Maryville Lumber Company

Maryville Lumber Company (Co) is a business that sells hardware, supplies and appliances geared towards customers interested in home improvement. This land for the most part since the late 1800s has been used for lumber, only some parts being devoted to other goods. Originally being used by the Howell Lumber Yard, to being owned by them, to Howell constructing a livery and lumber shed, then becoming a business college and theatre with the remaining lumber shed's owner transferring to E.C. Phares Lumber Co, to becoming the business of Maryville Lumber Co in the 1970s. Despite residing in the city of Maryville, Howell and Phares have seen plenty of events whether they are legal, criminal, or disasters in their time. Maryville Lumber Co has been going strong since they bought the land, and the online store can be accessed with a quick google search, or simply going into the store during their open times.

In 1886, the land that Maryville Lumber Co currently resides on started as a mere lumber yard that was used by the Howell Lumber Yard business according to the appropriate Sanborn map. However, 6 years ago Howell Lumber experienced a massive fire, a large portion of the lumber yard burning causing at the time, $15,000 of damage. However, even after this disastrous event Howell Lumber continued to operate receiving insurance to help. Despite this, in 1891, Howell Lumber bought the lumber yard and the surrounding land that was used in 1886. In these years, we can see that Maryville still struggles to transition from a wild countryside to a more civilized and settled community, in 1888, a man celebrating the 4th of July, rode on horseback throughout Maryville, firing a gun into the air and threatening a city official's son before finally being reprimanded by the marshal in front of Howell business' lumber yard resulting in the offender receiving a hefty fine of $165 after the court cases. On the 1900 Sanborn map, we can see that on the northwest corner resides a livery instead of a lumber shed, leaving the assumption that it had been sold by the Howell business, a livery is a small stable that rents out space akin to a modern-day parking lot. In addition, in 1901 Frank H. Rowley purchased the Howell Lumber Yard on the east side of the square and took personal charge of the business. This begins a series of change for the business.

A man by the name of Dave Phillips purchased what was formerly the Howell Lumber office for a grand $4,000 in 1903. Then in 1906, a new professional college opened, the Business College which we can learn from the 1909 Sanborn map, that it replaces the second floor of what used to be the livery and by extension, property of Howell Lumber. Quickly, the Business College gathers popularity with the people of Maryville, many scholars attending the college. The 1909 Sanborn also tells us that in the same building of the Business College is the Electric Theatre, which in 1907 closed down due to the owners returning to St. Joe, though the building's ownership remains. Coming in 1908, the Business College had such a high attendance rate of 200 students that the college decided to incorporate as the Western School company "out of necessity" to handle the influx of students from their remarkable popularity. In the Sanborn we also learn that Howell Lumber Co is no longer a legal entity, E.C. Phares Lumber Co buying out the company and becoming the new legal entity. In 1912, the Business College shows results, with 138 students graduating, becoming alumni to the college and solidifying the strong affinity the Business College has with the public. Phares Lumber Company was not spared from events like their predecessor was, particularly a case in 1913 where a lawsuit for $51.70 against a debtor to Phares' was something that the company faced in which the defendant failed to pay their bills, ignoring the Phares' company requests to pay. Similarly to their predecessor, Phares continues to expand in Maryville, purchasing Garrett & Son Hardware located on North Main Street, Phares assuming ownership until the building can be transferred to the east side of the building. According to Cinema Treasures the Electric Theatre officially closes for good in 1930, reopening the same year by a new owner, Clarence Cook, rebuilt the theatre into the Tivoli Theatre, installing the current modern technology within the theatre.

Fast forwarding to 1970, we see an advertisement by the current business name, "Maryville Lumber Company", giving us a rough idea of when the current company we see in the year of 2024 officially began. While it is merely an advertisement, we can glean that back then they likely sold services such as construction, possibly appliances as well as other relevant carpentry services. With ownership of the company naturally changing, the business' policies and practices slightly changing to reflect a dynamic demand, we come to what is modern day Maryville Lumber Company, still proudly serving its customers in the very land where this rich history of businesses, a few theatres as well as a popular college lies in the same spot as the Maryville Lumber stands today.

1886 Sanborn Map: Maryville, MO, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A142612

1891 Sanborn Map: Maryville, MO, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A142619

1900 Sanborn Map: Maryville, MO, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A142623

1909 Sanborn Map: Maryville, MO, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A142629

Michael J. Steiner and Brent Trout, Images of America: Maryville (Lanham, MD: Arcadia Publishing, 2013)

Darron Bix, Maryville Lumber Co, 2024

"Classified Ads", The Maryville Daily Forum, Jul 07, 1970

"Organized Alumni", Weekly Democrat-Forum and Maryville Tribune, July 4, 1912

"Too Much Bug Juice", Nodaway Democrat June 8, 1893

"Another School", Nodaway Forum, June 28, 1906

"Personal Glimpses of Maryville, Business Men and Women", The Maryville Daily Forum, Feb 05, 1934

"Suit For $51.70.", Weekly Democrat-Forum and Maryville Tribune, Jan 16, 1913

"Phares Lumber Co., Buys Garrett & Son Hardware", Weekly Democrat-Forum and Maryville Tribune, Mar 17, 1921

"Howell Lumber Yard", The Maryville Tribune, Jan 17, 1901

"Destructive Fire", Nodaway Democrat, Aug 05, 1880

"Buys Another Building", Nodaway Forum, Mar 26, 1903

"Manager Spurlock Closes Electric Theatre and Returns Home", Weekly Democrat-Forum and Maryville Tribune, Jul 09, 1908

"Maryville Business College", Weekly Democrat-Forum and Maryville Tribune, Jul 09, 1908

Cinema Treasures, https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/59503