Baker Plantation House, located about half a mile east of Danville, Missouri.Photo byAmmodramus, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Sylvester Marion Baker and Frances Anne Stephens Baker House

This big two-story historic home is located at 60 Booneslick Road in the vicinity of Montgomery City, Missouri (Montgomery County). This Greek Revival-style house was built in 1854. There's a one-story portico in front. The interior includes a formal entryway and an open staircase.

The home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 20, 1999. At the time the house was listed on the National Register, it was privately owned.

The Baker House was built on the site where the Prairie Lawn Seminary used to be. It was the first female seminary in the state west of St. Louis. It was destroyed by a tornado in 1849. Later that year, the property was purchased by Sylvester Marion Baker.

A St. Louis architect and builder who went by the name of Sparks was hired to design their house. Baker also wanted Sparks to oversee the construction of the house. Baker's slaves performed most of the work. They also made the bricks.

The walls of the house were 14 inches thick. The foundation of the house was also made of brick. At the time the house was nominated for the National Register, there were seven fireplaces. There's a center hall upon entry with rooms on either side. On the southwest side of the house is the ell containing the dining room and kitchen on the first-floor level. The second floor of the ell has two rooms. It's believed that one of the rooms was for a maid.

The mantle of the kitchen fireplace supposedly has marks in the wood made by soldiers during the Union occupation of Danville during the Civil War.

The Baker family

After the Baker family arrived in Missouri from Virginia in the early 1800s, they became a well-known merchant family in the county. Boonslick Road, where their store was located, was a main roadway through Missouri during the 1800s.

In 1847, Baker married Frances Anne Stephens who was from Virginia. Baker's family was also from Virginia. Baker was the second generation to operate their store on Boonslick Road. The construction of his house began in 1849 and like other large homes, it represented success and social status to the outside world.

According to the 1850 slave census, Baker owned seven slaves. The males were ages 55, 33, 14, and 9, and the females were ages 22, 12, and 4. By 1860, Baker owned over 662 acres of land.

Sylvester Marion Baker died on February 17, 1899, at age 80. His wife, Frances Anna Stephens Baker, died in 1900, at age 71-72. According to Find-a-Grave, they have 11 children listed, all who have passed away. Two daughters died in the early to mid-1960s.

Danville

When Danville was platted in 1834, the money earned from selling lots was used to build the courthouse. The town quickly grew during the 1840s. It had a church and schools. A girls boarding school known as the Prairie Lawn Seminary was opened in 1833 by Reverend Andrew Monroe.

In the early 1840s, Sylvester Baker even donated some land for a boys' school. Daughters of prominent families from various areas attended the Danville Female Academy which was established in 1856.

In 1854, Baker, representing Danville, went to the Missouri House of Representatives as a member of the Whig Party. He was running on the Railroad Ticket which was an attempt to obtain a state loan for the construction of a railroad through Danville. Unfortunately, the railroad ran five miles north of Danville when it was built. This didn't stop the town from growing, however.

The Civil War was a hiccup to the growth of the town. The Union and Confederate troops were camping near or in town. The worst part was in 1864. William Bloody Bill Anderson, under orders of General Sterling Price, was supposed to destroy the North Missouri Railroad. What Anderson did instead was devastating. He and his men went into Montgomery County and they burned Danville, New Florence, and High Hill.

Anderson and 50 men showed up in Danville looting and burning buildings. His men also attempted to burn the Baker House. Supposedly, there are floorboards that show charring from attempts.

Needless to say, the town was rebuilt after the war. The lack of a rail line, however, strangled the town from economically developing. In 1924, the county seat was moved to Montgomery City which is about a seven mile drive from Danville.

Today, Danville is an unincorporated village. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Danville is 28. The population of Montgomery City is 2.81k.

At one point, the house was supposed to be restored to its original appearance and opened to the public. The owners in the late 1990s had an old website that appears to have been created in 2002, and it mentions tours and an antique shop. I suspect this isn't the case anymore.

I also read a post on waymarking.com about the property from someone who was there in 2006 indicating someone tried to run a museum in the home and it wasn't successful. This person also indicated there were construction trucks parked on the property. The trucks could be gone by now and the home could have a new owner.

If anything, what the house does represent is that it was part of a once-thriving community and it made it through the Civil War.

Thanks for reading.