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History of the Wash
House Gift Shop
From the recollections of Charles Gardner, Sr., as
related to his son Junior and daughter Ruby (Gardner) Robison (an eye
witness to many of the events)
The “Wash House” was built by
Charlie Gardner and his assistant “Granny” Stewart. Lumber for the
building was sawed by Charlie around 1927. The house was originally
located in northeast Mirabile, facing north toward an alleyway that no
longer exists (on the present site of Virgil Gentry's garden spot). The
blacksmith shop Charlie owned and operated was just to the south of the
Wash House, facing the “main street.” The house was built for Granny to
live in. Charlie also stayed there, visiting the family on weekends at
Kerr (1/2 mile north of the abandoned town square of Far West) where the
family then resided. In 1929, Charlie and his wife Rosa moved to Mirabile
and a year later they purchased a home (built in 1906) a half-mile
directly north of the Rich Log House site.
Charlie owned and
operated the blacksmith shop from 1927 until selling out in 1931 to Claude
Bozarth (descended from a pioneer Mormon family).
In late 1931 or
early 1932, the Wash House was moved to the Gardner farm and placed in
back of the farmhouse as a place where Rosa could do the family's laundry.
Their eldest child, Ruby (then 7 or 8 years of age), remembers the Wash
House being moved to the farmhouse property. She distinctly recalled it
being pulled up the driveway by a big steam engine her father owned and
used for his threshing and saw mill businesses.
Charlie Gardner worked
on his threshing business in the Mirabile community and surrounding area
from 1914 until 1950. In addition, Charlie also established a sawmill
operation at the home site. Several barn and house patterns around
Mirabile were sawed at this mill. His son Junior later joined his father
working at the sawmill and they continued to run it together until 1957.
The small “Brooder House” structure, to the east of the Wash House,
was likewise moved in January 2003 from the old Gardner home site to the
Rich Log House property. Originally built around 1943, made of lumber cut
in the Gardner's sawmill. In later years it was placed on runners and
moved from the chicken yard east of the main residence and reset southwest
of the home, near the machine shed. It was used to store tools, tractor
parts, and other farm items.
Gift Shop
Relocation Junior and Judy Gardner offered a small frame building,
formerly a farm wash house, to MICHAEL, L.L.C., for use as a gift shop.
This is the story of its move to the Log House site and subsequent improvements at the site.
DIARY
[30 October 2003] Mike acquired a load of used materials [see picture above] intending to use them to set up a temporary covering over the log house for this coming winter. The haul included six green house ribs, that may be adapted in order to secure a large tarp or covering before rainy, cold, weather sets in. Mike still needs to acquire matching hardware before being able to erect the metal skeleton. Hopefully, a more permanent solution will emerge next season.
[16 July 2003] Kay Godfrey guided
a Murdock Travel bus group to the 1837 Log House site today. The bus
was a very large "King of the Road" one and it had no trouble at
all getting in and out of the parking pasture. Great group, it was
fun having them here!
[21 June 2003] Ellis Chowning a local resident of Mirabile has been a big help to the efforts here at MICHAEL, L.L.C. He allowed us to place our first highway sign on his property last Summer at the corner of Broadway and "D." This past Winter he used his skid loader to remove many trees from the Parking Pasture. Today Ellis came and removed some stumps and did some critical earth moving in the area in front of the gift shop. Thank you Ellis for all your help!
[17-20 June 2003] Rosiland Thornton, great grand daughter of
Charles C. Rich visited the MICHAEL, L.L.C. site. It was great to
see her again here on site. Rosiland last came to the site
in 1997 along with another old friend of this project, fellow Rich
descendent, Nina Palmer. Rosiland brought with her a nicely
framed collection of pictures of Charles C. Rich and wives along
with his father Joseph. Thanks Ros for all you do to support this
important work.
[23 May 2003] Al Riggs finished the wiring work and
the light was switched on at last! Now we can start the insulation and
sheetrock work towards final completion of the interior. The outside of
the gift shop received a primer coat and had replacement clapboards
installed where needed. A temporary gift shop is set up in front of the
wag concession trailer. We have some items displayed which are just a
sampling of what will be offered later in the Wash House Gift
Shop.
