A History of the Michau and Townsend Families of Maryville Missouri and Their Home at 219 West Second Street.

By Sam Mason

My father always taught me that some things in life are worth saving and preserving.  In 1999 he bought an Antebellum home that was located east of Independence, Missouri.  The home was built in 1857 by a man named Lawson Moore and it sits on the site of a Civil War skirmish.  In fact, the home was used as a field headquarters and hospital for both Union and Confederate troops when one overtook the other during the fight.  The home is scarred with pockmarks from bullets and the Northeast corner of the home was damaged from a cannonball strike.  When the dust settled the home was repaired and as the years passed its ownership changed hands a number of times.  Over time the state of its condition deteriorated until finally it was so overgrown with weeds and trees that it could not be seen from the road.  It was a very sad state of affairs for a home with such an interesting history.

My family’s acreage was just to the east of the home and for 33 years my father watched it fall further and further into disrepair.  Finally, he decided to do something about it.  It took him seven years to complete the restoration but when he was finished it looked like the crew from This Old House had done the work.  He did 90 percent of the work himself and it was perfect.  Sadly, he passed away only six months after completing the work and moving into it.  I think most of his enjoyment came from doing the work.  It gave him time to think and contemplate the historical significance of the home.

We have just such a home right here in Maryville that is going up on the auction block on April 23^rd.  On that date the former Delta Chi fraternity house will pass to a new owner and its future will become uncertain.  As a member of that fraternity, I lived in the house at 219 W. Second Street for a year and a half with 33 other men.  We simply referred to it as “The House” and it was loved by all.  It certainly shows signs of wear but it was our home and always took care of it as best we could.  Some generations of members did a better job than others but every man who called it home has a love for it.  For me, that love continues to this day but my feelings about the place have transcended from loving it because of my fraternity ties to loving it because of my ties to the Maryville community.  Once I started researching the family that built the home and their significant contribution to the growth of our little town, I came to see it in a whole new light.  It has a place in history and it is worth saving and preserving.

The Michau and Townsend Families:

Although this story is about a house, a brief history of the area is required to fully grasp the importance of the family that built it.  The state of Missouri was admitted to the Union in 1821 but the land that now comprises Nodaway County was not part of it.  The area that is now extreme Northwest Missouri was part of the Platte Purchase in 1836.  Maryville was founded just nine years later in 1845 and for the first few years of its existence it was simply a growing outpost in this newly settled part of the state.  Maryville didn't see its first brick structure until 1852 so as you can imagine, the early days of the town saw structures made of locally cut timber and lumber.  Settlers migrating to the area would have come overland via wagons drawn by horses or oxen.  They may have also come by way of boat up the Nodaway or Platte rivers.  Either way, they would have been limited in what they could bring with them.  Naturally, once homes and businesses started to be erected, these intrepid settles would be in need of replenishments and that is where the local dry goods merchant came into play.  This is truly where the story begins…

The home at the center of this story was built in 1890 by the patriarch of the Michau family, Lavencour Michau.  He was born in France in 1825 and came to Maryville in 1856 from Carondelet Missouri.  When the home was completed, he named it Terrace Place which was the name of his family’s home near St. Louis.  He came from a well to do family and was the youngest of nine children.  His older brother, Alfred, came to Maryville ahead of Lavencour shortly after its founding in 1845.  Alfred became acquainted with August Gamarsh who was one of the town’s early dry goods dealers.  Alfred and Gamarsh returned to St. Louis in the late 1840s but Alfred came back to Maryville in 1851.  Lavencour Michau joined his brother in Maryville in 1856 and the two began building a very successful dry goods business.  By 1863 Lavencour Michau’s dry goods business was growing and on October 29^th of that year he married Amanda Wheeler. Their oldest child was Ida who was born in 1863.  She was followed by four younger siblings. Ferdinand, Beatrice, Bessie and Gertrude.  Sadly, Ferdinand died at the age of 6 from meningitis.  As their family was growing, the business went through a few changes and in 1864 Alfred moved to St. Joseph, Missouri.  Lavencour bought out his brother’s interest in the business and took on a new partner, John Lieber, in 1872.

