Modern and Classical Languages
MCL History
Dr. Anna Lou Blair
The “One and Only” Dr. Anna Lou Blair lived at 802 S. Kickapoo for many years. She initially taught German at Southwest Missouri State College in 1908 and was on the faculty for 49 years. She was the head of the Foreign Language Department for 14 years. Dr. Blair taught Latin, French, Spanish and Russian and also taught at Greenwood. She retired in 1957 and passed away in 1965 at the age of 81. During her tenure at SMSU, she sponsored international students and was a memorable professor. During her teaching career, she lived in the first floor of the Kickapoo house and provided living space to the international girl students. On the second floor, the northeast bedroom was a kitchen and the balance of the rooms was bedrooms. This writer suspects that the first floor living room was a common area for the international students.
For years, her home was the scene of weekly teas for foreign students and the scene of the annual gathering place for the members of the SMS German club, “Deutscher Verein” who sang Christmas carols in German for Springfield’s dwindling ranks of German-born families.
To Dr. Blair, language class should be a study of a people, land and spirit and the study of the heart and soul of a people. She believed in such study firsthand and traveled expensively in Europe, Mexico and South America—retaining a keen interest in world affairs until her death.
She received her bachelor’s degree in 1905 from Missouri Valley College at Marshall, Mo, which gave her an honorary Doctor of Literature degree in 1927. She taught at Springfield Senior High School from 1905-1908 before joining what was the State Normal School on Pickwick. This initial site was on a sizeable tact of land east of Pickwick Street and north of Cherry. Dr. Blair taught German and Latin and helped the college move to its National Avenue Campus. On the new campus site, she introduced French, Spanish, and Russian courses to the State Normal School.
In 1931 Ms. Blair was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Yale. She studied at the University of Chicago, the University of Missouri, Tilley Institute in Berlin, the Alliance Francaise in Paris, and San Marcos University in Peru. In 1948 while teaching in a secondary school in Chile, she was named Missouri’s “Woman of the Year” award. She subsequently was given the same award for Springfield.
Dr. Blair’s mother, Louisa Osborne Blair, was born on Sept 17, 1847 in Landau County, Tenn. to Thomas Osbourne and Evelin Whitlock. Louisa received her education at Athens Female College in Athens, Tenn. She married and moved to Osborne, Mo. in 1880 and to Springfield in the very early 1900’s.
Her husband, Dr. Samuel Tate Blair, received his early training at the Jefferson Medical College of the University of Tennessee. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Dr. Samuel Blair joined the Confederate Army in both artillery and later was a cavalryman in Ashby’s regiment. He was a country doctor in the Osborne Missouri area until the family moved to Springfield.
Louisa and her husband, Dr. Samuel Blair (born 1838) had 8 children with only four surviving childhood.
James T. Blair, born Nov, 1871
Jennie Blair O’Leary (Mrs. E. J.O’Leary) born, Dec. 1878
Nettie Blair Wright (Mrs. E. M. Wright) born Nov 1882
Anna Lou Blair born 1884.
In early 1905, Dr Samuel Blair and Louisa lived on the west side of Pickwick 3rd in the house south of Winkle. In 1905, the married son, James T. Blair and his wife, Grace Emma Ray Blair, lived at Pickwick on the west side of the street, 2 doors south of Harrison. 27 year old Jennie Blair (and her sisters?) resided in house to the south their brother.
Louisa O Blair (aka Lou O., Louisa M.) purchased the home on Kickapoo on Feb 18, 1907 from Sarah Ray Ramsey. The one acre property with the house sold for $1,308.
Dr. Samuel Tate Blair died in 1917 at the age of 79. Louisa died at the Kickapoo house at the age of 73 of a stroke of paralysis. The funeral services of both parents were conducted from the home by Presbyterian ministers. Burial for both is in Maple Park Cemetery.
Following Lou O. Blair’s death in February 21, 1921, Anna Lou was executrix of her mother’s estate. James T. Blair received the library contents, valued at $15, sisters Nettie and Jennie received $1 each, and Anna Lou Blair received the balance. It was the practice at the time that at the marriage of a girl, the parents presented to the new groom the inheritance of their daughter in advance. This would explain the fact that Anna Lou, who never married, essentially received the whole of the estate. In this house the personal property listed in 1921 is valued at a total of $97.
