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Christopher Hawken
House
The Historic Christopher Hawken House
is the oldest house in suburban Webster Groves. Christopher Miller Hawken
built this elegant Federal/Greek Revival style farmhouse in 1857 for his
bride, Mary Ann Kinkead Eads. The house originally stood on Big Bend
Boulevard along Grant Road, and was moved to Southwest Park in 1970 in order
to preserve the structure. It was the first home in Missouri to receive
federal funds for restoration, which matched the amount raised by the
citizens of Webster Groves and is listed on the National Historic Register.
It is now maintained and operated by the Webster Groves Historical Society.
Furnished entirely in the Victorian decor of that period, it is open to the
public and special tours are available. Christopher Hawken
came from a family of gunsmiths from Switzerland. His father, Jacob Hawken,
came to St. Louis in 1807 and set up his rifle shop where the Gateway Arch
stands today. Jacob and his brother handcrafted the Hawken rifle, a black
powder long rifle that was shorter and had a larger caliber than the
"Kentucky rifles" popular up until that time. Historians have
categorized the Hawken rifle as the "gun that settled the west."
Many famous westward explorers and trappers, including Daniel Boone, Davy
Crockett, Kit Carson, John Fremont, and Jim Bridger, owned these rifles. Christopher was born
in 1825 and worked in his father's shop until Jacob died of cholera during
the epidemic in St. Louis in 1849. After his father's death Christopher
headed west to California during the Gold Rush. He returned in 1854 and
married Mary Ann Eads and settled down to life as a farmer. He purchased 100
acres of land in the country near the intersection of Big Bend and Grant
Roads at 25 cents an acre and began farming and building a home. The Hawken
House was completed in 1857 and was designed to look like Mary Ann's
father's home. The two-story brick farmhouse was built by slave labor and
the bricks were made on the property. The house was taken over by the Webster Groves Historical Society in 1970 and moved to its present location. Renovations were undertaken and completed in the early 1970s. The home is decorated with several pieces that belonged to the Hawken family. The residents of Webster Grove donated the rest of the furnishings. A curator researched the period and used only items that would have been found in the house during its early days. In the basement of the house is an extensive collection of dolls from around the world dressed in their native costumes and a gift shop. Behind the house is the Webster Groves History Center, a rustic-looking barn constructed in 1976 that houses the Society's extensive archives collection. A garden at the rear of the house is a gift of the Webster Groves Herb Society. Visitors can picnic in the adjacent Southwest Park following their tour of the home. Visiting the
Christopher Hawken House
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