Hawken House Museum

1155 South Rock Hill Road
Webster Groves, MO 63119
314-968-1857

Admission is $5.00 and parking is free

www.historicwebster.org

Opened in 1971

This late Greek Revival home was built in 1857 on 100 acres of land off what is now Big Bend Boulevard by Christopher Hawken, shortly after he married Mary Ann Eads. At 25 cents an acre he was able to greatly expand his property holdings as the house was being built.  The eight-room house has Victorian-inspired woodwork.  The brick was fashioned from clay near a pond on the property. In 1970 the house was moved by the City of Webster Groves and the Webster Groves Historical Society to its present location on Rock Hill Road .  Today the Historical Society maintains the house. 

Christopher Hawken was the son of Jacob Hawken, a highly successful St. Louis gunsmith.  The Hawken Rifle was carried by Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Buffalo Bill, Kit Carson, and many others. It is not surprising, therefore, that the front right parlor displays the popular Hawken Rifle and several others rifles. 

This parlor also has this chair that belonged to Christopher Hawken, one of just a few original pieces in the house today. The remainder of the house is decorated in period furniture. The family entertained often and on several occasions enjoyed the company of their neighbor, Ulysses S. Grant, 

This small square piano is also in that parlor room...

as is this hand-cranked music box. 

The other front parlor has a square grand piano. Square grand pianos enjoyed great popularity through the mid-and- late-19th century.

This period piece is a chaperone chair designed for a chaperone to sit between a couple.  

This second parlor also has this beautiful marble table. 

The feather Christmas tree dates back to the late 1800's in Germany and early 1900's in the USA. 

In the dining room the table includes the original Hawken chairs. 

There is also a high chair, something the Hawkens would have used often as they had nine children. 

This clock on display in the dining room was a wedding present to Christopher and his wife Mary Ann when they married in 1855.  It was made in 1805 and was given to them by her father, Granville Eads/Eades. 

This Victorian ceiling light in the dining room has a smoke bell.  A must for any functional kerosene ceiling lamp is the smoke bell to collect the soot and keep it off the ceiling.

Behind the dining room is the kitchen which was added later.  It, too, has a ceiling light with a smoke bell. 

A docent dressed in period costume gave us a tour of the kitchen.

Upstairs on the second floor, the child's bedroom is full of period furniture, dolls, and other toys.

The parents' bedroom...

includes a cradle for the latest baby. 

These shoes by the bedroom fireplace are ladies' shoes with felt spats and would have required button hooks to close. 

These Victorian hair combs belonged to Mary Ann Hawken. 

The house was restored with two adult bedrooms, this one referred to as the guest bedroom.  

The bedside desk holds many items including a period photo album. The figurine near the lamp is of two characters from the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Uncle Tom and Little Eva.  The book was written in 1852 and the figurine was made around that time.  

On display is a bedside ewer and basin for washing along with a pitcher and a vase. 

This grooming kit would have been used when traveling by either a man or a woman.

This 1850's funerary contains the hair of the deceased woman in the picture and hangs on the bedroom wall.

The fourth and final room upstairs is a sewing room. 

In the basement of the house are displays and a gift shop.  These cases contain an extensive collection of dolls from around the world. 

Other cases contain items important to the history of Webster Groves. 

There is a small gift shop. 

The herb garden is maintained by the Webster Groves Herb Society. 

Comments:  This is a nicely decorated and well maintained historical home. It is definitely worth visiting. We were able to go through all of the rooms. 

The house is open two days a week and the house is seen by tour.  The day that we were there, several excellent and very knowledgeable docents walked us through the rooms. 

Behind the house is the Hearth Room, available for rent for receptions, meetings, etc.  The rental income is used to maintain the house.  

The house and Hearth Room are in Webster Grove's Southwest Park where there is also a playground and public restrooms.  The park is also nice to visit. 

Mudd's Grove

302 West Argonne Drive, Kirkwood, MO
314-965-5151

Admission is $2 and parking is free.

www.kirkwoodhistoricalsociety.com

Opened in 1994.

Located in Kirkwood, Mudd's Grove is a red brick antebellum house. The home takes its name from Henry T. Mudd, who purchased the house plus 100 acres in 1866. Mudd lived in the home with his wife and seven children until 1882. He was a county auditor, a member of the Kirkwood town board, served in the Missouri state legislator and on the committee that drafted the Missouri Constitution in 1875, was a curator of the University of Missouri, and was president of the state horticultural society. 