There is another component to the story so it is important to take a small departure from the Michau family and turn our attention to another name that Maryville is probably more familiar with and that is the Townsend family.  Robert K. Townsend was born in 1836. He married his wife, Arabella, in 1858 and they had a son named Edward in 1861.  They moved to Maryville in 1868 where he established a dry goods store of his own. The R.K. Townsend Grocery was located at the corner of Main and West Second Street and they would have been a direct competitor of the Michau store.

Business Ventures:

Now that all the characters are in place, we can begin to weave their stories together.  Lavencour Michau found success not only in his dry goods business but also in real estate investments.  This is completely understandable when one considers that the first railroad came to Maryville in 1869 so the population of Nodaway County exploded in the years between 1870 and 1880.  In fact, according to census records the number of residents doubled from 14,700 to 29,500 making it the sixth most populous county in the state of Missouri.  All of these new residents meant more business for the local dry goods merchants and Lavencour Michau certainly collected his share of the dollars being spent.  His success was so great that he was able to retire in 1881 at the age of 56.  After his retirement, Lavencour’s oldest daughter, Ida, married Edward Townsend on January 8^th, 1884.  By the time of the wedding, Edward Townsend would have been approximately 25 years old and firmly embedded in his father’s dry goods business.  It is documented that Edward’s father Robert Townsend left Maryville in 1888 so it is believed that upon Lavencour Michau’s retirement, his dry goods businesses formed a partnership with the Townsend’s grocery company and that business would eventually evolve into the Townsend Wholesale Grocery Company of which Edward would later become president.  On August 21^st, 1886, Ida gave birth to a son, Ferdinand Townsend.  He was named after Ida’s late brother would come to be known simply as Ferd.  He would someday go on to take over the family business in the 1930s.

The formation of a wholesale grocery business was the right move at the right time.  With the population explosion during the 1870s, people started to move away from Maryville and into outlying parts of the county.  The terrain of Nodaway County was primarily made up of prairieland, was well drained and well suited for farming.  Therefore, other communities such as Graham, Quitman, Elmo, Skidmore, Hopkins, Barnard and many others began to pop up on the map.  With the businesses of Maryville being a full day’s journey away, each of these communities would come to provide their residents with their own goods and services.  As such, the local wholesaler would provide the dry goods that the merchants in each of these communities would sell in their stores.

Terrace Place:

Finally…we get to the building of Mr. Michau’s home, Terrace Place.  The house was built in 1890 in the Queen Anne style as denoted by the forward facing gable, steeply pitched roof, and covered wrap-around porch with ornate spindle work.  Other features of the Queen Anne style include the long and narrow double-hung windows, use of stained glass and fish scale siding under the eaves.  One thing does set it apart from other Queen Anne style homes is the fact that it is built of brick.  Most homes of this style were built of wood with shingle or clapboard siding with bright paint.  The footprint of the home changed considerably within the first 20 years of its life.  When the home was built in 1890 it had a one and a half story wooden structure on the north side that was attached to the home.  Speculation is that it was the kitchen and a small back porch.  By August of 1900 the wooden structure was replaced by a brick structure but the wood-framed back porch remained.  By February of 1909 the home had undergone a major change with the addition of a large dining room on the north side with bathroom and bedroom space above it that was adjacent to the rest of the upstairs. Prior to the addition of this room, the home’s dining area was the room just to the north of the front parlor that is separated by a set of large, sliding pocket doors.  The original Butler’s pantry was located in the area now occupied by a bathroom.  This space would have originally passed through to the kitchen.

The home boasted a total of 13 rooms, (six of them being bedrooms), eight fireplaces, two bathrooms, and third floor space that was either a servant’s quarters or nursery.  The rooms are large with high ceilings, stained glass, beveled mirrors, sliding doors of cherry and maple, an open staircase, walnut paneling in the entryway and beautiful fireplace mantles including one that is made entirely of bird’s eye maple with an intricately carved wildlife scene.

Terrace Place (photo taken between 1890-1901)

The neighborhood surrounding the house consisted of a Southern Methodist Church across the street on the southwest corner of W. Second and Buchanan streets.  The Carnegie Public Library was on the northeast corner of that same intersection and just one block directly east of the home.  When the home was built in 1890 the lots directly to the North were vacant but by 1900 the Ridgeway Lumber Company built their yard.  I’m sure that pleased the Michau family to no end.  Additionally, the home to the Northwest at the corner of 3^rd and Fillmore became a boarding house and by 1909 it became the Alta-Vista Hotel.

