

  Although Rev. Scarritt was part of the Southern Methodists whose sympathies leaned pro-slavery, he was not in favor of secession, nor did he own slaves. Afraid for his family, Scarritt moved into a log cabin he constructed on his newly-acquired land in what is now Northeast Kansas City.

  In 1872, they decided to upgrade their log cabin in the Northeast after it burned. In its place was a stately, Victorian brick mansion overlooking the Missouri River that had “a magnificent view of the river valley and surrounding country.” The house stood near present-day Gladstone Boulevard where Scarritt Point is now located.

  Unfortunately, Rev. Scarritt’s beloved wife, Martha, passed away “suddenly and unexpectedly” in 1873 and was buried at Mount Washington Cemetery in Independence.

The Creation of Scarritt Renaissance

  Kansas City saw tremendous growth in the 1880s, and the city was becoming crowded. As the city limits crept closer to the Scarritt homestead in the Northeast and eventually reached the property, Nathan used his extensive knowledge of real estate to plat subdivisions around his home. 

  In 1886, he platted Melrose followed by East Melrose just a year later. He advertised that “no stores and no cheap tenements” would be allowed, and “only first-class residences will be permitted.” Appropriately-named Scarritt Avenue ran through the subdivision, and since the land sat at the top of one of the highest bluffs in the city, the views of the Missouri River were impressive. All six of the Scarritt children were able to secure their own lots within this newly-formed neighborhood. It became the city’s newest suburb for the elite.

  Today, this collection of subdivisions, spanning from Cliff Drive on the north, Independence Avenue to the south, Chestnut Avenue to the west and approximately Jackson Avenue on the east makes up the Scarritt Renaissance neighborhood.

  After a trip to St. Louis, Nathan Scarritt returned to his mansion in Kansas City and died May 22, 1890 at the age of 69. It was said that he had suffered for years “of disease of the kidneys which undermined his strong constitution.”

  In his will, he left money to build Scarritt Bible and Training School at Norledge and Askew. The school was active from 1892 until it was moved to Nashville, Tenn. in 1924. It was estimated at the time of his death that his estate ranged between $1.5 million and $3 million.

Rev. Scarritt’s Oldest Daughter’s Home – 3242 Norledge Avenue

   The neighborhood known as Scarritt Renaissance was the chosen place of residency for all of his children except his namesake, Nathan who moved to Independence and managed the family’s property left to them in the estate. Nathan Sr.’s son, Edward, was a lawyer and judge for 40 years; he built a home at 3500 Gladstone Blvd. that is still owned by descendants. Nathan’s son, William Chick Scarritt built the most expensive of the residences at 3250 Norledge and served as a lawyer, police commissioner, and president of the Park Board in 1922. In 2006, a fire destroyed part of the structure; however, the home, listed on the National Register, was saved despite extensive damage.

  One of the six featured homes on the Fall Homes Tour is the home Rev. Nathan Scarritt’s daughter built on a lot given to her by her father just to the east of her brother’s home.

  Born May 23, 1851 at the Shawnee Indian Mission, Annie Eliza Scarritt saw so much change in the area over her years. Just a year after her birth, her parents moved to Westport, Mo. where she lived as a small child at home still standing at 4038 Central. 

  Annie attended Huffaker School out of the old Westport Methodist Church before public schools were organized, and she continued her education at Westport High School.

  When 21 years old, Annie married Eugene R. Hendrix, a reverend in the Methodist Church, South. He was born in 1847 in Fayette, Mo. and rose quickly in the ranks of the church. 

  After the couple married, they spent a brief time in St. Joseph before Rev. Hendrix was named president of Central College in Fayette, Mo. There, the couple raised their children: Evangeline (b. 1873),  Anna (b. 1874), Mary Matilda (b. 1875), Nathan Scarritt (b. 1878) and Helen Chick (b. 1880). 

  Like his father-in-law, Rev. Hendrix found great joy in missionary work. While he and his wife started their young family, he made a trip around the world to China, Japan, Africa and the West Indies; he wrote “a descriptive book on the civilizing influence of Christianity” when he returned.

  By 1886, Rev. Eugene R. Hendrix was elected a bishop for the Methodist church and opted to move to Kansas City. The Kansas City Times wrote in May 1886, “He will purchase a residence on the East side and will remove his family here this summer. His district will include the conferences in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado and several on the Pacific Coast.”

  The couple took a slice of the land owned by Rev. Nathan Scarritt for their new home. Designed by Benjamin Brooks, the home’s irregular plan had many features of typical Queen Anne architecture. The home at 3242 Norledge Place (now Norledge Avenue) overlooked the bluffs. 

  The two-and-one-half-story home was constructed of stone and red brick. A three-story tower on the right front of the home also included a porch extending behind the tower. A stone archway to the left of the home served as an entrance to a long porch that led to the main entrance. 

  The home, over 7,000 square feet, featured seven bedrooms for their large family. The land behind their new home was partially sold to the city in 1895 in order to create North Terrace Park and Cliff Drive. The park has been renamed Kessler Park in honor of landscape architect, George Kessler.