The house was built in 1859 shortly after the town’s founding and shortly before the start of the Civil War. The house is among the largest houses built in the Greek Revival style in St. Louis County. 

Entering the front door finds you in the center of the building with public rooms on both sides and stairs leading to the upstairs bedrooms and exhibit rooms. We obviously visited when it was decorated for Christmas. 

On the left is a parlor complete with a portrait of Mr. Mudd hanging over the fireplace. The house is fully furnished.  None of the furnishings are original to the house but all of them are similar to furnishings of the 1860's and 1870's.  

This candle-lit piano and Victorian birdcage are in this parlor. 

The dining room includes portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Matthews, early Kirkwood homeowners. 

There is a larger parlor to the right of the center hallway that is used today for meetings and parties.  The room includes a Victorian square piano donated by the last resident of the house. This room also has one of the nine Greek Revival mantels that are still in place. The fireplaces were obviously used to heat the house.

On the day we visited, we were entertained by live musicians performing in this parlor. 

The original kitchen was a separate building as was typical in the 1860's.  Today this room is attached to the main building. The stove in this room represents George Dana, founder and president of the Charter Oak Stove Company, who with his wife Virginia purchased the home in 1889 and lived in it until 1921.  

This antique book press is also in this room. 

The chandelier is a period piece.  

This Christmas tree is decorated with period ornaments. 

Upstairs the East Bedroom is considered the children's room of the house and has antique toys, books, and other items of interest to children on display. There are Italian tiles around the original fireplace on the right. 

The West Bedroom has a sleigh bed and displays period clothing along with period furniture.

Behind the west bedroom is what is referred to by the Historical Society as the chapel.  This room has displays and exhibits that are featured throughout the year. Each exhibit is offered for 3 to 6 months.  Every year at Christmas, the display features dozens of antique and fragile glass ornaments from many different generations which were used to decorate the family Christmas tree.

This is a large replica of the previous Kirkwood Historical Society History House which sits on Argonne Avenue farther east. 

The upstairs hallway is lined with display cases.  

The wedding dress (left) is from a 1900 wedding. The formal day dress (right) is from 1883. 

Behind the Children's Room is the Harlan Gould library, a non-lending repository that offers an extensive collection of historical resource materials from books, newspapers, periodicals and maps to an assortment of other publications. Also in this room is Gatehouse Gifts, the gift shop for Mudd's Grove which has books on local history, cookbooks by local organizations, post cards, and other items for sale.

The house originally had a two-story porch but while the Dana's lived there they enclosed it. Now on the first floor is a large catering kitchen and on the second floor is this exhibit room. 

Among the mementos from Kirkwood's history is this veterinary medicine kit carried by Dr. Harrison about 1900. 

Also a number of articles have been donated by the late Kirkwood photographer, Francis Scheidegger. 

The third floor is off-limits for safety reasons. 

The grounds include several gardens, including a number of herb gardens. 

Mudd's Grove is available for rent for weddings, parties, and meetings.  The landscaped grounds hold 200 people while the house can hold 75. 

 After touring the house we walked one block for lunch at  Great Harvest Bread Company also on Argonne.
This bakery is known for its wonderful breads and at this counter they offer free samples! 

We enjoyed soup and sandwiches!  

Comments: I have lived in the Kirkwood community for over 40 years and my son even worked on painting the house's porch back in the early 1990's as part of a Boy Scout project but I had never before stepped foot in Mudd's Grove which is a shame because it is truly a treasure.  A great deal of effort has gone into rehabbing the house and the furnishings are wonderful.  

Because the historical society has made this house their museum one sees displayed many items out of the town's history.  For example although they did not live in this house, there are portraits hung of a number of early town founders .  There are also quite a few museum display cases particularly upstairs. 

The library upstairs seems wonderful.  It centers on the history of Kirkwood and its homes and is open to the public for research during those times the house is open for touring.  The house museum is open Thursdays and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are available during these times. Several docents helped with our tour and they all were knowledgeable.  

Their website has much information about renting the house and grounds.  

The house is within walking distance of a number of excellent eating establishments. I love the bread at Great Harvest Bread Company as does everyone so that is where we went!  It is hard to turn down free samples with real butter!  They have a nice lunch menu and we all enjoyed our meal.