1880 Census data shows the Michau family living in Maryville but does not give an address.  When Terrace Place was built in 1890 there would have been five members of the family living in the house; Lavencour and Amanda, Beatrice (age 19), Bessie (age 14), and Gertrude (age 10).  The Michau’s oldest daughter, Ida was married to Edward Townsend by the time the home was built and their child, Ferd, would have been four years of age.

In 1900 the home had four family occupants; Lavencour, Amanda, Bessie, Gertrude and an African-American servant named Carrie Gunn.  Most likely, Lavencour and Amanda maintained separate quarters.  I base this on the fact that the home built during the Victorian Era when each room of a home was built for a separate purpose.  Bedrooms were designed for sleeping but also designed to separate the sexes.  Given that the Michau family was well-to-do, they could afford to build a home that would support these social morals of the day.   There are two rooms on the front of the home that were open to one another and connected by a large archway.  One room has a fireplace and the other does not.  It stands to reason that one room was used as a sitting or dressing room for the lady of the house and the other was a bedroom.  The room next to these rooms was the largest one on the second floor and it would have been Lavencour’s quarters.  One clue to support this theory is that the fireplace surround for this room consists of heavy, wrought iron which is very masculine and suited to the tastes of the head of the household.  The other two bedroom rooms would have been occupied by the Michau’s daughters, Beatrice and Bessie.  By this time Bessie and Gertrude would have been 24 and 20 years old respectively.  Interestingly, Bessie married Luther Forsyth in 1908 and lived in Maryville until her death in 1962.  Luther, was the head of Forsyth Meat Packing Company until 1944 when that business was sold.  They lived in a magnificent French Colonial home of their own that was located on the northeast corner of First and Main streets. That home existed until 1977 when it had fallen into disrepair and was demolished to make room for the bank that now occupies that space. There is currently a mural painted on the south wall of Maryville Florists that shows Luther and Bessie in an electric cart in front of their home.

The 1900 census also shows us that Edward and Ida Townsend were living in a home at 837 17^th Avenue. Living with them was their 14 year old son, Ferdinand, and Ida’s sister Beatrice.  The Townsends would later move into Terrace Place upon the passing of Lavencour in 1901.

Lavencour Michau Passes:

On October 31, 1901 Lavencour Michau died unexpectedly at the age of 75 from complications related to a bout with pneumonia.  He is buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery on the north side of Maryville.  A mourner at his funeral was quoted as saying, "His successful business talent contributed large in Maryville’s early history toward making it a popular business center, and in these latter days of its life his buildings have perhaps added more than those of any other man, to the beauty and good appearance of our little city. But above all this we are grateful for his example of business habits and integrity thoroughly mastered.”

Mr. Michau was a very wealthy man at the time of his death.  His obituary in the Nodaway Democrat valued his estate at $150,000 ($4.1 million today).  Some said that figure should have been much higher; the St. Louis Globe-Democrat placed that number at $300,000 ($8.3 million today).  Imagine that level of wealth in 1901 when a loaf of bread or a can of beans in his grocery business only cost a few cents.  It must have seemed like an inexhaustible supply of resources.  Upon his passing, his vast fortune passed to his wife and children and ownership of the magnificent home on West Second passed to his wife, Amanda, until her passing in 1932.

Lavencour Michau 1825-1901

Occupancy at Terrace Place (219 W. Second):

By 1910 Edward and Ida Townsend moved in to the home on West Second Street with Ida’s mother, Amanda Michau.  The census also shows us that their 23 year-old son, Ferd, lived in the residence.  Later that year, Ferd married Lillian Bohm Bohner of Colorado and she also moved into the home.  The Townsends weren't the only residents living in the home in 1910.  Interestingly, the family employed a household staff the consisted two African-Americans whose positions were simply listed as “servant.” Their names were Alexandre Price, age 50; and Lizzie Johnson, age 30.  Census data shows us that the Townsend’s consistently employed live-in servants during their time in the residence.

