J.B. Moss House

Josiah Beattie Moss made quite a name for himself recounting his life in historic St. Joseph. Though he lived to the age of 93, passing away in 1942, J.B. Moss retained his sharp mind and keen memory of his life’s events. He wrote nearly two hundred articles recounting St. Joseph history, becoming an invaluable, if not apocryphal source for the pioneer town.

J.B. Moss was born in St. Joseph in 1849. His father, Preston Talbot Moss, ran a wholesale business in Savannah, MO with his brother-in-law, Robert I. Boyd. Also a part of the Savannah wholesale market was Josiah Beattie who worked for the newly founded firm of Nave-McCord. When Beattie passed away in 1845, his family prepared to return to their original home in Virginia, but his daughter Susan had fallen in love with Preston Moss and the two were wed. The Beattie stock in the company was sold to the young upstart company of Tootles, Fairleigh, and Smith. Before the end of the decade, all businesses and families involved would have moved to St. Joseph as it quickly became the economic center of the United States.

J.B. Moss told tales of seeing the first Pony Express rider pick up the email at the Patee House, of witnessing the first train arriving in St. Joseph, of the unfortunate incident that led to the city losing its chance to become the first bridge across the Missouri River, and of various interactions with St. Joseph’s founders. By the 1870s, J.B. Moss had acquired a fortune from the lumber and real estate businesses. In 1890 he commissioned Eckel & Mann to construct both an office building at the corner of Eighth & Edmond and his own bachelor’s home at 906 Sylvanie Street.

Harvey Ellis was in charge of both constructions, creating an oriel on the Moss building and high roofed towers on the Chateauesque home. The medieval looking castle on a hill with gothic stylings was just the type of mixed whimsical stylings Ellis was so well known for and is perhaps the best example of his vision made reality in the city of St. Joseph.

Moss married Mary Wood Leach in 1891 and they had two children; Catherine Corby Moss and Preston Leach Moss. They gave up their castle in 1930, the Knights of Columbus purchased the building and resided there until 1974 when Barbosa’s Castillo purchased the building. The Mexican restaurant operated in the Moss home until 2019 when it closed due to vandalism. The Moss Building at Eighth and Edmond was lost during Urban Renewal.