A total rehabilitation project will begin Monday on an Independence home linked to the beginning of Harry Truman’s and Bess Wallace’s romantic relationship.
The two-floor historic Noland Home, 216 N. Delaware St., is directly across the street from the Truman Home, 219 N. Delaware St. According to Larry Villalva, site superintendent of the Harry S. Truman National Historic Site, the Noland Home has never been open for public tours.
“That particular cultural asset is listed in poor condition, and I mean literally,” said Villalva of the home that the National Park Service purchased in 1991. “It is in such a dilapidated condition internally and externally, and that’s the condition that we received it in.”
According to Villalva, Harry Truman’s favorite cousins, Nellie and Ethel Noland, lived at 216 N. Delaware St., and he often visited them on weekends away from his work on the family farm in Grandview. In 1910, Truman returned a borrowed cake plate from across the street, an experience that would reconnect him with his childhood friend, Bess Wallace.
“And in the process of that, the person who came to the door was Bess, and the rest is fate,” Villalva said.
Harry and Bess married in 1919, and they lived together at 219 N. Delaware St. for more than 50 years.
The $1 million rehabilitation project, which must meet the U.S. Department of the Interior’s standards for repair on historic homes, will take place in two phases. Phase I, scheduled for completion in summer 2011, will replace the Noland home’s entire roof and will prepare the inside of the house for an exhibit space for park visitors. Right now, Villalva said, Truman Home visitors purchase their tickets at the Visitor Center near Truman Road and Main Street, but a dedicated space doesn’t exist for them to use the bathroom or to wait for their tour time.
The second phase, scheduled for completion by August, will convert the Noland Home parlor, living room, dining room, a bedroom and a hall vestibule into an exhibit space. With the renovated Noland Home, visitors may have a “holding station” to view an interpretive exhibit and to wait for their tour time across the street, Villalva said.
“It is going to alleviate a bunch of problems,” said Villalva, adding that the interpretative exhibit panels will feature historic photographs, text and copies of handwritten letters from Harry to Bess.
Project funds for the entire renovation will come from a National Park Service special appropriations fund. After submitting a project statement on the Noland Home, Truman Site officials waited 10 years to receive the necessary funding, Villalva said. Renovations also will include wheelchair-accessible modifications near the alley south of the Noland Home.