By 1920 there were eleven people living in the home.  The head of the household is listed as Edward Townsend. Also living there was his wife, Ida, Ferd and Lillian, their children Bohm and Lillian (ages 5 and 2), and Amanda Michau.  Ferd and Lillian did have a third child, Yvonne, which was still-born on May 6^th, 1920.  The household staff increased to four people, three of whom were African-Americans and all were related.  Frank Smith’s position is listed as Janitor.  His wife, Blanch, was the family’s cook and their 15 year-old daughter, Margaret, served as the maid.  The family also employed a nurse, Harriet Nobel, to take care of the children.  It is unclear where the household staff resided but city maps show us that sometime between 1900 and 1909 another wooden structure was erected at the rear of the property.  This may have served as staff quarters.  There is also finished space on the third floor that contains a very large room and one smaller room.  It is reasonable to believe that the children’s nursery occupied the large room and nurse’s quarters was in the smaller room.  It has been speculated over the years that this third floor space served as a ballroom but there is no evidence to support that theory.  The stairway leading up to the space is very narrow and unadorned.  Additionally, it would have been highly unlikely that the family would have brought their guests through their private living quarters.

640 College Drive

In February of 1926 Ferdinand Townsend purchased a lot that was located in one of the most prestigious areas of Maryville.  The address is 640 College Drive and it was directly across the street from the home of the President of the State Teacher’s College.  The twenty thousand square foot lot was purchased for $3,500 and construction began later that spring.  That lot would cost nearly $47,000 today. 

F.M. and Lillian Townsend's Home at 640 College Dr. The home ow serves as the Alumni House at NWMSU

 The 1930 and 1940 census data shows that the F.M. Townsend family lived in that home until it burned on April 14^th, 1943.  The newspaper headline read, “Maryville’s Showplace Destroyed by Fire.” The report regarding the event said “Only the brick walls were left standing today after firemen fought the flames for five hours.” The family escaped unharmed but were forced to move back to Terrace Place until the home was rebuilt and remained there until at least 1947 according to the local telephone directory.  The delay in rebuilding the home was most likely due to the reduction in workforce due to World War II. 

(The following notes are from an interview I conducted on 4/20/2022 with a former student at Northwest Missouri State University.)

I had the opportunity to speak with a gentleman who spent three years working for Mrs. Lillian Townsend as her housekeeper in the home when he was a Student at Northwest Missouri State College.  He confirmed a few things I had speculated about such as: Ferd and Lillian occupied the two bedrooms on the front of the house and shared the Jack and Jill bathroom.  I had heard that Mrs. Townsend was known to be chauffeured around town in a limousine and he confirmed that he doubled as her driver and would drive her "uptown" on her errands in her '54 Cadillac Fleetwood Limousine.  He would pick her up and drop her off behind the house under the porte cochere.  When he dropped her at the house, he said he would usually take the car for a spin around campus before returning it.  He could not confirm the stories of big band stars being in the house so perhaps those events took place at 219 W. Second, which is where Bohm was living in the 1950s.  He confirmed that the kitchen was in the basement and Mrs. Townsend's long time cook was Mrs. Heiter who used to send him home with a little bit of Mr. Townsend's 12-year old scotch in a mason jar.  He also said that he would enter and leave the house via the servant's entrance on the back of the house, which is now a bookcase.  He did not remember the "summer house" ever being used and he had no recollection of there being a full-time live-in servant.  He remembers Mrs. Townsend was a very kind and quiet person who didn't entertain much and spent a lot of time in her bedroom.  He did not have much of a relationship with Mr. Townsend and said that Ferd only liked to deal with people "at a certain level" so he didn't pay much attention to the help.  He said the bar downstairs was always there and that he used to clean and polish each of the cut glass ornaments on the chandeliers in the entryway, dining room and bedrooms.  He asked if the multicolored bath fixtures were still in the house and I assured him they were.  He also confirmed that Mrs. Townsend was originally from Denver, CO and that her family had interest in the silver mining operations in the West. He said he performed any task that Mrs. Townsend asked of him but her drew the line when she asked him to put on a "little waiter's jacket" and serve her friends.  He said he had to draw the line somewhere. 

The fire at 640 College Drive, prompted the Townsend Family to build an addition to the home on Second Street.  A two-story, wood-framed, structure that wrapped from the west side to the north side was added to the home in 1943-‘44. The structure did add some storage and pantry space to the first floor kitchen but its primary function was that it concealed a hidden set of stairs that served as a fire escape from the second floor for the home’s occupants.

