Group works to restore 'Blind' Boone home

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Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2007 06:14:57 -0400

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, USA
Sunday, September 09, 2007

By Anne Christian

COLUMBIA, MO. - Around the corner from Second Baptist Church stands an
unimpressive two-story frame house that most locals might simply call a dump.

From the street it looks abandoned, its peeling paint neglected for years under
aluminum siding. Inside, plaster and plywood litter the floor, along with the
occasional fast-food cup - a sign of unwanted guests perhaps ignorant of the
house's extraordinary story.

It's that story that sets this house apart from other homes in disrepair on
other blocks. A story that most passers-by don't know, despite the plywood sign
out front that names this the house of John William "Blind" Boone.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel for the "Blind" Boone home. The
city of Columbia bought the house in November 2000 for $165,705 with Community
Development Block Grant funding. An additional $260,000 from block grant money,
the Convention and Visitors Bureau Tourism Development Fund, state of Missouri
historic preservation grants and the Boone County Community Trust temporarily
stabilized the house. Now that stabilization is complete, it is the goal of
the John William "Blind" Boone Heritage Foundation and its members to restore
the house and make it a cultural center that will explore the largely unknown
history of African-Americans in Columbia. But like any struggling foundation,
its problem isn't passion; the problem is money.

Boone, a renowned ragtime pianist, and his wife moved into the house on Fourth
Street in 1889. Boone was 25 at the time. It was the only property he owned,
according to the National Register of Historical Places, despite having an
income of about $17,000 a year. That would be about $360,000 in today's money,
according to the inflation calculator on the website of the Bureau of Labor
Statistics. Boone died in 1927, and his wife moved from the house two years
later.

The house was sold to Stuart Parker, who used the home as a mortuary, Parker
Funeral Home. When Parker died, Harold Warren took charge of the funeral home.
When Parker's wife died, Warren took possession and changed the name to Warren
Funeral Home.

When Warren was looking to sell the house, some locals were concerned that this
piece of history would be lost forever if the house got into the wrong hands.

"We got wind that they were trying to sell the building so they could build a
new facility, and we became concerned about what was going to happen to the
building," said Bill Thompson, a member of the Boone Heritage Foundation,
"because there are very few historic African-American sites in the community,
and this is one of the more unique."

Stabilization included rebuilding some of the original architecture, foundation
repair, electrical work, and restoring the porch and the windows. At the time
of purchase, the house had extensive termite damage and a leaky roof.

According to a 2006 grant application submitted by the Boone Heritage
Foundation to Save America's Treasures, the house is in desperate need of
permanent stabilization. The foundation is crumbling, the beams have
deteriorated, the floor is rotting, and the staircase is unstable. The house
also needs water-damage prevention fixes, including siding and window frame
refurbishment.

The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980
because of its local significance. In 2003, the National Park Service changed
the house's designation to that of national significance.

The house will stay in its current condition until money can be raised for
permanent stabilization and restoration. That is where the Boone Heritage
Foundation comes in.

According to the National Register of Historical Places, John William "Blind"
Boone was born in 1864 to an escaped slave owned by a descendant of Daniel
Boone. By age 1, Boone was totally blind as a result of surgery to cure "brain
fever."

He spent much of his childhood in Warrensburg, where early on he showed signs
of musical giftedness. Boone's mother recognized his talent and sent him to the
Missouri School for the Blind in St. Louis. The school gave little room for the
development of Boone's musical abilities: While there, he was assigned to learn
to make brooms.

Soon, Boone began sneaking out to partake in the ragtime revolution happening
in St. Louis nightclubs. Ragtime combined the African tradition of multiple
rhythms and European music that was popular at the time, and became the first
truly American music genre. And Boone became a part of the genesis of ragtime
music, an ancestor of jazz. "Boone, having been on the scene as ragtime was
created, created his music in much the same way as he heard it in St. Louis,"
said Lucille Salerno, founder of the original "Blind" Boone Ragtime and Early
Jazz Festival.

Eventually, Boone was expelled from school for truancy. He found his way back
home to Warrensburg to live with his mother.

In 1879, Boone was invited to play piano at a festival at the Second Baptist
Church in Columbia. His performance was an immediate success, and a few months
later he was invited back for another concert. It was at these concerts that
Boone met prominent local businessman John Lange Jr., who became his longtime
manager and close friend.

By 1885, Boone and Lange were traveling around the country and overseas,
offering performances. Between 1880 and 1915, Lange and Boone traveled nine to
10 months out of each year, giving performances six days a week.

In 1889 Boone married Eugenia Lange, John Lange Jr.'s youngest sister, and
moved into the home on Fourth Street. John Lange Jr. died in 1916.

Boone was known as a generous man. He gave money to black schools and churches.
Because he was blind, he was unable to walk without a guide, so he was often
seen with a child on his shoulders acting as his guide. "'Blind' Boone's
story," Salerno said, "is the story of the evolution of American music. Boone's
compositions gave us the genesis of the ragtime we have today."

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/F1F200D577C2656386257350001B738A?OpenDocument
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Group works to restore 'Blind' Boone home

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