Wallace House

In the 1920's his daughter sold these two lots to the Methodist Episcopal Church. They added on a sanctuary and bell tower adjacent to the house. The small one story section (on the left) of the house was the church. The bell tower was directly above the gabled entry porch in this photo. The new sanctuary was dedicated in 1928. The bell tower was later removed.

The dates on this cornerstone are a little confusing because they don't match the photographic history of the house. They commemorate the 1885 house and the new sanctuary in 1928.

It was hard to support the church during the Depression so instead of closing the church in the late 1930s they sold off one of the Wallace lots to Roberts-Judson Lumber Company. This mural is on the side of the Roberts-Judson building.

In 1940 Harry Truman, who would become president years later, was running for the U.S. Senate and he campaigned on the steps of the Methodist Church as shown here in the smaller inset image on the left. The people didn't stop to hear him as they were on the way to attend the "Homecoming" or Cuba Fair. The Mural shows highlights of the 4-H cattle as the 4-H organization was 100 years old when the mural was painted.

This marker reads, in part:

COUNTY FAIR

"WHEN SEN. HARRY S. TRUMAN CAMPAIGNED FOR RE-ELECTION IN A CLOSE 1940 PRIMARY, TWO DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEEMEN WERE HIS ONLY LISTENERS ON THE STEPS OF THE ADJACENT WALLACE HOUSE. AS PEOPLE KEPT HURRING PAST, HE LEARNED THEY WERE GOING TO THE HOMECOMING FAIR. PICKING UP THE COCA-COLA BOX ON WHICH HE STOOD, TRUMAN FOLLOWED THEM TO THE FAIR. LESS THAN FIVE YEARS LATER THIS NATIVE MISSOURIAN BECAME THE 33RD PRESIDENT. CRAWFORD CO. FAIR, UNDER VARIOUS NAMES, AND 4-H ARE BOTH CENTURY OLD TRADIONS OF OUR COMMUNITY.

JUNE 2002

...

PLAQUE DONATED BY PEOPLES BANK"

This faded ghost sign reads:

"
VOTE
TRUMAN
FOR
US
SENATOR
"

The Wallace House is part of the Uptown Cuba Historic District that was placed on the NRHP in 2013

Photo(s) 2012, 2018