Throughout the 1930s the population of the house decreased dramatically.  The home’s occupants consisted of only Edward and Ida Townsend and Amanda Michau.  There were no servants listed at that time.  This could be attributed to the fact that the family saw fit to scale back on expenses after the Great Depression began in 1929.  It was probably not necessary to employ a full-time, live-in staff when bringing in outside help would have been sufficient.  Amanda Michau passed away in 1932 leaving Edward and Ida Townsend as the home’s sole occupants.  1940 saw the return of full-time servants in the home.  The census lists Mayme Alkire as maid and Willie Bell Anthony as nurse.  By 1940 Edward and Ida Townsend were 79 and 75 years of age and may have been in need of full time assistance.  Ida Townsend passed away in 1945 but by this time we know that Ferd’s family had moved back to Terrace Place temporarily due to the 1943 fire at 640 College Drive.  Once the home had been rebuilt in the late 1940’s, the family moved back to that location.  Ferd and Lillian continued to live there until their deaths in 1973 and 1971, respectively. 

According to the 1947 telephone directory, Bohm Townsend still lived at 219 West Second Street. As a young man he attended the University of Southern California.  On May 1, 1948, he married Darlene Strauch in Las Vegas.  Bohm was the family’s most colorful character.  It is reported that during the heyday of the Big Band Era in the late 1930s and ‘40s, he made his living as show promoter and would book the top acts of the day to play the Frog Hop Ballroom in St. Joseph on Saturday nights.   Those acts included Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Lawrence Welk, Benny Goodman, Les Brown and all of their contemporaries.  It is also reported that Bohm would invite those leaders and their guests up to Maryville on Sunday afternoons to entertain them at the house.  If we were to put that into context, it would be the equivalent of today’s artists such as Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, Rhianna, Sam Smith, and Nikki Minaj all coming to Maryville on a weekly basis.  The Frog Hop Ballroom burned in 1945, was rebuilt, and then burned again in 1952.  By this time, the Big Band Era was over and Bohm and Darlene had started a family so he went to work in the family business as a salesman. The Bohm Townsend family remained at Terrace Place until 1969.

The Townsend Wholesale Grocery:

History has shown us that the Townsend family seemed to be plagued by fire.  The first occurrence was when Robert Townsend’s grocery business, located at the corner of Second and Main, burned in 1890.  The business moved into the Michau Building that was located at the corner of Fourth and Main.  As a real estate developer, Lavencour Michau constructed the three-story building in 1890.  Townsend’s grocery business remained in the Michau Building until it burned in 1918.  That fire damaged 25 businesses on the west side of the Maryville square.  The building was a total loss but a new, two-story building was constructed in its place and Townsend’s Wholesale Grocery was back in business.  The business remained in that location until it outgrew the space and moved to a new location down the street at the northwest corner of Fourth and Buchanan streets.  Disaster struck again in 1958 when that building was also consumed by fire.  

East side of the Townsend Wholesale Grocery business.  A parking lot and The Palms now occupy this space

South Side of the business during the fire

South side of the business at the start of the fire.  Notice that Maryville still has brick streets in 1958

Having survived three devastating fires, the company moved to its final location just north of the NWMSU campus along the Wabash railroad line.  As previously mentioned, the home of company president, Ferdinand Townsend, burned to the ground in 1943.

Edward Townsend remained head of the company for many years until his son, Ferdinand, took over control in the 1930s.  The wholesale grocery business proved to be very lucrative for the Townsend’s and the income from it fueled a very lavish lifestyle.  It is reported that the both of the family’s homes were filled with nothing but the finest furnishings, decorations and accessories from all over the world.  These were truly, magnificent homes.  One of the Townsend’s passions was raising Saddlebred horses. This led them to start Faustiana Farms on the west side of Maryville. 

Saddle Horse Barn at Faustiana Farms

Aerial photo of Faustiana Farms

Edward and Ida Townsend were close, personal friends of James and Emma Prather who were horse breeders and notable residents of Maryville.  The Townsends raised a champion Saddlebred horse named Nickle Plate (b. 1906).  That horse would later lend its name to the Townsend Wholesale Grocery’s brand of coffee and spices.  Emma Prather bred the 1904 Kentucky Derby winner, Elwood and was the first woman to do so.  The Prather’s farm was originally named Faustiana and took its name from a famous English thoroughbred named Faustus.  Considering that Emma Prather was such a close friend of the Townsend’s, she allowed them to use the name for their farm. Faustiana Farms remained a working farm into the 1970s and during its peak it was not uncommon for Hollywood celebrities to travel to the farm to purchase horses.

