Father-son duo brings life to Marshall St. home

Work on east side duplex awarded Golden Hammer

Dylan Gish, 22, renovated the duplex at 307 Marshall St. with the help of his father, Russell, as an investment in the young man's future.
Dylan Gish, 22, renovated the duplex at 307 Marshall St. with the help of his father, Russell, as an investment in the young man's future.

Fresh attention to a Marshall Street home's exterior has improved the neighborhood and provided an investment for a young man's future.

The father-son partnership of Dylan Gish, 22, and his father, Russell, bought the duplex at 307 Marshall St. in February 2016, particularly interested in its central location and garage space.

The latter they use to store items they buy and sell, which ultimately helped pay for most of the renovations, Dylan said.

A manager at Walgreens and a full-time business administration student at Columbia College, Dylan said this was an investment for his future.

But doing the project together was nothing new for the father-son pair, who frequently work together on projects, he said.

The pair did the painting, railing replacement and landscaping work themselves. They also added new windows with trim, a new patio, retaining wall and gutters.

"It's like night and day," Dylan said, comparing the original purchase to today's curb appeal.

He hopes their efforts also might spark interest in their neighbors to do the same with their properties, improving the entire neighborhood.

"I saw what could be done and knew we could do it," he said. "I hope others will follow suit."

The 307 Marshall St. property is the fourth on that east side street to be awarded the Historic City of Jefferson's Golden Hammer.

"Things are happening there," committee chair Laura Ward said.

Although the lot changed hands several time after 1846, the current building was not constructed until about 1910, according to the Cole County Assessor's Office.

From her research, Deborah Goldammer found Franz Nierman bought the location from A.D. and Sarah Sellers in 1894. Nierman was living in the 600 block of East High Street in 1900 with his wife, Louise, and their daughters Cornelia, 13, and Louise, 24.

Both first-generation Americans, he was a machinist and woodworker and she a stenographer. They were Lutheran, and he played the violin, Goldammer said.

By 1913, Nierman was the superintendent of the Sullivan Saddle Tree Company. Louise died in 1915, but he continued to live in the home with renters, beginning with his daughter, Nellie, a nurse, who married in 1918.

Lodgers over the years included Marvin Breuer, chief clerk at the Capitol, and Harold Harrawood, a clerk in the governor's office.

"I wonder what stories Franz heard in the evenings from Marvin and Harold," Goldammer said.

Nierman remarried and continued to live at 307 with his second wife, Lena, and boarders, such as William Haight, from the highway department, and Thomas Smith, a guard at the Missouri State Penitentiary.

He owned the building until 1942, when he died at the age of 94, though he was not living there at the time, Goldammer said.

After nearly 50 years in the same family, the property was sold by Nierman's heirs to Reinhold F. H. and Bernice S. Mueller in 1943. He worked at Missouri Power and Light and later as a city policeman.

In 1948, the Muellers were living in the home and Drikool Pipe Company shared the address, Goldammer said.

By 1952, the home was vacant. Then, the Muellers rented the place from 1957-61 to the Christian Civic Foundation of Missouri, formerly the Temperance League of Missouri. The foundation secretary, William Setzer, also lived in the house.

Paul and Irma Martin bought the property in 1961. He died in 1973, and she continued to live there until 1978. He was the supervisor of exams for the state division of finance.

Subsequent owners, such as Janie Politsch and August Steiner, lived in the home while also renting to boarders and businesses through the 1980s.