Purchase Price $195,900
5 bed · 3+ bath · 4,289 sqft
Amazing home formerly owned by the Goetz family. This home has been updated and has so much room for entertaining. The main level features are a large family room with high ceiling, formal dining, office, kitchen and screened-in porch. The second level boasts three bedrooms and two full baths, including the one in the master suite. The upper level has two bedrooms, one full bath and a large bonus room for storage. Beautiful wood floors and decorative woodwork throughout. The lower level has a large recreation room, half-bath, and workshop.
Contact: Cindy Heitman at Reece Nichols
Call: 816-233-5200
House History & Gallery
There are some houses that embody so much of what made St. Joseph great. The absolutely charming Smith Goetz House at 2529 Felix is just such a house. The families that have called it home for well over a century were instrumental in many of the industries that fueled the great economic growth of St. Joseph during the 20th century.
James C. and Annie Smith moved in to the house in 1910. Smith was one of the proprietors of the James C. Smith Hide Company at 122-124 S. 2nd Street. The Smith Hide Company was a growing concern at the time, opening operations in Topeka, Wichita, and Chicago as well as the headquarters in St. Joseph. It was the income from this that made it possible for the Smiths to build such an impressive home. The five bedrooms of the house were put to good use; the 1910 census tells us that there were seven people living there. James and Annie, their daughter Maud Smith Page and her husband and children Herman L. Page (who worked for her father), 3-year-old Lucile and infant Helen. With this many people in the house, help was needed. This was provided by the Swedish-born housemaid Hilma Johnson.
The Smiths only lived in their lovely house for a decade and in 1920 it became home to one of the most famous families in St. Joseph history – the Goetzes. William L. Goetz was the President of the M.K. Goetz Brewing Company. In the 19th Century, St. Joseph had a large German population and many of them were involved in the brewing industry. On the eve of Prohibition in 1920, there were several breweries operating in the City. However, the only one that survived the outlawing of alcohol was Goetz Brewing (The monumental nature of this survival is shown by the fact that when Prohibition went into effect there were 1,200 breweries in the US, only 25 survived). It was William Goetz who, working with his brewmaster Fred Boldenweck, developed a drinkable near-beer. It was touted as having the flavor of the real thing without the forbidden alcohol. It was this that helped the Goetz brewery to expand at the time when others were going out of business.
William lived at 2529 with his wife Anna and their adopted sons Wilfred and Horace, and for many years his widowed mother-in-law Sophia Pape. Over the decades there were times when several of the grandchildren lived here, as well as live-in servants. Those spacious rooms and five bedrooms were really put to use!
By 1937, William and Anna left the home and John H. and Wilma Boucher moved in with their three children. William was an insurance adjuster, the manager of the Western Adjustment and Inspection Company. He was very active in civic life in St. Joseph, most notably serving as a member of the St. Joseph Police Board.
In the late 1940s, the Bouchers gave way to Richard and Jan Snooks. Richard was President of Citizen Loan & Savings Co. in St. Joseph. He and Jan were active in the Catholic community of the City and he was a civilian recruiter for the US Coast Guard as well as a member of the Buchanan County War Price and Ration Board from 1942 to 1946.
From hides to beer, to insurance, to banking the Smith Goetz House at 2529 Felix St. has seen it all. Many of the people who were responsible for the economic well-being of this city called it home. Just take a look at the wonderful front porch, can you imagine a better place to have a beer and toast another century of good fortune in this house and city!
