Feature 063: 411 North Delaware Street (in 2011)

Classification: Contributing.
Historic Name: Smith/Swift/Records House.
Architectural Style: Queen Anne.
Construction Date: ca. 1893.
Period 2 of Harry S Truman’s Life: Establishing Community Roots, 1890-1919.
Tax Identification: 26-310-22-12.
Legal Description: McCauley Addition, lot 5.
Description: Contributing two- and one-half story wood-frame dwelling; irregular in shape; complex gabled roof with conical roof projection atop a large bay, as well as a hipped roof dormer on facade, all clad with composition shingles; one-over-one double-hung sash windows; L-shaped wrap-around porch under primary roof with turned columns and balustrade; stone foundation with daylight basement. Street-level lot; lawn with shade trees in front and side yards.
• Alterations: Major rehabilitation, which retained many original features, in the early 1990s.
• Contributing one-story wood-frame garage dates to the period of significance [Feature 064].
History/Significance: This house, built in the early 1890s, may have been built for T.N. Smith. Smith worked as a cashier in a bank in the late 1800s and early 1900s. By 1906, William S. Swift, proprietor with Russell M. Smith of Swift & Smith American Scales Company, resided at 411 North Delaware with Edward L., Morton R., and Isabelle Smith.
In the late 1910s, the family of Van A. Triplett lived in the house. (The Tripletts also lived at 319 North Delaware Street [Feature 056]). In the 1920s and 1930s, the family of Thomas H. Records, which included Lavinia, Dorothy, T. Herbert, Thomas H., and a daughter-in-law (Bertha Records), occupied the house. Thomas W. Records, who died at 411 North Delaware in February 1931, arrived in Jackson County from Delaware in 1865. One year later, he opened the first general store in nearby Blue Springs, Missouri. Later, after operating a farm around 1875 to 1881, Thomas Records, with others, bought a bank in Blue Springs in 1883. He served as president of this bank until 1918. Lavinia Records remained in this house at least into the 1950s.