​Looking Back: Three Sisters, Three Houses

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society
 
I cannot be sure when the Yennie Addition was annexed into the Town of Grain Valley, but I do know it was around 1910.  This is going to require another trip to the Recorder of Deeds office in Independence.

I can tell you that the Yennie Addition covered the land from Walnut Street north to Yennie and from Gregg Street west to Thieme, a big square block with a branch running through the middle.  Originally, Lots 1 through 6 were owned by Jasper N. Sanders, my great grandfather. It was on these six lots that he had three homes built; one for each of his daughters.

​The Sanders Sisters
Mittie Frances (1889), Lula May (1887), and Ruth Arene (1892)
 
Lula, the oldest married Walter Elliott and for a short time they lived in the middle house. By 1920 that home was sold to Ida Russell, a widow with a daughter, Goldie Russell Montgomery. Fant and Rena Ewing lived there through most of the 1940s and 50’s. The Johnson Family lived there in the 1960s and 70s. Tim and Stacey Hunter lived there in the 1980s and 1990s.  More recently, the home was renovated, and the Hall family lives there.

Mittie married Elmer Rumbo in July, 1906. I’m unsure of where their first home was, but I believe they moved to Walnut Street around 1910. I’ve been told their home at the corner of Walnut and Capelle was the first of the three to built.  I know for certain their second daughter, my mother, was born in that house on April 29, 1914. She was so small she was placed on the oven door in the kitchen to keep her warm. He father took one look at her and called her a little “Mutt,” a name that stayed with her until he died. The Rumbos remained in the home until Mittie’s death in 1975. For a while, the Martin family lived there and the Nading Family. I do not know who currently owns the home.

Ruth married James I. Belford. They only lived in the house on the east end of the block (corner of Walnut and Gregg) a few years before they moved to Oklahoma. Uncle Jib was born there before it became a state. The taxes were paid by Elmer Rumbo through 1933 and I sort of remember hearing that the house was rented to various tenants. In 1934, the property was purchased by Opal (Rumbo) and Clyde Fristoe. They lived there for the rest of their lives. Opal died in 1995 and Clyde died in December 1997. Since that time the house was owned by Mrs. Golden and for the last several years it has served as the parsonage for the First Baptist Church.

​Mittie & Elmer Rumbo

Lula & Walter Elliott

Ruth and James Belford
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​Next week I hope to present more “homes with a history.”  Who says older, well-built homes won’t last a lifetime; maybe two or three lifetimes.  If there is an older home in Grain Valley you would like to know more about, contact me.  I’ll do my best. I’m at the Historical Society Museum on Wednesdays from 10 AM to 3 PM, or leave a message in the Valley News or on our website [email protected].