After more than a century of changing hands, and purposes, the property at 210 W. Dunklin St. was given a fresh start and a new occupant.
Thomas and Nina Meeks, owners of 210 W. Dunklin St, which houses Rosewood Music, were honored as the recipients of the final Golden Hammer Award of 2020. The Golden Hammer Award recognizes individuals in Jefferson City who are restoring historic structures at least 50 years old, preserving them for years to come and showing the pride the community has for its past.
According to historical records provided by the Historic City of Jefferson, the property at 210 W. Dunklin had already changed hands several times by the time Carl and Elizabeth Deeg became owners and built a home, some time in 1904-08.
By 1917, a second house was built on the rear of the property, in the alley, and the Deegs began renting it out. The house was listed as 210 W. Dunklin rear until about 1952, when the address became 210 W. Cedar Way.
At some point, likely during the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Deegs began taking in boarders or renting out space, as multiple people are listed as living at the residence.
Carl Deeg, who was, by all accounts, a successful photographer in the area, died in 1939, and his wife remained in the home on Dunklin, along with boarders or renters, but she began selling pieces of the overall property surrounding the house, including the second home on the rear of the property, in the late 1940s.
In October 1951, the house on Dunklin was transferred to Ella R. and Albert R. Ehrhardt. Ella Ehrhardt was the niece of Elizabeth Deeg, who died in 1956 and lived with the Ehrhardts at their home on Adams Street during her final years.
The Dunklin Street home was kept by the Ehrhardts, but rented out to tenants, for 25 years. In 1976, Albert Ehrhardt, sold the house to the American Legion Auxiliary, Department of Missouri, Inc., which occupied the house from 1977-99.
In 1992, the American Legion Auxiliary purchased the house in the rear at 210 W. Cedar Way, rejoining the two properties for the first time since 1950. But the rear home would have no more occupants, as it appears it was torn down and replaced with a parking lot.
In 1998, the property, with the rear section included, is sold to Arthur and Carole Ann Allen Jr., who sell both in 2006 to Tommy D. and Rose Marie Hopkins. According to county records, the property is transferred again, due to a judgment order, in April 2018 to current owners Thomas and Nina Meeks, who renovated the property and made it home to Rosewood Music.