One library containing 35 books $15
One dozen straight chairs $5
Three rockers $3
One dining table and three small tables $5
Five kitchen and study tables $5
Five dressers $20
One cook stove $3
One heating stove, king heater $1
Sewing machine $5
Anna Lou’s brother, James T. Blair, Sr, became a Missouri Supreme Court Judge in 1914. Prior to that he practiced law in Springfield from 1903-1908 in the firm of Wright Brothers and Blair James T. Blair was in partnership with Wright Bros & Blair originally located at 312 Baker Block and then later located in the Lander’s Building on the Square. The writer wonders how daughter Nettie Blair Wright, Mrs. E M Wright, and Blair were connected.
The son of James T. Blair, James Jr., became the governor of the state of Missouri in 1956. He was born in 1902 to Grace Ray Blair and James T. Blair. He attended SMSU while his family lived in Springfield. They moved to Jefferson City when his father was appointed as assistant attorney general. A Democrat, he was elected in 1928 to serve two terms in the House of Representatives. Following a three years stint in the European theater in World War II, he returned to Jefferson City to practice law. Under his governorship, the first budget review and control office was established. Idle state funds for the first time were invested to produce added income to the state. Blair and his wife had two children; Mary Margaret (married Howard Winston Cook and then W Alfred Hayes, Jr.) and James (Jim Tom) Blair III. Blair and his wife both died in Kansas City on July 12, 1962 of carbon monoxide fumes from an automobile left running in an attached garage. The fumes were pulled into the house by central air conditioning located in the garage.
Anna Lou Blair died on March 1, 1965 at St. John’s Hospital following a short illness. She enjoyed an 18 year retirement from teaching and continued to be active in the League of Women Voters, the American Association of University Women, and numerous educational groups. She was a member of First and Calvary Presbyterian Church. At the time of her death, the home at 802 S. Kickapoo was valued at $13,000. She was survived by her sister, Nettie Wright of 710 S. Fremont. Her life effort was toward world understanding through language study.
A bit of the history of the House itself:
This house at 802 S. Kickapoo was built in 1905 on a portion of Lot 4 of the George M. Jones First Addition. In 1900, this entire Lot 4 was owned by L. C. Boughlein and extended from Kickapoo to Fremont. In 1901, Sarah Ray Ramsey purchased Lot 4, valued at $1,000, and built this house in 1905. Louisa O. Blair purchased the home on Kickapoo in 1907 from Sarah Ray Ramsey. This writer feels that there was a familial connection between the wife of James T. Blair, Grace Ray Blair, and the seller of the house, Sarah Ray Ramsey. The writer has not been unable to determine what that connection was.
On Dec. 28, 1899, Sarah Ramsey married Walter W Baxter. Her twin sister, Elizabeth Ramsey, married George H. Baxter on Dec 27, 1898. The twin sisters married two brothers. Walter died one year after he married Sarah. There were no children born to Sarah and Walter. The twin sisters were the daughters of Robert L. Ramsey who married Sarah Ray Ramsey,(born 1839) in Kentucky in 1855 and moved to Lewis, County, Mo. Robert died in 1900 and his widow moved to Springfield to live with her two daughters, Sarah and Elizabeth. Sarah Ray Ramsey lived at 805 S. Fremont until her death in 1914 at which time her daughters moved into the cozy home. In 1901 she purchased the land in the George M. Jones addition upon which the Kickapoo house was built.
After Sarah’s death 1914 her daughter, Sarah R. was named executress of her estate. Sarah E. gave to her daughter Elizabeth Ramsey (Mrs. George Baxter) the Jones addition Lot 4 property except for that parcel of land that was sold to Lou O Blair in 1907.
This historic home has housed people from around the world. Family members range from Civil War veterans to a Supreme Court Justice to a Governor have been part of this home. . This house has had monumental events weddings, deaths, funerals, and regular weekly teas celebrating different languages and customs. This home originally sat at the heart of a large farm….and now this home is fully restored to face the next century.