[17 May 2003] Robert Flanders, widely known for his
seminal historical masterpiece, Nauvoo: Kingdom on the
Mississippi, has been contracted to begin the process of seeking
nomination on the National Register of Historic Places. To that end,
Bob was here to on a site visit as part of his research. We are
hopeful we will be able to be added to the list. Inclusion helps in
obtaining grants and bringing more persons to visit! After seeing
the Rich Log House in person, he was very positive about our chances for a
successful outcome. We are very pleased to see him again and are
enlightened by his long experience in Ozark regional log house
studies.
[17 April 2003] The Wash House Gift
Shop re-roofing job is now complete. The windows have been repaired and
replaced where necessary and most of the electrical wiring is installed
(thanks Dad). We need to finish putting on missing clap board siding,
insulate walls inside, sheetrock and paint inside and out in order to be
ready to open for business.
[26 April 2003]
MMFF planned a clean-up day on Saturday the 26th of April We painted the
gift shop.
[29 March 2003] Friends of the Log House gathered to clear
brush. Richard Ross brought his Ford tractor. Seven large brush fires were
stacked and burned.
[Early February 2003] A brooder house from the old Gardner
farm has been moved to site. It will make an excellent tool shed.
Electrical wiring of the main circuit breaker panel in the Wash House Gift
Shop structure has also been completed. A sales counter has been installed
in the Wash House.
[19 January 2003] Today,
besides burning the fallen (and termite devoured) woodpecker tree we lost
in the last wind storm, we managed to finally set the gift shop on its new
foundation. A few loose ends need to be done like toe nailing the cross
beams to the floor joists, but we are about 97% finished with the move
phase of the gift shop project. Wiring has already been trenched over to
the gift shop, now we are going to install a breaker panel inside the
building and connect the 200 amp. main power line to it. From this
location we also have trenched wiring out to the two concession trailers
and up to the Rich Log House (to be ready for when the modern log
structure is assembled over the old log home). In order to complete the
gift shop project, we are going to have to put on a new shingle roof,
repair or replace some window frames/glass, install insulation, sheetrock
the interior walls, replace some clapboard on the exterior, and paint
throughout. Any expertise and/or help to finish up the gift shop project
would be very welcome! Seriously, if you can help, email me at mailto:%20bms@ecksor.net. Thanks, Mike
P.S. An original "two-seater" public restroom has also been placed on
site for next year until funds can be acquired to build a more modern
facility. Good thing the LDS Church maintains excellent bathrooms only
five miles north at Far West!
[14 January
2003] Gift Shop [Now known as the "Washhouse Gift Shop"] positioned on its
new foundation. A few boards underneath had some deterioration and had to
be replaced. Three cement blocks are still temporarily holding it up.
About one more day should do it!
[9 January
2003] Gift Shop arrives on trailer at the MICHAEL, L.L.C., site. It was a
cold and very windy day. We all held our breath it wouldn't blow
off!
[8 January 2003] While the gift
shop was being prepared for the move, Al Riggs laid out treated lumber
supports on top of concrete pilings. Meanwhile, Adam Riggs cut down a few
nasty thorny locust trees at the new site.
[7 January 2003] The gift
shop building was raised on jacks- ready to be loaded onto the trailer for
delivery to MICHAEL, L.L.C. site.
[20 December 2002] Tomorrow we are going to trench the
underground wiring. Next we will be ready to move the gift shop down and
set it on the new foundation pilings.
[20 December 2002] On Friday (7am until midnight), we got the
pilings dug and concrete poured for the gift shop foundation. Next step is
to trench the wiring from the power pole over to the concession trailers,
the gift shop and then up to the log house. I hope we will do that next
week. We have to move the gift shop over and place it on the foundation
after that. I don't have an electrical bid to wire up the log house yet,
but part of that would have included trenching the line up to it and now
we won't have to. . . just have to take it from the ground and install a
breaker box, outlets and light fixtures. I'm not going to be able to get
any bids on that this coming week because of the holidays though. Take
heart, progress is being made! I found the tarp my dad and I put up several weeks
ago had come off. It doesn't seem that we are going to be able to overcome
the high winds using the tarp plan. Any other suggestions? We have been
lucky so far this winter, but I'm not counting on getting out of it
without a hard storm or two.
[19
December 2002] I'm going up to the site tomorrow with a couple of guys who
will probably do the trenching of the electrical wires (I'm thinking of
going ahead and trenching a line up to the log house for later, while we
are at it). These guys will also be the ones who will do the gift shop
move and pour the foundation, as well. I'll talk to them when I have them
up there about the tree we need removed up by the log house too. Spring
will be here before we know it!
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