 Bishop Eugene R. Hendrix retired in 1922 just weeks before his golden wedding anniversary. About five months later, Ann Eliza Scarritt Hendrix, 71 years old, passed away inside their home on Norledge Avenue.

  In her obituary, it was noted she was “prominent in civic, welfare and church work,” staying actively involved in the Scarritt Bible and Training School founded by her father.

  Five years later, Bishop Hendrix passed away inside the home in 1927 at the age of 80.

  The home continued under the ownership of their son, Nathan Hendrix until the mid-1930s, and then the beautiful home was converted into a convalescent home. In 1948, the owner was fined $75 for violations; 27 families, mostly veterans, were crowded inside the house.

  Its shaky recent past included the collapse of the stone archway on the left side of the home in the early 2000s, but it was carefully restored.

  This home, full of history, will open its doors to the community so they, too, can walk through one of the beauties of the historic Northeast.

Rev. Scarritt’s Youngest Daughter’s Home – 3400 Norledge Avenue

  Just to the east of Nathan Scarritt’s oldest daughter’s home sits a wooded lot that partially covers the view of his youngest daughter, Martha Matilda “Mattie” Scarritt Jones’ home at 3400 Norledge Avenue.

  Mattie Scarritt was born February 17, 1872 at the Scarritt homestead off Cliff Drive at Scarritt Point. Just over a year after her birth, her mother, Martha Matilda, passed away.

  Mattie attended Central High School and then Nashville College for Young Ladies. While in Tennessee, she met Elliott Hamilton Jones (b. 1870) who was attending Vanderbilt University.

  The couple tied the knot in 1894 in Kansas City. Elliott Jones entered into a law partnership with Mattie’s brothers at the firm Scarritt, Scarritt and Jones.

  In 1899, the couple opted to build a home next door to Mattie’s sister and down the road from her brother at 3400 Norledge Place (Avenue). The “handsome stone residence” was designed by Root and Siemens and was said to cost $9,000.

  The all-stone two-and-one-half-story rectangular-shaped house featured a rounded front porch with a conical roof on the right side. The home, just over 5,300 square feet with six bedrooms, included massive stone chimneys that rose to the peak of the roofline and a Palladian window looking out from the third floor to the street. Rich, dark woods ran throughout the house.

  The home was good-sized for their growing family. The couple had seven children who lived to adulthood, and while living at the home on Norledge, their son, Russell, died at 22 years old during the 1918 flu pandemic, and their 19-year-old daughter Janice passed away of acute nephritis inside the home.

  Despite the tragedies, Elliott Jones was able to build a successful career in his adopted hometown. He served as a police commissioner, a member of the Park Board and the city council. 

  In 1934, the family moved to White Hall Apartments on the Country Club Plaza, but by the late 1940s, they were back in the historic Northeast where so much Scarritt history was. In 1949, Mattie Scarritt Jones passed away in their home at 4318 Sunset Drive, and two years later, her husband, Elliott died inside their son’s home in Brookside.

  The home passed through various owners, and in 1991, John and Patricia Deery Kurtz purchased the home. In 2016, they installed a new energy-efficient boiler that features an intricate design of copper pipes, and they pulled up the old carpets to reveal beautiful quarter-sawn oak floors that have been carefully preserved.

Four Gladstone Boulevard Residences

  The 13th annual Fall Homes Tour doesn’t end at the two incredible homes once owned by the Scarritt heirs. Four historic homes on Gladstone Boulevard, a showpiece street in the Scarritt Renaissance neighborhood, round out the tour.

  509 South Gladstone Boulevard, a two-and-one-half-story home, was built in 1890 with a brick façade and a stone front porch that features numerous pocket doors, hardwood floors and a two-tiered portico supported by four solid limestone columns. 

  Up the road near the Museum of Kansas City sits another showstopper home open on the Fall Homes Tour. Known as the Stevens House at 3223 Gladstone Boulevard, this whopping 9,000-square-foot home was built in 1901 and is a neoclassical Colonial Revival. Purchased in 2008, the home has been carefully restored and was recognized by the Historic Kansas City Foundation for a historic preservation award. 

  Just steps away are two more homes on the tour, the first being an Art Deco-style cottage with Tudor influences built in 1930. Open for the tour, this home at 3421 Gladstone Boulevard is dressed with brick and stucco; its distinctive Tudor peaks elevate its historic charm. 

  Lastly, at 3414 Gladstone Boulevard, a two-and-one-half-story brick home built in the Colonial Revival style in the late 1890s, will also be open to visitors.

Admiring Historic Homes Up Close

  Events such as the NEKCHS Fall Homes Tour give people the chance to step inside historic homes that usually remain behind a locked door. The owners of these homes understand the importance of these places and take pride in showing them to the community at large.

  These six homes will be open on Saturday, Oct. 24 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets are available at www.nekchs.org and are $25 each if purchased before Oct. 23; if purchased at the event, the price is $30.

  It’s hard to see the rich history of Kansas City when gazing at the current skyline, but if you dig a little deeper and travel a little further, there are historic neighborhoods like Scarritt Renaissance that are oozing with charm, character and elusive stories that connect us to the past.