Purchase Price $213,900
5 bed · 3 bath · 2,789 sqft
Fantastic Colonial home on iconic Lover’s Lane! This home has so much living space to offer, including formal living room with built-ins & fireplace that leads to a screened-in side porch, huge family room overlooking the backyard, formal dining room, and large finished rec room in the basement! You will find the charms of an older home but also a fully equipped modern kitchen, spacious master suite, & 2nd floor laundry room! Original wood floors throughout under carpet. Private 3rd floor bedroom is a hidden treat!
Contact: Amy Voltz at Keller Williams
Call: 816-273-8480
House History & Gallery
Built around 1930, this lovely Colonial Revival home sits on one of St. Joseph’s most desirable streets – Lover’s Lane. In 1930, the President of Missouri Mantel Tile and Marble Company, Fred Windsor, and his family moved in to the home. Fred was born in Scotland, but his parents Thomas and Rosetta moved to St. Joseph when he was an infant. Thomas was in the tile business, and after a short period as a newspaper man (during WWI he was the Editor of Trench and Camp, the base newspaper for Camp Doniphan), Fred followed in his father’s footsteps. He was very successful, serving as president of the Mid-West Tile and Mantel contractors’ Association; he was on the board of directors of Fairfax Airports, Inc., the company that had oversight of Rosecrans. Fred was very active with the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He was post commander of the Jack Schneider Post in St Joseph and in 1932 he was chair of the national committee on unemployment – an extraordinarily important job in the midst of the Great Depression. The Windsors remained in their charming home for about a decade.
From 1940-1944, 2015 Lover’s Lane was home to Charles A. and Kate Bird Wells and their daughters Roberta and Mary. Charles, a native of Atchison County, MO became president of the John S. Brittain Dry Goods Company in 1939. It was this salary that gave him the means to move his family to this home that was clearly reflective of his status. The Wells family remained in the home until 1944 when the Brittain Dry Goods Company was sold to the Ely Walker Dry Goods Company of St. Louis and Charles was given the choice of either taking a position in St. Louis or in Pittsburgh. He chose Pittsburgh, and after a last Christmas family gathering at their much loved home here, they moved.
In December 1944, Roy Miller superintendent for Kresge’s in the Chicago district was transferred to St. Joseph to take up the position of manager of the store here. This was just in time to purchase the home on Lover’s Lane from the Wells family. Moving with Roy was his extraordinary daughter Maurine Miller. In November 1945 the newspaper ran a long story about Maurine’s creation of the Wing Scout Club in affiliation with the Girl Scouts. Maurine was a former WASP (Women’s Air Force Service Pilot) and a licensed flying instructor. St. Joseph girls jumped at the chance to learn to fly and more than 60 attended the first meeting of the club. Unfortunately for the Millers, Roy died of a heart attack at the house on January 30, 1946.
In the last years of the 1940s, the home had its only slightly scandalous occupant. Jule Agron and his wife Sophia lived here for a short period. Like Fred Windsor, Jule had immigrated to St. Joseph as a young child, in this case from Russia. In 1939, he was the proprietor of the Trading Post Liquor Store at 209 S. 5th Street and he was in the newspapers for having sold alcohol to minors – one of whom then was involved in a minor car accident. The Police Judge, Joseph Sherman, declined to convict or acquit Agron and eventually the case went away. Jule and Sophia did not remain on Lover’s Lane for long, they moved to Tuscon, Arizona where they stayed until their deaths.
In the early 1950s a bit of Hollywood glamour came to the quiet neighborhood. Herbert Gross and his wife Harriet Rosenthal Gross moved in. Herbert was the son of famed cartoonist Milt Gross, who visited the couple at their home in St. Joseph, much to the excitement of the city. Herb was important in his own right, he worked for the McGhee-Marshall & Guardian Life Insurance Company. His colleague there was William Abramson. Together they formed the Abramson-Gross Real Estate Company and were the developers for East Hills Shopping Mall, the first mall in St. Joseph. He later served as Chief Financial Officer for the Stevens-Stetson Hat Manufacturing Company. The Grosses purchased the home in 1953 when it was advertised as for sale by owner: “Live on Beautiful Lovers Lane: Exclusive prestige location, colonial 3-bedroom, maid’s room, 2 ½ baths, 25-foot living room, dining room, sun room, recreation room, mirrored powder room, and double garage.” It’s easy to see why Herb and Harriet chose this to be their home. It’s easy to see why you would want to as well.
