Barbara Prasad always had wanted to live in an older farmhouse. So when her husband Chandra and their daughter Erica drove through Jefferson City's Moreau Drive neighborhood one day, they found the perfect home.
The corner home at 1302 Moreau Drive needed a lot of work. But the location and charm were what they wanted.
"The Moreau Drive neighborhood reminded us a great deal of Webster Groves in St. Louis," Chandra said. "The unique architecture, older growth trees and sidewalks really give the neighborhood a feel of how it used to be when we were children."
The Prasad's home was named the October Golden Hammer by the Historic City of Jefferson. They praised David Vaughan, general contractor, for much of the work.
"We purchased the house, knowing it would require a great deal of work," Prasad said. "But immediately (we) knew it was the right choice. We also knew that the lot would allow us to create the outdoor living space we desired."
Rehabilitation projects included stabilizing and sealing the foundation, modernizing plumbing and electrical, new insulation, modern heating and cooling, replacing windows and siding, opening the floor plan, preserving original wood floors when possible, leveling the yard and installing a retaining wall, underground utilities, and replacing driveways and sidewalks.
The Prasads are the latest owners of the farmhouse built by the King family in about 1870.
Austin King Sr. was Missouri's governor from 1848-53 and a congressman during the Civil War. His sons, Edward and Austin Jr., both were lawyers when they moved to Jefferson City from Ray County. Historian Deborah Goldammer was unable to identify which of the brothers actually built the original, single story home at the center of a 40-acre farm.
The farm gate was located about where Leslie Boulevard meets Moreau Drive today.
But the Kings did not stay there long, in fact the home was sold on the courthouse steps in September 1873 to Margaretha Lisle, who owned it for eight years. Lisle sold it to F.A. Clarebach in 1881, who defaulted on his loan taking the home back to the courthouse steps for sale in February 1888 to J.C. Fisher.
Houton Clark bought it in 1889 and his family lived there the longest with his grandsons selling 1969, Goldammer said.
Clark moved from Ohio to operate a dairy farm in Osage Township by 1880.
With his wife Mattie and three children, they moved their operation to Jefferson Township.
Callie Clark, Houton's daughter, married Byron Leslie and they operated a 40-acre dairy farm nearby on Green Berry Road and eventually bought the family farm. Callie Leslie was a founder of the Cole County Historical Society.
Mary Ann Hall, another historian, suspects Leslie Boulevard was named for this farm family. Leslie came to Jefferson City from Russellville to write for the newspaper in 1897, but operated a dairy farm by 1900.
The Clark grandchildren in 1969 sold to Edwin and Mary Rackers, who lived there until 1995. Rackers was the city director of public works and waste water supervisor.
The original one-story home was enlarged to a three-story home in two stages, first in 1903 and then in 1925, Hall said.
The 1903 renovations removed a back porch to add the bay and tower and to convert part of the basement into a dining room. The basement walls, covered with lime and Missouri sand plaster with long cattle hair mixed, were trowelled smooth enough for wallpaper and a chair rail.
The second and third floors were added in 1925, creating the present size and shape, Hall said.