Feature 298: 621 West Maple Avenue (in 2011)

Classification: Contributing.
Historic Name: Wait House.
Architectural Style: Queen Anne.
Construction Date: ca. 1885.
Period 1 of Harry S Truman’s Life: The Period of Pre-Significance, before 1890.
Tax Identification: 26-340-12-05.
Legal Description: Moore's Addition, part of lot 15.
Description: Contributing two- and one-half story wood-frame dwelling, irregular in shape; cross-gabled roof with boxed cornice at bellcast gabled ends and heavy decorative brackets under overhanging eaves, clad with composition shingles; brick exterior (first floor), wood clapboard siding (second floor), and wood shingles (upper gabled ends); one-over-one double-hung aluminum sash windows and some leaded glass windows; recessed corner porch with gabled roof and boxed cornice at gabled ends, supported by massive square brick piers; stone foundation with daylight basement. Large shade trees in the yard stand about twenty feet east of a nearby four-story brick apartment building.
• Alterations: Probably an early remodel altered the roof and front porch; one-story rear addition; front porch later altered and screened in; window shutters added; window material altered. The interior of the property was damaged by a fire in 2008.
• Contributing small brick outbuilding in the rear [Feature 299] dates to the period of significance of the district.
History/Significance: The original owners/occupants of this house are not known at present. Harrison H. and Libbie Wait owned and occupied the house from the late 1890s (or earlier) to the early 1930s. Harrison H. Hall, born in New York State, came to Independence in 1865. He became engaged in plumbing and eventually presided over his own business, Wait Plumbing Company (at 111 South Liberty, known as the Wait Building [outside the historic district], on the Courthouse Square). Libbie Wait served as the company's secretary. The Wait couple raised one daughter, Georgia, who married Milo Landes and lived next door at 617 West Maple Avenue [Feature 296] in the 1930s and 1940s. Harrison Wait died in 1933. By the 1940s, Libbie Wait's brother, Frank Mericle, owned and occupied the Wait House.
Note: The connection between Harrison H. Wait and Harrison H. Hall, both mentioned in the original 2011 nomination form, is unclear. Perhaps they are the same person and the "Hall" name is a misprint.