The late 1950s and ‘60s brought about the decline of the local wholesale grocer.  When the company started, Nodaway County was booming.  Farmland was being developed at an alarming pace and numerous small but thriving towns popped up throughout the county.  Each town had a local grocery store that would have purchased their products from the Townsend Wholesale Grocery.  Over time, advancements in farm equipment and mechanization reduced the number of people necessary to work a farm.  The population of these small towns began to shrink as their residents either moved to Maryville or out of the county altogether.  After World War II, jobs in bigger cities were plentiful so families packed up and moved on to greener pastures.  As these small towns began to dry up, locally-owned grocery stores either went out of business or were purchased by larger chains such as Safeway, A&P, Kroger, etc.  These same chains, which had supply chains of their own, were also opening locations in the bigger towns and county seats.  Gradually, the need for the local wholesaler ceased to exist.  By the time the Townsend Wholesale Grocery realized what was happening, it was too late to change their business model and the company folded in the very early 1970s.

Bohm Townsend took over as co-owner and operator of the business but as times began to get hard in the 1960s, the family fortunes dwindled, their fine belongings were auctioned or sold, several mortgages were taken out against the home on Second Street and it was finally taken over by the bank in 1969.  There was new life breathed into it though as a new family moved into it.  On May 1, 1970 the Northwest chapter of the Delta Chi Fraternity purchased the home from the bank for $50,000.  The fraternity remained in “The House” until 2014 when the university and the national organization suspended the organization due to risk management concerns.

As a side note, when the family’s home on Second Street was taken over by the bank in 1969, the Bohm Townsend family moved into the home at 640 College Drive.  At that time, Ferdinand Townsend was still living in the home and did so until his death in 1973.  That home eventually went into foreclosure and was purchased by Northwest Missouri State University in 1980.  It now serves as headquarters for the Northwest Alumni Association.

Bohm Townsend eventually left Maryville and retired to Spring Texas to be near his daughters D’Anne and Yvonne.  He passed away in 1997 at the age of 82.

The Future of 219 W. Second:

The home is scheduled to be auctioned on April, 23^rd 2015.  The home’s current owner, the Delta Chi House Corporation, has always relied on fraternity members living in the house to pay rent which, in turn, paid for its care and keeping.  Sadly, with the fraternity chapter being defunct, the House Corporation does not have the resources to maintain the home, let alone perform restoration work.  So what’s next?  

This home has a grand history and its previous owners played a major role in the development of the city of Maryville.  The house has been used to entertain musicians, celebrities, and other notable persons throughout its history.  In fact, in 1908, Ferdinand Townsend played host to presidential candidate William Howard Taft when he came to Maryville on a campaign stop.

The home’s fate is uncertain at this point.  We don’t know who will buy it or what their plans are for it. I do know this…She’s had a hard life over the last 43 years.  The fraternity loved her and always will.  We took care of her as best we could and, all things considered, the old girl has held up really well. In 2012 Delta Chi alumni raised over $40,000 to do a mini-makeover of the house.  In October of that year, approximately 40 alumni converged on the house to perform the work.

Delta Chi alumni and actives working on The House in October 2012 during the "Mini-Extreme Makeover" weekend

Delta Chi Alumni painting the front entry of The House

Delta Chi Alumni and Actives that gathered in October 2012 for the makeover

In the 70s and 80s it wasn’t uncommon to have parties with 600 or more people in attendance.  At an average weight of 150 pounds per person, she held up to 90,000 pounds of screaming, dancing, and jumping college students. This happened more than once and it stands as a testament to how well it was constructed.

It is my firm belief that she deserves to be rescued and restored to her original grandeur.  Perhaps a benevolent and enterprising new owner will see her true potential and dedicate the necessary time and resources to bring this grand lady back to her original condition.



If you'd like to see more historic photos of Maryville, follow this link: http://www.maryville.org/gallery.aspx#