Driving all the way from our home in suburban Denver to a cabin in a state park in the Florida Panhandle for the next month, could be basically done on interstates only but we wanted to split up our four-day drive by taking some back roads to discover more of this great country along the way. That was why we decided to stop for a bit in the town of Lamar, located in the southwest part of Missouri, to see the birthplace of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States.
His parents, John and Martha Truman, purchased the 20x28 foot house in 1882 for $685. Because John Truman wasn't able to earn a stable livelihood trading horses and mules, his parents moved north to the Kansas City area when Truman was just 11 months old. The day Truman was born, his father proudly planted an Australian pine in the yard and nailed a mule shoe above the front door to commemorate Harry's birth never knowing his son would be a future President of the United States.
When the state of Missouri acquired the property in 1959, the tree Truman's father had planted was maintained for years until it developed a common blight and scale disease which caused its removal in 2012. However, the Missouri Department of Conservation germinated seeds from the original tree and planted two seedlings which were still thriving on the property. Though the tree was removed, a cross-section was placed in the Visitor Center. The tree's rings marked important events in Truman's and his family's lives.
His parents, John and Martha Truman, purchased the 20x28 foot house in 1882 for $685. Because John Truman wasn't able to earn a stable livelihood trading horses and mules, his parents moved north to the Kansas City area when Truman was just 11 months old. The day Truman was born, his father proudly planted an Australian pine in the yard and nailed a mule shoe above the front door to commemorate Harry's birth never knowing his son would be a future President of the United States.
The smallest room in the house, where Truman was born on May 8, 1884, was furnished as a bedroom. From another angle, we noticed a bedpan peeking out from under the bed!
When President Truman attended the dedication of his birthplace as a state historic site in 1959, he was the first to sign the Visitors' Register.
The volunteer said bathing in the hip tub was done just once weekly!
The well on the property went down 36 feet.
The former smokehouse:
Truman entered the work force directly after high school so his younger siblings could complete their education. As a young man, he worked in two banks before he helped manage the family farm near Grandview, Missouri, and then served in France in World War I. On his return from the front, he and a partner opened up a men's clothing store but it eventually failed. As a result of a chance encounter with a political boss in Kansas City, he entered politics beginning as a a judge in county court and then serving two terms as President.
He was regarded as a controversial president: he ended World War II with the atomic bomb: enlisted war hero, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, to 'police' Korea during the Korean War; and integrated the US military at a time when segregation was the law of the land.
Next post: Visiting Vicksburg Military Park in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Posted on July 29th, 2019, from Littleton, Colorado, where Steven and I are crazy busy putting the finishing touches on our upcoming six-week trip to Britain and also organizing a 3.5 month plus trip to Asia beginning next March!
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