This is the old high school. My Daddy (and many others in my family as well as people that I know) attended high school here. I have grown up seeing this grand old building deteriorate and feeling sad about that whole situation. At one point there was some hope that there was a buyer who would do something grand and wonderful with it. But that didn't come to pass. As the years have gone by it has become quite clear that the building would have to come down. Sad, but true. It is located just across the street from our church so one day when I went to Bible study I saw that the deconstruction had begun. I snapped a couple photos.
A week or so later there was even more obvious 'progress'.
nearly completely down...
As is typical for me and this blog, these pictures are quite outdated. The building is now fully down. While I still feel sorry about the need for it to come down due to lack of upkeep over many years, I am very happy to learn about the plans for the site. It will become a park and will be named in honor of our former Mayor who died earlier this year of cancer. Not only will it be a lovely park and green space, but its location across the street from our church makes it doubly perfect because that man's father was a long time pastor of our church. I think that is just perfect in so many ways.
Deb and Bryan had determined that the Olive Gilbreath McLorn house would be the perfect location to host a Murder Mystery dinner for Bryan's colleagues during their upcoming retreat. Since Bryan hadn't seen the house, Sheryl opened it up to show him (and it required a bunch of us to go along and 'supervise'). ha! This time around I focused my picture taking more on photographs and documents in the house. I wanted to catalog some of the rich history and story of Olive & David. I simply can't get enough of them!
Unsurprisingly, Bryan was fully on board with renting the house for the event and became yet another 'Olive fan'.
I love this photo of Olive
This trunk holds many treasures in photo albums.
David and Olive's concentration camp ID's
Karen, Deb, Chris, and Sheryl
painting of Olive and David's home in Shanghai
Bryan and Miles in David's room
beautiful staircase (in daylight this time)
looking down from 2nd floor
This was pretty amazing! :) Bryan saw this beautiful silver case in a box and it turned out to be one of Olive's lipsticks. And it was in perfect condition, even after all these years! Wow!
the picture doesn't do it justice - is was a stunning lipstick case complete with an attached flip up mirror.
another great photo of Olive - at the home in LaPlata
Karen and Jackson (who came along to take photos, too).
from a Wellesley alum booklet
Deb reading aloud from the Wellesley alum booklet
The following are photos of photos from albums. :) Such interesting history! (read the captions if you are able...)
the three friends Olive traveled to Europe with
Rhoda looks like Karen!!!!!
another great photo of Olive
This was fascinating, especially since we know that Olive was 'dumped' (her words) by a man for Tolstoys niece... (pictured here with Olive)
Olive's father, William T. Gilbreath
Church in London where Olive and David were married.
Olive's mother
Olive and David on their farm near LaPlata
David and Olive in the living room of the home in LaPlata.
full page article from Kirksville paper - Feb. 1992
Sheryl pointing out the boundaries of the huge yard.
This post has been sitting in my queue for awhile now. In fact, since this fateful night in February, I have been back to Olive's house multiple times! This was definitely the start of a beautiful friendship... :)
Let me introduce you to Olive Gilbreath McLorn, a fascinating woman indeed! Olive was born and raised in LaPlata, MO, graduating from high school in 1900. She attended Wellesley College, graduating with her Bacheor's degree before earning her Master's degree from the University of Michigan. She traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, and Russia during tumultuous times in their own history. She was the author of 3 books and many articles for publications such as "Harpers", "Yale Review", and "Asia Magazine". She married David McLorn at the age of 51 and together they lived in Shanghai where David was a banker. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 they were interred by Japanese forces who were occupying China. They spent 2½ years in a concentration camp until their release in 1945. After the war, Olive and David moved to the house in LaPlata where they lived out their days. This is a mere snippet of Olive's life. And while the house is the focal point of this post, it is Olive herself who draws us in. I cannot believe that I have lived in this area most of my life and yet did not know about Olive Gilbreath McLorn until February of 2018!
So, how did I finally 'meet Olive'? My friend, Sheryl, is on the board of the Gilbreath-McLorn house and she offered to give our little Grace Girls group a tour of the home. Sheryl warned us that she herself had become obsessed with Olive and her history... and we all quickly followed suit. The night Sheryl took us for our first tour, we all fell in love with Olive. Her spirit, her story, her love for her home drew us right in. This will not be the last time you hear about Olive on this blog! :)
It was a dark and (sort of) stormy night when we first visited Olive's home, but that seemed totally appropriate somehow. :)
Chris, Karen, Sheryl, Susie, Deb
Laura, Karen, Sheryl, Susie, Deb
Sheryl sat us down in the dining room to give us an overview of Olive's life.
the three books authored by Olive
you can see the Asian influence throughout her house
Chris, "who doesn't like museums", had the most fun of all looking through all the drawers! She was like a kid in a candy shop and gleefully channeled her 'inner Olive' throughout the house. :)
her excitement was tangible and catching! :)
love the pocket doors
Olive in front of her home.
so many cool architectural details, like curved walls
David McLorn's luggage
Chris - channeling Olive :)
clockwise - Sheryl, Laura, Susie, Chris, Karen
Olive's father was a cattleman - photo of record sale of cattle at Chicago stockyard in 1917.
in the attic
going to the basement - notice another curved wall
in the basement
Deb, Susie, Karen, Sheryl, Chris
If you are interested in more photos, you can see an entire album at this link.
And here is a video from our first evening at Olive's house.
I imagine that some of you reading this post know about Olive Gilbreath McLorn. If you have any personal memories of her or stories about Olive and David, let me know. I would love to visit with you! And if you are interested in preserving local history, consider taking a paid tour of the home, renting the home to host an event, or simply donating to the home. This is a treasure in our midst and I hope to be a part of helping to preserve it. Here are links for your information.
I found the Nomination form for placing the home on the National Registry of Historic Places to be quite interesting reading. You can download a copy at this link... https://dnr.mo.gov/shpo/nps-nr/78001667.pdf
