Purchase Price $86,000
2 bed · 1.5 bath · 1,760 sqft
Contact: Kristy Wendt at United Real Estate
Call: 816-536-4924
House History & Gallery
In the 19teens, the lovely residential neighborhood on Mulberry Street was just being built up. The tree-lined street was close – but not too close – to the bustling downtown. It was the perfect place for a successful attorney to build a lovely home for his family.
In 1916, that’s what Kay G. Porter did, building a charming frame home at 2309 for his new wife Harriett (Hattie) Kiewitt.
Porter, born in 1873 in Lathrop, was a well-known figure in St. Joseph. When he moved into his new home he had gained additional notoriety as a member of the team that defended St. Joseph Prosecuting Attorney Oscar McDaniel in his trial for the murder of his wife Hattie McDaniel. Porter and the team were successful in their defense of McDaniel and Hattie’s murder remains one of the great mysteries in St. Joseph history. This was not to be the last notorious case that Porter would be involved in – in 1934 he was the defense attorney for John F. Zook, who was charged with murder in the horrific lynching death of Lloyd Warner.
Porter had a long history of somewhat scandalous cases in St. Joseph. In 1900 he was caught up in a gambling scandal where accusations were made that he and another attorney had taken payoffs to “stand between the gamblers and the police department.” He weathered that storm and in 1903, he was acting city attorney.
On Christmas Day, 1916, Kay married Hattie in Oklahoma City. Like Kay, Hattie had been a long-time resident of St. Joseph, coming with her parents when she was an infant when her parents emigrated from Prussia. At the time of their marriage, Hattie had worked as a stenographer at the German-American bank. According to the Gazette, “Both Mr. Porter and his bride have many friends in St. Joseph and to most of them the marriage yesterday will come as a surprise, although they had been friends for several years.”
The Porters lived quietly in their home until Hattie’s death of a brain tumor on June 1, 1923 at the age of 43. Following the loss of his wife, Kay continued to live in the house. The 1930 census tells us that Janet M. Frey lived there as well as his housekeeper. In 1938, Kay remarried and sold the house (he and his new wife Elizabeth moved to 2512 Jules St.).
In 1938, the young St. Joseph physician Wilbur Packard McDonald and his new wife Eleanor Trachsel purchased 2309 Mulberry as their first home as a married couple. Wilbur and Eleanor were a glamorous couple both with deep St. Joseph roots. Both were alumni of Central High School and went on to St. Joseph Junior College – which was Missouri Western State College by the time Eleanor arrived as a Freshman in 1931. Both were active at the college, in 1930 Wilbur was president of the student body and in 1931 Eleanor was Secretary-Treasurer of the drama society. Wilbur then went on the University of Missouri, Columbia where he gained his medical degrees in 1934 and 1935. He then returned to St. Joseph and took up general practice. Eleanor also went on to MU to study journalism.
Following their marriage in November 1938 the young couple had a short time of happiness in their home on Mulberry, during which time their son Wallace was born. But events would overtake them, and with the outbreak of the Second World War, Wilbur enlisted in the army medical corps where he served for nearly five years of active service, stationed in Oxford, England.
While Wilbur was away, the McDonalds rented their home to Mr. and Mrs. Edward O. Blakeley. Edward Blakely had been the chief clerk in the freight traffic department, of the Rock Island railroad. Their son Edward Jr. was in the marines. He received the marine honor badge of efficiency. “He received this coveted award for his excellent record in combat training and rifle marksmanship, after eight work-filled weeks of boot camp.”
Wilbur returned to St. Joseph in October 1945 and the family moved back into 2309 Mulberry where they remained until 1949, when they sold the house to a family that would become St. Joseph legends.
Newspaperman Fred Slater and his wife Ann would live in the lovely house for decades. Fred was a St. Joseph native, graduating from Christian Brothers High School and the St. Joseph Junior College. He was active in student journalism and began work at the St. Joseph Gazette in 1930 at the age of 17 as an office boy and began working his way up the line to become a reporter and then an editor. He served in World War II under General Patton, and returned to St. Joseph in 1945 to take up his career in journalism where he had left it becoming one of the most beloved journalistic figures in St. Joseph.
Ann Bundick, a life-long St. Joseph resident (though she was born in Emporia, KS) married Fred in Shreveport, LA in 1943. Ann worked for the St. Joseph Light & Power Company and later she served at the Buchanan County Courthouse working for Magistrate Margaret Young. When she and Fred moved on to Mulberry Street, they had come home. They would remain in the house for more than four decades, raising their family and leaving an indelible mark on St. Joseph.
Some houses belie their relatively modest appearance with the wealth of stories and memories they contain. The wonderfully cared-for home at 2309 Mulberry St. is just such a place. It is ready for you and your family to add your story.
