Purchase Price $200,000
4 loft apartments
Contact: Lisa Rock - Re/Max
Call: (816) 262-8462
Duplex History & Gallery
For the first years of its life, the property at 815-817 S. 8th was a duplex in the heart of a Jewish neighborhood that housed some of the most colorful figures of turn-of-the-century St. Joseph. One of the earliest inhabitants was Amanda Francis Bivens Toms Pumphrey Roe – with a name like that you know she has to be fascinating! Amanda and her family were not the most upstanding of St. Joseph citizens. Her first husband William Toms was killed by a policeman in Achison during a barroom brawl. She then married his best friend (who had lost a leg in the same brawl), John Pumphrey. Pumphrey was not a nice man, and Amanda’s son John Toms shot and killed him for abusing Amanda. In February 1899, the police raided the house at 815 S. 8th as Amanda and her daughter and son-in-law were suspected of a series of thefts around the business section of the city.
One imagines that the neighbors breathed a sigh of relief when Amanda and her family left the house in 1904, but their peace and quiet was short-lived. In 1907, Nora Baxter moved in. The City Directory gives her occupation as confectioner, but there was certainly more to the story. Nora made her living by luring men she met at Union Station to her home and stealing from them. Luckily for the neighborhood, Nora only lived here for about a year.
That same year, the property was purchased by Arbraham Burnstein and became Burnstein’s Bakery (his previous business address had been 903 S. 8th, so he didn’t have to move far). One of the most prominent of the Jewish bakeries in the city, they were particularly famous for their Russian rye bread. The Burnsteins and their business were at the center of the vibrant Jewish community that made such an important mark on the history of St. Joseph in the first half of the 20th century.
Like most family owned businesses of the era, the property at 815-817 S. 8th St. was both work and home to the Burnsteins. Abraham Burnstein and his family lived in the upper apartments while the bakery took up the lower spaces. The business was such a success that Abraham was able to renovate the structure in the early 1920s. The family continued to own the property until it was sold to the Faith Baptist Mission of St. Joseph in 1967.
The 800 block of South 8th street was a bustling commercial district, with many Jewish-owned businesses drawing residents and customers to the area. It must have been like crossing the Atlantic back to Eastern Europe when one stood on the street – most of the residents were recent immigrants from Russia and Rumania and Yiddish was the primary language spoken. Over the period when the Burnsteins ran their bakery their neighbors included William Segals’ grocery and general merchandise store; Cooper’s laundry; Karros & Cherstos’ cigar store; Moses Gellar’s grocery; Abraham Leibling’s bookstore; Phil Pomerantz worked as a tailor; Jonathan Quinn and A.C. Hassur were both confectioners in the area; and the Red Bird Chili Company was at 819-821 from 1926 to 1929.
Since the property changed hands and became a multi-unit residential building, it has been significantly upgraded. The loyalty of its long-term tenants is a testament that the Burnstein Bakery Apartments remain a sweet place to live!
The historic nature of this property makes it eligible for grants such as St. Joseph’s Save Our Heritage grants.
